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Installing VMware Tools

Details

  • Only low video resolutions are available in the virtual machine
  • Color depth cannot be set very high
  • Network speed in the virtual machine indicates that it is 10Mbps
  • The mouse gets stuck in the virtual machine window
  • Drag and drop features do not work
  • Sound does not play or is not available in the virtual machine

Solution

VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhances the performance of the virtual machine’s guest operating system and improves management of the virtual machine. Although the guest operating system can run without VMware Tools, you lose important functionality and convenience.

Overview of the VMware Tools installation

The following are general steps used to start the VMware Tools installation in most VMware products. Certain guest operating systems may require different steps, however these steps work for most operating systems.

  1. Power on the virtual machine.
  2. Log on to the virtual machine using an account with Administrator or root privileges.
  3. Wait for the desktop to load and be ready.
  4. Click Install VMware Tools. There are two places to find this option:
    • Right-click on the running virtual machine and choose Install VMware Tools.
    • Right-click on the running virtual machine and click Open Console. In the Console menu click VM and click Install VMware Tools.
  5. The VMware Tools installation wizard appears inside of the virtual machine's console. Follow the prompt in the wizard to complete the VMware Tools installation. Choose the Typical installation option.

    Note: If you are installing VMware Tools on Linux, the above steps generally work. A non GUI installation script is available if no GUI is installed. For more information and installation instructions, see the Additional Information section.

    Note: If you are installing VMware Tools on Netware, follow the instructions contained in the User's Guide for your VMware Product. Additional steps are necessary to start the VMware Tools installation on this operating system. See the Additional Information section for documentation links.

  6. When the VMware Tools installation has finished, restart the virtual machine to complete installation.
Note: VMware Player is designed to only play back pre-built virtual machines. The person who created the pre-built virtual machine must use VMware Tools if it is needed. VMware Player cannot be used to install VMware Tools.

Specific guest operating system considerations

Certain guest operating systems have specific installation requirements. For more information, see How do I install VMware Tools in a Linux virtual machine on ESX Server 3.x? (5242329) .

Additional Information

For detailed instructions on installing VMware Tools in the VMware product in use, see the User's Manual for the appropriate VMware product. The manuals also outline the manual script installation procedure to install VMware Tools in a Linux guest operating system or in a Novell operating system.
 
To access the manuals, see VMware Documentation. Click on the applicable product name and download the User's Manual. Search for VMware Tools within the manual.
 
Note: Guest operating system support varies by product and version. VMware Tools is designed to install smoothly on supported guests. Unsupported guests may require further steps to complete VMware Tools installation. For a list of supported guest operating system, see Guest Operating System Installation Guide.

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Actions
  • KB Article: 340
  • Updated: Jun 30, 2009
  • Products:
    VMware Player
    VMware Server
    VMware Workstation
    VMware ACE
    VMware ESX
    VMware ESXi
    VMware Fusion
    VMware GSX Server
    VMware Tools
  • Product Versions:
    Any