Second method: (a bit easier than the old one)
1. Install software needed by VMware Tools
1.a. Install packages to build the kernel modules
aptitude install autoconf automake binutils cpp gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) make psmisc
1.b. Find out where the kernel headers are (you may need this later)
ls -d /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)*/include
2. Prepare and install VMware Tools
2.a. # From VMware Workstation: go to VM> Install VMware Tools
2.b. From the VM: mount the virtual cd drive
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/
2.c. Extract VMware Tools to /tmp/
tar -C /tmp -zxvf /mnt/VMwareTools-5.5.3-346885.tar.gz
2.d. Unmount the virtual cd drive
umount /mnt
2.e. Now run the installer
cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl
2.f. # When asked Do you want to run vmware-config-tools.pl?, answer “Yes”.