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:

[email protected]:~$ 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

[email protected]:~$ 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 :

[email protected]:~$ cd /media/cdrom
[email protected]:/media/cdrom$ ls
manifest.txt  VMwareTools-8.3.7-341836.tar.gz
 
[email protected]:/media/cdrom$ cp VMwareTools-8.3.7-341836.tar.gz /tmp

5. Unmount the VMware Tools CD image :

[email protected]:/media/cdrom$ cd
[email protected]:~$ sudo umount /media/cdrom

6. Extract the compressed VMware Tools installer :

[email protected]:~$ cd /tmp
[email protected]:/tmp$ tar xzvf VMwareTools-8.3.7-341836.tar.gz

7. Change directories into the VMware Tools distribution by running the command:

[email protected]:~$ cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib/
[email protected]:/tmp/vmware-tools-distrib$

8. Install VMware Tools by running the command:

[email protected]:/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