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VMware Workstation is a proprietary closed source but excellent and cheap virtualization product available for Windows
and Linux.
Further, VMware also propose a free of charge edition named VMware Player.
I know that a lot of users are already familiar with VirtualBox, but on my side I prefer VMware.
Since some beginners encounter difficulties to install and setup this product, I'll try my best to show in this tutorial how to
do it right on the first try with some useful tips and tricks.
For my demo, I'll use quite a powerful homemade desktop based on an Asus MB Sabertooth 990FX with an AMD FX 8150
8 Cores @ 4.2 GHz., 32 Gb. of RAM and 4 HDD (one SSD of 240 Gb. for multiple Linux distributions, a second SSD of 240 Gb.
for Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, a WD of 150 Gb. @ 10.000 RPM for testing installs and a 3 TB for shared data between my
different Linux distributions and Windows). BTW, this is on this last disk that I usually place my VM guest files.
And, I'll use the LinuxMint 15 Cinnamon 64 bit as my "host" (why not). We'll see later for the "guests"!
Note:
I suppose that you've downloaded the free 30 days evaluation version or that you're a rightful owner of a VMware
Workstation license, aren't you?
And that you've already copied the VMware-Workstation-Full-9.0.2-1031769.x86_64.bundle file into your /home folder,
didn't you?
SUMMARY
Chapter 4: Specific instructions for ArchLinux and derivate distributions such as Bridge or Manjaro page 61
Fnux
BTW, its obvious that the VMware Tools development team didnt make a huge effort to support these distributions yet!
Lets hope with the fast growing adoption of Manjaro that this situation will change soon!
Note:
On Debian and derivate distributions such as Mint and all the Ubuntu familly:
Once this is done and depending of your Linux distribution, it may be wise to reboot before to continue.
Now, please start the installation of VMware Workstation with the following command:
Note:
On any Linux distribution, this command is the same!
Next, type the letter [Q] then yes to accept the License Agreement.
Next, press the [Enter] key to accept checking for updates when you start VMware Workstation.
Next, press the [Enter] key to accept to help VMware with anonymous data (BTW, they dont spam you).
Next, press the [Enter] key to validate the default VMware Workstation user (below is my name).
Next, enter the path of the directory (folder) where you want to place your shared VMs.
However, if you setup this directory to be on another disk (like me above), dont forget to mount the appropriate drive
before to launch VMware Workstation.
Next, press the [Enter] key to accept the value of the HTTPS port used to access to your Shared VMs.
Next
Once the installation is terminated, youll find the 3 VMware products (VMware Workstation, VMware Player and Virtual
Network Editor) in the System Tools sub-menu.
Cool Nux
Yep!
If youre the rightful owner of a VMware Workstation license, you can enter its key with the command:
Then, if you didnt enter your License key within the terminal mode yet, youll get the following dialog.
Then, if you select [Enter the License Key], youll get the next dialog:
However, you still can enter you license key in a console as shown on page 9 with the command:
If you already have entered your License key, youll get the next dialog.
Exited Nux
Not yet!
There are some tricks before.
Angel Nux
Yes, prior to create any VM, youve to setup few parameters (Preferences).
By default on Linux, the VMs are located in the /home/username/vmware directory (folder).
However, you can change this place to another directory or even on another drive. But if you put your VMs on another
drive (like me), dont forget to mount this drive when youll use VMware Workstation.
Copyright 2012-2013 fnux.fl@gmail.com Last update: 2013-08-03
License : CC By Sa Page 13 on 84
VMware Workstation 9.0.2
Then, I highly suggest to enable the two options [Combine toolbar with menubar in windowed mode] and
[Combine tabs with toolbar in full screen] of the tab [Display].
Yep, follow me
On the dialog panel [Welcome to the New Virtual Machine Wizard], select the option [Custom] and click on the
[ Next ] button.
On the next dialog panel, select the option [I will install the operating system later] and click on the [ Next ] button.
On the following dialog panel, select the Guest OS and click on the [ Next ] button.
OK, for the fun lets try the last Fedora 19 (SchrdingerCat) in its 64 bit flavor.
On the following dialog panel, select the number of processors and core per processor and click on the [ Next ] button.
.
Copyright 2012-2013 fnux.fl@gmail.com Last update: 2013-08-03
License : CC By Sa Page 17 on 84
VMware Workstation 9.0.2
On the following dialog panel, select the amount of RAM for this VM and click on the [ Next ] button.
Of course, this value depends of the RAM of your machine! Never allow more than half of your physical RAM.
On the following dialog panel, select the option [Use bridged networing] and click on the [ Next ] button.
On the following dialog panel, select the options [Independent] and [Persistent] and click on the [ Next ] button.
On the following dialog panel, setup the size of the vitual drive, trust me, select the options [Allocate all disk space now]
and [Store virtual disk as a single file] and click on the [ Next ] button. (Ill explain to you later why I recommend
choosing these options).
On the following dialog panel, add -system to the name of the file name and click on the [ Next ] button.
On the following dialog panel, click on the [ Finish ] button. Dont worry. This will create the first virtual hard drive and
well really customize our guest right after that.
Then, the time to create your virtual hard drive depends both of its size and of the speed of your real host hard drive.
Once the virtual hard drive is created, click on the [ x Close ] button of the last dialog panel.
If youre using VMware Workstation only for test purposes, I recommend you to create at least 3 different virtual disks.
One for the system, a second one for your home and the last one for the swap.
Not only this will be the best on a performance view point, but also this will allow you to easily create backups of your
system virtual drive (a single file to copy) before experiencing strange and weird stuffs (if you see what I mean).
Thats why its best to use the options [Allocate all disk space now] and [Store virtual disk as a single file] as shown before
on page 20.
So, once the first virtual disk is created, youll have to customize your guest a little bit.
To customize your guest, click on the [Edit Virtual machine settings] button.
Note:
You can come back to this dialog panel at any time to modify the guest settings when its not powered.
On the following dialog panel, select the [Hard Disk] option and click on the [ Next ] button.
On the following dialog panel, select the options [Independent] and [Persistent] and click on the [ Next ] button.
On the following dialog panel, setup the size of the vitual drive to 10 Gb., select the options [Allocate all disk space now]
and [Store virtual disk as a single file] and click on the [ Next ] button.
On the following dialog panel, add -home to the name of the file name and click on the [ Next ] button.
Once the second virtual hard drive is created, click again on the [ Add] button to create the third hard drive for the swap.
Next
Next
Next
Once the third virtual hard drive is created, select the option [ CD/DVD (IDE) ]
To install your guest, youll need a CD/DVD, an ISO file or even a LiveUSB stick.
If youve a Live USBstick, check the option [ Use a physical drive: ] and select Auto detect or the name of your USBstick from
the Device pull down menu.
If youve an ISO file, select the option [ Use ISO image: ] and click on the [Browse] button to search your file.
Note:
Its a good idea to copy your ISO file into the same directory (folder) that contains your VM, but it can be placed on any
other location of any of your directories (folders), partition(s) or drive(s).
However, if the ISO file is located within another place than the guest directory (folder), dont forget to mount its place
before running the guest!
And next, dont forget to click on the [ Save ] button of the following dialog panel!
Once youre done, youll see all the changes in the [Devices] panel.
Why ?
So, select the option [Power On to BIOS] from the sub menu [Power] of the [VM] pull down menu.
Click inside the guest window to give the focus of your mouse to the guest.
Then move the CD-ROM drive above the Hard Drive section (press the [ + ] key), then press the [ F10 ] key and [Enter].
Be smart!
But surprise youll reboot on the Live installation device and not on the virtual hard drive!
If you click in the guest window to stop the timer by using an arrow key, then your mouse will be locked into that window.
Kind of!
As explicitly said in the bottom of the VMware Workstation window, press [Ctrl][Alt] to liberate the mouse from the
guest window, and select the red square icon of the main menu.
Once youre back on the guest dialog panel, select (double click) on the [ CD/DVD (IDE) ] option from the [ Devices ] panel.
and
Then, youll get the next dialog panel. Just click on the [ OK ] button. Well see this in the next chapter.
Ignore these messages. Well see how to fix that in the next chapter.
But before installing these tools, PLEASE update your guest OS.
Note:
On Debian and derivate distros such as Mint and all the Ubuntu familly:
Or use the GUI tool to do so if you dont feel comfortable with the command lines.
With Fedora, note that funny thing: the result of the yum command isnt the same than the result of its GUI!
Anyhow, proceed to the update and once its done, PLEASE reboot the guest prior to install the VMware Tools.
Copyright 2012-2013 fnux.fl@gmail.com Last update: 2013-08-03
License : CC By Sa Page 55 on 84
VMware Workstation 9.0.2
Note:
With Fedora, some parts of the VMware tools are already installed within the Desktop such as enabling the mouse sharing
between the guest and the host but using the open-vm-tools package that isnt the official one provided with VMware
Workstation 9.0.2 (e.g. when a Fedora guest is powered on, you dont need to use [Ctrl][Alt] to liberate the mouse pointer
from the guest window). But this is not true with other guest OSes!
So, prior to install the right tools, you MUST first remove the open-vm-tools using the following command :
sudo yum remove open-vm-tools
Then, to install the VMware Tools, select the option [Install VMware Tools] from the VM pull down menu.
This will automatically mount the VMware Tools CD and open it.
Then, copy (or drag & drop) the tar file into a convenient directory (folder) and unpack it. BTW, your home place is OK. To
unpack the file, use the command : tar -zxf VMwareTools*.tar.gz
Then, go to the vmware-tools-distrib directory (folder) and start the install using the root priviledges (sudo).
cd vmware-tools-distrib && sudo chmod +x vmware-install.pl && sudo ./vmware-install.pl
Then, youll have to answer to a small set of questions by which youll always answer simply when pressing the [Enter] key
to accept the default values.
When the VMware Tools install process is done, its wise to reboot the guest (even if its not required)!
Here is why!
Even if youve successfully installed the VMware Tools, some features may not work as expected on newer OS releases or
with certain distributions.
This is the case with a Fedora 19 guest where the 3D acceleration will not be enabled (youll still run the guest in rendering
mode) and with Fedora 17, 18 and 19 where the drag & drop will not work. However, the cut-copy-past works!
Same problem with ArchLinux, Bridge and Manjaro where nor the 3D acceleration nor the drag & drop will work. However,
installing the VMware Tools on an ArchLinux derivate distribution is a lot tricky. This is the subject of the next chapter.
For now, the sole guest distributions Ive been able to make all the VMware Tools to work are: CentOS 6.4, Debian 6 & 7,
Red Hat 6.4, Ubuntu (from 10.04 up to 13.10) and of course also Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 pre-release.
Reminder:
Now, the good point is that Ive been able to follow the ArchWiki page thats explaining how to install the VMware Tools
in an ArchLinux derivate guest!
Note:
Meanwhile, I dont know who the folks are writing such pages (if you never ever can understand their mind path).
BTW, its obvious that the VMware Tools development team didnt make a huge effort to support these distributions yet!
Lets hope with the fast growing adoption of Manjaro that this situation will change soon!
Me too!
Second point:
So, I assume that, whatever your host OS, youve already installed your guest using, lets say: Manjaro 64 bit !
I wont bother you with the process to install it since its the same thing than what you saw with Fedora as well as for any
other distribution even for a guest using any old DOS, an IBM OS/2 and even a MSFT Windows flavor - :)
Whatever your distribution is, I DO REPEAT that its a wise idea to UPGRADE your OS prior to install the VMware tools!
.
Then, as said earlier, installing the VMware Tools on a guest using any ArchLinux derivate distribution is a little bit tricky
since its obvious that the VMware development team didnt take really care of this subject, yet!
So, I wrote a small bash script that will do the job for you.
wget http://www.as2.com/linux/tools/vmtools-4-arch-and-co.tar.bz2
sudo ./vmtools-4-arch-and-co.sh
Please read carefully the instructions on the console (terminal) before to give an answer.
At a certain point, the script may ask to choose the provider for the linux-headers.
Please, select carefully this option to enable the linux-headers that correspond to the kernel youre running.
If youre not sure of the version of your kernel, open a new terminal and use the following command:
uname -r
At another point, the script will ask to press the [Ctrl][Alt] key combination to give to the mouse the focus back to the host.
Please do so and select the option [Install VMware Tools] of the VM pull down menu.
Then, VMware Workstation will mount its own virtual VMware Tools CD.
Next, click back into the guest window, give the focus to the console (terminal) and press the [Enter] key to continue the
execution of the script.
Then, press the [Enter] key to accept the default values of the next 20 questions.
Once this will be done, as per the proposal of the script, REBOOT your guest to enable the VMware Tools.
When youll reboot, there is a chance that your screen resolution was changed back to 800 x 600.
This means that your guest is now using the VMware video driver.
So, change your screen resolution accordingly to both your needs and the capabilities of your physical GPU.
Now, since the VMware Tolls are installed, you dont need any more to press [Ctrl][Alt] key combination to give the focus
to your guest or to your host.
Just move the mouse where you need to put the focus and click there.
Lets say that youre developing a script into your host and you want to test it on a guest.
To pass the content of the editor of the host to the editor of the guest, copy this content to the clipboard of the host
and
youre set.
The cut - copy - past operations can be done from the host to the guest and vice versa (the clipboard is shared).
When youre editing something in the guest window (block-note, editor, console, etc.), just verify to let the mouse pointer
inside the area of the guest window.
If not, youll lose the focus! If so, just move the mouse pointer inside the guest window (you dont even need to click back
into the guest window).
Lets say you want to change the background of the guest desktop with a picture located on a drive or directory (folder) of
your host.
Unfortunately, these operations dont work with all the guest OSes yet, and sometimes even not in the two ways (host to
guest and vice versa).
Depending of both the power of your host and the settings of your guests (memory and number of cores), you can run
several guests at the same time.
Click on the [Show the thumbnail bar] of the VMware Workstation main menu will open a new panel below the current
running guest that will show all the other running guests (if any).
Note:
At that time, Im concurrently running 7 different guests: 5 Linux boxes plus Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 preview.
But to do so, youll better have quite a powerful CPU, a bunch of RAM and fast hard drives.
The Unity mode allows you to use an application of your guest directly on the desktop of your host without having the main
VMware Workstation window open.
This is specifically interesting when using applications that arent available on the OS of your host, such as Windows
software (e.g. MS Office).
For this example, Ill use the old but still very useful bi-lingual dictionary: Harraps Shorter
Lets start it in the Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit guest and look for the French translation of the word moron (why not).
Now, Im using LibreOffice Writer on the desktop of my host, and Id like to have the Harraps Shorter window on my host
desktop without the embarrassing VMware Workstation eating a bunch of my host desktop space!
So, click on the [Enter Unity mode] button of the main VMware Workstation menu.
Here were!
Move the mouse pointer to the high left side of the host desktop to show the [Unity menu] panel that allows to start any
other application that is in the guest menu as well as to quit the Unity mode.
Note:
You can move the [Unity menu] panel when dragging it to another place of the host desktop and let it to be permanently
shown.
A trick:
When installing the Fedora guest, I suggested to create 3 different virtual drives with fixed size:
Here is why:
One by many of the uses of VMware Workstation is to test new distributions, or new releases or upgrades.
However, if you break your virtual guest, its often like breaking a real OS, and reinstalling an OS with all its update may
make you kind of upset.
So, before to mess you nicely working guest, if you followed me by creating fixed sized virtual HD, you can easily make a
backup of your system simply by making a copy of the system virtual disk.
Then Past !
Get it? Now, you can mess your guest as much as you need.
*-*-*-*-*-*
*-*-*-*-*
#!/bin/bash
#
# Script: vmtools-4-arch-and-co.sh
# Date: july 24, 2013
# Release: v1 - multi arch distros
# Author: Fnux
# e-mail: fnux.fl@gmail.com
# Licence: CC-By-Sa
#
# Credit: WoodyZ from communities.vmware.com for his help.
#
clear
echo -e "\033[01;34mHello \033[01;31m$USER\033[01;34m,"
echo ""
if [ "$USER" != "root" ]
then
echo -e "\033[01;31mThis script must be used with the root privileges.\033[01;34m"
echo ""
echo "Please restart it using the command: sudo ./install-vmtools.sh"
echo ""
echo -e "Goodbye.\033[0m"
echo ""
exit 0
fi
echo -e "\033[01;34mThis script will install the VMware Tools on Manjaro, ArchLinux or Bridge guest."
echo ""
echo -e "The benefit of installing the vmware tools on your guest are:"
echo ""
echo -e "- not being anymore obliged to hit \033[01;31m[Ctrl][Alt] \033[01;34mto give the focus to the
host"
echo -e " (just click on the desktop to give it the focus back),"
echo ""
echo -e "- being able to perform \033[01;31mcopy-past\033[01;34m from the host to the guest and vice
versa,"
echo ""
echo -e "- being able to perform \033[01;31mdrag-drop\033[01;34m from the host to the guest and vice
versa,"
echo ""
echo -e "- using the vmware video driver that allows 3D acceleration and avoids running"
echo -e " in video software mode that's slow and consumes a lot of CPU."
echo -e "\033[01;33m"
read -p "Please press [Enter] when you're ready. " READY
echo -e "\033[0m"
sleep 3
pacman -S --noconfirm base-devel net-tools xf86-input-vmmouse xf86-video-vmware svga-dri gtkmm
echo ""
echo -e "\033[01;34mIf you're using Manjaro and the install asks to select a linux-headers, please"
echo -e "select the option \033[01;31m#4) linux39-headers\033[01;34m and press
\033[01;31m[Enter]\033[01;34m to select the"
echo -e "VMware Tools CD is mounted into your guest, click back inside your guest.\033[01;33m"
echo ""
read -p "Please press [Enter] when the VMware Tools CD is mounted. " READY
echo -e "\033[0m"
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt
cd /root
tar zxf /mnt/VMwareTools*.tar.gz
cd vmware-tools-distrib
echo ""
echo -e "\033[01;34mNow just press \033[01;31m[Enter]\033[01;34m to respond to all the questions."
echo ""
echo "But if the install can't find the kernel-header path and ask you if you want "
echo -e "to change its path, just say \033[01;31mNo\033[01;34m to that specific question and continue
to"
echo ""
./vmware-install.pl
echo "Section \"Device\"" > /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-gpudriver.conf
echo " Identifier \"Card0\"" >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-gpudriver.conf
echo " Driver \"vmware\"" >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-gpudriver.conf
echo "EndSection" >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-gpudriver.conf
echo "VM_DRAG_AND_DROP=\"yes\"" > /etc/conf.d/open-vm-tools
/usr/bin/vmware-user
echo ""
echo -e "\033[01;34mNow you're done."
echo ""
echo "You should reboot your OS to enjoy using the new capabilities of your guest."
echo ""
echo "However, after rebooting, you'll have to change your display resolution."
echo -e "\033[01;33m"
read -p "Do you want to reboot your system: y/N [Default = No] ?" RESTARTOS
if [ "$RESTARTOS" = "y" ] || [ "$RESTARTOS" = "Y" ]
then
echo -e "\033[01;34m"
echo "Goodbye."
echo -e "\033[0m"
shutdown -r 1
else
echo -e "\033[01;34m"
echo "Please reboot your OS to enable the vmware tools."
echo "Goodbye."
echo -e "\033[0m"
exit 0
fi
*-*-*-*-*
Personal Note
I hope youll enjoy reading this small contribution to install and use easily VMware Workstation.
BTW, Im not affiliated by any manner to VMware, nor to ArchLinux, Bridge, CentOS, Debian, Fedora, LinuxMint, Manjaro,
Red Hat, Ubuntu and of course MSFT!
In return, I do appreciate help on topics that I dont understand or Im not familiar with yet, and trust me, I can ask very
stupid or obvious questions.
Dont hesitate to contact me by e-mail if youve any question with regard to this document of with the script.