These are the steps that can be used to install VMware Tools on Ubuntu 12.04.

First, add the media to the Virtual Machine through the VMware console.

We need to verify all the prerequisites are installed on the Ubuntu system for compiling VMware tools.  Run this command to install the required packages:

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Verifying the Packages

We now need to mount the media in Ubuntu CLI.

Mounting the Media

With the VMware tools media mounted, we need to copy the installer file to the /tmp/ directory to initiate the installation.

Copying the Installation File

Changing directories to the /tmp/ directory.

Changing Directories

Moving along, we now need to extract the .gz installation file within the /tmp/ directory.

Extracting the Installation File

Prior to initiating the installer, we will change to the newly created file folder.

Changing Directories

We can now initiate the installation.  Selecting the defaults is acceptable for most installations.

Initiating the Installation

After the installation completes, the VMware console verifies that VMware Tools is installed.

Verification of the Installation