Install VMWare tools in Debian Etch 4.0

debian.jpgFinally took some time in the weekend to rebuild my debian webserver using Etch this time. Off course as an IT-guy I didn’t read the release notes and found out some stuff the hard way when I tried to install the VMWare tools in Etch without having X installed.


I was used to installing debian packages with apt-get but it seems aptitude is now the preferred package tool.

I discovered this, when I tried to install the kernel headers for my debian 4.0 Etch machine.
When doing a uname -r the output was: 2.6.18-5-686
So I thought lets apt-get install kernel-headers-2.6.18-5-686 which was a no go..!
The only thing close I could install was linux-kernel-headers.

When using aptitude everything went smoothly:

So lets first install the following necessary tools:
aptitude install gcc psmisc autoconf automake binutils cpp make

Then do a:
uname -r to get your kernel version

Then install the kernel-headers with:
aptitude install kernel-headers-version output number
(for example aptitude install kernel-headers-2.6.18-5-686)
or try this:
aptitude install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

I was installing this in VMWare Server so after these installs do the following:
Select your VM from the console and select install VMWare Tools
then go into your vm and do this:
mount /dev/cdrom
cd /media/cdrom0
cp VM* /tmp/.
cd /tmp
tar zxf VM*.tar.gz
cd /vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-tools-install.pl
and just follow all the screens, you should be fine now…!

If this post helped you out, help me out and visit some of my sponsers on the left or right..!
Thanks..!
Tags: How to, Install, debian, Etch, 4.0, VMWare Tools

Comments are closed.