Easiest to do this via console or VMware console window – this won’t work via SSH.

Release DHCP:

sudo dhclient -r

Edit Network Interface:

sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces

Change it to something looking like this (adjust for your network):

#The primary network interface
auto eth0
    iface eth0 inet static
    address 192.168.1.10
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    network 192.168.1.0
    broadcast 192.168.1.255
    gateway 192.168.1.1

Reconfigure the network:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart