MEPIS 11 VMware Tools installation in guest OS using VMware Player

Please note VMware Tools can only be installed from within the guest OS when logged in as root (su -) Screen resolution using only 70% of the 10.1 netbook PC screen, an erratic Bluetooth mouse, endless toggling Ctrl+Alt (return to host computer) or Ctrl+G (to be able to input to guest MEPIS) with vertical and horizontal scrolling, inability to file share or copy-&-paste between guest and host OS'es will drive you crazy in a jiffy and make this Windows XP (host) with MEPIS (guest) setup far too unwieldy to be practical or worthwhile. VMware Tools to the rescue and all these irritants will disappear like magic! Installation of VMware Tools for guest OS MEPIS 11 is the easiest I have ever experienced compared to most leading Linux distros I have installed on this netbook which too often require first installing make , gcc and *-headers via Synaptic Package Manager or sudo apt-get install

Steps - be patient from step # 4, on a 2008 netbook PC this may take quite a long while:
1. With MEPIS 11 loaded as guest OS in VMware Player click the MEPIS11vm (name of my virtual machine but you will probably have labeled yours differently) menu Virtual Machine drop-down list's Install VMware Tools... If your VMware Player light-blue menu panel autohides retrieve it from the top edge of your MEPIS desktop to click Install VMware Tools... 2. Wait a few minutes for VMware Player to locate and mount the VMware Tools ISO image it downloads in the background. You should see VMware Tools appear as a new item on the Desktop and Dolphin, the default MEPIS file manager, will show an entry for VMware Tools in the Places list once VMware Tools is mounted. Right-clicking Properties of VMware Tools *.tar.gz file on my ASUS netbook revealed device /dev/sr0mounted at /media/cdrom all ready to untar. 3. Open a terminal (Konsole) and change to root (su -) then enter the command: cd /tmp before unpacking the tarball in this temporary directory. Type the following line but be sure to type the tarball <xxxx> version number as appropriate per its file properties: tar zxpf /media/cdrom/VMwareTools-5.0.0-<xxxx>.tar.gz or, much safer, just use the keyboard <Tab> key to complete the command as you type it. Created in LibreOffice Writer - LibreOffice 3.3.2 OOO330m19 (Build:202) tag libreoffice-3.3.2.2, Ubuntu package 1:3.3.2-1ubuntu2~maverick1 by daibak - 1 July 2011 1

4. Once VMware Tools is unpacked you need to unmount it by issuing the command, in my case umount /dev/sr0 but your device name may be different so amend it accordingly in this command if so. You are still in the /tmp directory and you are now ready to start the installation of VMware Tools in MEPIS 11 typing in Konsole: cd vmware-tools-distrib followed by ./vmware-install.pl 5. Accept the long string of screen dialogue defaults by pressing the <Enter> key so don't leave the installation unattended. VMware Tools will output a terminal message once installed. Type exitin Konsole to log off as root and return to your user account in terminal. Type exit again to log off and power off using the MEPIS guest OS. If there is any difficulty, you can use the MEPIS11vm light-blue menu bar's Virtual Machine | Power > Power Off option although it is always best to power off or restart using the guest OS wherever possible. The next time you boot MEPIS 11 everything should be in order using all of your 10.1 screen.

Troubleshooting and further reading

Installing VMware Tools from the Command Line on MEPIS 11 MEPIS 11 Users Manual

My installation scenario
ASUS Eee PC 1000H Netbook PC host OS Windows XP SP3, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 Draft n; VMware Player 3.1.4 build-385536: guest MEPIS machine allocated 1GB RAM, 30GB HDD, with Bluetooth mouse and Wi-Fi host (etho0) Internet; Installed version of MEPIS 11 as guest OS from SimplyMEPIS LiveCD: SimplyMEPIS-1.5G_11.0.00_32.iso 2011-May-02 size 1.3G with distro's updates thru 30 June 2011.

Created in LibreOffice Writer - LibreOffice 3.3.2 OOO330m19 (Build:202) tag libreoffice-3.3.2.2, Ubuntu package 1:3.3.2-1ubuntu2~maverick1 by daibak - 1 July 2011 2