Knowledge Base

The VMware Knowledge Base provides support solutions, error messages and troubleshooting guides

Search the VMware Knowledge Base (KB)

View by Article ID

Installing VMware Tools in a Linux virtual machine using Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) (1018392)

This article provides steps to install VMware Tools in a Linux guest operating system using Red Hat Package Manager (RPM).

Note: For an overview of installing VMware Tools, see Overview of VMware Tools (340).

Note: If your Linux distribution is not RPM-based, has a custom kernel, or is unsupported, see Installing VMware Tools in a Linux virtual machine using Compiler (1018414).

To install VMware Tools in a Linux guest operating system using RPM:

Ensure that your Linux virtual machine is powered on.
If you are running a GUI interface, open a command shell.
Click VM in the virtual machine menu, then click Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools and click OK.
To create a mount point, run:

mkdir /mnt/cdrom
To mount the CDROM, run:

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
To install VMware Tools using RPM, run:

rpm -ivh /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-<version>.rpm

Where <version> is the version of VMware Tools you want to install

To check the existing version of VMware Tools, use the "cd" command to go to /mnt/cdrom/ directory and list the contents of the directory with the command # ls.

Note: You can only perform the install as a root user or by using the sudo command.
To configure VMware Tools for your running kernel, run:

/usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl
To unmount the CDROM, run:

umount /mnt/cdrom
To end the VMware Tools install, click VM in the virtual machine menu, then click Guest > End VMware Tools Install.

Note: The RPM installer for installing VMware Tools on Linux Virtual Machines on ESXi 4.1 is not available. See ESXi 4.x / 5.x does not include RPM format for VMware Tools (1024047)

For general VMware Tools installation information, see General VMware Tools installation instructions (1014294).

For further related information on Installing VMware Tools in a Linux virtual machine, see the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide.

For information on OSPs, see VMware Operating System Specific Packages.

03/04/2013 - Added link to OSP specific information 04/25/2013 - Added ESXi 5.x to Products

To request a new product feature or to provide feedback on a VMware product, please visit the Request a Product Feature page.

1 2 3 4 5
58 Ratings

1 2 3 4 5
58 Ratings

Actions

KB:

Did this article help you?
This article resolved my issue. This article did not resolve my issue. This article helped but additional information was required to resolve my issue.
What can we do to improve this information? (4000 or fewer characters)