Archive for the “Linux” Category


Mar 09 2009

Install VMware Tools on Ubuntu Linux - Reborn

Posted by Gorillapond in Linux, Virtualization

If you work much with virtual machines, you know how important installing VMware Tools can be. Even without the graphical interface of Linux (called X11), there are a number of important features that installing VMware Tools offers you and you really shouldn’t skip it. I’ve struggled with installing VMware Tools on Ubuntu Linux in the past, and I hope you find this guide helpful in making it even quicker and easier. It seems newer versions of Ubuntu and VMware Tools broke my previous instructions. Luck for us, VMware and Ubuntu contributors have made the process easier than it was in the past. Read the rest of this entry »

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Jul 31 2006

Install VMware Tools on Ubuntu

Posted by Gorillapond in Best Of, Information Technology, Linux, Virtualization

Important Notice: This post has been updated using a newer, easier method. Read more here.

I’ve had a really hard time trying to find the way to get VMware Tools on Linux virtual machines, but I’ve got it down to just a few steps. If you’re using a ‘big name’ distribution with a graphical interface, it’s not hard to install. But, I like to use Debian or Ubuntu, without X11 (the aforementioned “graphical interface”), so it’s a pain in the butt.

How to install Vmware Tools on Ubuntu without X11:

  1. Install Ubuntu Server
  2. Login
  3. Create a root shell:sudo bash
  4. Update your sources:apt-get update
  5. Upgrade your installed packages (dist-upgrade to force kernel upgrade):apt-get dist-upgrade
  6. Reboot
  7. Create a root shell again:sudo bash
  8. Install packages VMware Tools needs:apt-get install linux-headers-server build-essential
  9. Install VMware tools
  10. Mount the VMware Tools CD ISO:mount /cdrom
  11. Copy VMware Tools to home:cp /cdrom/VmwareTools-x.x.x-xxxxx.tar.gz ~
  12. Go home:cd ~
  13. Untar/Gzip the install:tar -zxf VmwareTools-x.x.x-xxxxx.tar.gz
  14. Go into the resulting directory:cd vmware-tools-distrib
  15. Start the installer:./vmware-install.pl
  16. Install will ask you questions, the defaults should work fine.
  17. Remove the basic AMD PCnet module (if you get errors about building the ethernet driver, run this command and start at step 14 again):rmmod pcnet32
  18. Rebuild module dependancies:depmod -a
  19. Install the VMware accelerated network interface:modprobe vmxnet
  20. Restart network service:/etc/init.d/networking restart
  21. Reboot

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