VMware Tools installation issues

[tchoi]

I am having trouble installing VMware tools. I am selecting it to install but a screen just flashes and nothing comes up. According to the menu under Virtual Machine, the tools are being installed.

TIA..

-Tae

[bgertzfield]

Hi tchoi,

This is a known issue with the private beta, and has a workaround in the release notes:

http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/fusion/releasenotes_fusion.html

To work around the issue, you can eject the CD-ROM from inside the guest operating system, then disconnect and reconnect the virtual CD-ROM device via the Virtual Machine menu in Fusion.

Let me know if that works for you!

[tchoi]

Thanks for the info bgertzfield.

I looked for the info on the link - release notes - that you provided but I see nothing regarding issues or troubles installing VMware Tools.

In any case, I tried your work around and at first it did not work. Then on a whim I just disconnected the CD-ROM and tried to install the tools before reconnecting the drive and the tools installed just fine.

Thanks..

-Tae

[bgertzfield]

You're right that the release notes don't explicitly mention Tools; I'll request that be fixed.

The problem is discussed in the section about inability to switch ISO images on a connected CD-ROM, or to switch from physical CD-ROM to or from ISO images.

I'm glad you found a workaround!

[admin]

Here's a bit more information on how to use the workarounds in the release notes to get VMware Tools installed.

You may be wondering why this issue (the inability to switch CDs) has anything to do with VMware Tools installation. It's because we use virtual CDs (images of CD-ROMs, or so-called "ISO images") to distribute VMware Tools. When you choose "Install VMware Tools" from the menu, what you're really doing is mounting up a CD on your virtual machine's CD-ROM drive. If it's a Windows VM, the autorun mechanism kicks in and launches the installation.

Of the several steps in the workarounds documented in the release notes, the trickiest one is "Browse for ISO Image." You have to explicitly point at the location of the ISO image. Where the heck is that? Well, it's here:

/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/contents/libdir/isoimages/*.iso

(There's one ISO image here for each supported family of guest OSes.)

The open dialogue doesn't make it easy to browse to the ISO images, because it won't let you crack open /Applications/VMware Fusion.app. It wants to maintain the Mac illusion that a .app is a file, not a bundle. Anyway, the way to make the dialogue face reality is to just start typing the absolute path, starting with the slash. A little window will pop up and let you type as much of the path as you like. I usually type in /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/contents/ . That effectively breaks the barrier, and lets me maneuver to the path of the ISO image.

Here's one other thing to watch out for during installation of Windows XP: the VMware Tools drivers in this beta release have not been signed by Microsoft. So very stern warnings from the Redmond boys show up during the installation, urging you not to install these drivers. Install them anyway.

[DannyD]

In addition to the above you can also navigate to the tools folder via the gui. Right click (Ctrl+click) on the Vmware fusion icon and select show package contents. Then navigate to Contents/libdir/isoimages

[richardeberhard]

I tried this solution and the navigation trick worked, but there is no isoimages folder in libdir.

Is this a separate download?

Thanks,

Rich

[bgertzfield]

Hi richard,



Apologies -- that was the location of the Tools for the previous Fusion beta.

The Tools are now located in:

/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/isoimages

[richardeberhard]

Thanks - that worked perfectly!

....And what a difference in ease of use when the Tools are installed.

Thanks,

Rich