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Introducing VMware Tools
Introducing VMware Tools
VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhances the performance of the virtual machine's guest operating system and improves management of the virtual machine by your VMware product. It is very important that you install VMware Tools in the guest operating system. Although a guest operating system can run without VMware Tools, you lose important functionality and convenience.
When you install VMware Tools, you install:
The VMware Tools Service, also known as vmware-guestd on Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris guests, that runs in the background of your virtual machine. For more information, see Understanding the VMware Tools Service.
A set of VMware device drivers that smooth operations. Drivers include:
The VMware SVGA display driver.
The vmxnet networking driver for some guest operating systems.
The VMware mouse driver.
The shared folders driver (for virtual machines running under Workstation).
The VMware memory control driver (for virtual machines running under ESX Server).
The VMware Tools control panel that lets you modify settings, shrink virtual disks, and connect and disconnect virtual devices. For more information, see Using the VMware Tools Control Panel.
A set of scripts that help automate guest operating system operations; the scripts run when the virtual machine's power state changes. For more information, see Using Scripts.
A component that supports copying and pasting text between the guest and host operating systems.
Installation files for VMware Tools for all supported Windows, Linux, NetWare, FreeBSD, and Solaris guest operating systems are built into your VMware product.
About the VMware Device Drivers
About the VMware Device Drivers
With the VMware SVGA driver installed, the virtual machine can utilize up to 32-bit displays and high display resolution, with significantly faster overall graphics performance. If you run a guest operating system without VMware Tools, the graphics environment within the virtual machine is limited to VGA mode graphics (640x480, 16 color) and display performance may be unsatisfactory.
The VMware virtual SCSI driver is a BusLogic driver. Note that some recent guest operating systems contain LSI Logic drivers and can take advantage of the virtual LSI Logic adapter for better device performance. You specify whether to use the BusLogic or LSI Logic SCSI adapter when you create the virtual machine.
The vmxnet networking driver improves network performance. Search the VMware Knowledge Base for information on which guest operating systems are supported with the vmxnet driver. The vlance driver is installed automatically when you created the virtual machine
The VMware mouse driver improves mouse performance in some guest operating systems. It is necessary for use with third party tools like Microsoft's Terminal Services.
The VMware shared folders driver is recommended if you plan on using this virtual machine with Workstation. Excluding this driver prevents you from sharing a folder between your virtual machine and the Workstation host.
The VMware memory control driver is recommended if you plan on using this virtual machine with ESX Server. Excluding this driver hinders the memory management capabilities of the virtual machine running on an ESX Server system.