Problems Installing VMware Tools When the Guest CD-ROM Drive Is Locked

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

I am unable to install VMware Tools in an Ubuntu or Solaris guest when the guest CD-ROM drive is locked. The contents of the VMware Tools ISO image seem wrong or corrupted. What should I do?

Environment

VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware Workstation 6.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 6.x (Linux)

Resolution

With some guest operating systems, including Ubuntu Linux and Solaris, you might encounter problems installing VMware Tools when the guest CD-ROM drive is locked. The guest is prevented from noticing media changes and thus reading the VMware Tools ISO image in the guest's virtual CD-ROM drive.

To work around this problem, eject the CD-ROM from within the guest and retry the VMware Tools installation. In Ubuntu Linux and Solaris, right-click the CD-ROM icon and select Eject. In Solaris, you can also use the eject command from the command line prompt. For details, see the man page for the eject command (man eject).

Additional Information

For translated versions of this article, see:

• 日本語: ゲスト CD-ROM ドライブがロックされているときの VMware Tools のインストールの問題 (2126681)