Installing VMware-Tools in Kubuntu guest

[essdeeay]

Hello to everybody - my first post here

I can't get vmware-tools to install properly. I've used apt-get to get gcc, gcc3-4, make and the correct kernel headers. The installation of vmware-tools goes ok, and the config *seems* to go ok too. However, I don't seem to have the tools installed - by that I mean I can't access the toolbox from the desktop anywhere and the mouse is still stuck inside the guest system instead of floating out of the box like the Windows guests.

I hope someone can help.

Thanks,
Steve

[askrieger]

Re: Installing VMware-Tools in Kubuntu guest

I suspect that you may have a gcc versioning problem. As far as I know, the standard gcc for Kubuntu Dapper is gcc4.0 (4.0.3 to be exact). Had you downloaded the "build-essential" package, that's what you would have gotten. More important, things like glibc, etc. are compiled with gcc4.0, i.e. they are not guaranteed to work with gcc 3.4, or with other things compiled with gcc 3.4. If you restrict yourself to hello.c you won't notice any problems, but I suspect that VM-ware would not be in the hello.c category.

Moreover, whether you are compiling in 3.4 or 4.0 depends on the order in which you installed them. In both cases the post-install script makes a collection of links in /usr/bin/ which point to the gcc collection that it just installed (I'm oversimplifying here) So what you get is what was last installed.

I don't know whether any of this has any bearing on your problem, but I saw the gcc 3.4 and thought this information might be relevant.

[GeertVc]

Re: Installing VMware-Tools in Kubuntu guest

Hi,

I did successfully compile and install VMware Tools. But it took me some time to figure out how to do it.
The most important thing is that your kernel header files are "in sync" with the kernel you're using.
So, what I did was following this guideline:

http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Kernel_Compilation_Dapper

Do exactly as is described in there (also take into account the conditional steps: read carefully!).

Once you have the images (both kernel and header), reboot your actual running Linux session in your virtual machine and press the "ESC" button when the rebooting starts. You will see your own compiled kernel appearing in the list of bootable kernels. Select it and continue.

Once you have booted with that "own made" kernel, you can -without any problems- compile VMware Tools, since then your kernel header files will match the (new) kernel you're running.

What I also found out is that you can come back to the original kernel, once you have compiled VMware Tools with the "new" kernel.

Hope this helps...

Best rgds,

--Geert