29/11/2016 Installing VMware Tools in an Ubuntu virtual machine (1022525) | VMware KB

Installing VMware Tools in an Ubuntu virtual

machine (1022525)
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Purpose

This article provides the steps to install VMware Tools in an Ubuntu virtual machine.

Note: Whenever the Linux kernel (operating system) is updated, VMware Tools must be reinstalled.

Resolution

Installing VMware Tools in ...

To install VMware Tools, you must mount the VMware Tools CD image, extract the contents (VMware Tools), and
then run the installer.

Note: If VMware Tools is already installed, use these steps to uninstall and then reinstall VMware Tools. When there
is product updates, the VMware Tools package is also updated, so an update of the installed version of VMware
Tools is required.

Ubuntu or Ubuntu Server with a graphical user interface

To mount the CD image and extract the contents:
1. Power on the virtual machine.
2. Log in to the virtual machine using an account with administrator or root privileges.

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3. Select:

For Fusion: Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools.

For Workstation: VM > Install VMware Tools.
For Player: Player > Manage > Install VMware Tools.

Note: If you are running the light version of Fusion, a version of Workstation without VMware Tools, or
VMware Player, you are prompted to download VMware Tools before they can be installed. Click Download
Now to begin the download.

4. Open the VMware Tools CD mounted on the Ubuntu desktop.

5. Right-click the file name that is similar to VMwareTools.x.x.x-xxxx.tar.gz , click Extract to, and select
Ubuntu Desktop to save the extracted contents.

The vmware-tools-distrib folder is extracted to the Ubuntu Desktop.

To install VMware Tools in Ubuntu:

1. Open a Terminal window. For more information, see Opening a command or shell prompt (1003892)
(/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&externalId=1003892).

2. In the Terminal, run this command to navigate to the vmware-tools-distrib folder:

cd Desktop/ vmware-tools-distrib

3. Run this command to install VMware Tools:

sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d

Note: The -d switch assumes that you want to accept the defaults. If you do not use -d , press Return to
accept the defaults or supply your own answers.

4. Enter your Ubuntu password.

5. Restart the Ubuntu virtual machine after the VMware Tools installation completes.

Ubuntu Server with only a command line interface

1. Go to Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools (or VM > Install VMware Tools).

Note: If you are running the light version of Fusion, or a version of Workstation without VMware Tools, or
VMware Player, you are prompted to download the Tools before they can be installed. Click Download Now
to begin the download.

2. In the Ubuntu guest, run these commands:

a. Run this command to create a directory to mount the CD-ROM:

sudo mkdir /mnt/cdrom

When prompted for a password, enter your Ubuntu admin user password.

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Note: For security reasons, the typed password is not displayed. You do not need to enter your
password again for the next five minutes.

b. Run this command to mount the CD-ROM:

sudo mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom or sudo mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom

c. The file name of the VMware Tools bundle varies depending on your version of the VMware product.
Run this command to find the exact name:

ls /mnt/cdrom

d. Run this command to extract the contents of the VMware Tools bundle:

tar xzvf /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-x.x.x-xxxx.tar.gz -C /tmp/

Note: x.x.x-xxxx is the version discovered in the previous step.

e. Run this command to change directories into the VMware Tools distribution:

cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib/

f. Run this command to install VMware Tools:

sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d

Note: The -d switch assumes that you want to accept the defaults. If you do not use -d , press
Return to accept each default or supply your own answers.

3. Run this command to reboot the virtual machine after the installation completes:

sudo reboot

Additional Information

These are dependencies of VMware Tools. These packages must be available on the Linux operating system
before installing VMware Tools.

gcc

binutils

make

kernel sources

Related Education

For more information on VMware Tools, see:

Workstation and Player: Overview of VMware Tools (340) (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/340)
Fusion: Overview of VMware Tools for VMware Fusion (1022048) (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1022048)

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For translated versions of this article, see:

Español: Cómo instalar VMware Tools en una máquina virtual en Ubuntu (2035799) (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2035799)
Português: Instalar VMware Tools em uma máquina virtual Ubuntu (2037288) (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2037288)
简体中文: 在 Ubuntu 虚拟机中安装 VMware Tools (2041399) (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2041399)

See Also

Opening a command or shell prompt (1003892) ( http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003892)

Manually building VMware Tools kernel modules in Ubuntu guests (1008973) ( http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1008973)
Installing VMware Tools in a Linux virtual machine using Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) (1018392) (
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1018392)

Cómo instalar VMware Tools en una máquina virtual en Ubuntu (2035799) ( http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2035799)
Instalar VMware Tools em uma máquina virtual Ubuntu (2037288) ( http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2037288)
在 Ubuntu 虚拟机中安装 VMware Tools (2041399) ( http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2041399)
Ubuntu 仮想マシンに VMware Tools をインストールする (2078905) ( http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2078905)
Overview of VMware Tools (340) ( http://kb.vmware.com/kb/340)

Update History

07/16/2010 - Added instructions for Ubuntu Server. 08/02/2010 - Added note about kernel updates. 12/23/2010 -
Added explanations about Xserver and the light version of Fusion. 02/09/2011 - Clarified Xserver, added switch to
accept defaults during Tools install 05/09/2011 - Added instructions for Workstation and Player. 05/04/2012 -
Added alternate mount command for Ubuntu server. (sudo mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom) 08/23/2012 - Added
Fusion 5.x and Workstation 9.x to Products 09/05/2013 - Added Fusion 6.x, Player 6.x, and Workstation 10.x to
Products 02/12/2014 - Updated for Workstation 11.x 02/12/2014 - Updated for Player 7.x 08/25/2014 - Updated
for Fusion 7.x

Request a Product Feature

To request a new product feature or to provide feedback on a VMware product, please visit the Request a Product
Feature (http://www.vmware.com/contact/contactus.html?department=prod_request) page.
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KB: 1022525
Updated: Sep 13, 2016
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