Is this a vSphere bug?

[blueQuint]

I installed Ubuntu 10.10 in both vSphere and Fusion and I installed the VMTools in both, but I can't "Fit Guest Now" in the vSphere VM.  I've tried every different way I can think of to install VMT on it and it won't work (it works fine on my XP vm).  The Fusion version worked fine after the first try.  The vSphere VM Tools install keeps choking on some /usr/src/linux directory.

I'm guessing my Tools install is not completing successfully and that's why I can't "Fit Guest Now".   .... any ideas?

I went here: - http://howto.ccs.neu.edu/howto/virtual-machines/installing-vmware-tools-on-ubuntu/ - and it looked promising, but I did it all, and it still won't work.

Is there some bug in Vmware Tools or vSphere? ... or why is VMT looking for that ../linux directory when it's not there?  (it's not on my Fusion vm either)

[Rubeck]

Have you tried creating a symlink to see if this fixes it..?
( ln -s /usr/src/linux-<what ever kernel version you're running> /usr/src/linux )


/Rubeck

[DSTAVERT]

I would just use your normal Ubuntu package installer to install open-vm-tools. These come from the VMware source. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VMware/Tools

If you would rather add the VMware repositories yourself look here http://www.vmware.com/download/packages.html

[blueQuint]

Well, dang it, ... that seemed like it would work, but it didn't work.

I tried it both from the software center and with 'sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools', rebooted, and vSphere still won't "Fit Guest Now".  I can do it with Windows on vSphere, but not Ubuntu on vSphere.

Is vmware tools the same everywhere?  Is it the same vmtools I'm installing on my Workstation and Fusion VMs?, or do they use different versions, like is there a vmtools for vSphere and a different vmtools for Fusion, and for Workstation?

I have never done it, and not sure how to do it, but what if I moved an Ubuntu Fusion machine into vSphere?

[blueQuint]

SYMLINK?

Hmmm,  well, interesting idea, but ... no ... I guess it's bad enough having to re-install vmtools after every Ubuntu update, I don't really want to have to remember to update the symlink every time too.  (Vmtools doesn't stop working after every update, but it's easier to re-install it every time than to test it.  And I suppose the symlink would need updating only a few times a year, but it's just too much extra hassle to find it broken, then figure out how to fix it again.)  Or do I misunderstand something?

Are you using Ubuntu in vSphere?  Can you "Fit Guest Now"?  ... Like I said, it works for Windows or Ubuntu in vmWorkstation and Fusion, and even Windows in vSphere, but not Ubuntu in vSphere.

[Rubeck]

Updating the symlink would be easy if you do  "sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-$(uname -r) /usr/src/linux" from script or similar...

The host where your Ubuntu v10.10 VM resides does support it, right? I mean this is from where the VMTools is installed...

ESX 4.1 is required from what I read in compatibility guide...

Not running Ubuntu 10.10 on vSphere myself.... I work in a Wintendo shop...

But am running it on my private laptop though..

/Rubeck

[DSTAVERT]

A given VMware tools version should be the same across all VMware platforms. As far as I know there are no differences. The vmware-tools install script includes setting up shared folders which don't exist in vSphere. I do use Ubuntu guests in vSphere although not with a GUI.

Just out of curiosity why aren't you using some other tool for accessing your guests. I use the vSphere Client console as an absolute last resort. Install XRDP on your Linux machines and you will be able to access them from RDP in Windows, MAC and Linux machines.