Install VMWare Tools Ubuntu Server

I don't often install Ubuntu server on a Virtual Machine (VM) so I've documented the process here. Usually you can just click "install VMWare tools" and VMWare will complete the process automatically.

Note: I have tested this on VMWare workstation 7.0 and Ubuntu 9.10 to 11.10 is also works on Lubuntu and Xubuntu. Once you have Ubuntu server installed run the following commands.

 
#Change to super user
sudo su
 
#Update your sources
apt-get update
 
#Upgrade your installed packages and force kernel upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
 
###
#  Now reboot
###
reboot
 
#back to super user
sudo su
 
#Install Build tools
apt-get install linux-headers-server build-essential
 
###
#  Now you are ready to install VMWare tools.
###
 
#Mount the VMWare Tools CD ISO
mkdir /mnt/cdrom 
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
 
#Copy VMware Tools
cp /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-x.x.x-xxxxx.tar.gz /tmp
 
#Go tmp
cd /tmp
 
#Extract
tar -zxf VMwareTools-x.x.x-xxxxx.tar.gz
 
#Change to extracted directory
cd vmware-tools-distrib
 
#Start the installer
./vmware-install.pl
 

The default settings have always worked for me (within a vm) so I hit enter through all the options. Anyone know how to automatically choose all the default options for quicker install? If so, please tweet @NickYeoman or stumble Me.

Using Shared folders

After a reboot you can use tools such as Shared folders. I like to sym link my shared folders to my home directory as I tend to forget the mount directory (hgfs) location.

 
#move to home dir
cd 
 
#sym link and name vmSharedFolder
ln -s /mnt/hgfs/ vmSharedFolder