ThoughtPolice VMware Images

Installing VMware Tools in Fedora 7

Tested with VMware Tools v.5.5.4 (VMwareTools-5.5.3-44386.tar.gz).

1. Install software needed by VMware Tools

  1. Install packages to build the kernel modules
    yum install gcc kernel-devel gcc-c++
  2. Check the running kernel matches the kernel headers
    uname -r             # running kernel
rpm -q kernel-devel  # installed kernel headers
  3. If the two versions do not match, run
    yum -y upgrade kernel kernel-devel
reboot
  4. Find out where the kernel headers are (you may need this later)
    ls -d /usr/src/kernels/$(uname -r)*/include

2. Prepare and install VMware Tools

Choose one of a), b), c) or d).

a) If you are running the VM inside VMware Workstation 5.5 Show answer

  1. From VMware Workstation: go to VM> Install VMware Tools
  2. From the VM: mount the virtual cd drive
    mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/
  3. Extract VMware Tools to /tmp/
    tar -C /tmp -zxvf /mnt/VMwareTools-5.5.4-44386.tar.gz
  4. Unmount the virtual cd drive
    umount /mnt
  5. Now run the installer
    cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl
  6. When asked Do you want to run vmware-config-tools.pl?, answer "Yes".
  7. When asked if you want vmware-config-tools.pl to try and fix your xorg.conf, say "No", and follow Fixes below.

b) If you have VMware-workstation-5.5.4-44386.tar.gz on disk Show answer

  1. Make sure VMware-workstation-5.5.4-44386.tar.gz is on disk inside the VM.
  2. Extract the VMware Tools iso
    tar --strip-components=3 -zxvf VMware-workstation-5.5.4-44386.tar.gz \
vmware-distrib/lib/isoimages/linux.iso
  3. Create a temporary mount point
    mkdir /mnt/vmtools-temp
  4. Mount the iso image
    mount -o loop linux.iso /mnt/vmtools-temp
  5. Copy VMware Tools from the mount
    cp /mnt/vmtools-temp/VMwareTools-5.5.4-44386.tar.gz /tmp/
  6. Extract VMware Tools to /tmp/
    tar -C /tmp -zxvf /mnt/vmtools-temp/VMwareTools-5.5.4-44386.tar.gz
  7. Tidy up
    umount /mnt/vmtools-temp
rmdir /mnt/vmtools-temp
rm linux.iso
  8. Now run the installer
    cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl
  9. When asked Do you want to run vmware-config-tools.pl?, answer "Yes".
  10. When asked if you want vmware-config-tools.pl to try and fix your xorg.conf, say "No", and follow Fixes below.

c) If you have VMwareTools-5.5.4-44386.tar.gz on disk Show answer

  1. Extract VMware Tools to /tmp/
    tar -C /tmp -zxvf VMwareTools-5.5.4-44386.tar.gz
  2. Now run the installer
    cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl
  3. When asked Do you want to run vmware-config-tools.pl?, answer "Yes".
  4. When asked if you want vmware-config-tools.pl to try and fix your xorg.conf, say "No", and follow Fixes below.

d) If you cannot do any of these Show answer

  1. Download VMware Workstation Trial (free) from
    http://www.vmware.com/download/ws/
  2. Go to If you have VMwareTools-5.5.4-44386.tar.gz on disk, above.

3. Fixes

a) X does not work/"undefined monitor" problem Show answer

You get the error Undefined Monitor "vmware"..

  1. Edit the X config file
    vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  2. Add the lines
    Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "vmware"
EndSection
  3. Restart X

b) Your mouse is stuck inside your VM Show answer

  1. Edit the X config file
    vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  2. Add the lines
    Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier "Mouse0"
	Driver "vmmouse"
	Option "Protocol" "Auto"
	Option "Device" "/dev/input/mouse0"
EndSection
  3. Find the ServerLayout section, in that section, add the line
    	InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
  4. Restart X

c) Your X resolution is too low Show answer

  1. Make sure you have X working
  2. Backup your xorg config file
    cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.works
  3. Re-run vmware-config-tools.pl
  4. For the final question "Do you want to change your resolution?", answer Yes.

d) fast ethernet driver compile problem Show answer

cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib/lib/modules/source
tar xf vmxnet.tar 
cp vmxnet-only/vmxnet.c vmxnet-only/vmxnet.c.orig
wget http://www.thoughtpolice.co.uk/vmware/howto/patch2-vmxnet.c.patch
patch -u vmxnet-only/vmxnet.c < patch2-vmxnet.c.patch
tar cf vmxnet.tar vmxnet-only/
cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl

Credit

4. Not fixed

  • copy and paste between VM and host

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