Hi---
Many thanks for taking a look at this! To answer your questions:
First another update with some new information. I've been able to refine the symptoms a bit better. What I'm about to describe are from tests done after I ran through the steps to get your specific answers.
What I found was that it's not the first change of monitor layout that becomes the last I can perform, it's selecting a specific layout that causes all the functions to fail; like the daemon falls over or something. In short, I have three monitors. Immediately after start, I can perform cut and paste between guest and host and I can switch between the single main monitor layout and either of the two monitor layouts (main/left or main/right); I also suspect drag & drop works but didn't test. However, when I go to the 3 monitor layout: nothing happens in the UI and now the other functions are dead too, I'm also stuck on whatever the last monitor layout was. If I start /usr/bin/vmware-user manually from the command line after all the tools related functions are dead, I can revive the ability to change layouts and if I try the problem layout I get:
The program 'vmware-user' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation)'.
(Details: serial 552 error_code 2 request_code 128 minor_code 2)
(Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)
In the terminal window. Cut and Paste is still dead after the /usr/bin/vmware-user restart.
Finally I get this in both syslog and kern.log:
Sep 2 14:41:11 ms-scb kernel: [ 880.817335] [drm:vmw_kms_update_layout_ioctl] *ERROR* Invalid GUI layout.
Wasn't sure where else to look. The answers to your questions are below.
1) The current version information for the quest is:
Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS / Linux ms-scb 3.13.0-62-generic #102-Ubuntu SMP Tue Aug 11 14:29:36 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
All packages were up-to-date as of the time I attempted these actions.
2) From the terminal:
┌scb@ms-scb ~
└> vmtoolsd -v
VMware Tools daemon, version 10.0.0.164 (build-2977863)
┌scb@ms-scb ~
└> which vmtoolsd
/usr/sbin/vmtoolsd
┌scb@ms-scb ~
└> ps aux|grep vmtool
root 1633 0.0 0.0 78348 4140 ? S Aug31 1:21 /usr/sbin/vmtoolsd
scb 40512 0.0 0.0 15944 944 pts/8 S+ 12:30 0:00 grep --color=auto vmtool
3) I accidently discarded the results from tools installation. So I uninstalled tools using the script and then I manually removed as many as the directories as I could find that were left behind and restarted the guest; re-installed tools and the output is:
┌scb@ms-scb ~/vmware-tools-distrib
└> sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d -f
[sudo] password for scb:
open-vm-tools are available from the OS vendor and VMware recommends using
open-vm-tools. See http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2073803 for more information.
Do you still want to proceed with this legacy installer? [yes]
Creating a new VMware Tools installer database using the tar4 format.
Installing VMware Tools.
In which directory do you want to install the binary files?
[/usr/bin]
What is the directory that contains the init directories (rc0.d/ to rc6.d/)?
[/etc]
What is the directory that contains the init scripts?
[/etc/init.d]
In which directory do you want to install the daemon files?
[/usr/sbin]
In which directory do you want to install the library files?
[/usr/lib/vmware-tools]
The path "/usr/lib/vmware-tools" does not exist currently. This program is
going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want?
[yes]
In which directory do you want to install the common agent library files?
[/usr/lib]
In which directory do you want to install the common agent transient files?
[/var/lib]
In which directory do you want to install the documentation files?
[/usr/share/doc/vmware-tools]
The installation of VMware Tools 10.0.0 build-2977863 for Linux completed
successfully. You can decide to remove this software from your system at any
time by invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-uninstall-tools.pl".
Before running VMware Tools for the first time, you need to configure it by
invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl". Do you want
this program to invoke the command for you now? [yes]
Initializing...
Making sure services for VMware Tools are stopped.
The module vmci has already been installed on this system by another installer
or package and will not be modified by this installer.
The module vsock has already been installed on this system by another installer
or package and will not be modified by this installer.
The module vmxnet3 has already been installed on this system by another
installer or package and will not be modified by this installer.
The module pvscsi has already been installed on this system by another
installer or package and will not be modified by this installer.
The module vmmemctl has already been installed on this system by another
installer or package and will not be modified by this installer.
The VMware Host-Guest Filesystem allows for shared folders between the host OS
and the guest OS in a Fusion or Workstation virtual environment. Do you wish
to enable this feature? [yes]
Using kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only'
/usr/bin/make -C /lib/modules/3.13.0-62-generic/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
MODULEBUILDDIR= modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-62-generic'
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/backdoorGcc64.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/backdoor.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/bdhandler.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/cpName.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/cpNameLinux.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/cpNameLite.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/dentry.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/dir.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/file.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/filesystem.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/fsutil.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/hgfsBd.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/hgfsEscape.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/hgfsUtil.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/inode.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/link.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/message.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/module.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/page.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/request.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/rpcout.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/stubs.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/super.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/transport.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/kernelStubsLinux.o
LD [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/vmhgfs.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST 1 modules
CC /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/vmhgfs.mod.o
LD [M] /tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only/vmhgfs.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-62-generic'
/usr/bin/make -C $PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
MODULEBUILDDIR= postbuild
make[1]: Entering directory `/tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only'
make[1]: `postbuild' is up to date.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only'
cp -f vmhgfs.ko ./../vmhgfs.o
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/modconfig-kTzxIb/vmhgfs-only'
The vmxnet driver is no longer supported on kernels 3.3 and greater. Please
upgrade to a newer virtual NIC. (e.g., vmxnet3 or e1000e)
The vmblock enables dragging or copying files between host and guest in a
Fusion or Workstation virtual environment. Do you wish to enable this feature?
[yes]
VMware automatic kernel modules enables automatic building and installation of
VMware kernel modules at boot that are not already present. This feature can
be enabled/disabled by re-running vmware-config-tools.pl.
Would you like to enable VMware automatic kernel modules?
[no]
Thinprint provides driver-free printing. Do you wish to enable this feature?
[yes]
Disabling timer-based audio scheduling in pulseaudio.
Do you want to enable Guest Authentication (vgauth)? Enabling vgauth is needed
if you want to enable Common Agent (caf). [yes]
Do you want to enable Common Agent (caf)? [yes]
Detected X server version 1.15.1
Distribution provided drivers for Xorg X server are used.
Skipping X configuration because X drivers are not included.
Creating a new initrd boot image for the kernel.
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-62-generic
Generating the key and certificate files.
Successfully generated the key and certificate files.
vmware-tools start/running
vmware-tools-thinprint start/running
The configuration of VMware Tools 10.0.0 build-2977863 for Linux for this
running kernel completed successfully.
You must restart your X session before any mouse or graphics changes take
effect.
You can now run VMware Tools by invoking "/usr/bin/vmware-toolbox-cmd" from the
command line.
To enable advanced X features (e.g., guest resolution fit, drag and drop, and
file and text copy/paste), you will need to do one (or more) of the following:
1. Manually start /usr/bin/vmware-user
2. Log out and log back into your desktop session; and,
3. Restart your X session.
Enjoy,
--the VMware team