Installing vmware tools for debian 8 in a virtual machine [manual]

With a full debian installation in VMWare, I had a constant confusion because I have never had a vmware tools installed without a file until the end. Maybe my hands are not the same, I will not argue - with Linux, I'm still not on you. Recently a new version of debian was released and, on the second day after the official release, I made an willful decision to transfer my virtual servers organizing FTP / SFTP servers from WindowsXP to Linux. Then a new version of VMWare 11, a new version of tools, debian 8 testing, was used by the people for a long time, and I decided that everything should be smooth and I would have to try and understand the proftpd settings. After installing and configuring debian 8, I decided to install the vmware tools and thus complete the initial phase - the preparation of the base machine. And what do you think? VMware tools got crooked ...

This blatant fact did not leave me indifferent. So how much is already possible? For example, I started Gnome3 on debian 7 only in an alternative mode and it didn’t work to properly install drivers for video and / or enable 3D support. I remember some time spent on finding solutions and testing proposals for self-assembly, but it did not bring me success, and I abandoned this case, especially since it did not interfere with my work. But there was a feeling of incomplete work.

And here, again something is not right. GUI earned initially normal. I even really liked Gnome3 after setting (setting via gnome-tweak-tool + extension: Lock keys, Remove dropdown arrows). Tulsa put almost normal. But ultimately, we do not get support for Shared Folders. It's sad because Such a mechanism is convenient: we connect folders in the virtual settings, they are automatically mounted in / mnt / hgfs /. And do not bother with sharing folders on the network in the host machine. But after installing the tools, we get a non-working module vmhgfs. I did not find a solution in runet, but I remember I found how to solve the problem in some English-speaking forum. All this action took place on April 26-28. I was surprised when yesterday an acquaintance contacted me and complained that I could not configure the Vmvarov network in the virtual machine with the new debian. And I decided to write a manual to a friend, having issued it in the form of an article on Habré - suddenly someone else will come in handy!

So how to install the tools.
')
To begin with, we install the necessary packages for assembling tools (this stretches from prehistoric times, otherwise there is a risk that nothing will normally gather):

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) make gcc 

If you further perform the installation of standard tools from the delivery of VMWare:

 mount the VMware tools cdrom and install VMware Tools sudo mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom tar xvzf /media/cdrom/VMwareTools-9.9.2-2496486.tar.gz cd vmware-tools-distrib sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d 

Then after rebooting, we get a non-working vmhgfs module. I quote the end of the installation log:

/usr/src/linux-headers-3.16.0-4-common/scripts/Makefile.build:262: Recipe execution error for the target "/tmp/modconfig-zqp0EX/vmhgfs-only/inode.o"
make [4]: ​​*** [/tmp/modconfig-zqp0EX/vmhgfs-only/inode.o] Error 1
make [4]: ​​*** Waiting for task completion ...
/usr/src/linux-headers-3.16.0-4-common/Makefile:1350: Recipe execution error for target "_module_ / tmp / modconfig-zqp0EX / vmhgfs-only"
make [3]: *** [_module_ / tmp / modconfig-zqp0EX / vmhgfs-only] Error 2
Makefile: 181: recipe execution error for sub-make target
make [2]: *** [sub-make] Error 2
Makefile: 8: recipe execution error for "all" target
make [1]: *** [all] Error 2
make [1]: exit directory "/usr/src/linux-headers-3.16.0-4-amd64"
Makefile: 120: Recipe runtime error for vmhgfs.ko target
make: *** [vmhgfs.ko] Error 2
make: exit from the / tmp / modconfig-zqp0EX / vmhgfs-only directory

The filesystem driver (vmhgfs module) is used only for the shared folder
feature. VMware Tools is designed to work
independently of this feature.

You can install the driver by feature
running vmware-config-tools.pl again after making sure that gcc, binutils, make
sources for your running kernel are installed on your machine.
These packages are available on your distribution CD installation.

To eliminate this sad problem, you need to perform a series of actions to replace d_alias with d_u.d_alias in the vmhgfs package:

 #!/bin/sh -x cd /usr/lib/vmware-tools/modules/source tar xf vmhgfs.tar grep -q d_u.d_alias vmhgfs-only/inode.c && echo "already patched" && exit 0 sed -i -es/d_alias/d_u.d_alias/ vmhgfs-only/inode.c cp -p vmhgfs.tar vmhgfs.tar.orig tar cf vmhgfs.tar vmhgfs-only vmware-config-tools.pl -d -m 

After that, the Shared Folders functionality from VMWare will start to work normally - the connected folders will appear in the virtual machine settings in the / mnt / ngfs folder.
NOTE: this method is incompatible with earlier versions of the kernel (below 3.13.0-45) !!!

After these corrections, I collected the tools back into the archive, from which you can now install tuzles without bothering with additional steps to replace d_alias with d_u.d_alias. If someone needs me, I can upload a file. Just tell me where, the file weighs 178Mb, I would like to upload it to some kind of file hosting without registration and other troubles, so that he would lie there for a year or two at least.

For the sake of justice, I think it should be noted that not only on the tools from vmware did the light come together. There is a wonderful open-vm-tools project. The package, however, has not been updated for a long time, but at one time I was quite successful with them and everything always worked right there. Also open.

Also kind people suggest that there is still a convenient set of vmware-tools-patches .