Updating VMware Tools on a Citrix Provisioning Master Image used to be very time consuming. Nowadays it has gotten a little better, but you still have to do a few extra steps because of the vmxnet3 network adapter. Here are the steps that I took when upgrading to the newest Vmware Tools that came with ESXi 8.0 update.

• Start the Master VM
• Once booted up, add a new E1000E network card
• Check in device manager if the E1000E/Intel network card can be seen
• Shutdown VM
• In the Provisioning console, change the mac address of the target device to that of the E1000E network card
• Disconnect vmxnet3 NIC (uncheck connect on power on)
• Start Master VM. Beware that the E1000E NIC is emulated and is painfully slow. I had instances where it took 15 minutes to boot up!
• Once booted up, start VMware Tools upgrade through Vcenter (interactive)
• Visual C++ Redistributable might be installed, you might need to reboot
• Let boot
• Start Vmware Tools upgrade again (interactive)
• Run the installer
• Shutdown VM
• Disconnect E1000E NIC (uncheck connect on power on)
• Connect vmxnet3 NIC (check connect on power on)
• Boot
• Once booted, fully remove E1000E fully
• In device manager, show hidden devices and delete the greyed out Intel NIC

This time there are no references. I had to try and error myself.