Enabling and Finding vSockets

For host to guest communication, VMCI is enabled on virtual machines with version 7 compatibility and later.

Location of Include File for C Programs

VMware Tools or another installer places the vmci_sockets.h include file in one of the following locations:

■	Windows guests on Workstation 8.0 or later, and Windows hosts of Workstation 8.0 or later – C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\vmci\sockets\include

■	earlier Windows guests – C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\VSock SDK\include

■	earlier Windows hosts – C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation

■	Linux guests – /usr/lib/vmware-tools/include/vmci

■	Linux hosts – /usr/lib/vmware/include/vmci

■	ESX/ESXi hosts – Not installed on the system.

Security of vSockets

VMware vSockets are more secure after elimination of guest to guest communications. For an overview of VMCI security, see Security of the VMCI Device.

The VMCI PCI device exists for both Windows and Linux guests. Drivers are available in VMware Tools, and in Linux kernel 3.9 and later.