Install and configure vmware tools for Slackware guest in Windows xp host

This is a user guide on how to install VMware tools for Slackware Linux on Windows XP host. The Windows XP host is running VMware Workstation and the guest operating system is Slackware 12.1.

In Windows XP host

In Windows XP host, start vmware and mount Linux iso image to cd/dvd drive. Linux iso image is in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation. The image file name is linux.iso.

To install vmware tools, user must first completed the guest operating system installation. The vmware program will remind you during guest operating system boot up. So, you can only install vmware tools for guest operating system after boot up is finished. Also, please check that binutils, gcc, make and kernel source already installed in your Linux. Check installed packages with pkgtool and make sure you installed all packages mentioned above before proceed. When everything is ready, start Slackware guest operating system.

In Slackware guest operating system

Login as root when Linux prompt the login menu. You don't have to be in x-window (kde) to install the vmware tools. We are going to install vmware tools from Linux command line terminal.

Mount linux iso image with this command:

root@musang:~#  mount /dev/hdc /mnt/dvd/ 
mount: block device /dev/hdc is write-protected, mounting read-only
root@musang:~#

Please note that your cd/dvd drive might be different name. Check with dmesg | grep hd command if you are using ide drive. Change hd to sd if you are using scsi drive.

Change directory to /mnt/dvd directory and copy vmware tools to /tmp directory.

root@musang:~#  cd /mnt/dvd/ 
root@musang:/mnt/dvd#  ls 
VMwareTools-x.x.x-xxxxx.i386.rpm  VMwareTools-x.x.x-xxxxx.tar.gz
root@musang:/mnt/dvd#  cp -r VMwareTools-x.x.x-xxxxx.tar.gz /tmp 
root@musang:/mnt/dvd#

Change directory to /tmp and unmount Linux iso image.

root@musang:/mnt/dvd#  cd /tmp 
root@musang:/tmp#  umount /mnt/dvd/

Extract or Untar vmware tools package with tar command.

root@musang:/tmp#
root@musang:/tmp#  tar zxvf VMwareTools-x.x.x-xxxxx.tar.gz

Change directory into vmware-tools-distrib directory and run installation script. During the installation, you can just enter if the directory is correct.

root@musang:/tmp#  cd vmware-tools-distrib/ 
root@musang:/tmp/vmware-tools-distrib#  ./vmware-install.pl 

Installing VMware Tools.

In which directory do you want to install the binary files?
[/usr/bin]  /usr/bin

What is the directory that contains the init directories (rc0.d/ to rc6.d/)?
[/etc/init.d]  /etc

What is the directory that contains the init scripts?
[/etc/rc.d/init.d]  /etc/init.d

In which directory do you want to install the daemon files?
[/usr/sbin]  /usr/sbin

In which directory do you want to install the library files?
[/usr/lib/vmware-tools]  /usr/lib/vmware-tools

The path "/usr/lib/vmware-tools" does not exist currently. This program is
going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want?
[yes]  yes

In which directory do you want to install the documentation files?
[/usr/share/doc/vmware-tools]  /usr/share/doc/vmware-tools

The path "/usr/share/doc/vmware-tools" does not exist currently. This program
is going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you
want? [yes]  yes

The installation of VMware Tools x.x.x build-xxxxx 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]  yes

Unable to create symlink "/etc/pam.d/vmware-guestd" pointing to file
"/usr/lib/vmware-tools/configurator/pam.d/vmware-guestd".

Execution aborted.

Opsss sorry I forgot about that. Vmware tools configuration failed because there is no pam.d directory in /etc directory. So we create pam.d directory with mkdir command and start the configuration one more time.

root@musang:~#  mkdir /etc/pam.d 
root@musang:~#  /usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl 

Stopping VMware Tools services in the virtual machine:
   Guest operating system daemon:                          [  OK  ]
   Blocking file system:                                   [  OK  ]
   Guest memory manager:                                   [  OK  ]
Trying to find a suitable vmmemctl module for your running kernel.

None of the pre-built vmmemctl modules for VMware Tools is suitable for your
running kernel.  Do you want this program to try to build the vmmemctl module
for your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)?
[yes]

Using compiler "/usr/bin/gcc". Use environment variable CC to override.

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running
kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.24.5-smp/build/include]

Extracting the sources of the vmmemctl module.

Building the vmmemctl module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config4/vmmemctl-only'
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24.5-smp/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.24.5'
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config4/vmmemctl-only/os.o
  SHIPPED /tmp/vmware-config4/vmmemctl-only/vmmemctl1.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config4/vmmemctl-only/vmmemctl.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST 1 modules
  CC      /tmp/vmware-config4/vmmemctl-only/vmmemctl.mod.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config4/vmmemctl-only/vmmemctl.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.24.5'
cp -f vmmemctl.ko ./../vmmemctl.o
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config4/vmmemctl-only'
The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

Trying to find a suitable vmhgfs module for your running kernel.

None of the pre-built vmhgfs modules for VMware Tools is suitable for your
running kernel.  Do you want this program to try to build the vmhgfs module for
your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes]

Extracting the sources of the vmhgfs module.

Building the vmhgfs module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only'
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24.5-smp/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.24.5'
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/backdoor.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/backdoorGcc32.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/bdhandler.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/cpName.o
In file included from include/linux/string.h:11,
                 from /tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/cpName.h:18,
                 from /tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/cpName.c:18:
include/linux/types.h:40: error: conflicting types for 'uintptr_t'
/tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/vm_basic_types.h:170: 
error: previous declaration of 'uintptr_t' was here
make[2]: *** [/tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/cpName.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.24.5'
make: *** [vmhgfs.ko] Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only'
Unable to build the vmhgfs module.

The filesystem driver (vmhgfs module) is used only for the shared folder
feature. The rest of the software provided by VMware Tools is designed to work
independently of this feature.
If you wish to have the shared folders feature, you can install the driver by
running vmware-config-tools.pl again after making sure that gcc, binutils, make
and the kernel sources for your running kernel are installed on your machine.
These packages are available on your distribution's installation CD.
[ Press Enter key to continue ]

Can not find /etc/init.d/network and /etc/init.d/networking.

The fast network device driver (vmxnet module) is used only for our fast
networking interface. The rest of the software provided by VMware Tools is
designed to work independently of this feature.
If you wish to have the fast network driver enabled, you can install the driver
by running vmware-config-tools.pl again after making sure that gcc, binutils,

make and the kernel sources for your running kernel are installed on your
machine. These packages are available on your distribution's installation CD.
[ Press Enter key to continue ]

Trying to find a suitable vmblock module for your running kernel.

None of the pre-built vmblock modules for VMware Tools is suitable for your
running kernel.  Do you want this program to try to build the vmblock module
for your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)?
[yes]

Extracting the sources of the vmblock module.

Building the vmblock module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only'
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24.5-smp/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.24.5'
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/linux/block.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/linux/control.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/linux/dbllnklst.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/linux/dentry.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/linux/file.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/linux/filesystem.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/linux/inode.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/linux/module.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/linux/stubs.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/linux/super.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/vmblock.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST 1 modules
  CC      /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/vmblock.mod.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only/vmblock.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.24.5'
cp -f vmblock.ko ./../vmblock.o
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config5/vmblock-only'
The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

[EXPERIMENTAL] The Virtual Machine Communication Interface (VMCI) service
provides a new communication capability with the Host, primarily for
development at the moment.  Would you like to enable this feature? [no]

Detected X.org version 0.0.0.

No drivers for X.org version: 0.0.0.

Do you want to change the display size that X starts with? (yes/no) [no]

Starting VMware Tools services in the virtual machine:
   Switching to guest configuration:                       [  OK  ]
   Guest memory manager:                                   [  OK  ]
   Blocking file system:                                   [  OK  ]
   DMA setup:                                              [  OK  ]
   Guest operating system daemon:                          [  OK  ]

The configuration of VMware Tools x.x.x build-xxxxx for Linux for this running
kernel completed successfully.

You must restart your X session before any mouse or graphics changes take
effect.

You can now run VMware Tools by invoking the following command:
"/usr/bin/vmware-toolbox" during an X server session.

To make use of the virtual printer, you will need to restart the CUPS service

Enjoy,

--the VMware team

root@musang:~#

Now you can start x-window and open a terminal to run vmware tools by invoking /usr/bin/vmware-toolbox command. Can you notice the difference?

Add new comment

Now I can view my

Submitted by hardly (not verified) on Mon, 07/19/2010 - 18:22.

Now I can view my slackware13 vm in full screen mode.

Thanks to the OP and the very helpful comments and replies.

X is running fine with the

Submitted by Lord Loh (not verified) on Thu, 01/14/2010 - 20:56.

X is running fine with the new config file.

Shall hang. From other posts elsewhere on the internet, the solution is to open another virtual terminal and

killall mkinitrd

(http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/problem-configuring...)

And things go fine. Restart X and the mouse moves without being captured.

How to shutdown X?

Ctrl + Alt + shift + backspace.

Here is a way how i managed

Submitted by Visitor (not verified) on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 00:55.

Here is a way how i managed to compile VMWARE Tools on Slackware 13:

open vmware-config-tools.pl

Line 4961: my $kh_path = "usr/src/linux/include";
Line 4962: return $kh_path;

Thanks for the solution.

Submitted by jinlusuh on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 03:10.

Thanks for the solution. This information is helpful for those having the same problem.

I am trying to install

Submitted by Makin (not verified) on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 18:34.

I am trying to install VMware-tools on Slackware 13.

It stops at:

Detected X.org version 7.5.3.

The configuration file /etc/X11/xorg.conf can not be found. Do you want to
create a new one? (yes/no) [yes]

Could not locate hal daemon init script.
Checked: /etc/rc.d/init.d/haldaemon and /etc/rc.d/init.d/hal

X.Org X Server 1.6.3
Release Date: 2009-7-31
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Slackware 13.0 Slackware Linux Project
Current Operating System: Linux slackware13 2.6.29.6 #2 SMP Mon Aug 17 11:58:18 CDT 2009 x86_64
Build Date: 03 August 2009 07:39:15PM

Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(++) Log file: "/tmp/vmware-config0/XF86ConfigLog.11660", Time: Mon Nov 2 14:28:02 2009
(EE) Unable to locate/open config file: "/tmp/vmware-config0/XF86Config.11660"
(==) Using default built-in configuration (30 lines)
(EE) Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist, 0)

X is running fine with the new config file.

Could you give a hint how to fix this?

Thanks

I'm experiencing this same

Submitted by charleskh (not verified) on Fri, 12/11/2009 - 17:52.

I'm experiencing this same exact issue... anyone have any suggestions?

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