The apt command is the right way to install VMware Tools in Ubuntu - until the VM has no internet, the repositories are unreachable, or you are working on an older VMware setup. Then the classic method earns its keep: VMware attaches a virtual CD image to the guest, and you run the installer it carries. This guide walks that route honestly, including its real costs.
Every modern guide, including the video this page sits under, says the same thing: install open-vm-tools with apt. But that advice assumes the VM can reach Ubuntu's repositories. Lab VMs on isolated networks, freshly installed guests whose networking is not up yet, and some older ESXi environments break that assumption. For those, VMware still ships the tools as an ISO image bundled with the host. Here is when to use it, how to run it, and what you give up by choosing it.
Three situations justify this route. The VM has no working internet or repository access - the ISO needs nothing from the network because it is already on your host. The guest is a distribution without open-vm-tools in its repositories - rare for Ubuntu, common for niche Linux builds. And older VMware installations whose workflow and documentation assume the bundled tools. If none of those is you, stop here and use the apt command from the main guide - it is better supported and maintains itself. Choosing the ISO out of habit is choosing extra work.
If the menu entry is greyed out, the usual cause is that the VM has no virtual CD/DVD drive in its settings, or the guest is not running. Add a CD drive in the VM settings while it is powered off, then try again.
Do not run the installer directly from the CD - it is read-only and the installer needs a writable folder. Copy the archive to a local folder first:
cp /media/$USER/VMware\ Tools/VMwareTools-*.tar.gz /tmpcd /tmptar -xzf VMwareTools-*.tar.gzvmware-tools-distrib - that is the installer.The exact mounted path can differ slightly between Ubuntu versions; if the copy command cannot find the file, open the CD in the file manager, note where it is mounted, and copy the .tar.gz file from there instead.
cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distribsudo ./vmware-install.plOn a minimal Ubuntu install the script may complain about a missing compiler or Perl module; installing the build-essential and perl packages answers that - though a VM that minimal usually deserves the apt tools route anyway.
Know what you signed up for. The ISO tools do not update with Ubuntu - when VMware updates, or a kernel change breaks the bundled modules, you repeat this whole mount-copy-run routine by hand. The host may also keep reporting the tools as a version it wants to upgrade. And VMware's own support position is that open-vm-tools is the recommended build for Linux guests; the bundled installer is maintained as a fallback. None of this makes the ISO route wrong - for an offline lab VM it is the only route - but it is a tool you maintain, not a tool that maintains itself.
For the normal case - a VM with internet - the video's one-command apt method is faster and self-updating. Watch it before falling back to the ISO.
▶️ Watch Full VideoAlmost always one of two reasons: the virtual machine is not powered on and logged in, or the VM has no virtual CD/DVD drive configured, so VMware has nowhere to attach the ISO. Shut the VM down, add a CD/DVD drive in its settings if one is missing, start it again, and the menu option becomes available.
For a standard Ubuntu VM, none of them. The defaults put files in the standard locations and enable the standard features, which is what the troubleshooting guides and documentation assume you have. Change an answer only if you have a specific reason, such as a non-standard install prefix in a managed environment - and note what you changed, because future-you will be the one debugging it.
You can, and it will install. The honest recommendation stays the same though: on a current Ubuntu with working internet, open-vm-tools from apt is the build VMware tests and supports best, and it updates itself. Treat the ISO on a modern Ubuntu as the offline fallback it is, not the default.