Windows guests automatically rebooting after Tools upgrade

[beaconfield]

This is frightening. I just finished migrating one of my ESX clusters to ESXi 4.1 Update 1. I logged on to a Windows Server 2003 guest and clicked to upgrade the VMware Tools. Nothing seemed to happen, then after a few minutes I noticed the VMware Tools icon in the taskbar turn to red, then it turned back to blue without any warnings and the Tools Status on the host said "OK". Like it was just doing it in the background.

Then it just rebooted the host without asking me....

Has anyone seen this? Seems like a pretty serious bug to me.

Matt

[beaconfield]

Oh and this also happened on a Server 2008 guest as well.

[bulletprooffool]

The installation is probably kicking off the reboot. It is not the tools that needs the reboot, but rather the OS to use the new drivers etc.

It is possible to install the tools without a reboot, but you only get the functionality of the tools once the reboot has taken place.

Some info here: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2008/11/27/installing-vmware-tools-without-a-reboot/ plus a link to  script to install without a reboot - though I must admit that I always do my VMtools upgrades as part of my OS patch window (so when I roll the Patch tuesday patches, I also run a silent install of the VMtools)

Good luck

[maishsk · Accepted solution]

When you upgraded the VMware tools - did you choose the Interactive - or non-interactive?

Interactive - will allow you to stop the reboot

Non-interactive - does it automatically

Maish

VMware Communities Moderator

My Blog - @maishsk

Co-Author of VMware vSphere Design

[beaconfield]

Maish,

Excellent point! I wasn't thinking about the VM Guest menu!

I had initiated these particular VMware Tools upgrades by remote desktoping to the guest, double clicking on the VMware Tools icon in the taskbar and clicking on the "Upgrade" button. Something weird must be going on that forces an automatic upgrade when you do it that way.... interesting.

Anyway, thank you for the help.

Matt

[maishsk]

You're Welcome

Maish