VMWare with Gentoo Guest - why does copy and paste not work

My configuration
HOST: Windows XP
Guest: Linux Gentoo 2006.1
VMWARE Version: VMWare Server 1.0.2 build-39867

First off, the copy and paste is provided by VMWare Tools. VMWare Tools run under X Windows.

There are a number of articles out there describing how to do this for various flavors of VMWare; however, my experience has demonstrated that these work just fine for VMWare Server. I would worry not.

I found that with these instructions (HOWTO install Gentoo on VMWARE - installation of VMWARE Tool Section) and my original version of X11 R6.8 did not work out as well with driver module installation. Perhaps I was careless, but my solution was simply to upgrade to X Windows 7.2 - a seamless upgrade for me. Note to you: you may as well take a snapshot to allow a roll back.

I would recommend following the path of upgrading if you've not, insuring that you have in your make.conf: INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard vmmouse" VIDEO_CARDS="vmware". If you have/want to upgrade, as I did, follow these instructions: Migrating to Modular X HOWTO

After migrating to Modular X Windows 7.2 the VMWare tools launch automatically as I start X so copy and paste works seamlessly now.

Keywords: gentoo, vmware, copy and paste, vmware tools, vmware server, gentoo guest, x windows, why doesn't copy and paste work?