I came across this issue today where I could not get VMware tools to install. Thankfully I found this very helpful post: HERE
Make sure to run when you are done.
# /etc/init.d/vmware-tools status
The output is similar to:
vmtoolsd is running
Here is the VM KB article:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1023956
