This article provides general guidelines on when a reboot is needed as part of upgrading VMware Tools on Windows 2000 and later.
 
Notes:

• This article does not describe the case of an uninstall or a clean install or cover less common potential corner cases, such as interference from antivirus software or software defects (bugs).
• This article applies only to Windows. Linux Virtual machines require either a restart of all affected impacted services (the VMware Tools install wizard will provide detailed instructions) or a reboot after the VMware Tools upgrade. For more information, see Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine section in the VMware vSphere documentation.

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0

If you are currently running a version of VMware Tools older than 5.1 on a version of Windows older than Windows Vista, upgrading always requires a reboot.

If you are running VMware Tools 5.1 on Windows Vista or newer, you may have to reboot if:

• One or more components of VMware Tools is installed
• The components have been updated since the last install or upgrade
• The components require a reboot to be upgraded

These components are installed by default on a vSphere platform and have circumstances that are known to require a reboot:
 
Note:You may be able to reduce the likelihood of a reboot by opting out of one or more of these components.

• VMware SVGA II Driver – This display driver is typically used on pre-Vista versions of Windows, though some vSphere releases prior to 5.1 also used this driver on newer versions of Windows. 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. You can reduce likelihood of a reboot by using the VMware SVGA 3D driver or by choosing not to install the VMware SVGA II driver.
   
• VMware Pointing Device Driver – This PS/2 mouse driver is typically used on all versions of Windows. If this driver has been updated and VMware Tools needs to upgrade the driver, a reboot is required. This driver changes very rarely and is not expected to change again in the future and is therefore not expected to be a source of reboots in the future.  However, you can reduce the likelihood of a reboot by choosing not to install this driver. You can mitigate the downsides that might result from opting out of this driver by enabling USB in a virtual machine and using the new default VMware USB Pointing Device driver that is introduced in VMware Tools for vSphere 5.1.
   
• VMware VMXNET 2 (Enhanced) Driver and VMware VMXNET 3 Driver – If either of these networking interface card drivers have been updated and VMware Tools needs to upgrade the driver, a reboot may be required. The E1000 driver should not be affected.

• VMware VMSCSI Controller Driver and VMware PVSCSI Controller Driver – If either of these storage drivers have been updated and VMware Tools needs to upgrade the driver, a reboot may be required. A reboot is only needed if the device is present in a virtual machine and either:
   
  • The device is used to boot the system. For example, the device provides the partition that contains the C:\Windows directory.
    
    Or
     
  • The device provides a secondary filesystem (for example, an E:\ storage volume) and that filesystem is in use while the driver is upgraded.
•  

A reboot is not expected if the device is not present or not considered to be in use by Windows.  The VMSCSI device (BusLogic) is most commonly used in virtual machines that run 32-bit versions of Windows prior to Windows Server 2003. The PVSCSI device is an opt-in device that is not used by default with any version of Windows.

Other VMware Tools components, such as HGFS and ThinPrint, are not installed by default on the vSphere platform but might require a reboot.