Major Open-VM-Tools Update Arrives in Ubuntu 24.04

A significant update for open-vm-tools, which facilitates the integration of Linux virtual machines with VMware hypervisors, is now available for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS users.

Canonical’s Lena Voytek highlighted the necessity of this update, stating, "Without SRUing the newer version users get issues running on more recent hypervisors." This update is a complete backport from Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, aimed at enhancing platform support for users on 24.04 LTS.

The version of open-vm-tools has been upgraded from 12.3.5 to 3.0.10, aligning it with what’s currently available in Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. The package provides various features, including clock sync with hypervisor hosts, efficient power management for clean shutdowns, API support for vSphere, shared folder capability, and monitoring of guest OS statistics.

For users operating a Linux desktop session in VMware Workstation Pro (or Fusion Pro on macOS), the open-vm-tools-desktop package offers further integrations like shared clipboard functionality and guest window resizing, building on the capabilities of the base package.

This maintenance release includes updates such as direct use of systemctl reboot in DeployPkg, improved error handling for cloud-init, security patches, newly added developer controls, and enhanced logging.

While these changes may not seem dramatic, they are crucial for users leveraging virtual machines for specific workloads, prioritizing stability over new features. If you are using Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, this update should now be accessible through the typical update channels. To install it, you can run sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade.

For more information about the open-vm-tools update, you can check the links provided: open-vm-tools and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.