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Installing VMware Tools in a Windows Guest Operating System

VMware Tools supports Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows .NET Server guest operating systems.

The details of how you install VMware Tools depends on the version of Windows you are running. The following steps show how to install VMware Tools in a Windows 2000 guest operating system. Some steps that are automated in newer versions of Windows must be performed manually in Windows 9x and Windows NT.

Note: If you are running VMware GSX Server for Windows and your virtual machine has only one CD-ROM drive, the CD-ROM drive must be configured as an IDE or SCSI CD-ROM drive. It cannot be configured as a generic SCSI device.

1. Power on the virtual machine.

   Note: If you have an older version of VMware Tools installed, stop the old version before installing the new one. Right-click the VMware Tools icon in the system tray on the Windows toolbar and choose Exit.

2. When the guest operating system starts, prepare your virtual machine to install VMware Tools.

   Choose Settings > VMware Tools Install.

   Note: If you decide not to proceed with the installation of VMware Tools, you may cancel the operation by selecting Settings > Cancel VMware Tools Install.

   The remaining steps take place inside the virtual machine.

3. If you have auto-run enabled in your guest operating system (the default setting for Windows operating systems), a dialog box appears after a few seconds. It asks if you want to install VMware Tools. Click Yes to launch the InstallShield wizard.

   If autorun is not enabled, the dialog box does not appear automatically. If it does not appear, run the VMware Tools installer. Click Start > Run and enter D:\setup\setup.exe where D: is your first virtual CD-ROM drive.

   Note: You do not use an actual CD-ROM to install VMware Tools, nor do you need to download the CD-ROM image or burn a physical CD-ROM of this image file. The VMware GSX Server software contains an ISO image that looks like a CD-ROM to your guest operating system, and even appears as a CD-ROM in Windows Explorer. This image contains all the files needed to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system. When you finish installing VMware Tools, this image file no longer appears in your CD-ROM drive.

4. Follow the on-screen instructions.

   Note the following:

   • With Windows .NET Server, Windows XP, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE guests, the SVGA driver is installed automatically.
   • With Windows .NET Server, Windows Me, Windows 98 SE and Windows 98 guests, the SVGA driver is activated following the reboot of the system.
   • With Windows 2000 and Windows XP guests you do not have to reboot before you can use the new driver.
   • With Windows 95 and Windows NT guests, you need to configure the video driver manually, then reboot the system before you can use the new driver. Installation instructions appear on screen to guide you through the process.

     The VMware Tools background application launches automatically when you reboot the virtual machine.

Related Topics:

• Components of VMware Tools
• Setting preferences for VMware Tools

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