VMware Tools Help : Components of VMware Tools : VMware Tools Service

VMware Tools Service
The VMware Tools service starts when the guest operating system boots. The service passes information between host and guest operating systems.
This program, which runs in the background, is called vmtoolsd.exe in Windows guest operating systems, vmware-tools-daemon in Mac OS X guest operating systems, and vmtoolsd in Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris guest operating systems. The VMware Tools service performs the following tasks: