Hello,
I downloaded VMware Player 5.0.2 for Windows x64 and installed it on Windows 7.
The automatic software update download appears to hang.
Clicking "Details" indicates it cannot connect to the update server "https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds " which is a non-standard URL.
I used a browser to go to https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds but all of the links lead to dead-ends.
However if you use the standard URL https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/ (with a "terminating" slash delimeter) the same directory listing appears, with working links.
There is at least one thread explaining how to manually extract and use the .iso files to install the virtual machine tools. It would be better if VMware Player handled this for the end user as designed.
The problem is in libcds.dll and can be corrected with a Hex Editor in Windows.
Example:
Download a Hex Editor like xvi32 (Google: http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm#download ) extract and run.
Find the libcds.dll file ( "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player\libcds.dll" ) and make a backup copy in case this fails. Drag and drop the original libcds.dll file on the xvi32 application window.
Xvi32 has a text search feature called "Search" (After clicking on search, click on "Find - Text string") then type [ softwareupdate ] click on [OK]
To the right of the main display, in the white grid, will be the ASCII representation of the URL https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds
Click on the box, in the white ASCII grid area, after the last letter in the URL 'http://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds' and type ' / ' ( forward slash - next to your right shift key, under ? ). Save the file.
Then restart the VMware Player.
Manually trigger a software update download ->
[Player] -> File -> Player Preferences -> Software Updates -> [Download All Components Now]
All of the virtual machine tools will begin to download and finish.
The downloaded packages will automatically extract and install the *.iso files where they belong.
The virtual machine tools menu option will now work from VMware Player for all virtual machines->
[Player] -> Manage -> VMware Tools Installation
If problems arise, you can stop VMware Player, and restore the libcds.dll file saved before the edit.
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1035392 - Knowledge Base - Installing VMware Tools in VMware Player
http://communities.vmware.com/message/2143946 - VMware Player 5 - Tools - "Cannot find component on update server..."
http://communities.vmware.com/message/2071061 - URL nonconformity
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1833330 - libcds.dll