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After downloading the new Fedora 16 Live CD and installing to disk in VMWare ESXi, the first thing I needed to do was to install the VMWare tools so that I get good integration between the Guest and Host.

To do this there is a bit of dancing around that needs to be performed.

So, from the Live CD, first, install to hard drive.

Once done, there is no point starting the VMWare Tools installation until you have got the tools necessary to compile them, so the first thing you need to do is to install the compiler tools.

Use our friend 'YUM'.  To do this.  Open up a terminal session and get SU.

i.e: in a terminal session, type 'su' and enter the super user password.

Once you have got here you should make sure you are up to date with all the system modules installed.

In the terminal session, first get 'Super User' permissions

# su

[enter your super user password]

then...

# yum -y update

This might take a while, depending on how old your live CD distribution is, but be patient and let the system do it's stuff...

Once finished, I would recommend a reboot of the system here, so go ahead and reboot.

Once you have rebooted and logged in again, fire up another terminal session as we will need to compile the VMWare tools.  To do this we will need a compiler and various supporting files.  You might not be a developer, but we need the developer tools to do this.  To get the support required, you need by typing the following command:

# su 

[enter password for super user]

# yum groupinstall "Development Tools"

Let Fedora do it's stuff while it download various tools...  It may take a while whilst it is updating various modules.  Be patient.

Once completed, if you haven't done so already, in the Host select your guest OS and right click, 'Install VMWare Tools'

Back in the guest, this will create a new folder called /media and in here you will see the VMWare tools archive.  Simply right click and 'copy to home'.

Now, in the terminal session, navigate to your home directory, i.e.

# cd /home/[your login]]

I used in my system...

# cd /home/mark

Now, extract the archive...

# tar xjf VMWareTools-8.6.0-425873.tar.gz  (your archive might have a slightly different name, don't worry, just use the name you have on the disk)

This will create a folder in your home directory called 'vmware-tools-distrib'

Change to that directory, i..e

# cd vmware-tools-distrib

In this directory is a script that you should run by typing the following command:

# ./vmware-install.pl

The script will ask you a number of questions, just use all the defaults by pressing enter when asked...

Watch out for the question "The VMWare Host-Guest Filesystem allows for shared folders between the host OS and the guest OS in Fusion or Worksation virtual Envionment.  Do you wish to enable this feature"...  Enter 'yes'  This will allow you copy/paste access between the host and the guest.

Once the script has completed, it will take a while, restar the system at this point.

Log in again as yourself.

Run a new terminal session and get 'Super User'

# su

[superuser password]

# cd /usr/bin

# ./vmware-toolbox

This will bring up an X window where you can configure the file sharing options between guest and host, plus a number of other configuration options you might need.