ThoughtPolice VMware Images

Installing VMware Tools in Fedora Core 5

Tested with VMware Tools v.5.5.1 (VMwareTools-5.5.1-19175.tar.gz).

1. Install software needed by VMware Tools

  1. Install packages to build the kernel modules
    yum install gcc kernel-devel
  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 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-5.5.1-19175.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 "No", and follow on from 3. Install VMware Tools below.

b) If you have VMware-workstation-5.5.1-19175.tar.gz on disk Show answer

  1. Make sure VMware-workstation-5.5.1-19175.tar.gz is on disk inside the VM.
  2. Extract the VMware Tools iso
    tar --strip-components=3 -zxvf VMware-workstation-5.5.1-19175.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-5.5.1-19175.tar.gz /tmp/
  6. Extract VMware Tools to /tmp/
    tar -C /tmp -zxvf /mnt/vmtools-temp/VMwareTools-5.5.1-19175.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 "No", and follow on from 3. Install VMware Tools below.

c) If you have VMwareTools-5.5.1-19175.tar.gz on disk Show answer

  1. Extract VMware Tools to /tmp/
    tar -C /tmp -zxvf VMwareTools-5.5.1-19175.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 "No", and follow on from 3. Install VMware Tools 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-5.5.1-19175.tar.gz on disk, above.

3. Install VMware Tools

Note: Version 5.5.1 of VMware Tools requires a patch, shown below. If you are using a later version of VMware Tools, this is not be required. Try running /usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl first without the patch, and only if it fails follow this section.

  1. Backup your existing file
    cp /usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl /usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl.orig
  2. Patch the file (see note above)
    cd /tmp/
wget http://platan.vc.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/vmware-tools-any-update2.tar.gz
tar zxvf vmware-tools-any-update2.tar.gz
cd vmware-tools-any-update2/
./runme.pl
  3. When asked Do you want to run vmware-config-tools.pl?, answer "Yes".

4. Fixes

a) Your mouse is stuck inside your VM Show answer

  1. Edit the X config file
    vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  2. Look for the section Secton "InputDevice"
  3. Change the Driver "mouse" to Driver "vmmouse"
  4. Create a link to the driver
    ln -s /usr/lib/vmware-tools/configurator/XOrg/6.8.x/vmmouse_drv.o /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/
  5. Restart X.

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