Fix Vmware tools “ kernel header path is not valid “ error

UPDATE (2015-05-13): Confirming that the following approach works for Lubuntu versions 12.10, 14.04 and 14.10 and Linux Mint 15 and 17.

Today I wanted to install VMware tools in a Linux Mint 15 and in a Lubuntu virtual machine. I followed the standard procedure as it is described in this VMWare knowledge base article. After setting gcc path I received the following error:

   run vmware-config-tools.pl, got same error message:**Searching for a valid kernel header path... The path "" is not valid. Would you like to change it?

After an hour of searching and trying numerous solutions I found the solution in this AskUbuntu answer.So before executing sudo ./vmware-install.pl follow these steps:

1. Download linux headers using the command:

   sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)
   

2. Create a symbolic link to version.h file: The vmware tools installer is looking for the version.h file in under [kernelsource path]/include/linux/version.h, it’s not there. The location of version.h is [kernelsource path]include/generated/uapi/linux/version.h

   sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)/include/generated/uapi/linux/version.h /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)/include/linux/versionh
   

   INFO: In some newer operating systems like Debian 9 the directory /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)/include/ does not exist, so we need to create it. (info courtesy of Eli Godoy)

Now you are able to install VMware tools without a problem! Good luck!