Install VMware tools on Ubuntu Server

29 April, 2016

1. Enable Shared folders

Edit virtual machine settings, go to Options / Shared folders, set to Always enabled and add a host folder to the Folders list. Run virtual machine and login to Ubuntu Server with your username and password.

2. Update package repository

sudo apt-get update

3. Instal dependencies

sudo apt-get install gcc binutils make linux-source

4. Start with the VMware Tools installation

Click "Install VMware Tools..." in the window menu of the virtual machine. If the prompt window appears (Disconnect anyway and override the lock?), click Yes.

5. Create mount directory for CD-ROM

sudo mkdir /mnt/cdrom

6. Mount virtual CD-ROM to created folder

sudo mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

7. Extract .tar file

sudo tar xzvf /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-?.?.?-???????.tar.gz -C /tmp/

Tar file should be named as the file that is listed in the /mnt/cdrom folder.

8. Navigate to the extracted location

cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib

9. Run installation

sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d

10. Reboot the system and the VMware Tools are installed.

sudo reboot