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I am running VMware Workstation on a Linux box.

When I power on a centOS (Linux) virtual machine I cannot get mouse or keyboard control of the machine. I suspect that it has something to do with the error message:

You do not have VMware Tools installed in this guest. Chose "Install VMware Tools" from the VM menu.

If I click on that menu option, it inserts a virtual cd with drivers etc. This does not help me since I don't have keyboard or mouse control over the machine.

I was thinking that if I could figure out the IP address or hostname I could use any number of protocols to get into the machine (SSH comes to mind).

How can I get the IP address or hostname of this machine?

Note: I did not create this machine. A coworker created it who is no longer with the company. Would save me a lot of time if I could get into the machine. I have login credentials so that won't be a problem.

Dave M
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sixtyfootersdude
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11 Answers11

44

First Go in the Virtual Machine Settings.

Found the MAC address

Then in the Network Section, click the Advanced button and read the MAC address

Then in the console execute: arp -a

C:\>arp -a
Interface: 10.98.79.23 --- 0xb
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  10.98.79.10           b8-ac-6f-cb-a1-80     dynamic
  10.98.79.12           78-2b-cb-aa-51-bf     dynamic

Interface: 192.168.20.1 --- 0x1c
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  192.168.20.128        00-0c-29-56-bd-36     dynamic
  192.168.20.255        ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff     static

Find the MAC address in the displayed list (That you found in advance setting of network adapter above) and the IP will be on the side of this particular MAC Address.

In this case the IP is: 192.168.20.128

MoonLight
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F Boucheros
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13

Please check, if not those input devices are connected to the guest OS as USB devices? Once disconnecting them, they should become accessible to the host OS - and therefore operational.

on Linux the command is:

ip addr

or the rather obsolete:

ifconfig

the equivalent command on Windows is:

ipconfig /all

while the output looks about like that:

eno16777984: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
    inet 192.168.2.101 netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.2.255
    ...
Martin Zeitler
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6

On Windows 7,

  1. Copied the MAC address to the clipboard
  2. Open C:\ProgramData\VMware\vmnetdhcp.leases in Notepad
  3. Search for the MAC address string.
Michael Scott
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3

I have the same problem, I type command on linux

ip addr

but it shows something like 127.0.0.1 which not what I was looking for.

I notice that when I install Linux (CentOS) in VMware I did not set network configuration.

So,I solve this problem by installing a new Linux VM again. During the installation there is a section to configure network like in the picture.

picture

When the installation is done I type "ip adddr" and I can see the IP.

poomcyber
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2

There is a built-in VNC service in Workstation. I've not used it, but the config (below) would seem to suggest that you could enable it, and use your host's IP with a particular port with any of a number of VNC clients to gain control of your virtual machine.

VMWare Workstation VNC Config Setup

JoshP
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1

Maybe it is too late for answer, but I had same problem. Simply install VMware vSphere Client and after logon you can right click on VM and open in console where mouse and keyboard works. CTRL + ALT to exit your mouse from console.

CiviDeja
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1

To find any unknown host on your network (whether it's a VM or not) you can use Angry IP scanner. Another option for Linux is arp-scan (it's not usually installed by default, but has very few dependencies). The command arp-scan -l will give you a table of IP addresses and associated MAC addresses. All of your VM's will have similar MAC addresses, so you can narrow it down that way if you have a large network.

Charles Burge
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1

The simplest way no use of virtual machine settings just follows the steps provided in the link.

https://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=6526

Open installed Mac OS go to Menu click on Apple icon -> System Preferences -> Network -> Ethernet and see your IP address

enter image description here

Mahavirsinh Padhiyar
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1

From a Linux box, do an arp-scan on your VMware interface and look for the MAC:

arp-scan --interface=vmnet8 -l
192.168.169.146 00:0c:29:40:5e:db   VMware, Inc.
192.168.169.254 00:50:56:f1:76:14   VMware, Inc.
Run5k
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ousbenz
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1
 vmrun list
    Total running VMs: 1
    .docker/machine/machines/myvm.vmx

  vmrun getGuestIPAddress ~/.docker/machine/machines/myvm.vmx
    172.16.213.128

credit to: https://superuser.com/a/948260 (^ this is copied from an answer to a different question)

Community
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Goodword
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1

Don't know about Linux, but in Windows you could …

  1. Add another network interface to the VM, which will be using VMware DHCP to assign a known IP to your VM. You should set up VMware DHCP to a very short address range and it will be easy to pick the IP (also would be problematic to check, because default Windows firewall settings don't allow incoming echo requests... But you're not Windows)

  2. Try to pick the subnet where your VM is, put another PC to the subnet (another VM or your physical PC) – and use Computer Browser service ("Network" or "My Network places") to find the VM.

You should also look for network scanning software.

By the way, what's the VM network mode? Host-only private network (with or without NAT) or bridged?

slhck
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Ubeogesh
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