06-01-2018: instead of using the below guide Install Open VM Tools:  https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2073803

Install the tools for building VMware tools on the host:

$ aptitude update
$ aptitude install gcc make
$ aptitude install build-essential
$ aptitude install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Press the Install vmware tools in vSpehere Client for the VM.

Copy the VMware tools to the VM:

$ mount /dev/cdrom /mnt
$ cp /mnt/VMwareTools-8.6.10-913593.tar.gz /opt/
$ cd /opt
$ tar xfzv VMwareTools-8.6.10-913593.tar.gz

Install VMware tools:

$ cd vmware-tools-distrib/
$ perl vmware-install.pl

Next follow the installation instructions on the screen.

Then reboot the virtual machine and check the VMware Tools is running, by checking the status in the virtual machine with the vSphere client.

you can check locally on the VM that the tool is running by doing the following command:

$ service vmware-tools status
  vmtoolsd is running