How To Install VMWare Tools v4 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Server

How To Install VMWare Tools v4 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Server and 12.10 Server

Written: March 13, 2012
Originally posted by: Justin Schier
Last Updated: October 24, 2012
Tested With: Ubuntu 12.10 Server, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Server, Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS Server, Ubuntu 11.10 Server

All the guides I found on the Internet, including VMWare’s website were outdated in some way, so I decided to write a guide of my own. I just went through these steps from start to finish on a fresh server and had no problems. In about 5 minutes, you will be able to install VMWare Tools on Ubuntu Server.

1. Use Install VMWare Tools option in VMWare Client to attach media
    
2. Update the server
   
   sudo apt-get -y update sudo apt-get -y upgrade

   1 2	sudo apt-get -y update sudo apt-get -y upgrade

3. Create the mount point
   
   sudo mkdir -p /media/cdrom

   1	sudo mkdir -p /media/cdrom

4. Mount the ISO
   
   sudo mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom

   1	sudo mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom

   
   You should see the message: mount: block device /dev/sr0 is write-protected, mounting read-only
5. Change Directory
   
   cd /media/cdrom

   1	cd /media/cdrom

6. Copy the tar file to your /tmp directory
   
   sudo cp VM*.tar.gz /tmp

   1	sudo cp VM*.tar.gz /tmp

7. Install Build tools if necessary
   
   sudo apt-get -y install linux-headers-server build-essential

   1	sudo apt-get -y install linux-headers-server build-essential

8. Change Directory
   
   cd /tmp

   1

   cd /tmp

9. Unmount the ISO
   
   sudo umount /media/cdrom

   1	sudo umount /media/cdrom

10. Expand the tar
    
    sudo tar xzvf VM*.tar.gz

    1	sudo tar xzvf VM*.tar.gz

11. Change Directory
    
    cd vmware-tools-distrib

    1	cd vmware-tools-distrib

12. To prevent a potential error in the install script on Ubuntu 11.10+, create a special directory
    Unable to create symlink “/usr/lib64/libvmcf.so” pointing to file ”/usr/lib/vmware-tools/lib64/libvmcf.so/libvmcf.so”.
    
    sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib64

    1	sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib64

13. Run the Install Script. The -d flag automatically answers the default to all questions. To customize it, just omit the -d.
    
    sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d

    1	sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d

14. Reboot
    
    sudo reboot

    1	sudo reboot

Let me know if this worked for you!
Also, please follow me on Twitter: @justinschier

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