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parkernathan
Contributor
Contributor

Issue Installing VMWare Tools on Fedora 14

I'm trying to install VMWare Tools on Fedora (Linux) 14, 64 Bit Edition. I'm running VMWare Fusion for Mac 3.1.2 on Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6 for reference.

I switched to root, cd'd to my vmware-tools-distrb directory, and tried to run ./vmware-install.pl. Here's the error message I'm getting:

[gempak@WxBugLIVEWorkstation ~]$ su root
Password:
[root@WxBugLIVEWorkstation gempak]# cd vmware-tools-distrib
[root@WxBugLIVEWorkstation vmware-tools-distrib]# ./vmware-install/pl
bash: ./vmware-install/pl: No such file or directory
Someone suggested to me I check to see which directory perl is located in, so I ran which perl. Here's the results:
[root@WxBugLIVEWorkstation vmware-tools-distrib]# which perl
/usr/bin/perl
[root@WxBugLIVEWorkstation vmware-tools-distrib]#
What do I need to do to successfully install VMWare Tools? Any help would be much appreciated!
For reference, my username on the VM is gempak (since I'm trying to install GEMPAK under Fedora) and the VM name is WxBugLIVEWorkstation.
Thanks!
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18 Replies
Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

The command you're using doesn't make sense...

it should be:

./vmware-install.pl

not:

./vmware-install/pl

the / changes the path, so it's looking for something called 'pl' in a folder called 'vmware-install, when you really want to run the .pl script inside the current folder.

That being said, it might not (and probably won't) work because Fedora 14 is not a supported Guest OS (the kernel modules probably won't build).

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Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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parkernathan
Contributor
Contributor

Getting there! Now it's asking me this question:

What is the location of the gcc program on your machine?
The path "" is not valid path to the gcc binary.
Would you like to change it? [yes]

What do I need to do to change the gcc path?

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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

If you answer [yes] it should prompt you for the location of gcc.

If you don't have gcc installed, you'll need to install it first.

'which gcc' should tell you where it is if it is installed.

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Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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parkernathan
Contributor
Contributor

Here's what which gcc is giving me:

[gempak@WxBugLIVEWorkstation ~]$ which gcc
/usr/bin/which: no gcc in (/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/home/gempak/bin)
[gempak@WxBugLIVEWorkstation ~]$

Seems I don't have it?

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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

That looks to be correct.

You can try using Fedora's package manager to install it.

You'll probably need to install 'make', and also the kernel-headers.

But again, i'm going bet that even with the right build utilities, the kernel itself isn't supported so you'll get errors about the modules not compiling.

That's the challenge with cutting-edge distros like Fedora.  The kernel tends to be newer than what we build with, which makes things 'not work'.

I'll give it a test right now to see if/how it breaks.

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Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

Okay, so i got it to work, with a little bit of wrestling.

Annoyingly, when I do 'yum install kernel-devel' and 'yum install kernel-headers', it gives me a version which isn't the currently running kernel.

So, i had to uname -a to get that, and then do 'yum install kernel-devel-2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686' followed by 'yum install kernel-headers-2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686

I hit a brick wall when the .pl script was trying to find the headers, even tho they were there.

Maybe you can get away with specifying the folder:

/usr/src/kernels/$(uname -r)*/include/linux/version.h

I just did this (as #su)  BEFORE running the .pl script:

echo "#define UTS_RELEASE "$(uname -r)"" >> /usr/src/kernels/$(uname -r)*/include/linux/version.h

It found the headers after that and finished the installation.

I then rebooted, and now things work as expeted (tho I haven't done a lot of testing... just resizing the window, drag and drop and copy-paste from host-to-guest)

Let me know if that helps 😃

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Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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parkernathan
Contributor
Contributor

So do I need to first type in #su, then this?

echo "#define UTS_RELEASE "$(uname -r)"" >> /usr/src/kernels/$(uname -r)*/include/linux/version.h

Then run the install script? I think I get it, just making sure.

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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

Sorry, let me clarify:

# indicates the Bash shell when logged in as the Root user, also known as the SuperUser when accessed from a different account.

You type 'su' (without the quotes), and that elevates you to root.

Then paste:

echo "#define UTS_RELEASE "$(uname -r)"" >> /usr/src/kernels/$(uname -r)*/include/linux/version.h

Then run the install script.

Hope that clarifies things 😃

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Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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parkernathan
Contributor
Contributor

Tried it, getting a couple errors.

Got this when I ran the command:

[root@WxBugLIVEWorkstation gempak]# echo "#define UTS_RELEASE "$(uname -r)"" >> /usr/src/kernels/$(uname -r)*/include/linux/version.h
bash: /usr/src/kernels/2.6.35.10-74.fc14.x86_64*/include/linux/version.h: No such file or directory
And when running the script, still stuck at the gcc prompt:
Searching for GCC...
The path "" is not valid path to the gcc binary.
Would you like to change it? [yes]
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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

Okay...

Do this:

yum install gcc

yum install kernel-devel-2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686
yum install kernel-headers-2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686
echo "#define UTS_RELEASE 2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686" >> /usr/src/kernels/2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686*/include/linux/version.h
then run the install script, let me know how it works out
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Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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parkernathan
Contributor
Contributor

Here's what I got so far. I am running a x64 (64 Bit) version of Fedora if that makes a difference:

[gempak@WxBugLIVEWorkstation ~]$ yum install gcc
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
Adding en_US to language list
You need to be root to perform this command.
[gempak@WxBugLIVEWorkstation ~]$ su
Password:
[root@WxBugLIVEWorkstation gempak]# yum install gcc
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
Adding en_US to language list
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package gcc.x86_64 0:4.5.1-4.fc14 set to be installed
--> Processing Dependency: cpp = 4.5.1-4.fc14 for package: gcc-4.5.1-4.fc14.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: glibc-devel >= 2.2.90-12 for package: gcc-4.5.1-4.fc14.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: cloog-ppl >= 0.15 for package: gcc-4.5.1-4.fc14.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libmpc.so.2()(64bit) for package: gcc-4.5.1-4.fc14.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package cloog-ppl.x86_64 0:0.15.7-2.fc14 set to be installed
--> Processing Dependency: libppl.so.7()(64bit) for package: cloog-ppl-0.15.7-2.fc14.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libppl_c.so.2()(64bit) for package: cloog-ppl-0.15.7-2.fc14.x86_64
---> Package cpp.x86_64 0:4.5.1-4.fc14 set to be installed
---> Package glibc-devel.x86_64 0:2.13-1 set to be installed
--> Processing Dependency: glibc-headers = 2.13-1 for package: glibc-devel-2.13-1.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: glibc-headers for package: glibc-devel-2.13-1.x86_64
---> Package libmpc.x86_64 0:0.8.1-1.fc13 set to be installed
--> Running transaction check
---> Package glibc-headers.x86_64 0:2.13-1 set to be installed
--> Processing Dependency: kernel-headers >= 2.2.1 for package: glibc-headers-2.13-1.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: kernel-headers for package: glibc-headers-2.13-1.x86_64
---> Package ppl.x86_64 0:0.10.2-10.fc12 set to be installed
--> Running transaction check
---> Package kernel-headers.x86_64 0:2.6.35.11-83.fc14 set to be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Dependencies Resolved
================================================================================
Package              Arch         Version                  Repository     Size
================================================================================
Installing:
gcc                  x86_64       4.5.1-4.fc14             fedora         14 M
Installing for dependencies:
cloog-ppl            x86_64       0.15.7-2.fc14            fedora         93 k
cpp                  x86_64       4.5.1-4.fc14             fedora        4.0 M
glibc-devel          x86_64       2.13-1                   updates       968 k
glibc-headers        x86_64       2.13-1                   updates       599 k
kernel-headers       x86_64       2.6.35.11-83.fc14        updates       742 k
libmpc               x86_64       0.8.1-1.fc13             fedora         44 k
ppl                  x86_64       0.10.2-10.fc12           fedora        1.1 M
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install       8 Package(s)
Total download size: 21 M
Installed size: 49 M
Is this ok [y/N]:
Exiting on user Command
Complete!
[root@WxBugLIVEWorkstation gempak]# yum install kernel-devel-2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
Adding en_US to language list
Setting up Install Process
No package kernel-devel-2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686 available.
Error: Nothing to do
[root@WxBugLIVEWorkstation gempak]# yum install kernel-headers-2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
Adding en_US to language list
Setting up Install Process
No package kernel-headers-2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686 available.
Error: Nothing to do
[root@WxBugLIVEWorkstation gempak]# echo "#define UTS_RELEASE 2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686" >> /usr/src/kernels/2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686*/include/linux/version.h
bash: /usr/src/kernels/2.6.35.6-45.fc14.i686*/include/linux/version.h: No such file or directory
[root@WxBugLIVEWorkstation gempak]#
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parkernathan
Contributor
Contributor

Were you able to tell from my last post if the commands I tried worked correctly, or did they not work?

Thanks!

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parkernathan
Contributor
Contributor

I finally ensured I got GCC installed, and the installation successfully went through! Some of the config process might not have went through since it was unable to find the proper kernel headers, but I was able to get enough of it installed and configured so that my display is clearer and those pesky "VmWare Tools are not installed" error messages are gone. Only a couple features may not work, but I can live with them, and if I can get the kernel headers to function better later on, re-run the config part of it and all will go well.

Thanks again!

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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hey,

Sorry I haven't had a chance to respond, things have been busy for me at work lately.  (we volunteer when we can here, but our day-to-day has to come first)

In my case, it found the headers I specified, and I didn't notice any loss of features (even Unity worked, to my surprise).

Fedora, however, is a 'bleeding edge' distro by design, so it's somewhat expected that you know a thing or two about how Linux works (and not just how to navigate a GUI and read instructions).

If you're looking to learn it more, than Fedora is a good choice.

If you want a stable desktop, I'd recommend using Ubuntu 10.10 or 10.04.

In a nutshell, 'that's linux for ya'. 😉

Glad I could point you in the right direction to help you figure it out 😃

Note: okay, unity just crashed the VM when going back to Single Window, but I sort of expect stuff to break because it's Fedora.

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Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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parkernathan
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for all your help! Yeah, I've used Ubuntu in the past, and it's better for day-to-day use. The only reason I'm running Fedora is so I can compile our GEMPAK weather forecasting tool which runs on RPM Linux distros (I could choose either CentOS or Fedora, I chose Fedora since it seemed easier to install). Since that's all I'm doing with it, it should run OK for me, and VMWare Tools seems configed enough for what I need now. If I need a day-to-day Linux distro, I'd definitely use Ubuntu.

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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

Ah, i see... Very Cool!

Thanks for sharing the use case!

Take Care 😃

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Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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BoomerangThree
Contributor
Contributor

Just followed your instructions and they worked perfectly.  This was after piece mealing others together.  Now even shared folders work.

Thanks!

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Ramm150
Contributor
Contributor

Mickro,

I too just followed your instruction and it worked perfectly! I'm not sure what that echo statment did but I think it was key for this to work. I'm soo happy now that I don't have to boot into windows to work on my VM's. Your efforts are greatly appriciated Smiley Happy !!

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