Using another keyboard layout

Right click the USA or Deu in the upper right corner and select Open Keyboard preferences. There you can add the localization scheme that fits to your keyboard.

Changing the screen resolution

Unfortunately there is no graphical dialog to change the screen resolution, because the VMware tools are part of the virtual PC and have to be reconfigured which involves a recompilation if the config-script is used out of the box. Start a root terminal with Applications->Accessories->Root Terminal and enter the password "root".

• change the gcc version to use by entering:
  export CC=/usr/bin/gcc-4.0
• start the config tools with:
  /usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl
• Answer the question to rebuild part of the VMware tools with yes
  Do you want this program to try to build the vmhgfs module for your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes]
• Accept the suggested location of the C header files with enter
  What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.16-2-k7/build/include]
• You should now verify the successful building of two modules by spotting these messages at the end of each build process:
  make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config1/vmhgfs-only'
  The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.
  and
  make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config1/vmxnet-only'
  The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.
• Choose to change the screen resolution by entering y or yes:
  Do you want to change your guest X resolution? (yes/no) [yes]
• Enter the number that matches your host screen resolution best (if there is no exact match choose one that is slightly smaller in both dimensions so that your guest screen fits into the host screen without scroll bars).
• After the script has finished close the terminal and restart Linux.

The appliance should now start with a changed screen resolution.