September 2012
Table Of Contents
- Installing and Configuring VMware Tools
- Contents
- About Installing and Configuring VMware Tools
- Components of VMware Tools
- Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools
- Installing VMware Tools
- Upgrading VMware Tools
- Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine
- Automate the Installation of VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine
- Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine
- Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Solaris Virtual Machine
- Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Virtual Machine
- Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine
- Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Mac OS X Virtual Machine
- Repairing, Changing, and Uninstalling VMware Tools Components
- Using the VMware Tools Configuration Utility
- Using Other Methods to Configure VMware Tools
- Security Considerations for Configuring VMware Tools
- Index
4 If the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image is not mounted, mount the CD-ROM drive.
a If a mount point directory does not already exist, create it.
mkdir /mnt/cdrom
Some Linux distributions use different mount point names. For example, on some distributions the
mount point is /media/VMware Tools rather than /mnt/cdrom. Modify the command to reflect the
conventions that your distribution uses.
b Mount the CD-ROM drive.
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
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
command to reflect the conventions that your distribution uses.
5 Change to a working directory (for example, /tmp).
cd /tmp
6 Delete any previous vmware-tools-distrib directory before you install VMware Tools.
The location of this directory depends on where you placed it during the previous installation. Often this
directory is placed in /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib.
7 List the contents of the mount point directory and note the filename of the VMware Tools tar installer.
ls
mount-point
8 Uncompress the installer.
tar zxpf /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-
x.x.x
-
yyyy
.tar.gz
The value x.x.x is the product version number, and yyyy is the build number of the product release.
If you attempt to install a tar installation over an RPM installation, or the reverse, the installer detects the
previous installation and must convert the installer database format before continuing.
9 If necessary, unmount the CD-ROM image.
umount /dev/cdrom
If your Linux distribution automatically mounted the CD-ROM, you do not need to unmount the image.
10 Run the installer and configure VMware Tools.
cd vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl
Usually, the vmware-config-tools.pl configuration file runs after the installer file finishes running.
11 Respond to the prompts by pressing Enter to accept the default values, if appropriate for your
configuration.
12 Follow the instructions at the end of the script.
Depending on the features you use, these instructions can include restarting the X session, restarting
networking, logging in again, and starting the VMware User process. You can alternatively reboot the
guest operating system to accomplish all these tasks.
If you are using vCenter Server, the VMware Tools label on the Summary tab changes to OK.
Chapter 2 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools
VMware, Inc. 21