Installing VMware Tools

VMwareTools Rpm Installation

mkdir /mnt/cdrom
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
cd /tmp
rpm -Uhv /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools*.i386.rpm
umount /dev/cdrom

Not sure what to do if you are installing a 64 bit client.
Configure VMware Tools. Accept all of the defaults. Choose screen size 3 (800x600).

vmware-config-tools.pl

For some linux versions, e.g. Centos 5, the Vmware Console throws an error saying that the version of linux is not supported when using the above procedure. In this case, modify the VM's cdrom in the Vmware Console to point to /usr/lib/vmware/isoimages/linux.iso . After mounting the cdrom inside the VM, VmwareTools...rpm and VmwareTools...tar.gz are then available for copying or installation.

On some kernels (at least 2.6.24, perhaps others under vmware server 1.04), vmware-config-tools.pl throws off errors when attempting to create the faster vmxnet network connection and the shared disk drive. One solution requires that the vmware code on the guest be modified, which does not seem to be worth the trouble. Upgrading to vmware-config-tools.pl 1.05 did not seem to correct the problem. If a faster network device is required you will need to explore this issue further. After vmware-config-tools.pl fails to create the vmxnet module, you can either reboot to restore the pcnet32 module or use these commands:

modprobe pcnet32
service network start

 VM -> Install VMware Tools...

This makes the VM think that the VMware tools CD is in the CD drive. You do not need to have the virtual CD drive actually powered on to do this.

 mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt

 cd /tmp

 cp /mnt/VMwareTools-*.tar.gz .

 tar -zxf VMwareTools-*.tar.gz
 cd vmware-tools-distrib
 ./vmware-install.pl

 umount /mnt