GUI RHEL6 install VMware Workstation || Player

(Above) You’ll sit at this uninformative screen until you hit the ‘Next’ button, which is not displayed.

I was installing a copy of RHEL6 on VMware Workstation yesterday, and found a little snafu that made proceeding a bit of a chore (and I suspect VMware Player has the same issue).

The problem is that before VMware Tools are installed (i.e. during the OS installation), the screen resolution displayed within the VMware window (even within full screen mode) can prevent the GUI from displaying the “Next”, “Forward”, and “Back” option buttons. If this was your first RHEL6 installation, you might think the installer hung immediately after the GUI loads, when in fact, it is waiting for the user to press “Next” (see the screen shot for an example of this symptom).

The work around is using Alt+N(next), Alt+F(forward) or Alt+B (back). Unfortunately, the RHEL6 install GUI is not consistent as to when it uses ‘Next’ or ‘Forward’, so you may still have to do a bit of experimenting– but this should at least get you though the installation process.

After making it through an install, and you’re satisfied you have a solid installation, I’d recommend making a Kickstart file. Kickstart allows you to feed install selections directly to anaconda (the RHEL6 installer), thereby bypassing having to monkey around with the GUI in the first place.