[Update: the problem described below is now fixed]
Unfortunately installing vmware-tools inside of Ubuntu Dapper Drake does not by default give you the ability to resize your desktop - I was getting an error message during the tools config saying “No X install found”. I spent some time searching the web, reading the vmware forums, etc. and finally found some nice people who had come up with a solution. Even once you have installed it using these instructions, you need to use the Preferences->Screen resolution menu from inside Ubuntu to do it instead of just resizing the vmware menu. Anyhow, here are the instructions.
- Start up a terminal window and do the following:
sudo bash apt-get install build-essential apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`
- Get the patch text from here and drop it into /tmp/patch.txt.
[Update: changed the link to a locally cached copy, since the original source seems to be down]
- Get the vmware-tools-any update by doing this:
cd /tmp wget http://platan.vc.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/vmware-tools-any-update1.tar.gz tar xzf vmware-tools-any-update1.tar.gz
- From vmware menu, choose vm->install vmware tools - you should see a mounted CD image show up on the desktop. Back in your terminal window, do the following:
cd /tmp tar xzvf /cdrom/VMwareTools*.tar.gz cd vmware-tools-distrib/ ./vmware-install.pl
During vmware-install.pl, I chose the default answers to everything but at the end did not choose to launch vmware-config-tools.pl.
- Then do this in your terminal:
cd /tmp/vmware-tools-any-update1/ ./runme.pl
Again, choose to not run vmware-config-tools.pl yet
cd /usr/bin patch vmware-config-tools.pl /tmp/patch.txt ./vmware-config-tools.pl
- Lastly, you can edit your config to use the vmware mouse:
perl -p -i.bak -e 's/\"mouse\"/\"vmmouse\"/' /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Thanks for laying this out nicely for us–very timely. Can you please update the link on step 2 or provide the details the link is no longer valid. I need to get past the /tmp/patch.txt step.
I updated the link to point to a copy I happened to have saved.
I just wanted to says thanks for providing this guide. I’ve been struggling with getting Vmware Tools installed for a few weeks now and every other guide that i’ve used left me scratching my head. Yours has me running tools without a problem.
My only suggestion would be to put in the restart X commands that are needed to get the tools to work (if it is actually needed). I just used:
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
-then-
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start
Thanks for putting this up. Life is much better now that I have more real estate. I wanted to also let you know that I found this to work on a Fedora Core 5 install as well, that was having the same issue.
Thanks Anthony. You explained it clearly for many.
the last step crashed my x server (Lastly, you can edit your config to use the vmware mouse:
perl -p -i.bak -e ’s/\”mouse\”/\”vmmouse\”/’ /etc/X11/xorg.conf)
i skipped that and it seems to work ok with my mouse
the vmware tools any update 1 tar has been moved to : http://knihovny.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/obsolete/
there is a update2 tar in http://knihovny.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/
Absolutely great, thank you for your tips, those were the only ones that really worked for me.
[...] Ci sono diverse soluzioni a questo problema. La più diffusa è quella basata su una versione ‘modificata’ dei vmware tools ed è descritta accuratamente su asargent.com (Antony’s Blog) nonchè riportata su diversi post di vmware technology network come questo e questo. [...]
thx a lot man… this really works for my ubuntu 6.06 LTS version…
and the vmware update tools has been moved to :
vmware-tools-any-update2.tar.gz
Thanks for the tip. It’s working like a charm.
i can’t download this file “vmware-tools-any-update1.tar.gz”
Sounds like the link original vmware-tools-any-update link may now be dead - you might try this one:
http://platan.vc.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/vmware-any-any-update109.tar.gz
Using the patch provided at http://asargent.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/patch.txt however can’t be applied on the vmware-config-tools.pl script provided with VMWare tools 3.0.1. Anybody suggestions?
@bruno : Sorry I don’t have any pointers for you. All I can tell you is I’ve upgraded to vmware workstation 6 with a ubuntu 7.10 guest and the tools seem to install with no problems (needing no additional patches).