VMware Tools strangeness...any ideas?

[tupelo_operatio]

I have one VM running in our VDI cluster that has the latest version of VMware Tools installed in it but when you look at the summary of in the VI Client it shows that VMware Tools are not running. I am sure I upgraded the VMware Tools this past Sunday when I upgraded the tools on everything else, but I decided to try again this morning. I opened a console to the VM and logged in as administrator. I then clicked on VM in the tool bar and the entry there related to VMware Tools said to end installation. I clicked on that and it gave an error message saying in Recent Tasks stating "The operation is not allowed in the current state." I had no idea what that meant exactly so I rebooted the VM. I logged in again and went to Add/Remove Programs and uninstalled VMware Tools and rebooted again. I went to VM and got an the option to "Install/Upgrade VMware Tools" which I chose and got the same error again. I finally scp'd the windows.iso from the /vmimages/tools-isoimages to my local machine and extracted the contents of the iso to a folder and copied that folder to the VM in question. I manually ran the setup and VMware Tools appeared to have installed but it is still showing as not running. Do you think a "service vmware-vpxa restart" or a "service mgmt-vmware restart" would clear this problem up?

[Troy_Clavell · Accepted solution]

Do you think a "service vmware-vpxa restart" or a "service mgmt-vmware restart" would clear this problem up?

Yes, I believe that should clear up the problem

[Troy_Clavell]

...also, before you restart the host services, just make sure the VMware Tools Service is running on the guest in question.

[RParker]

Look at your database table. dbo.VPX_VM. Look at tools version, if it's the same as the build as your ESX hosts (assuming ALL are same build) then don't worry about you know it's correct.

The VI client / VC server has a few quirks, and it may be as simple as not updating on the screen, it's esoteric.

The VIC reporting it doesn't matter if the tools function like they should, it's only there as a guideline and reporting.

[tupelo_operatio]

The thing that brought it to our attention, which ultimately led to us discovering the VMware Tools issue, was the VM in question was using a lot of the host CPU in relation to the other VDI VMs in that pool. The user of that VM said she didn't notice an performance issues but we still want to get it playing by the rules for consistency sake.

[tupelo_operatio]

Restarting those services did in fact clear up the issue with it saying Tools is not running. Thanks.