Cómo instalar VMWare Tools en Debian 7

Instalar los VMWare Tools en Debian 7 no es tan distinto de, por ejemplo, instalar los Guest Additions de VirtualBox. En esencia es tener las herramientas de compilación del sistema operativo, los headers del kernel, montar una unidad de CD virtual para correr el utilitario que compilará los módulos de kernel, y reiniciar la máquina. Si quieres saber más en detalle, aquí te dejo el procedimiento:

1. Instalar las herramientas de compilación de los módulo (GCC y otras cosas):

aptitude install build-essential

1. Instalar los headers del kernel actual:

aptitude install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

1. Montar el disco con el utilitario de VmWare (se debe seleccionar el el vSphere Client que se va a instalar los VMWare Tools para que se presente la unidad de CD en la VM)

mount /dev/sr0  /mnt/

1. Se copia el utilitario en una carpeta local del sistema, y se extrae:

cp /mnt/VMwareTools-8.6.10-913593.tar.gz /opt/
cd /opt/
tar xfzv VMwareTools-8.6.10-913593.tar.gz

1. Por último  corre el script utilitario que creará los módulos necesarios del kernel:

cd vmware-tools-distrib/
./vmware-install.pl

El script  una serie de preguntan para construir los módulos necesarios, las cuales coloco a continuación.  Coloco algunas de las preguntas y parte de la salida del script. Para tu caso particular, responde según tus necesidades:

Creating a new VMware Tools installer database using the tar4 format.
Installing VMware Tools.
In which directory do you want to install the binary files?
 [/usr/bin]
What is the directory that contains the init directories (rc0.d/ to rc6.d/)?
 [/etc]
What is the directory that contains the init scripts?
 [/etc/init.d]
In which directory do you want to install the daemon files?
 [/usr/sbin]
In which directory do you want to install the library files?
 [/usr/lib/vmware-tools]
The path "/usr/lib/vmware-tools" does not exist currently. This program is
 going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want?
 [yes]
In which directory do you want to install the documentation files?
 [/usr/share/doc/vmware-tools]
The path "/usr/share/doc/vmware-tools" does not exist currently. This program
 is going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you
 want? [yes]
The installation of VMware Tools 8.6.10 build-913593 for Linux completed
 successfully. You can decide to remove this software from your system at any
 time by invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-uninstall-tools.pl".
Before running VMware Tools for the first time, you need to configure it by
 invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl". Do you want
 this program to invoke the command for you now? [yes]
Initializing...
 Making sure services for VMware Tools are stopped.
Stopping VMware Tools services in the virtual machine:
 Guest operating system daemon: done
 Unmounting HGFS shares: done
 Guest filesystem driver: done
 [EXPERIMENTAL] The VMware FileSystem Sync Driver (vmsync) is a new feature that
 creates backups of virtual machines. Please refer to the VMware Knowledge Base
 for more details on this capability. Do you wish to enable this feature?
 [no]
 Before you can compile modules, you need to have the following installed...
make
 gcc
 kernel headers of the running kernel
 Searching for GCC...
 Detected GCC binary at "/usr/bin/gcc-4.6".
 The path "/usr/bin/gcc-4.6" appears to be a valid path to the gcc binary.
 Would you like to change it? [no]
Searching for a valid kernel header path...
Detected the kernel headers at "/lib/modules/3.2.0-4-amd64/build/include".
The path "/lib/modules/3.2.0-4-amd64/build/include" appears to be a valid path
to the 3.2.0-4-amd64 kernel headers.
Would you like to change it? [no]
The vmblock enables dragging or copying files between host and guest in a
Fusion or Workstation virtual environment. Do you wish to enable this feature?
[no] yes
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmblock-only'

No X install found.
Creating a new initrd boot image for the kernel.
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-4-amd64
Checking acpi hot plug done
Starting VMware Tools services in the virtual machine:
Switching to guest configuration: done
VM communication interface: done
VM communication interface socket family: done
File system sync driver: done
Guest operating system daemon: done
The configuration of VMware Tools 8.6.10 build-913593 for Linux for this
running kernel completed successfully.
You must restart your X session before any mouse or graphics changes take
effect.
You can now run VMware Tools by invoking "/usr/bin/vmware-toolbox-cmd" from the
command line or by invoking "/usr/bin/vmware-toolbox" from the command line
during an X server session.
To enable advanced X features (e.g., guest resolution fit, drag and drop, and
file and text copy/paste), you will need to do one (or more) of the following:
1. Manually start /usr/bin/vmware-user
2. Log out and log back into your desktop session; and,
3. Restart your X session.
Enjoy,
--the VMware team
Found VMware Tools CDROM mounted at /mnt. Ejecting device /dev/sr0 ...

Luego se debe reiniciar la máquina virtual y verificar que los VMWare Tools están corriendo, viendo el estado en el vSphere Client como se puede apreciar en la imagen de arriba o consultando el estatus en la máquina virtual:

service vmware-tools status
vmtoolsd is running