I'm experimenting with using both VMware Player and Virtualbox to run an Ubuntu VM in Win7.

I have the VB install of Maverick working fine, and with only a few quirks such as slow response in Firefox scrolling and the occasional freeze, it works fine. However, making backup copies of a VB machine for storage is a PIA, and so I would like to see how Player works in the same situation.

I created a new VM with 2GB RAM & 30GB hard drive space. The install went smoothly, but everytime I start the VM, no GUI shows and I have no mouse control. It brings me to a screen saying
Ubuntu Easy Install:
VMware Player is installing VMware Tools.. please wait.

At this point, I get a login prompt and then goes to a standard CLI interface. At this point, I have no mouse control at all. The CPU and memory gauge that I have as a Win7 screenlet shows no changes and minimal HDD activity.

The VMWare site says to install the Tools by a tarball, going to VM>Install VMware Tools, but I can't do that with no mouse control.

Any solutions?