Install Open VM Tools

Most Linux distributions include
open-vm-tools
and some distributions install
open-vm-tools
by default.
Like installing any other software on the guest, set up the package repository properly for the guest.
The
open-vm-tools
provided by Linux distrubutions meet the need of many users.
Different Linux distributions update their version of
open-vm-tools
at different times.
Users can update their
open-vm-tools
from the package repository provided by a Linux distribution. The install instructions vary depending on the package management system used by a Linux distribution. Sometimes another package repository can be configured to install a newer version from the OS vendor. For detailed instructions, refer to the documentation of the OS vendor.
In general,
open-vm-tools
is supported for OSs that use three different package management systems:
  • Ubuntu, Debian and Related OSes from this family use apt to install Debian (*.deb) packages
  • Red Hat, Fedora and CentOS use dnf or yum to install RPM (*.rpm) packages
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) and openSUSE use zypper to install RPM (*.rpm) packages
All distributions split the package into a system and a desktop component. The desktop component is useful on systems that have a graphical UI (X11, Wayland, and so on). The package names are
'open-vm-tools'
and
'open-vm-tools-desktop'
. SLE and openSUSE ship another package
'libvmtools'
as a dependency. The package management system automatically installs this dependency when
'open-vm-tools'
or
'open-vm-tools-desktop'
are installed.
  1. Ubuntu, Debian, and Related OSes
    1. Ensure that the package index is updated:
      sudo apt-get update
    2. If the VM has a GUI (X11, and so on), install or upgrade
      open-vm-tools-desktop
      :
      sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools-desktop
    3. Otherwise, use the command to install
      open-vm-tools
      :
      sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools
  2. RHEL, Fedora and CentOS
    1. If the VM has a GUI (X11, and so on), install or upgrade
      open-vm-tools-desktop
      :
      sudo yum install open-vm-tools-desktop
    2. Otherwise, install
      open-vm-tools
      :
      sudo yum install open-vm-tools
  3. SLE and openSUSE
    1. If the VM has a GUI (X11, and so on), install or upgrade
      open-vm-tools-desktop
      :
      zypper install open-vm-tools-desktop
    2. Otherwise, install
      open-vm-tools
      :
      zypper install open-vm-tools