This tutorial will take you every single step of the way through installing and setting up Kubuntu in OS X, using VMware Fusion. It will also guide you in installing VMware Tools, troubleshooting network connectivity, setting up and accessing shared folders. The steps and screenshots are specific to the latest (as of July 23rd, 2007) version of Gutsy Gibbon (Tribe 3), which is an alpha release. With that said, it will likely be very similar if you use this guide to install Kubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn).
- Installing Kubuntu in VMware Fusion
- Changing Kubuntu settings and enabling Shared Folders in VMware Fusion
- Accessing Shared Folders in Kubuntu
- Installing VMware Tools in Kubuntu
- Troubleshooting Network connectivity in Kubuntu
Installing Kubuntu in VMware Fusion
- Start by launching VMware Fusion. If this is your first time using it, the New Virtual Machine Assistant (step 2) will likely start up automatically. If it doesn’t, click the New… button.
- Review the info on the initial setup page and click Continue.
- Select Linux from the Operating System: drop down menu, and Other Linux 2.6.x kernel from the Version: drop down menu. Click Continue.
- Enter a name (anything is fine, but something descriptive is a good idea) in the Save As: field. Use the Where: drop down menu if you want to change the default folder/drive where your virtual machine is saved. Click Continue.
- Here you’ll need to decide how large you want your Kubuntu “drive” to be. I think you could get away with selecting 4GB as a minimum, but there would be very little space left over to install anything. I opted for 6GB and after the default installation, there was just over 3GB of “empty” space for me to install additional applications etc.
Click the arrow in front of Advanced disk options and feel free to make any changes you see fit. I left the default settings intact. Click Continue when you’re ready to move on.
- Make sure that Start virtual machine and install operating system now is checked, and if you burned Kubuntu to a CD/DVD, make sure it’s in your drive. If you’re installing Kubuntu from an .iso file, select Use operating system installation disk image file:, and then click Other… from the drop down options.
- Navigate to the Kubuntu .iso file, select it, and click Choose.
- Back at the setup wizard, make sure everything looks good and click Finish.
- Kubuntu will now boot for the first time. Click anywhere inside the VMware Fusion window, make sure that Start or install Kubuntu is selected (use the up and down arrow keys) and finally hit enter (return) on your keyboard.
- Kubuntu will start up (assuming you’re using a Live CD version). Feel free to explore Kubuntu - you should be connected to the Internet, sound will work etc. If you decide you’re really not interested in using Kubuntu ever again, you can stop now.
If you want to actually install it, keep reading.
- Locate the Install icon on your Kubuntu desktop, and click it.
- Review the info on the initial Install screen, but disregard the ‘warning’ regarding backing up your valuable data. Remember, you’re installing Kubuntu in a virtual environment, so this won’t affect your OS X documents or settings in any way. Click Next to continue.
- Chose the language you’d like to use in Kubuntu from the list in the left window, and then click Next.
- Choose your city (or the closest in your time zone) and click Next.
- Select the type of keyboard layout you want to use, and again, click Next.
- Leave the defaults selected. Next.
- Enter the appropriate info in each of the fields. Unlike some other Operating Systems, your user name is case sensitive. When everything is filled in, click Next.
- Review the information in the summary screen, and click Install if everything is correct.
- Go grab yourself a cup of coffee. The installation process takes anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes, depending on the speed of your Mac, what other programs you’re running etc.
- Once the installation has completed, a pop-up window will appear. Click OK to close it.
- Restart Kubuntu by selecting the K button and choose Log Out….
- Select Turn Off (rather than Restart) if you want to enable shared folders, increase the amount of RAM that’s dedicated to Kubuntu or change your CD-ROM back to the actual drive (if you used an .iso file to install Kubuntu).
- And Kubuntu will now shut down.
- If you haven’t used VMware Fusion before, or you haven’t opted to Never show this dialog again, a pop-up message will appear reminding you to install VMware Tools. Click OK to close it.
Changing Kubuntu settings and enabling Shared Folders in VMware Fusion
- Click the Settings button from the VMware Fusion toolbar.
- Select Memory from the left menu. If you want to increase the default amount of RAM allocated to Kubuntu, use the slider or the up arrow. Click Apply when you’re done.
- Select CD/DVD from the Removable Devices list. If you used an .iso file during the installation, select Automatically detect physical CD/DVD drive so that Kubuntu will be able to recognize CDs and DVDs when you put them in your drive. Again, click Apply if you made any changes.
- If you’d like to share a folder (or multiple folders) from OS X, select Shared Folders from the left window. Place a check next to Enabled and Enabled at power on, then click the + (plus sign) in the bottom left corner.
- Select Add Shared Folder… from the list.
- Again, select Enabled and give your share a name in the space provided. Click the Choose button, navigate to the folder you want to share, select it and click OK. Click the Apply button and then OK to return to the main VMware Fusion window.
- Back in OS X, right-click (ctrl-click for single button folks) the folder you want to share with Kubuntu and select Get Info. Make sure that the Others: list is set to at least Read, or Read & Write if you want to be able to write/modify files in that folder from Kubuntu. Then click Apply to enclosed items…
Accessing Shared Folders in Kubuntu
- Start up Kubuntu again by clicking the Start Up button from the VMware Fusion toolbar (or the giant Play button in the main window).
- Again, you’ll probably be prompted to install VMware Tools. Just click OK.
- Sign in to Kubuntu.
- Open Konqueror and navigate to /mnt/hgfs. From here you should see the folder you set to share in VMWare Fusion.
- Drag that folder to your Desktop (or home folder etc) and let go. Choose Link Here to create a shortcut to that shared folder.
- Now you can access that shared folder without having to go to /mnt/hgfs.
Installing VMware Tools in Kubuntu
- To install VMware Tools, make sure that Kubuntu is running and press ctrl + Apple Key to release the mouse and keyboard focus from Kubuntu. Select Virtual Machine from the top VMware Fusion menu and then Install VMware Tools from the drop down list.
- Click Install.
- Back in Kubuntu, a window will pop up asking what you want to do with the “new medium” being detected. Make sure that Open in New Window is selected, then click OK.
- Click the VMwareTools-e.x.p-XXXXX.tar.gz file
- It should open up with Ark an app that lets you extract the contents of compressed files. Click the Extract all files button (see screenshot below).
- Choose a location to extract the files (the default of /home/your_username is perfect) and then click OK.
- Once the files have been extracted, you can close down Ark. Open up a console/terminal by selecting the K Menu button -> System -> Konsole. Note: in my instillation, it actually says “Entries in K-menu: Konsole app name, Terminal Program …” - I suspect this may be a minor bug/issue with Tribe 3. It could just be me..
enter in:
cd vmware-tools-distrib/
(assuming you extracted VMware Tools to your home folder. Otherwise you’d enter cd /path/to/the/folder/you/extracted/vmware-tools-distrib/). Now enter:
sudo ./vmware-install.pl
and you’ll be prompted to enter your password.
- You’ll be presented with a series of questions. Hit enter (return) to accept the default, which is absolutely OK in every instance (until you’re prompted to set a default screen resolution, which is 2 steps down).
- A bunch of text will fly by your screen..
- Eventually you’ll be asked what you’d like to set the default screen resolution as. Don’t try to set it higher than whatever your Mac natively supports. On my 15″ widescreen MacBook Pro, I’ve found 1280×800 (the default) works perfectly. Whatever your preference, enter the corresponding number (or enter to accept the default).
- Enter the command:
/usr/bin/vmware-toolbox &
to launch VMWare Tools. You should now be able to move your mouse cursor outside of the VMware window without having to use the ctrl + Apple Key combo. You can also drag and drop files between each OS (Kubuntu and OS X). VMware Tools will start automatically each time you boot Kubuntu from now on.
Troubleshooting Network connectivity in Kubuntu
- If you don’t seem to be connected to the Internet in Kubuntu, right-click the Network icon in the System Tray. Select Manual Configuration….
- You’ll be prompted to enter your password. Do so, and click OK.
- Your Ethernet Network Device is probably disabled. Select it and click the Enable interface button.
- It should change to Enabled and an IP address will be visible in the IP Address column. Click OK and try opening a browser etc. You won’t need to do this each time you boot into Kubuntu - the setting should be saved.
- If you have any questions, issues or comments, by all means feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to answer. Cheers, and happy Kubuntu’ing!
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Thanks for all your hard work! I installed Fiesty Fawn using your tutorial. You got it all right. Your tutorial really made the installation as smooth as it could possibly be.
Hi, I just installed Kubuntu 7.04 on VMWare fusion on MacOSX Tiger. Went very smoothly, however, I installed Kubuntu because of Kile (Latex editor on KDE). Kile requires \ and @ and I can’t get my keyboard to write them. Thanks for your help!
Urs, Switzerland
Okay, I figured out how to write the @ and \ on Kubuntu: use the key to the right of the right apple key and 2 for the @ and the same key and
Thanks for the guide, followed most of the guide for an installation of Feisty Fawn (Ubuntu Ultimate DVD 1.4, gonna try an upgrade to 1.5) and everything worked out. Smooth and easy, the updates took longer to complete compared to the time it took to install!
Thanks again!
I’m a total noob to all things Linux and I’m so glad you wrote this guide. I’ve installed Kubuntu 8 and everything seems to work expect the internet connection. When I click on manual configuration nothing is listed. Any idea how to fix it?
Ah never mind, it works. But the sharing doesn’t work.
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