Debian Tutorials

Debian Tutorials


Step by step tutorials showing you how to install and configure various applications and services on Debian based Linux distros.

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How to install VMware tools

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The VMware Tools package adds drivers and utilities to improve the graphical performance for different guest operating systems, including mouse tracking. The package also enables some integration between the guest and host systems, including shared folders, plug-and-play devices, clock synchronisation, and cutting-and-pasting across environments.

Compatibility

This tutorial has been tested on the following Linux distributions:

Debian Linux 9 (Stretch)
Debian Linux 8 (Jessie)
Debian Linux 7 (Wheezy)

Last updated:
27th of March 2018

Please note that VMware recommends using open-vm-tools instead of VMware tools as outlined in this article. The benefits of using open-vm-tools include improved stability as the package is optimized for each distribution, automatic updates smaller footprint.

You can find a tutorial on installing open-vm-tools on Debian Tutorials:
How to install open-vm-tools (Open Virtual Machine Tools)

1. Install kernel headers and tools required to compile and install VMware tools:

apt-get install binutils cpp gcc make psmisc linux-headers-$(uname -r)

2. Mount the cdrom drive inside the guest server. Make sure you have mounted the VMware tools virtual cd from the host before moving on.

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt

3. Extract VMware tools to the tmp directory:

tar -C /tmp -zxvf /mnt/VMwareTools-x.x.x-x.tar.gz

The filename depends on the VMware host version.

4. We have already extracted the files to a temporary locations and the virtual disk isn’t needed anymore. Unmount the virtual cd:

umount /mnt

5. Start the installation:

/tmp/vmware-tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl

Accept the defaults for every question.

6. Reboot your server

reboot

VMware tools is now installed and configured.

Comments 1
  • pedroaldiz
    Posted on

    pedroaldiz pedroaldiz

    Author

    Thank you.
    Good tutorial, and very easy to follow it.