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When you install VMware Tools in a virtual machine, the VMware guest operating system service is one of the primary components installed. The guest service can do the following:

• Synchronize the time of the guest operating system with the time on the physical computer. See Synchronizing the Time Between the Guest and Service Consoles.
• Gracefully power off and reset a virtual machine. See Shutting Down and Restarting a Virtual Machine.
• Execute commands in the virtual machine when it is requested to halt or reboot the guest operating system. See Executing Commands When ESX Server Requests the Guest Service to Halt or Reboot a Virtual Machine.
• Pass a string from the service console to the guest operating system. See Passing a String from the Service Console to the Guest Operating System.
• Send a heartbeat to VMware ESX Server so that it knows the guest operating system is running.

The guest service starts automatically when you boot the guest operating system.

In a Linux guest, the guest service is called vmware-guestd. To display help about the guest service, including a list of all options, use the following command:

/etc/vmware/vmware-guestd --help

In a Windows guest, the guest service program file is called VMwareService.exe. To display help, right-click the VMware Tools icon in the system tray and choose Help.