Install VMware tools on CentOS

There is a great deal of material on this subject.  However, this guide is a simplistic one for my reference.  If anyone should find it useful, that would be great too. Here are the steps to install VMware tools on Linux CentOS 6 and Linux CentOS 7.

CentOS 6: Install VMware tools

From within the VMware  vSPhere Client:

  • navigate Home > inventory > VMs and Templates
  • Select VM, right click, select Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

From within VMware Workstation (11)

  • Right click on the virtual machine, select Install VMware Tools…

From within the CentOS 6 virtual machine.

mount /dev/cdrom /media
cp /media/VMwareTools-<<version #>> /opt
cd /opt
umount /media
tar zxvf /opt/VMwareTools-<<version #>>.tar.gz
/opt/vmware-tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl -d

If there is an error, likely perl needs to be installed.

yum install perl

CentOS 7: Install VMware tools

Brace yourself, this is too easy.

yum install open-vm-tools

Bonus: Oracle Linux 7.1 minimal

yum install open-vm-tools-deploypkg