ThoughtPolice VMware Images

Installing VMware Tools in Fedora Core 6

Tested with VMware Tools v.5.5.2 (VMwareTools-5.5.2-29772.tar.gz), v.5.5.3 (VMwareTools-5.5.3-34685.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 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-5.5.2-29772.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".

b) If you have VMware-workstation-5.5.2-29772.tar.gz on disk Show answer

  1. Make sure VMware-workstation-5.5.2-29772.tar.gz is on disk inside the VM.
  2. Extract the VMware Tools iso
    tar --strip-components=3 -zxvf VMware-workstation-5.5.2-29772.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-5.5.2-29772.tar.gz /tmp/
  6. Extract VMware Tools to /tmp/
    tar -C /tmp -zxvf /mnt/vmtools-temp/VMwareTools-5.5.2-29772.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".

c) If you have VMwareTools-5.5.2-29772.tar.gz on disk Show answer

  1. Extract VMware Tools to /tmp/
    tar -C /tmp -zxvf VMwareTools-5.5.2-29772.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".

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-5.5.2-29772.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) vmhgfs driver does not compile Show answer

  1. Force an install of the 686 kernel to match the 686 kernel-devel files - run through Common Issues
  2. Reboot
  3. Create a symlink
    cd /usr/src/kernels/$(uname -r)*/include/linux
ln -s autoconf.h config.h
  4. Backup vmware-config.tools.pl
    cp /usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl /usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl.orig
  5. Fix it
    sed -s "s/version\.h/utsrelease\.h/" /usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl.orig > /usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl
  6. Re-run vmware-config.tools.pl
    /usr/bin/vmware-config.tools.pl

4. Not fixed

  • fast ethernet driver compile (unverified fix: here)
  • copy and paste between VM and host

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