For FreeBSD virtual machines, you manually install or upgrade VMware Tools by using the command line.

Before you upgrade VMware Tools, consider the environment that the virtual machine runs in and weigh the benefits of different upgrade strategies. For example, you can install the latest version of VMware Tools to enhance the performance of the virtual machine's guest operating system and improve virtual machine management, or you can continue using the existing version to provide more flexibility and avoid downtime in your environment.

Prerequisites

  • Power on the virtual machine.

  • Verify that the guest operating system is running.

  • Because the VMware Tools installer is written in Perl, verify that Perl is installed in the guest operating system.

Procedure

  1. On the host, from the Workstation Player menu bar, select Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools.

    If an earlier version of VMware Tools is installed, the menu item is Update VMware Tools.

  2. In the virtual machine, log in to the guest operating system as root and open a terminal window.
  3. If the distribution does not automatically mount CD-ROMs, mount the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image.

    For example, type mount /cdrom.

  4. Change to a working directory, for example, /tmp.

    cd /tmp

  5. Untar the VMware Tools tar file. 
    tar zxpf /cdrom/vmware-freebsd-tools.tar.gz
  6. If the distribution does not use automounting, unmount the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image. 
    umount /cdrom
  7. Run the installer and configure VMware Tools. 
    cd vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl

    Usually, the vmware-config-tools.pl configuration file runs after the installer file finishes running.

  8. Follow the prompts to accept the default values, if appropriate for your configuration.
  9. Follow the instructions at the end of the script.

    Depending on the features you use, these instructions can include restarting the X session, restarting networking, logging in again, and starting the VMware User process. You can alternatively reboot the guest operating system to accomplish all these tasks.

Results

What to do next

If a new virtual hardware version is available for the virtual machine, upgrade the virtual hardware.