Knowledge Base

Normal Installation

To install VMware Tools in a Windows virtual machine:

1. Start the virtual machine. Wait until the Operating System has loaded, and you're logged in and looking at your desktop.
2. From the menu bar, go to Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools.
3. Click Next to progress through the installation.
4. Select Complete, unless you need to exclude certain features of Tools, and click Next.
5. Click Install.
6. When the installation finishes, click Yes to restart your virtual machine.
   

Manual Installation

You may need to manually install VMware Tools if the installation does not start automatically, even when triggered from the Virtual Machine menu. To manually install VMware Tools, you need to connect a disk image (a virtual CD) to your virtual machine, which contains the necessary drivers. If Auto-Play is not enabled, the installation does not run automatically and you must start the installation manually as well.

To connect the disk image:

In Fusion 5.x and 4.x:

1. Open a new Finder window and navigate to the Applications folder.
2. Right-click the VMware Fusion application and select Show Package Contents.
3. In the new window, navigate to /Contents/Library/isoimages.
4. Copy windows.iso to the desktop of the Mac.
5. Go to Virtual Machine > CD/DVD > CD/DVD Settings.
6. Ensure that Enable CD/DVD Drive is switched to ON.
7. From the drop-down menu, select Choose a disc or disc image.
8. Browse to the Desktop folder.
9. Select windows.iso, and click Open.
   

In Fusion 3.x and earlier:

1. Navigate to Virtual Machine > CD/DVD > CD/DVD Settings.
2. Ensure that the drive is Connected.
3. Select Use disk image.
4. Browse to Macintosh HD > Library > Application Support > VMware Fusion > isoimages.
5. Select windows.iso, and click Open.

To start the installation manually:

Note: Follow these steps if the Virtual Machine menu option reads Cancel VMware Tools Installation and the installer does not start.

1. Open My Computer (or Computer in Windows Vista, 7 and 8).
2. Double-click your CD/DVD drive (usually D:\VMware Tools).
3. This launches the setup program. If it does not, and instead opens the contents of the drive, double-click setup.exe.
4. Reboot when you are prompted to.

To verify that the installation was successful, go to the Windows Control Panel and look for an icon labeled VMware Tools.

Additional Information

If you encounter any errors when installing VMware Tools, see Troubleshooting a failing VMware Tools installation in Fusion (1027797).