Installing VMware Tools in a Linux virtual machine using a Compiler
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Installing VMware Tools in a Linux virtual machine using a Compiler

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Article ID: 316557

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to install VMware Tools in a Linux guest operating system using Compiler.

Note:

Resolution

Note: If the Linux distribution is not RPM-based, has a custom kernel, or is unsupported, use the steps below to compile VMware Tools. Otherwise, see Installing VMware Tools in a Linux virtual machine using RPM (345290).


To install VMware Tools in a Linux guest operating system using Compiler: 
  1. Ensure that the Linux virtual machine is powered on.
     
  2. If running a GUI interface, open a command shell.

    Note: Log in as a root user, or use the sudo command to complete each of these steps.
     
  3. Right-click the VM in the virtual machine menu, then click Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.

  4. Click OK.

    Note: In some cases, verify that the CDROM device is Connected from within the Edit Settings option of the virtual machine.
     
  5. To create a mount point, run:

    mkdir /mnt/cdrom
     
  6. To mount the CDROM, run:

    mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
     
  7. To copy the Compiler gzip tar file to a temporary local directory, run:

    cp /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-version.tar.gz /tmp/

    Where version is the VMware Tools package version.
     
  8. To determine the version of VMware tools, run:

    ls /mnt/cdrom

    Example output:

    # VMwareTools-5.0.0-12124.tar.gz
     
  9. To change to the tmp directory and extract the contents of the tar file into a new directory called vmware-tools-distrib, run:

    cd /tmp
    tar -zxvf VMwareTools-version.tar.gz
     
  10. To change directory to vmware-tools-distrib and run the vmware-install.pl PERL script to install VMware Tools, run:

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

    Notes:
    • Complete the screen prompts to install the VMware Tools. Options in square brackets are default choices and can be selected by pressing Enter.
    • To compile VMware Tools successfully, gcc Compiler and Linux Kernel sources will be needed as provided by the Linux distribution. Consult the Linux distribution documentation for details on methods to install these packages.
    • It is normal for the console screen to go blank for a short time during the installation when the display size changes.
    • Some warnings or errors are normal, like when a file does not exist.
    • Depending on the Linux distribution, the network service might restart after installation. VMware recommends invoking this command from the console and not remotely.
       
  11. If running a GUI interface, restart the X Window session for any mouse or graphics changes to take effect.
     
  12. To start VMware Tools running in the background during an X Window session, using terminal session run the command

    /usr/bin/vmware-toolbox &
     
  13. Depending on the environment, it may be needed to unmount the CD-ROM. To unmount the CD-ROM, run:

    umount /mnt/cdrom
     
  14. Depending on the environment, it may be needed to manually end the VMware Tools installation. To end the VMware Tools install, click VM in the virtual machine menu, then click Guest > End VMware Tools Install.
     
  15. To remove VMware Tools installation packages, run:

    cd
    rm /tmp/VMwareTools-version.tar.gz
    rm -rf /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib

Additional Information

If a symbolic link creation error occurs during installation, see Unable to create the symbolic link when installing VMware Tools in Linux (328775).

If running an unsupported distribution or using an unsupported kernel version and are not able to compile modules or install VMware Tools, VMware recommends exploring the community forum: https://community.broadcom.com/home. There are regular discussions on the forums about the latest development kernels and workarounds for building VMware Tools modules.

VMware tools can be uninstalled using the /usr/bin/vmware-uninstall-tools.pl script. For related information, see Installing VMware Tools in vSphere (316546).

Note: VMware Tools no longer includes drivers for x Server 1.8 or higher. Ensure that these SVGA and mouse drivers are installed before installing VMware Tools:

  • xorg-x11-drv-vmware
  • xorg-x11-drv-vmmouse

If the drivers are not installed, VMware Tools installation will skip the x Windows configuration.

Additional Relevant KBs:

Installing and upgrading VMware Tools in vSphere
Unable to create the symbolic link when installing VMware Tools in Linux
VMware Tools fail to start after a Linux guest operating system kernel upgrade
Overview of VMware Tools
VMware support for open-vm-tools

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