Install the fuse-libs packageIndex
First, to allow VMware Tools to run its vmtoolsd daemon process, we need some software libraries. (Thanks to Todd Kelley who researched this.) If it isn’t already installed, install the fuse-libs library package:
# rpm -q fuse-libs
package fuse-libs is not installed
# yum -q list fuse-libs
Available Packages
fuse-libs.i686 2.8.3-4.el6 base
# yum install fuse-libs
[...many lines print here; say Y to install...]
# yum -q list fuse-libs
Installed Packages
fuse-libs.i686 2.8.3-4.el6 @base
# rpm -q fuse-libs
fuse-libs-2.8.3-4.el6.i686
Mount the ISO file on /mnt/cdromIndex
When the file command verifies that the VMware Tools ISO is connected to the virtual CD/DVD device /dev/sr0, follow the directions below to create an empty directory mount point under /mnt and mount the read-only VMware Tools ISO image on that empty directory:
# file -s /dev/sr0
/dev/sr0: ISO 9660 CD-ROM filesystem data 'VMware Tools'
# mkdir -p /mnt/cdrom # create /mnt/cdrom not /dev/cdrom
# ls -lh /mnt/cdrom # what is in the new directory (nothing)
total 0
# mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom # mount the CD device onto the directory
mount: block device /dev/sr0 is write-protected, mounting read-only
# mount | fgrep 'sr0' # confirm that the mount worked
/dev/sr0 on /mnt/cdrom type iso9660 (ro)
# ls -lh /mnt/cdrom # see what's in the directory now (lots)
total 60M
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 59M Mar 21 2014 VMwareTools-9.6.2-1688356.tar.gz
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2.0K Mar 21 2014 manifest.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 1.9K Mar 21 2014 run_upgrader.sh
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 674K Mar 21 2014 vmware-tools-upgrader-32
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 687K Mar 21 2014 vmware-tools-upgrader-64
Your sizes and version numbers above may differ, depending on the version of VMware you are running. Above, we see the 59MB compressed installer tar archive file (sometimes called a tarball) located under /mnt/cdrom, which is where the virtual CD is currently mounted. (The exact content and size of the VMware Tools directory will differ, depending on which version of VMware you run.)
Execute the installer file vmware-install.plIndex
Execute the installer program vmware-install.pl from inside its installation directory by typing its pathname:
# pwd
/tmp
# vmware-tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl
At this point, you should see one of three things, A or B or C:
A: Creating a new VMware Tools installer database using the tar4 format.
B: A previous installation of VMware Tools has been detected.
C: bash: vmware-tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl: /usr/bin/perl: bad interpreter: No such file or directory
If you see the output Creating a new VMware Tools installer database, then you already have Perl installed and should skip forward to the next section and read how to answer the installer questions.
If a previous version has been installed, you need to let the installer first uninstall the old version then install the new one. Say yes (just hit Enter) to uninstall, then skip forward to the next section and read how to answer the installer questions.
If you see an error message about the missing interpreter /usr/bin/perl, then you need to install the Perl package following the next instructions:
Install the Perl package (if not installed)Index
If the VMware Tools vmware-install.pl gives a bad interpreter error message when you run it, you need to install Perl package if it isn’t already installed:
# rpm -q perl
package perl is not installed
This VMware Tools installer file vmware-install.pl is a Perl script file that specifies the name of the Perl script interpreter as a comment in the first line of the file. Let’s use head to look at just the first two lines of the script file (which happen to be comment lines that start with # characters):
# head -n 2 vmware-tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl # you type this; the next two lines are the output
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
# If your copy of perl is not in /usr/bin, please adjust the line above.
The first line of output above shows that script wants to run the program /usr/bin/perl. We can confirm that we don’t have this file installed, and the Perl program is only an Available Package:
# ls -l /usr/bin/perl
ls: cannot access /usr/bin/perl: No such file or directory
# yum -q list perl
Available Packages
perl.i686 4:5.10.1-131.el6_4 @updates
# rpm -q -a | fgrep 'perl' # doesn't find anything
#
Our minimal CentOS installation doesn’t have the Perl program installed, so the VMware Tools installer script won’t execute. Let’s install the Perl package:
# yum install perl
[...many lines print here; say Y to install...]
# yum -q list perl
Installed Packages
perl.i686 4:5.10.1-131.el6_4 @updates
# ls -l /usr/bin/perl
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 5012 Apr 30 08:11 /usr/bin/perl
# rpm -q -a | fgrep 'perl' # now it finds perl packages
perl-Module-Pluggable-3.90-136.el6.i686
perl-libs-5.10.1-136.el6.i686
perl-5.10.1-136.el6.i686
perl-Pod-Escapes-1.04-136.el6.i686
perl-version-0.77-136.el6.i686
perl-Pod-Simple-3.13-136.el6.i68
The exact version numbers of the packages may differ slightly.
Before executing the installer fileIndex
To run the installer file, we need both Perl and the fuse-libs packages (installed in previous sections). If you don’t know if they are installed, you can verify it:
# rpm -q perl
perl-5.10.1-136.el6.i686
# rpm -q fuse-libs
fuse-libs-2.8.3-4.el6.i686
The exact version numbers of the packages may differ slightly.
Execute the installer fileIndex
To run the installer file, we need both Perl and the fuse-libs packages (installed in previous sections). If you don’t know if they are installed, check the previous section, above.
Now that we have Perl and fuse-libs installed, we can resume following our screen capture directions and try executing the VMware Tools install script again. This time it works and starts asking us installation questions:
# pwd
/tmp
# vmware-tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl
Creating a new VMware Tools installer database using the tar4 format.
Installing VMware Tools.
In which directory do you want to install the binary files?
[/usr/bin]
The installer will ask you many questions, offering suggested default answers that will be used if you just push Enter. Accept the default answers (push Enter) for all the questions. Do not type anything except Enter after each question.
At some point it will say (the exact version number may differ):
The installation of VMware Tools 9.6.2 build-1688356 for Linux
completed successfully. You can decide to remove this software
from your system at any time by invoking the following command:
"/usr/bin/vmware-uninstall-tools.pl".
Before running VMware Tools for the first time, you
need to configure it by invoking the following command:
"/usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl". Do you want this program to invoke
the command for you now? [yes]
Again, push Enter to accept yes and start the configuration process. Some of the steps will take a few minutes to finish; be patient.
Again, in the configuration process, do not type anything in response to any of the questions; just push Enter in response to every prompt.
The configuration will end with this message, and you will get your bash shell prompt back:
Found VMware Tools CDROM mounted at /mnt/cdrom. Ejecting device /dev/sr0 ...
No eject (or equivilant) command could be located.
Eject Failed: If possible manually eject the Tools installer from the guest
cdrom mounted at /mnt/cdrom before canceling tools install on the host.
Our minimal CentOS install does not have an eject command. We will unmount and eject the CD ISO image manually.
