How to: Install VMWare Tools in Untangle 6.2

[sky-knight]

Warning, this process will install build tools on your untangle appliance. These build tools are a potential security issue and can reduce the security of your Untangle appliance.

Also, these instructions are tested from ESXi 4.0 using VMWareTools-4.0.0-164009. Previous versions of the VMTools have given me issues randomly given Debian 5.0. If you have an older 3.x series VMWareTools I suggest you update your VMWare to get the latest tools release.

Final Note: VMWare tools configures the screen resolution of the XWindow so it knows where to put the clip box to enable the mouse to enter and leave the VM window. You will need to set your UT resolution to something sane (I'm using 1024x768) and configure the VMTools to be the same and NEVER CHANGE IT ON THE CONSOLE. If you use the Change Resolution button on the console GUI to change the X resolution you may need to run /usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl again to reconfigure the VMTools for the new resolution.

Finally, the install process:

Configure apt:

cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.bak
sed -i 's/# Commented by Untangle: //' sources.list
apt-get update

Install required packages:

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

Reconfigure apt so our box doesn't go Frankenstein:

mv /etc/apt/sources.list.bak /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-get update

Now, tell VMWare to install the tools so it will give us the VMTools. Be aware that VMWare updates the VMTools on a regular basis. Any lines that involve the VmwareTools-4.0.0-xxxxxx.tar.gz file are much easier typed with tab completion. for example in the following instructions the easiest way to copy the file is typed.

cp /media/cdrom/VMware<tab> /usr/src

All you need to ever type in any of these instructions is VMware<tab> and the console will fill in the remainder of the file for you. In this way you will get whatever version your VMWare product is presenting to the guest OS. The process of installation is the same no matter what version you have.

Extract and Install VMWare tools:

mount /media/cdrom
cp /media/cdrom/VMwareTools-4.0.0-175625.tar.gz /usr/src
cd /usr/src
tar xvf VMwareTools-4.0.0-175625.tar.gz
/usr/src/vmware-tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl

Just follow the defaults through the installation. It will compile and install all the relevant kernel modules. Just remember to feed it the correct screen resolution. Default is 1024x768.

All that is left is clean up

umount /media/cdrom
rm -rf /usr/src/vmware-tools-distrib
rm /usr/src/VMwareTools-4.0.0-175625.tar.gz

And finally:

reboot

Because it just works better after a reboot.

I've noticed it can take a min or two for the vmware-client utility to work correctly. This utility will auto load when X cranks up, and is responsible for grabbing your mouse, letting you drag and drop, as well as sharing the clipboard with the host.

Hope this works for you guys, it's working on my test bridge install in my ESXi server right now.

[scobar]

Package build-essential is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package build-essential has no installation candidate

This is what I get when I try to run:

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

[landlord]

i get the same error
anyone?

[scobar]

Google is not helping me...All the info I'm finding is dated.

I'm hung up where it wants a location og the C header diles that match my kernel.

[sky-knight]

You didn't edit the sources.list properly, or you forgot to run apt-get update before you ran the install lines.

[scobar]

You didn't edit the sources.list properly, or you forgot to run apt-get update before you ran the install lines.

I ran the commands you had, copy/pasted.

Per the ntop how-to, I used these...

echo "deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian lenny main contrib non-free" >| /etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://security.debian.org lenny/updates main contrib non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://volatile.debian.org/debian-volatile lenny/volatile main contrib non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://www.backports.org/debian lenny-backports main contrib non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://download.webmin.com/download/repository sarge contrib" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

It's now installing the package C headers.

I took a snapshot before I did this, so, I'm not 100% sure this will work or not. I have to leave in a little bit so I might night finish this until tonight.

[sky-knight]

Yeah, if you do

nano /etc/apt/sources.list

There are three lines, each of them commented out that point at the debian repositories. You simply need to take the #Commented By Untangle: off. However, some releases of Untangle put a space in a different place which makes the sed line I posted here not work.

The last two lines you've just posted aren't needed for this to work. And whatever you do... PUT sources.list back to the original and run apt-get update again... otherwise your untangle is going to be nice and hosed the next morning.

[Drewster727]

sky,

after running the command:

mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

it tells me "mount: no medium found"

I followed this step by step, not sure what happened. I'm also running my UT in ESXi 4, not sure if that is related to the issues. I keep getting that no medium found output whenever I try to mount.

[scobar]

Yeah, if you do

nano /etc/apt/sources.list

There are three lines, each of them commented out that point at the debian repositories. You simply need to take the #Commented By Untangle: off. However, some releases of Untangle put a space in a different place which makes the sed line I posted here not work.

The last two lines you've just posted aren't needed for this to work. And whatever you do... PUT sources.list back to the original and run apt-get update again... otherwise your untangle is going to be nice and hosed the next morning.

It seems to be working good. I did put the sources back and did an apt get-update and they where all untangle repositories.

sky,

after running the command:



it tells me "mount: no medium found"

I followed this step by step, not sure what happened. I'm also running my UT in ESXi 4, not sure if that is related to the issues. I keep getting that no medium found output whenever I try to mount.

Open a console on your VM UT from within esxi. Go to VM>Guest>Install/Upgrade VMware Tools. Then, re-run the command to mount the ISO.

[Drewster727]

could have sworn I ran that already, thanks scobar, I think I'm losin' it.