I have been installing a lot of Ubuntu Linux 6.06, Dapper Drake on VMWare Workstation for virtual work machines, test servers, dev machines, you name it. So I thought I should share some of the basics you need to do everytime you install. To get VMWare to run its best, you need to install their video drivers in the virtual machine. So the steps I list below are what you have to do after you install Ubuntu 6.06. I'm not covering how to install Ubuntu.

Now, all my recent installs have been with Ubuntu 6.06 beta. I have tried to the released 6.06 CD and installer. It seems to work fine, but I was unable to set the video resolution I wanted. It automatically set that to 1024x768 which is not what I wanted. But I haven't taken the time to explore the new CD so I'm sure their is probably some way to set that.

So after you install Ubuntu 6.06 in a VMWare session, do the following:

1. Get a root shell: sudo bash
2. Update your list package list: apt-get update
3. Upgrade your components: apt-get upgrade

Note: Repeat the previous step as many times as you need to get all the available updates installed.

4. If necessary, do a dist-upgrade: apt-get dist-upgrade
5. Once you have have done all the core updates you can, edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file and uncomment all the application repositories you want to include in your updates. I usually uncomment them all, but that is your call.
6. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all patches have been applied. Once this is done, you are ready to install the packages VMWare will need.
7. Install build tools: apt-get install build-essential
8. Get version of your kernel: uname -r. You will use the output from this step in the next step.
9. Install the linux headers for your kernel. Issue: apt-get install linux-headers-{output of prev step here}. This will install the linux headers VMWare needs to compile their tools.

That is it. Once you have done all that, you should have all the pieces you need to install the VMWare tools without a hitch.