The VMware Tools Trap: How Time Synchronization Failures Break Identity After VM Migration

VM migrations often succeed at the infrastructure layer while concealing hidden dependencies that surface days later. Removing VMware Tools without ensuring independent time synchronization configuration creates time drift that exceeds Kerberos's 5-minute authentication tolerance, causing intermittent failures that are extremely difficult to diagnose. This represents a critical gap in migration checklists where implicit NTP dependencies are rarely documented or verified.