Does upgrading Vmtools require reboot?

If this driver has been updated and VMware Tools needs to upgrade the driver, a reboot is required. The VMware SVGA 3D display driver is available on Vista and newer versions of Windows and is not expected to require a reboot to be upgraded.

Does VMware tools install require reboot on Linux?

Guest operating system reboot is not required after upgrading VMware Tools to 10.1. 0 and later on Linux distributions with kernel version 3.3. All Linux distributions with kernel versions higher than 2.6. 32 will be rebooted if VMXNET hardware is present and the driver is updated.

How do I automate VMware tools to upgrade?

Procedure

1. Navigate to Menu > Hosts and Clusters.
2. Select a host or a cluster from the inventory and click the Updates tab.
3. Select VMware Tools.
4. (Optional) To update the Tools Status and Auto Update Setting, click Scan Now.
5. Select the virtual machines for which you want to enable VMware Tools upgrade on reboot.

How do I update VMware tools to latest version?

Procedure

1. Start the vSphere Web Client and log in to the vCenter Server.
2. Select the virtual machines.
3. Power on the virtual machines to upgrade.
4. Right-click your selections.
5. Select Guest OS > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools and click OK.
6. Select Interactive Upgrade or Automatic Upgrade and click Upgrade.

Do you need to reboot to update VMware Tools?

Note: As Duncan wrote in a article back in 2008, the reboot needed after updating the VMware tools isn’t for the tools itself, but for the OS that needs to load the new drivers. So when you want to quickly update your VMware tools without a reboot, then you can use the command showing above.

How to keep VMware Tools up to date?

Using VM options to keep VMware Tools up to date is also another method to automatically keep VMs up to date. Enabling the “Check and upgrade VMware Tools before each power on” advanced setting use to not be used because of the additional reboot it would cause for virtual machines.

Is it safe to enable check and upgrade VMware Tools?

Enabling the “Check and upgrade VMware Tools before each power on” advanced setting use to not be used because of the additional reboot it would cause for virtual machines. Keep in mind that with Windows Server 2016 VMware Tools no longer need a reboot on upgrade, it can be safe to enable this setting and have VMs stay up to date on every reboot.

Are there any downsides to updating VM without reboot?

The downside of this method is that you need your vSphere PowerCLI stay connected during the executing of the entire process. Also the screen can get filled with error messages ranging from VM’s that are powered off or VM’s that are already up to date. Even though these errors occur the process will keep on continuing with the next VM in line.