A colleague asked me recently how to install VMware tools on a Linux virtual machine. Remember you should always consult the vendors documentation to confirm their preferred method for providing VMware tools type functionality. As well as the official VMware tools package you can also install the ‘Open VM Tools’ package.
Again – consult the documentation for your Linux/appliance product and make sure you select the right one.
The commands I use are listed below.
Installing VMware Tools
mkdir /mnt/cdrom mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom cp /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-*.tar.gz /tmp tar -zxf /tmp/VMwareTools-*.tar.gz -C /tmp cd / ./tmp/vmware-tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl --default rm -f /tmp/VMwareTools-*.tar.gz rm -rf /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
Remember it may be necessary to use sudo for commands to complete.
Installing Open VM Tools
Assume we are using Ubuntu server as an example –
apt-get install open-vm-tools
Remember it may be necessary to use sudo for commands to complete.
References
Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine