How can I install vmware tools? [duplicate]

You should go to the console on the virtual machine while it is running and install the tools.

You can use 3rd-party vmware tools that are available in the Ubuntu repository (contrary to the VMware-provided packages that are not available in the main repo):

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools

For virtual machine that is a desktop installation you can also add some destkop-environment based tools:

sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools-desktop

But for server installation you should definitely drop this out.

EDIT: Actually, there is a comprehensive tutorial that answers your question. I hope nobody decides to remove this plot due to this... VMware Tools community help