Download VMware Tools for Windows Vista (and Windows 7 RTM)

vista.md

As of 12/11/2020, VMware no longer signs Tools for Windows Vista with SHA-1, so you need Windows 7 SP1 or later to use the latest version.

However, you can use an older version of VMware Tools, which is here: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/thepwrtank18/thepwrtank18/master/VMware%20Tools%20for%20Windows%207%20RTM%20and%20Vista.iso

Link is dead. Instead, here's a full on guide.

Step 0: Foreword

This is an unsupported operating system, with unsupported drivers. Use this at your own risk.

Step 1: Preparation

You will need:

• Either a:
  • x64 Windows Vista ISO
  • x64 Windows Vista Disc + Reader
• VMware Workstation (Pro or Player) 15.x, or Pro 16.x and higher.
• An old version of the VMware Tools ISO (10.3.5 to be precise), from here

Step 2: Creation

Note: Do not let VMware scan your ISO or disc, Easy Install may use the wrong version of Windows, whether a wrong edition or architecture.

Make a VM. If you have Pro or Player 15.x, do what you normally do. If you have Pro 16.x, make sure compatibility is set to Workstation 15.x (in Custom settings). After that, customize the settings you want. (Player does not support custom settings, so you either need to get 15.x, which is what you need anyway, or Pro 16.x and higher.)

Step 3: Modification

Make sure you have your ISO or disc selected in the VM options. If there's a floppy disc or extra DVD drive with "autoinst" or the like on it, remove that drive.

Step 4: Installation

Install as usual. When it tells you to create a user profile, don't do that for now. Go to the VM settings, then put in the VMware Tools ISO you got earlier. Don't install VMware Tools via VM>Install VMware Tools. After that, press Shift+F10 in the VM. Put in D:\setup64.exe.

Step 5: Initialization

Do the VMware Tools installation as usual. When it says if it wants to restart the machine, say "Yes", then go to VM>Power>Reset. When it reboots, do the setup as normal. Let it monitor your computer's performance, as drivers are installed.

Well, I don't have much else to say, I don't even use VMware anymore. I don't really know what causes the performance issues for you, sorry. VMware doesn't have a great performance in general, is it really that much worse than Windows 7 guest?

Well you see, the vm3d driver is broken on Vista and it only works properly on Windows 7 and later. The performance is really bad. Idk exactly what causes it. Maybe some Windows 7 APIs required by the driver or idk. Windows 7 and later work great with the same driver. And you can test games without performance issues.

In Vista, it's like this: If you're using VMware 16.x or later compatibility, you have to use the vm3d driver from vmware tools 10.3.x to solve performance issues, which that driver only supports Direct3D 9Ex. If you use the driver from tools 11.1.x on 16.x or later, you will have d3d11 but the OS will be very laggy / have performance issues. If I use the driver from vmware tools 11.1-11.2.6 and then set the vm compatibility to VMware 15.x, it will fix the performance, but it's still a deal-breaker because VMware 15 and lower don't support Direct3D 11