The times they are a changin’.
In the past, we’ve been told by those in the know that VMware virtual machines should allow their time updates to be provided by VMware tools instead of NTP. Not so anymore. VMware’s official stance now is: “In all cases use NTP instead of VMware Tools periodic time synchronization.”
From what I hear, VMware tools is only able to play catch up on clocks that are behind the time. In other words, if the VM clock is running fast, you’re out of luck with VMware tools.
To make this change, you need to install NTP on the VM and then update the VM’s vmx file on the host. The easiest way is to update the file is by making sure the tools.syncTime parameter is set to 0 like so:
tools.syncTime = "0"
You can also use the Tools GUI inside the VM itself if you like.
More information about time keeping can be found in VMware’s timekeeping best practices knowlege base article.