Installing VMWare Tools

VMware tools help the vm console and the rest of your desktop coexist. They install better video drivers, for example, and allow cut&past between console and virtual machine. VMconsole alerts you when you don't have the tools installed, so it's angst-inducing even if you don't need them. But it's not clear that the simple right-click, install vmware tools is only the beginning. What that does is prep the cdrom and provide a psueo .iso for the tools installation.

Cdrom should be set to auto detect. This can only be done when the virtual machine is powered off.

Then, for a windows guest (vmware term for virtual machine) you need to be logged in with admin rights and either manually launch the setup routine from your virtualized cdrom or if autorun is set (which it shouldn't be!) that will handle it for you.

Not a big deal, but I found myself wondering whether anything was happening when, in fact, nothing was happening. I'd like to see the tools installation option on the console say, "You need to log in now on the guest and install it!"