VMware Tools is a group of utilities and drivers that enhances the performance of the virtual machine’s guest operating system and improves interaction between the guest and the host when running on a VMware Esx/Esxi, VMware Player, VMware Server or VMware Workstation. This post will show you how to install VMware Tools on Ubuntu 14.04. There are multiple way to install VMware Tools into an Ubuntu VM. This post will describe how you can install VMware Tools from vSphere client installer.
1. Install required packages:
ehowstuff@ubuntu14:~$ sudo-get install build-essential linux-header-$(uname -r)
2. Login to vCenter using vsphere client, right clicking on the Ubuntu 14.04 VM, selecting “Guest”, and then choosing “Install VMware Tools”.
3. Mount the VMware Tools CD image to /media/cdrom
ehowstuff@ubuntu14:~$ sudo mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom mount: block device /dev/sr0 is write-protected, mounting read-only
4. Copy the compressed VMware Tools installer files to /tmp in the local directory :
ehowstuff@ubuntu14:~$ cd /media/cdrom ehowstuff@ubuntu14:/media/cdrom$ ls manifest.txt VMwareTools-8.3.7-341836.tar.gz ehowstuff@ubuntu14:/media/cdrom$ cp VMwareTools-8.3.7-341836.tar.gz /tmp
5. Unmount the VMware Tools CD image :
ehowstuff@ubuntu14:/media/cdrom$ cd ehowstuff@ubuntu14:~$ sudo umount /media/cdrom
6. Extract the compressed VMware Tools installer :
ehowstuff@ubuntu14:~$ cd /tmp ehowstuff@ubuntu14:/tmp$ tar xzvf VMwareTools-8.3.7-341836.tar.gz
7. Change directories into the VMware Tools distribution by running the command:
ehowstuff@ubuntu14:~$ cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib/ ehowstuff@ubuntu14:/tmp/vmware-tools-distrib$
8. Install VMware Tools by running the command:
ehowstuff@ubuntu14:/tmp/vmware-tools-distrib$ sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d Creating a new VMware Tools installer database using the tar4 format. Installing VMware Tools. In which directory do you want to install the binary files? [/usr/bin] What is the directory that contains the init directories (rc0.d/ to rc6.d/)? [/etc] What is the directory that contains the init scripts? [/etc/init.d] In which directory do you want to install the daemon files? [/usr/sbin] In which directory do you want to install the library files? [/usr/lib/vmware-tools] The path "/usr/lib/vmware-tools" does not exist currently. This program is going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want? [yes] In which directory do you want to install the documentation files? [/usr/share/doc/vmware-tools] The path "/usr/share/doc/vmware-tools" does not exist currently. This program is going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want? [yes] The installation of VMware Tools 8.3.7 build-341836 for Linux completed successfully. You can decide to remove this software from your system at any time by invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-uninstall-tools.pl". Before running VMware Tools for the first time, you need to configure it by invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl". Do you want this program to invoke the command for you now? [yes] Initializing... WARNING: A module identified as vsock has been found at /lib/modules/3.13.0-24-generic/kernel/net/vmw_vsock/vsock.ko and at /lib/modules/3.13.0-24-generic/kernel/net/vmw_vsock/vmw_vsock_vmci_transport.ko. Leaving both modules in there could potentially cause a race condition when a device is added. We reccomend you remove one of them, run 'depmod -a' and then re-run this configurator. Stopping VMware Tools services in the virtual machine: Guest operating system daemon: done Virtual Printing daemon: done Unmounting HGFS shares: done Guest filesystem driver: done update-rc.d: warning: start runlevel arguments (S) do not match vmware-tools Default-Start values (2 3 5) Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/vmware-tools ... /etc/rc0.d/S36vmware-tools -> ../init.d/vmware-tools /etc/rc6.d/S36vmware-tools -> ../init.d/vmware-tools /etc/rcS.d/S38vmware-tools -> ../init.d/vmware-tools The module vmmemctl has already been installed on this system by another installer or package and will not be modified by this installer. Use the flag --clobber-kernel-modules=vmmemctl to override. WARNING: This program cannot compile any modules for the following reason(s)... - This program could not find a valid path to the kernel headers of the running kernel. Please ensure that the header files for the running kernel are installed on this sytem. [ Press Enter key to continue ] The filesystem driver (vmhgfs module) is used only for the shared folder feature. The rest of the software provided by VMware Tools is designed to work independently of this feature. If you wish to have the shared folders feature, you can install the driver by running vmware-config-tools.pl again after making sure that gcc, binutils, make and the kernel sources for your running kernel are installed on your machine. These packages are available on your distribution's installation CD. [ Press Enter key to continue ] The fast network device driver (vmxnet module) is used only for our fast networking interface. The rest of the software provided by VMware Tools is designed to work independently of this feature. If you wish to have the fast network driver enabled, you can install the driver by running vmware-config-tools.pl again after making sure that gcc, binutils, make and the kernel sources for your running kernel are installed on your machine. These packages are available on your distribution's installation CD. [ Press Enter key to continue ] The vmblock module enables dragging or copying files from within a host and dropping or pasting them onto your guest (host to guest drag and drop and file copy/paste). The rest of the software provided by VMware Tools is designed to work independently of this feature (including guest to host drag and drop and file copy/paste). If you would like the host to guest drag and drop and file copy/paste features, you can install the driver by running vmware-config-tools.pl again after making sure that gcc, binutils, make and the kernel sources for your running kernel are installed on your machine. These packages are available on your distribution's installation CD. [ Press Enter key to continue ] The module vmci has already been installed on this system by another installer or package and will not be modified by this installer. Use the flag --clobber-kernel-modules=vmci to override. The module vsock has already been installed on this system by another installer or package and will not be modified by this installer. Use the flag --clobber-kernel-modules=vsock to override. The module vmxnet3 has already been installed on this system by another installer or package and will not be modified by this installer. Use the flag --clobber-kernel-modules=vmxnet3 to override. The module pvscsi has already been installed on this system by another installer or package and will not be modified by this installer. Use the flag --clobber-kernel-modules=pvscsi to override. No X install found. Creating a new initrd boot image for the kernel. update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-24-generic Starting VMware Tools services in the virtual machine: Switching to guest configuration: done Guest operating system daemon: done Virtual Printing daemon: done The configuration of VMware Tools 8.3.7 build-341836 for Linux for this running kernel completed successfully. You must restart your X session before any mouse or graphics changes take effect. You can now run VMware Tools by invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-toolbox" during an X server session. To enable advanced X features (e.g., guest resolution fit, drag and drop, and file and text copy/paste), you will need to do one (or more) of the following: 1. Manually start /usr/bin/vmware-user 2. Log out and log back into your desktop session; and, 3. Restart your X session. Enjoy, --the VMware team
Note: The -d switch assumes that you want to accept the defaults. If you don’t use -d switch, kindly choose the default for all questions.
9. Once installed, reboot the virtual machine :
ehowstuff@ubuntu14:~$ sudo reboot