ThoughtPolice VMware Images

Installing VMware Tools in Fedora 9

Tested with VMware Tools v.6.0.5 (VMwareTools-6.0.5-109488.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 6.0 Show answer

  1. From VMware Workstation: go to VM> Install VMware Tools
  2. The drive should be automounted
    cd "/media/VMware Tools"
  3. Extract VMware Tools to /tmp/
    tar -C /tmp -zxvf VMwareTools-6.0.5-109488.tar.gz
  4. Now run the installer
    cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
    ./vmware-install.pl
  5. When asked Do you want to run vmware-config-tools.pl?, answer "Yes".
  6. 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 VMwareTools-6.0.5-109488.tar.gz on disk Show answer

  1. Make sure VMwareTools-6.0.5-109488.tar.gz is on disk inside the VM.
  2. Extract the VMware Tools iso
    tar --strip-components=3 -zxvf VMwareTools-6.0.5-109488.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-6.0.5-109488.tar.gz /tmp/
  6. Extract VMware Tools to /tmp/
    tar -C /tmp -zxvf /mnt/vmtools-temp/VMwareTools-6.0.5-109488.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-6.0.5-109488.tar.gz on disk Show answer

  1. Extract VMware Tools to /tmp/
    tar -C /tmp -zxvf VMwareTools-6.0.5-109488.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-6.0.5-109488.tar.gz on disk, above.

3. Fixes

a) Your host system's keyboard is broken Show answer

No "correct" fix yet, but this works:

  1. From a console window in X, run:
    setxkbmap -model pc105 -layout de
    (replace de with your layout.

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