Errors of installing VMware-tools

Question

Previously, I post a question about an error of installing VMware-tools in a Ubuntu under a virtual machine. I have not got any solution yet.

So I installed another Ubuntu 14.04 LTS under the virtual machine. Everything was new. I did software updates, and then directly tried to install VMware-tools. I have got an error, always about the shared folder. The whole log is here:

http://pastebin.com/gPtki9Uq

This problem of shared folder really is killing me... Hope someone could help...

PS: I use OS X 10.9.2 and a virtual machine 6.0.5 VMware Fusion.

PPS: I guess something has been written to some files of VMware Fusion, I would need to reset that or overwrite that. Unfortunately, I could not reinstall VMware Fusion (because I have Windows and other things inside).

Answer 1

The problem seems to be a missing or an erroneous declaration / erroneous call of the function vfs_readlink() in HgfsReadLink() in link.c:

/tmp/modconfig-NAS1rK/vmhgfs-only/link.c: In function ‘HgfsReadlink’:
/tmp/modconfig-NAS1rK/vmhgfs-only/link.c:186:10: error: implicit declaration of function ‘vfs_readlink’ [-Werror=implicit-function-declaration]

This might be fixed by editing one of the header files included in link.c or by editing link.c itself, but the easiest (and probably fastest) way would be to just patch the faulty file. There's this patcher around which between other vmware-tools bugs also specifically addresses your issue: Github.com: vmware-tools-patches.

I've checked the patches included and I found out that between those included specifically for your version of vmware-tools (9.6.2) two of them affect the offending function over two different kernels (04-vmblock-vfs_readlink-kernel-3.15-tools-9.6.2.patch > kernel 3.15 and 10-vmhgfs-vfs_readlink-kernel-3.16-tools-9.6.2.patch > kernel 3.16).

Since the vmware-tools installer you used messes with kernel modules, and since as you suggested some files probably have been written already during the previous attempt to install, considering furthermore that you have just reinstalled the system, instead of going through unnecessary headaches i highly suggest you to clean reinstall Ubuntu on the virtual machine once again before running the patcher and installing vmware-tools again.

Inside the virtual machine:

1. Download and install git: sudo apt-get install git
2. Download the patcher/patches somewhere, let's say in ~/: cd ~/ && git clone https://github.com/rasa/vmware-tools-patches.git
3. Move the vmware-tools tarball to ~/vmware-tools-patches: cp ~/Downloads/<vmware_tools_tarball_name> ~/vmware-tools-patches
4. Run the patcher: cd vmware-tools-patches && ./untar-and-patch.sh
5. Install vmware-tools: ./compile.sh

Answer 2

Take the easy way!

The software you are using to virtualize is now outdated.

Download VirtualBox and install Virtualbox tools and you will find your problem solved.

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

There is always a non free alternative called Parallels for Mac that does all the work for you, it will install Ubuntu 14.04 with everything you need, it also has other options such as Android and Chrome OS.

Answer 3

If do you want to archieve a shared folders like behavior without installing vmware-tools you can enable SSH on OS X in the system settings, as shown in the image.

Then, in the guest machine do this:

• Open a Nautilus (a.k.a File Manager) window.

• Click on Connect to Server as seen in the picture.

  

• Type sftp://YOUR_MAC_HOSTNAME in the dialog that pops up (where YOUR_MAC_HOSTNAME is the text that comes in the "Computer Name" field of your OS X Sharing configuration)

• Press enter

• If all is ok, you will be browsing your OS X filesystem.