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Dthompson04
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How to Start and Use VMware Tools

  After installing 2008r2 as a VM and installing VMware Tools I'm unable to open the tools and use them.  I've conducted two days of research and I'm unable to find an answer to my problem.    At the bottom is some action I've taken, but I would appreciate any help from the Community.

Purpose:

  Home Lab for training and certification.

Hardware Environment:  (Based off "Chris Wahl's" Home Lab Build)

SuperMicro MBD-X10SLH-F-O Motherboard

Intel Xeon E3-1230 v3 3.30GHz processor with 32GB of ram

Software Environment:

Windows 7 Professional 64Bit version, host operating system

VMware Workstation 10 with all updates installed with Admin privileges

VM#2:  vSphere 5.1 Install

VM#1: The Windows 2008R2 VM I'm having trouble with the VMware Tools.

I've deleted and rebuilt both VM's three times now thinking it was my environment somehow.  ESXi 5.1 is working although I haven't built anything within it yet.  I'm able to access this part of the lab fine from vSphere Client.

VMware Tools:

  Within the 2008 VM Services I can see the VMware Tools service started, the icon in the System Tray notification area and see the files on the VM C: drive, but there's no way to open it.

I am following several links for creating a virtual lab, but it shouldn't be this hard to run a program.  This is my first time trying to use VMware tools, but I'm following the steps in the below lab install procedures.

In the middle of the page of "Boerlowie's Blog" part 4 "Building the ultimate vSphere Lab is where he installs VMware tool and further down after restarting Windows Update service I get stalled at the next step.

"Open up VMware Tools, go to the Shrink tab.  Click the Prepare to shrink button."

?  How do I "Open up VMware Tools"???

Now along the way I've researched this and have removed and reinstalled the tools, but still no success.

  Below is a link where I found the following steps to take, but this didn't work either.  The "NOTE" at the bottom is something I noticed and made sure was correct when I installed the tools the last time.

  I even found a link to where you could download the tools separately from the ISO files and still that didn't work.  A LITTLE HELP PLEASE!!!

http://www.vdsyn.com/windows-2008-r2-virtual-machine-vmware-tools-shows-not-running-current-after-vm...

So next step we performed was
1.Uninstalled VMware Tools from the VM
2.Rebooted the VM
3.Manually Deleted/Renamed the C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools
4.Manually Deleted/Renamed the C:\Programdata\VMware\VMware Tools
5.Rebooted
6.Installed the VMware Tools
7.Rebooted

The issue was not reproducible after the same


NOTE:  Make sure the VM's CD drive is pointing to the correct image.  I found it always going back to the windows 7 iso image on my physical machines C: drive instead of where the 2008r2 image was on the E: drive

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a_p_
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No need to reinstall again. You aren't missing anything. VMware changed the VMware Tools tray and removed the options which were available in previous versions. Take a look at e.g. VMware Front Experience: The VMware Tools GUI is gone - Now what? with some information about this change and the command line replacement.

André

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a_p_
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No need to reinstall again. You aren't missing anything. VMware changed the VMware Tools tray and removed the options which were available in previous versions. Take a look at e.g. VMware Front Experience: The VMware Tools GUI is gone - Now what? with some information about this change and the command line replacement.

André

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grace27
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Hi

Welcome to communities.

Agree with a.p , did you tried to delete from registry too if not try this after that you may reproduce error.

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Dthompson04
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  I don't mind command lines because I've been using them since I started playing with computers in the late 80's.  Your response is greatly appreciated!  I've searched for two days and nothing came back about a change to command lines.

  I've added the link and it's content to my notes so now I can move forward. 

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Dthompson04
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Grace, your greeting and a.p.'s assistance is what I've found as one of the greatest things about the Communities website.  To be honest I've been a member for awhile, but always in the shadows and only clarifying a few things now and then as I've had little time to dedicate to any real VMware studies.

  Now that I've got my hardware completed and things are winding down at work due to our company losing the contract rebid I find myself focusing more energy on my lab.

  Once I get the basics down for a week or two I'll be moving everything over to a hardware lab so you'll see more of my posts as I grow towards my VCP certifications.

Thank you!

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