VirtualBox -- Mac OS X instead of Windows?

[dbaker]

EDIT: It looks like it didn't actually work. when I initially succeeded in installing vmware, it opened up fine and looked ready to go (but I didn't try to make a VM because I didn't have the disk image I needed at that point.) However, now when I try to open it, it tries to update some modules and nothing happens. Presumably this is what you were talking about in that post.
So I tried to use the workaround you suggested. The first step worked fine, but when I got to installing the vmware-tools, this is what happened:

dorothea@kubuntu-VirtualBox:~$ sudo /home/dorothea/Downloads/vmware-tools-linux-9.6.0-1295980.i386.component.tar -xvf vmware-tools*tar --wildcards *.component --to-stdout >tools sudo vmware-installer --console --install-component=tool
sudo: /home/dorothea/Downloads/vmware-tools-linux-9.6.0-1295980.i386.component.tar: command not found

I tried it first without the sudo, and it said permission denied which is why I tried sudo. I just copied and pasted the code you provided in the thread and replaced the filepath. I assume that should work.

[SteveRiley]

What you typed...

dorothea@kubuntu-VirtualBox:~$ sudo /home/dorothea/Downloads/vmware-tools-linux-9.6.0-1295980.i386.component.tar -xvf vmware-tools*tar --wildcards *.component --to-stdout >tools sudo vmware-installer --console --install-component=tool
sudo: /home/dorothea/Downloads/vmware-tools-linux-9.6.0-1295980.i386.component.tar: command not found

...is not the same thing as what I indicated:

cd [i]/path/to/download/location[/i]
tar -xvf vmware-tools*tar --wildcards *.component --to-stdout >tools
sudo vmware-installer --console --install-component=tools

Can you spot the differences?

[dbaker]

I had 'tool' at the end instead of 'tools', must have missed the s when copying. The other things were things I changed when experimenting trying to get it to work, after doing exactly what you said and having no success (I tried sudo because at one point I got 'permission denied').
My latest attempt: (I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong here, it'd be helpful if someone actually TOLD me so I don't make the same mistake in the future)

dorothea@kubuntu-VirtualBox:~$ cd /home/dorothea/Downloads/vmware-tools-linux-9.6.0-1295980.i386.component.tar tar -xvf vmware-tools*tar --wildcards *.component --to-stdout >tools sudo vmware-installer --console --install-component=tools
bash: cd: /home/dorothea/Downloads/vmware-tools-linux-9.6.0-1295980.i386.component.tar: Not a directory

[SteveRiley]

Judging from the output you've provided, it appears you're misunderstanding a couple things.

1. "cd /path/to/download/location" means "Change to the directory in which you downloaded the file." For you, that would be /home/dorothea/Downloads. Don't type the file name after this. Notice the error message that you're receiving: it's telling you that all the stuff you typed is not a directory. That's because it's a file

2. My steps are three separate commands. It looks like you're typing them all on one line.

[dbaker]

I didn't know they were separate commands because they were all on one line in the code you gave, and I thought they were meant to be like that! I can't actually tell where one ends and the next one begins (except for tar -xvf, I got that to work). Can you please enlighten me?
And thankyou for pointing out what I was doing wrong, I appreciate it I did try the filepath without the file name on the end, but because of problem #2 it still didn't work.

[SteveRiley]

Here's a screenshot of my post #17. I have surrounded it with a thick green box to set it off from the forum itself.



I am flummoxed as to why you are not seeing three separate lines of text.

[dbaker]

I'm sorry, you probably think I'm an idiot. But the code blocks aren't rendering properly in my browser, for some reason. I'm using the latest Firefox, I don't understand what the problem is.

Anyway, my troubles still aren't over see below

dorothea@kubuntu-VirtualBox:~/Downloads$ cd /home/dorothea/Downloads/ tar -xvf vmware-tools*tar --wildcards *.component --to-stdout >tools
dorothea@kubuntu-VirtualBox:~/Downloads$ sudo vmware-installer --console --install-component=tools
[sudo] password for dorothea: 
Unable to unpack header

I've never had that error before. What causes it?

[SteveRiley]

I'm sorry, you probably think I'm an idiot. But the code blocks aren't rendering properly in my browser, for some reason. I'm using the latest Firefox, I don't understand what the problem is.

Take a look at how your most recent code block appears:



It shows that you didn't press Enter after the cd command and before the tar command, where I have placed the red arrow. So what happened is that your computer ran cd /home/dorothea/Downloads, ignored everything up to the angle bracket, and then redirected the output of executing the cd command into the file tools. Because cding into a directory that you're already in produces no output, tools becomes a zero-length file. The vmware-installer program is trying to read this file, which of course is useless, thus the unhelpful error.

There are three commands to type. First:

cd [I]/path/to/download/location[/I]

Second:

tar -xvf vmware-tools*tar --wildcards *.component --to-stdout >tools

Third:

sudo vmware-installer --console --install-component=tools

Something is broken in your browser. Alas, I'm not sure what to suggest other than perhaps trying Rekonq?

[dbaker]

Thankyou for that
Yeah, something is wrong with my browser all right (I've noticed a couple of bugs actually on this site.) Rekonq is a great browser, but it's sadly lacking in features like noscript and ghostery which I don't want to do without. So I won't use it full-time, although I could potentially switch to it where I know there are problems in Firefox.