Trouble installing VMTOOLS in VMPLAYER

HOST: LINUX MINT 15 (3.8.0-26-generic)

GUEST: WINDOWS 7 Home Premium - Service Pack 1

When attempting to install the VMTOOLS in the GUEST, I receive an error message:

VMware Tools for Windows 2000 and later - version 9.2.3

Error: There was a problem updating a software component. Try again later and if the problem .....

There doesn't appear to be a good work-around. According to the documentation I've seen - it suggests the only way to install VMTools is by the VMPlayer menu.

I've seen discussions that VMPlayer needs to run as root but that doesn't feel right on a LINUX box for security reasons and VMPlayer works fine otherwise with the Guest OS.

The problem is just that the VMTools won't install......

Any suggestions would be welcomed.