Installing VMware Tools in a Linux or FreeBSD Virtual Machine

1. Power on the virtual machine.

2. After the guest operating system has started, prepare your virtual machine to install VMware Tools.

Choose VM > Install VMware Tools.

The remaining steps take place inside the virtual machine.

3. Be sure the guest operating system is running in text mode. You cannot install VMware Tools from a terminal in an X window session.

Some recent distributions of Linux are configured to run the X server when they boot and do not provide an easy way to stop the X server. However, you can switch to a different workspace that is still in text mode and install VMware Tools from that workspace.

To switch between Linux workspaces in a virtual machine, press Ctrl-Alt-Space, release Space without releasing Ctrl and Alt, then press the function key for the workspace you want to use — for example, F2.

Note: If you changed your hot-key combination to something other than Ctrl-Alt, use that combination with Space and the function key.

4. As root (su -), mount the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image, change to a working directory (for example, /tmp), uncompress the installer, then unmount the CD-ROM image.

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 GSX Server software contains an ISO image that looks like a CD-ROM to your guest operating system. This image contains all the files needed to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system.

Linux Guests: Some Linux distributions use different device names or organize the /dev directory differently. If your CD-ROM drive is not /dev/cdrom or if the mount point for a CD-ROM is not /mnt/cdrom, modify the following commands to reflect the conventions used by your distribution.

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom cd /tmp tar zxf /mnt/cdrom/vmware-linux-tools.tar.gz umount /mnt/cdrom

FreeBSD Guests: Some FreeBSD distributions automatically mount CD-ROMs. If your distribution uses automounting, do not use the mount and umount commands below. You still must copy the VMware Tools installer.

mount /cdrom 
cd /tmp
tar zxf /cdrom/vmware-freebsd-tools.tar.gz
umount /cdrom

5. Run the VMware Tools installer.

cd vmware-tools-distrib ./vmware-install.pl

6. Answer the questions about default directories.

7. Run the configuration program.
vmware-config-tools.pl

8. To change your virtual machine's display resolution, answer yes, then enter the number that corresponds to the desired resolution.

9. Log out of the root account.

exit

10. Start X and your graphical environment.

11. In an X terminal, launch the VMware Tools background application.

vmware-toolbox &

You can run VMware Tools as root or as a normal user. To shrink virtual disks, you must run VMware Tools as root (su -).

Note: To get the greatest benefit from the features of VMware Tools, always run vmware-toolbox in the guest operating system.

Starting VMware Tools Automatically

You may find it helpful to configure your guest operating system so VMware Tools starts when you start your X server. The steps for doing so vary depending on your Linux distribution and your desktop environment. Check your operating system documentation for the appropriate steps to take.

For example, in a Red Hat Linux 7.1 guest using GNOME, follow these steps.

1. Open the Startup Programs screen in the GNOME Control Center.

Main Menu (click the foot icon in the lower left corner of the screen) > Programs > Settings > Session > Startup Programs

2. Click Add.

3. In the Startup Command field, enter vmware-toolbox.

4. Click OK, click OK again, then close the GNOME Control Center.

The next time you start X, VMware Tools starts automatically.

Starting VMware Tools in a FreeBSD 4.5 Guest Operating System

In a FreeBSD 4.5 guest operating system, sometimes VMware Tools does not start after you install VMware Tools, reboot the guest operating system or start VMware Tools on the command line in the guest. An error message appears:

Shared object 'libc.so.3' not found.

The required library was not installed. This does not happen with full installations of FreeBSD 4.5, but does occur for minimal installations. To fix the problem of the missing library, take the following steps:

1. Insert and mount the FreeBSD 4.5 installation CD or access the ISO image file.

2. Change directories and run the installation script.

cd /cdrom/compat3x
./install.sh

Uninstalling VMware Tools

If you need to remove VMware Tools from your Linux guest operating system, log in as root (su -) and run the following command:

vmware-uninstall-tools.pl

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