Hi there all

I'm new to all this Linux stuff, so I have installed Mandriva Linux onto VMWare Server to see if I can use it. I am currently stuck on how to get VMWare tools to install. With Windows Vista it was easy, just click on VM, and inside the virtual Vista, cick the ok button a few times.

All I get with Mandriva when I click on the install file is a text file with loads of confusing stuff in it. Is there a guide to installing VMWare tools for noobs please?

I'm sure that this must have been asked before, but I cant find any reference when I search for VMWare tools on the forum. Sorry for any time wasted for readers reading "Yet another VMWare tools" post.

Thank you all for your time (and patience) and help

Brian


[moved from Tips & Tricks by spinynorman - welcome aboard ]

In reality you don't need to install it. Your machine will run perfectly fine without it. Enabling that option means that it mounts the CD drive to the vmware-tools package, which you can then install, as it is an rpm package. However, when I've done this before it broke the X server, and so it would only work again if I removed it.

All it does is help improve performance a little, nothing more than that.

Without VMware Tools there are no "shared folders", no drag and drop between host and guest, no cut and paste... IMHO you should install it. Follow the guide from, say, Gentoo Wiki or Achlinux wiki- both are very good, and apply for practically any distro, not just Gentoo or Arch.