VM /ETC

It’s not as simple as in Windows VMs !

This guide is the combined instructions found from the guides at:

http://www.howtoforge.com/vmware_tools_on_linux

http://www.thoughtpolice.co.uk/vmware/howto/fedora-7-vmware-tools-install.html

I started with a fresh install of Fedora 7. I used the LiveCD and installed it to the VM hard disk. I did not apply the 210 package updates or the security updates. (Who says Linux doesn’t have be patched as often as windows?)

Note: I was unable to get the shared folders or the fast network driver feature to work. I’ve never been able to get these features working properly, but I’ve never really needed them to. The VMtools will load without these features anyways. I assumed that the sections for fixing the vmxnet module would finally make this work, but it did not. I might have done something wrong so I kept those sections in these instructions in case someone else gets it to work.

First become root and install some needed packages:

su -

%yourrootpassword%

yum install kernel-devel make binutils-devel gcc gcc-c++

If you are like me and avoid vi to edit files:

Yum install nano (Fedora 7 already has nano installed!)

Yum install wget (I did not have wget installed)

Check the running kernel matches the kernel headers

uname -r # running kernel

rpm -q kernel-devel # installed kernel headers

If the two versions do not match, run ( I had a fresh install of Fedora 7 and they did not match!)

yum -y upgrade kernel kernel-devel

reboot

Find out where the kernel headers are (you may need this later)

ls -d /usr/src/kernels/$(uname -r)*/include

Next copy the VMware Tools from the mounted iso to the temporary folder:

In VMServer use the VM menu and select Install VMtools to auto mount the ISO

You then use the GUI to copy and paste or from the command line:

cp /media/VMware\ Tools/VMwareTools-1.0.3-44356.tar.gz /tmp/

Afterwards open Terminal and switch to the temporary folder and unpack the VMware Tools:

cd /tmp/

tar xvfz VMwareTools-1.0.4-56528.tar.gz

Now we have to fix the vmxnet module:

cd vmware-tools-distrib/lib/modules/source

tar xf vmxnet.tar

cp vmxnet-only/vmxnet.c vmxnet-only/vmxnet.c.orig

wget http://www.thoughtpolice.co.uk/vmware/howto/patch2-vmxnet.c.patch

patch -u vmxnet-only/vmxnet.c < patch2-vmxnet.c.patch

tar cf vmxnet.tar vmxnet-only/

Now we are ready to run the install script

cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib

./vmware-install.pl

You will be asked a few questions relating to installation paths etc. Choose the default value every time (simply hit enter).

Next step is to fix the xorg.conf:

vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

or

nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Add the following lines:

Section “Monitor”

Identifier “vmware”

EndSection

After this you have to run the configuration again:

vmware-config-tools.pl

Choose the default value every time (simply hit enter) till you reach the question Do you want to change your guest X resolution? – choose yes and select your desired resolution.

The last step is to fix the integration of the vmxnet module by manually loading it (otherwise you might obtain problems with the network):

/etc/init.d/network stop

(DID NOT WORK IN FEDORA 7) rmmod pcnet32

(DID NOT WORK IN FEDORA 7 )rmmod vmxnet

depmod -a

(DID NOT WORK) modprobe vmxnet

/etc/init.d/networking start

Afterwards reboot the vm. After the vm has rebooted, you can start the VMware Tools via:

vmware-toolbox &

Note: If you close the VMware Tools window, the VMware Tools will be disabled immediately.

VMware Toolbox Automatic Hidden Start

I did not test the instructions in this section myself as I was using my VM for server services and would not need the desktop very often.

If all you wanted was to have a larger resolution than 800×600 or make sure your Fedora VM had a registered heartbeat then you do not need to complete the following section. Continue only if you want vmtools to run in your session (like the windows icon in the taskbar) so you can cut and paste between the VM and your desktop or sync the VM’s time to the host.

Create two scripts These scripts will be executed every time when an X-session starts – they will switch to the next workspace, start the VMware Tools minimized and switch back to the previous workspace. The switching will be done with xvkbd – a virtual keyboard for the X window system.

Install Xvkbd

su -

%yourrootpassword%

rpm -ivh http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/xvkbd/xvkbd-2.8-1.el4.rf.i386.rpm

exit

Afterwards switch to the directory where you downloaded the package and install it:

su -

%yourrootpassword

rpm -ivh xvkbd-2.7a-2mdk.i586.rpm

exit

Now change to your homedir:

cd ~

create scripts For Gnome

switcher1

vi switcher1.sh (or nano switcher1.sh)

#! /bin/sh

sleep 2

xvkbd -text “\C\A\[Right]“

sleep 2

vmware-toolbox –minimize &> /dev/null

vi switcher2.sh (or nano switcher2.sh)

#! /bin/sh

sleep 10

xvkbd -text “\C\A\[Left]“

Make the scripts executeable:

chmod +x switcher*

Add the scripts to the session startup programs:

System menu > Preferences > Personal > Sessions

On the Startup tab click New and browse to add both scripts

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