Can't access Ubuntu installed through VMware "please wait for the graphical environment to launch"

I thing it must be a problem due to installation of VMware tool for graphical interface. So its better to connect the machine to the required server where you can get the VMware tool update. Once that will install you will successfully able to create the machine.

Else you need a bundle of required packages along with iso image if working in a standalone system.

Or you can sign in and start with startx command. I was facing similar issue so I used startx. What are the drawbacks of it?

Check this post Webup8

install the required dependencies and run the downloaded VMware .bundle file:

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`

32bit:

chmod +x VMware-Player-4.0.3-703057.i386.bundle
sudo ./VMware-Player-4.0.3-703057.i386.bundle

64bit:

chmod +x VMware-Player-4.0.3-703057.x86_64.bundle
sudo ./VMware-Player-4.0.3-703057.x86_64.bundle

Install patch

sudo apt-get install patch
cd
wget http://webupd8.googlecode.com/files/vmware802fixlinux320.tar.gz
tar -xvf vmware802fixlinux320.tar.gz
sudo ~/vmware802fixlinux320/patch-modules_3.2.0.sh

You should use newer version of VMWARE which is now available.