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 Installing VMware Tools in the Guest Operating System

Installing VMware Tools in the Guest Operating System

This section describes how to install VMware Tools and the network driver in the guest operating system.

It is very important that you install VMware Tools in the guest operating system. If you do not install VMware Tools, the graphics environment within the virtual machine is limited to VGA mode graphics (640x480, 16 color).

With the VMware Tools SVGA driver installed, virtual machines support up to 32-bit displays and high display resolution, with significantly faster overall graphics performance.

Other tools in the package support time synchronization between server and guest, automatic grab and release of the mouse cursor, copying and pasting between guest and the management workstation, and improved networking performance.

Note the following:

  • The steps for each guest operating system assume that you are working from a remote console connected to your virtual machine.
  • Prepare your virtual machine to install VMware Tools. Choose Settings > VMware Tools Install.

    This option prepares the CD-ROM drive in the virtual machine to use an ISO image file containing the VMware Tools packages. This image, which appears as a regular CD-ROM disk in the virtual machine, was placed on your server machine when you installed VMware ESX Server.

Installing VMware Tools in a Windows Server 2003 Guest

Installing VMware Tools in a Windows Server 2003 Guest

  1. Choose Settings > VMware Tools Install.

    This step connects the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive to an ISO image file on the ESX Server machine. If autorun is enabled in your guest operating system (the default setting for Windows operating systems), a dialog box appears after a few seconds. It asks if you want to install VMware Tools. Click Install to launch the installation wizard.

    If autorun is not enabled, the dialog box does not appear automatically. If it doesn't appear, run VMwareTools.exe from the CD-ROM drive (choose Start > Run > D:\VMwareTools.exe, where D: is the first CD-ROM drive in your virtual machine) to install VMware Tools.

  2. During the installation, two Hardware Installation messages appear, stating that the VMware SVGA and VMware Pointing Device drivers have not passed Windows Logo testing. Accept these messages and continue.
  3. Reboot the guest operating system when prompted.

When the installation completes, ESX Server disconnects the ISO image file and returns the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive to its original configuration.

Installing VMware Tools in a Windows XP Guest

Installing VMware Tools in a Windows XP Guest

  1. Choose Settings > VMware Tools Install.

    This step connects the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive to an ISO image file on the ESX Server machine. If autorun is enabled in your guest operating system (the default setting for Windows operating systems), a dialog box appears after a few seconds. It asks if you want to install VMware Tools. Click Install to launch the installation wizard.

    If autorun is not enabled, the dialog box does not appear automatically. If it doesn't appear, run VMwareTools.exe from the CD-ROM drive (choose Start > Run > D:\VMwareTools.exe, where D: is the first CD-ROM drive in your virtual machine) to install VMware Tools.

  2. During the installation, two Hardware Installation messages appear, stating that the VMware SVGA and VMware Pointing Device drivers have not passed Windows Logo testing. Accept these messages and continue.
  3. Reboot the guest operating system when prompted.

When the installation completes, ESX Server disconnects the ISO image file and returns the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive to its original configuration.

Installing VMware Tools in a Windows 2000 Guest

Installing VMware Tools in a Windows 2000 Guest

  1. Choose Settings > VMware Tools Install.

    This step connects the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive to an ISO image file on the ESX Server machine. If autorun is enabled in your guest operating system (the default setting for Windows operating systems), a dialog box appears after a few seconds. It asks if you want to install VMware Tools. Click Install to launch the installation wizard.

    If autorun is not enabled, the dialog box does not appear automatically. If it doesn't appear, run VMwareTools.exe from the CD-ROM drive (Start > Run > D:\VMwareTools.exe, where D: is the first CD-ROM drive in your virtual machine) to install VMware Tools.

  2. When installation is complete, choose Settings > Cancel Tools Install to disconnect the ISO image file and return the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive to its original configuration.
Installing VMware Tools and the Network Driver in a Windows NT 4.0 Guest

Installing VMware Tools and the Network Driver in a Windows NT 4.0 Guest

  1. Choose Settings > VMware Tools Install.

    This step connects the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive to an ISO image file on the ESX Server machine. If autorun is enabled in your guest operating system (the default setting for Windows operating systems), a dialog box appears after a few seconds. It asks if you want to install VMware Tools. Click Install to launch the installation wizard.

    If autorun is not enabled, the dialog box does not appear automatically. If it doesn't appear, run VMwareTools.exe from the CD-ROM drive (choose Start > Run > D:\VMwareTools.exe, where D: is the first CD-ROM drive in your virtual machine) to install VMware Tools.

  2. Do one of the following:
    • If you configured this virtual machine to use the vlance network driver, go to step 5.
    • If you configured this virtual machine to use the vmxnet network driver, choose Start > Control Panel > Network > Adapters and click Add.
  3. Click Have Disk and enter D:\vmnet\winnt in the Insert Disk dialog (where D: is the first CD-ROM drive in your virtual machine). Click OK when VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter is displayed in the Select OEM Option dialog. The VMware network driver is installed.
  4. Click Close in the Adapters dialog box to complete the installation. Windows lets you configure the Internet address for the card.

    If you are installing on a virtual machine that was created with VMware Workstation and used networking, you must use an address different from the one the original network configuration used (since that address is still assigned to the now nonexistent virtual AMD card). Or you can change the address assigned to the AMD card at this point.

    Note: The VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter driver runs correctly only if you have Service Pack 3 or later installed. If you do not have the proper service pack installed yet, you may get an error message such as: "System Process — Driver Entry Point Not Found; The \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\vmxnet.sys device driver could not locate the entry point NdisGetFirstBufferFromPacket in driver NDIS.SYS." However, even if you get this message, the driver should work if you subsequently install the correct service pack.

  5. When installation is complete, and before you reboot, choose Settings > Cancel Tools Install to disconnect the ISO image file and return the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive to its original configuration.
  6. Reboot the virtual machine.
Installing VMware Tools in a Linux Guest

Installing VMware Tools in a Linux Guest

  1. Choose Settings > VMware Tools Install, then click Install.

    This step connects the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive to an ISO image file on the ESX Server machine.

  2. In your Linux guest, become root, mount the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM, copy the installer file from the virtual CD-ROM to /tmp, then unmount the CD-ROM.

    su
    mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt
    cp /mnt/vmware-linux-tools.tar.gz /tmp
    umount /dev/cdrom

  3. Untar the VMware Tools tar file in /tmp and install it.

    cd /tmp
    tar zxf vmware-linux-tools.tar.gz
    cd vmware-tools-distrib
    ./vmware-install.pl

    Note: When installing VMware Tools in some versions of Linux, the installer will need to recompile VMware Tools. For this to work, you need to have a C compiler installed in the guest. In some cases you may get compiler warning messages during the VMware Tools installation. However, the control panel and drivers still work correctly.

  4. Follow the remaining steps. Choose directories for the various files.
  5. Choose a display size for the virtual machine. Enter the number for the choice and press Enter.
  6. If you wish, start X and your graphical environment and launch the VMware Tools background application.

    vmware-toolbox &

Note: If you created this virtual machine using the vmxnet driver, you now need to run netconfig or another network configuration utility in the virtual machine to set up the virtual network adapter.

Installing VMware Tools in a NetWare 6.5 or 5.1 SP6 Virtual Machine

Installing VMware Tools in a NetWare 6.5 or 5.1 SP6 Virtual Machine

  1. Power on the virtual machine.
  2. Prepare your virtual machine to install VMware Tools.

    Choose File > Install VMware Tools.

The remaining steps take place inside the virtual machine.

  1. Load the CD-ROM driver so the CD-ROM device mounts the ISO image as a volume. Do one of the following:
    1. In the system console for a NetWare 6.5 virtual machine, type:

      LOAD CDROM

    2. In the system console for a NetWare 5.1 virtual machine, type:

      LOAD CD9660.NSS

  2. When the driver finishes loading, you can begin installing VMware Tools. In the system console, type:

    vmwtools:\setup.ncf

  3. When the installation finishes, the message VMware Tools for NetWare are now running appears in the Logger Screen (NetWare 6.5 guests) or the Console Screen (NetWare 5.1 guests).
  4. Restart the guest operating system. In the system console, type:

    restart server

    After you install VMware Tools, make sure the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image (netware.iso) is not attached to the virtual machine. If it is, disconnect it. Right-click the CD-ROM icon in the status bar of the console window and select Disconnect.

Starting VMware Tools Automatically

Starting VMware Tools Automatically

You may find it helpful to configure your guest operating system so VMware Tools starts when you start X. The steps for doing so vary depending on your Linux distribution and the desktop environment you are running. Check your operating system documentation for the appropriate steps to take.

For example, in a Red Hat Linux 7.1 guest using GNOME, follow these steps.

  1. Open the Startup Programs panel in the GNOME Control Center.

    Main Menu (the foot in the lower left corner of the screen) > Programs > Settings > Session > Startup Programs

  2. Click Add.
  3. In the Startup Command field, enter vmware-toolbox.
  4. Click OK, click OK again, then close the GNOME Control Center.

The next time you start X, VMware Tools start automatically.

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