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