Installing VMware Tools in Debian Etch (4.0)

Tested with VMware Tools v.5.5.3 (VMwareTools-5.5.3-346885.tar.gz)

• Install software needed by VMware Tools

Install packages to build the kernel modules

aptitude install autoconf automake binutils cpp gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) make psmisc

Find out where the kernel headers are (you may need this information later)
ls -d /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)*/include

• Prepare and install VMware Tools

From VMware Workstation:

go to VM> Install VMware Tools

From debian Vitual Machine:

mkdir /mnt/cdrom
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
cd /mnt/cdrom
cp VMwareTools-5.5.3-34685.tar.gz /usr/src/.
cd ..
umount /mnt/cdrom
cd /usr/src
tar zxvf VMwareTools-5.5.3-34685.tar.gz
cd vmware-tools-distrib

Now run the installer

./vmware-install.pl

Proceed with installation…

When asked Do you want to run vmware-config-tools.pl?
Answer Yes.

Feel free to give any suggestions to improve this tutorial.

Ref: http://www.thoughtpolice.co.uk/vmware/howto/debian-4.0-etch-vmware-tools-install.html