VMware Tools is a package that can be installed on your Windows and Linux/BSD VMs that improves their performance, especially in graphics and networking.

Installation in Windows guests

Select the VM, and on the “Summary” tab you will see an option to install VMware Tools:

This will mount the CD image for you.

In the guest,  simply open up the CD drive and run the setup executable.

Generally, it’s safe to accept the default options. You’ll need to reboot once the installation is finished.

You’ll notice that the IP address of the VM now becomes visible in the Web Client, as well as some information about its resource usage:

Installation in Linux/BSD guests

Via the open-vm-tools package

VMware recommends you install the open-vm-tools package provided by your distribution, if it exists.

•  Debian/Ubuntu:

• apt-get install open-vm-tools

• Fedora/CentOS:

• yum install open-vm-tools

• openSUSE:

• zypper install open-vm-tools

• BSD:

• pkg install open-vm-tools-nox11 (for systems without a GUI)
  
  -- or --
  
  pkg install open-vm-tools (for systems with a GUI)

Manually from CD

Mount the CD by clicking “Install VMware Tools” as in the installation for Windows guests. You’ll probably need to install some packages to satisfy VMware Tools’ dependencies.

At minimum you will need:

• Perl (installed by default on many systems)
  • Debian/Ubuntu (usually already installed):

    apt-get install perl

  • Fedora/CentOS (usually already installed):

    yum install perl

  • openSUSE (usually already installed):

    zypper install perl

  • BSD:

    pkg_add -r perl5

• C compiler and appropriate header files
  • Debian/Ubuntu:

    apt-get install build-essential

  • Fedora/CentOS:

    yum groupinstall "Development Tools"

  • openSUSE:

    zypper install -t pattern devel_C_C++

• Kernel header files
  • Debian:

    apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

  • openSUSE:

    zypper install kernel-devel

• In FreeBSD guests, you will also need the “compat6x” package:

  pkg_add -r compat6x-i386 (32-bit)
  
  --or--
  
  pkg_add -r compat6x-amd64 (64-bit)
  

Now mount the CD drive. If your *nix installation has a GUI, this should be done automatically for you. Otherwise, run the following as root:

• Linux:

  mount /dev/cdrom /mnt

• BSD:

  mount -t cd9660 /dev/cd0 /mnt

Now copy the file to a temporary location, extract it, and run it:

cp /mnt/VMware-Tools*.tar.gz /tmp/
cd /tmp
tar -zxf VMware-Tools*.tar.gz
cd vmware-tools-distrib/
./vmware-install.pl

The installer will ask you a series of questions; accept the default options if you aren’t sure.
Once the installer is done, reboot.

Here is a quick guide for connecting to the support chat server with Adium, a multi-chat client for Mac OS X.

First, launch Adium and go to Preferences –> Accounts.  Click the ‘+’ to add an account.  Choose ‘XMPP’ for account type.

Enter your account name.  This will be <your_username>@iseage.org:

Next click the ‘Options’ tab and enter the server and port as seen below.  Server should be “setup.iseage.org” and port should be 5222:

You may now click ‘OK’ to add the new account.

Now you are ready to join a chatroom.  Go to File –> Join Group Chat… Choose the account you just created from the account dropdown list if it isn’t already selected.
Type in the chatroom name such as ‘supportchat’ or ‘ita_cyber_defense’.  The server must be set to “muc.setup.iseage.org”.  Handle will be your nickname upon joining.

Repeat the last step for every chat room you want to join.

Congratulations! You’re finished!

Here is a quick guide for connecting to the support chat server with Mac OS X Messages application.

First, launch messages and go to Preferences –> Accounts.  Click the ‘+’ to add an account.

The account name should be <your_username>@iseage.org as shown in the following screenshot.  The server should be “setup.iseage.org”:

Next, do File –> Go To Chatroom… or use the keyboard shortcut COMMAND-R to join a chatroom.  The room name will be “<name_of_chatroom>@muc.setup.iseage.org”:

Repeat the last step for every chat room you want to join.

Congratulations! You’re finished!