Installing VMware Tools in VMware Player

Products

VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to install VMware Tools in VMware Player.
For more information about VMware Tools, see Overview of VMware Tools (340)
For General VMware Tools installation instructions see: Install VMware Tools (1014294)

Note: This article is for VMware Player 3.x and above. VMware Player 2.x and older are designed to only play back pre-built virtual machines. The user who created the pre-built virtual machine must install VMware Tools if it is needed.

Environment

VMware Player 3.x (Windows )
VMware Player 4.x (Linux)
VMware Player Pro 7.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 15.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 12.x (Windows)
VMware Player 6.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 16.x (Windows)
VMware Player 5.x (Windows)
VMware Player Pro 7.x (Windows)
VMware Player 7.x (Windows)
VMware Player 3.x (Linux)
VMware Player 6.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation Player 15.x (Windows)
VMware Player 5.x (Linux)
VMware Player 7.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 16.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 14.x (Windows)
VMware Player 4.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation Player 14.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 12.x (Linux)

Resolution

VMware Tools is not bundled with VMware Player and cannot be downloaded separately. It must be downloaded from within VMware Player, as part of the Tools installation process.

If the VMware Player virtual machine has a network connection, then VMware Tools is downloaded when you go to install VMware Tools. If the VMware Player virtual machine does not have a network connection, then VMware Tools cannot be downloaded or installed.

To install VMware Tools in VMware Player:

Power on the virtual machine.
Log in to the virtual machine using an account with Administrator or root privileges.
Wait for the desktop to load and be ready.
Click Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools. For Player 4.x and above, Click on Player > Manage > Install VMware Tools

VMware Tools downloads, in the form of an ISO. VMware Player mounts the ISO and connects it to your virtual machine's CD/DVD drive.
Install VMware Tools from the CD-ROM inside of your guest operating system. For more information, see the article that refers to your virtual machine's operating system:

Additional Information

Guest operating system support varies by product and version. VMware Tools is designed to install smoothly on supported guests.
For a list of supported guest operating systems, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.Installing VMware Tools in a Novell NetWare virtual machine
To know more about VMware Tools, see Overview of VMware Tools