Install Vmware Player, Ubuntu and Vmware tools

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#1

Hello,

Vmplayer and Virtualbox, I have both installed them on Ubuntu and they live together quietly.
I find it usefull to install Vmware as well, because it is possible to change the folder where the virtual machines are stored, so since I do not have enough space in my home, I put Vmware VMs in another partition (ext4 or ntfs).

Vmware player can’t export virtual machines .
On Virtualbox I keep those I need to back up, exporting them in the ova format, that is, the most important ones I don't want to lose.
On Vmware the others.

You can install an ISO directly on Vmware or export a VM from Virtualbox to Vmware, you must choose vmdk , then import in Vmware: File-> open to Virtual machine.

To install Vmware on Ubuntu (as host) :
Download Vmware Player 64bit:
latest version:https://www.vmware.com/products/workstation-player.html

To make easier typing on terminal,
rename VMware-Player-12.5.6-5528349.x86_64.bundle in VMware.bundle

chmod +x VMware.bundle

sudo ./VMware.bundle

Then follow this : (scroll down with mouse to see all images)

View post on imgur.com

These are the commands to copy and paste:

sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools open-vm-tools-desktop

sudo chmod -R 777 '/home/USERNAME/VMware Tools'

cd '/home/USERNAME/VMware Tools/vmware-tools-distrib'

sudo ./vmware-install.pl

sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d (-d for default options)

1 Like
#2

Nice write up Mary. I do the same thing with VirtualBox for the same reason. The default machine folder can be changed in VirtualBox’s general preferences. Just select where you would like the new location to be and all future VM’s will be stored there. You can also move your existing VM’s to the new location, but you will have to point each one to the new location. The easiest way to do this is to remove them from VirtualBox (with out deleteing the files), and then Add them back in. I’m using latest version from the repo’s Version 5.0.40_Ubuntu r115130

#3

Yes, you’re right.

Virtualbox VMs also work on other partitions, both ext4 and ntfs, and Virtualbox offers the ability to export VMs in various formats to have a back up or export to VMware. So Virtualbox is indispensable.

I’ve tried VMware Player just out of curiosity and I have to admit it works very well. It does not have the same functions as Virtualbox because it is not the paid Pro version.

Plus, with VMware Player you can decide for each VM in wich partition locate it:
e.g. I have 1 Ubuntu in the ntfs partition, another Ubuntu and XP in an ext4 partition and they all appear in the virtual machines list.

I also noticed that XP on VMware works even better, although it goes very well even on Virtualbox
(I use the version from the oracle site).

#4

Thanks for providing me with an older version of vmware. Because the newer ones i can’t seem to get on linux mint 18.04 LTS

#5

Thanks for the instructions Mary, looks like the only ones you can get on the web for this version.

I've followed the instructions to install and everything went smooth but none of the apps opens. Whichever I click on in the menu, nothing happens.

Oh I'm on Mint 19.1, hope that's not the problem.

#6

this is the link to the old version 12
https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/free#desktop_end_user_computing/vmware_workstation_player/12_0

In the first post I updated the link to the latest version of VMware.

P.S.: at the first installation the terminal gave me the following answer

An up-to-date "libaio" or "libaio1" package from your system is preferred

So first I installed the package libaio1 by synaptic, and then the installation went straight forward.