How-to Install Open VMware Tools (open-vm-tools) on *nix Guest Operating Systems
According to VMware KB Article 2073803, some of the benefits of bundling open-vm-tools are:
End users get the best out-of-box experience to efficiently deploy virtual machines on VMware virtual infrastructure.
Eliminates the need to separately install VMware Tools when open-vm-tools is bundled with the operating system because open-vm-tools is a fully-supported open source implementation of VMware Tools.
Reduces operational expenses and virtual machine downtime, because updates to open-vm-tools packages are provided with operating system maintenance updates and patches. This eliminates separate maintenance cycles for VMware Tools updates.
No compatibility matrix check is required for open-vm-tools.
Also, open-vm-tools is available with these operating systems:
Fedora 19 and later releases
Debian 7.x and later releases
openSUSE 11.x and later releases
Recent Ubuntu releases (12.04 LTS, 13.10 and later)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 and later releases
CentOS 7.0 and later releases
Oracle Linux 7.0 and later releases
SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 and later releases
FreeBSD 10.0 and later releases
Step-by-step guide
Uninstall current version of VMware Tools. For instructions follow this VMware KB Article
Install Open VM Tools (open-vm-tools) via the OS package manager or by following Guest Operating System Installation Guide. Examples:
Ubuntu/Debian
apt install open-vm-tools
FreeBSD
pkg install open-vm-tools-nox11
PhotonOS
tdnf install -y open-vm-tools
RedHat/CentOS/AlmaLinux/RockyLinux
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