This is a guide on how to install vmware tools for Slackware guest in Slackware host. The Slackware host is using vmware server 2.0, which is a fully web-based interface virtualization software. While the guest operating is Slackware 12.2 the same version as the host. The vmware server 2.0 web-based control panel is quite different from the server 1.0 and the vmware workstation too. The menu is completely different and you would notice that there is no VM menu where we can find Install vmware tools from the previous version.

Why would people installed the same guest operating system as the host? This is a good approach for a beginner to learn setting up their Linux server without the risk to destroy or even harm the main operating system.

Slackware host setup

Login to Linux terminal as root. Change directory to where you extracted the vmware package. For example:

root@slackware:~# cd /usr/local/src/vmware-server-distrib/ 
root@slackware:/usr/local/src/vmware-server-distrib# ls 
FILES  doc/  installer/  man/   vmware-install.pl@
bin/   etc/  lib/        sbin/  vmware-vix/
root@slackware:/usr/local/src/vmware-server-distrib#

The vmware tools package for slackware (and all Linux distributions) is in linux.iso file. VMware 2.0 keeps all iso images files is /lib/isoimages directory. You can change directory to /lib/isoimages if you want. If not, just provide the full path to copy the linux.iso file to the vmware datastore directory. See the example below:

root@slackware:/usr/local/src/vmware-server-distrib# cp lib/isoimages/linux.iso 
/home/luzar/iso/ 

In the example above, the /home/luzar/iso/ directory was created as a datastore previously. You can use the default datastore or create one before copying the linux.iso image.

Open Firefox web browser and enter localhost address and port to open vmware server. Enter username and password for vmware server to login. Click Slackware guest operating system to edit CD/DVD drive in Hardware list. See the example screenshot image below:

Change cdrom or dvd drive for Slackware guest operating system to Iso Image and browse for linux.iso to insert the image. See the screenshot image below:

Now you can start Slackware guest operating system to install vmware tools.

Slackware guest operating setup

You must install linux-pam package first. When it's done, you can mount cdrom or dvd drive and copy VMwareTools-2.0.0-122956.tar.gz to the /tmp directory. See the step by step example below:

root@slacker:~# installpkg linux-pam-1.0.3-i486-1cjm.tgz 

The command assumed that linux-pam-1.0.3-i486-1cjm.tgz package is in the current directory.

root@slacker:~# mount /dev/hda /mnt/dvd/ 
mount: block device /dev/hda is write-protected, mounting read-only
root@slacker:~# cd /mnt/dvd/ 
root@slacker:/mnt/dvd# ls 
VMwareTools-2.0.0-122956.i386.rpm  manifest.txt
VMwareTools-2.0.0-122956.tar.gz
root@slacker:/mnt/dvd# 
root@slacker:~# cp VMwareTools-2.0.0-122956.tar.gz /tmp 

Extract or untar VMwareTools-2.0.0-122956.tar.gz. See the example below:

root@slacker:/tmp# cd /usr/local/src/ 
root@slacker:/usr/local/src# tar zxvf /tmp/VMwareTools-2.0.0-122956.tar.gz 
root@slacker:/usr/local/src# ls 
vmware-tools-distrib/

Change directory to the extracted directory and run vmware-install.pl file. That is the vmware tools installer. See the step by step example below:

root@slacker:/usr/local/src# cd vmware-tools-distrib/ 
root@slacker:/usr/local/src/vmware-tools-distrib# ./vmware-install.pl 

Answer all questions and enter what's necessary. Basically you just have to enter and accept the default value. Choose a suitable screen resolution by entering the number that represent resolution from the list. Enter and you are done.

Start x-window (kde) and see if vmware tools works. If the vmware tools didn't start, you can start it manually by issuing the command below:

/usr/bin/vmware-toolbox

The final tips for the vmware tools given by vmware are:

Start /usr/bin/vmware-user to obtain guest resolution fit, drag and drop, file and text copy/paste. To use vmxnet driver:

Stop network.
rmmod pcnet32
rmmod vmxnet
modprobe vmxnet
Start network

That's it. Good luck!