How to get VMWare to work under Ubuntu Feisty Fawn


Picture:Clock Published on April 21st, 2007 in Linux, Ubuntu

As many other ubuntu users I quickly upgraded my boxes to Ubuntu Feisty. But I soon realized, that VMWare did not work anymore, even though I tried to recompile its modules for the new kernel that came with feisty. After surfing the web and trying multiple solutions, I came up with this one, which seems to work the best for VMWare Workstation and VMWare Server (although I haven’t tried it myself with the Server edition):

  1. Install Linux header for your current kernel: sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`
  2. Download these two files: vmmon.tar & vmnet.tar
  3. Move them to VMWare’s module folder: sudo mv vmmon.tar vmnet.tar /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/
  4. It’s also a good idea to change the owner of those files to root.root: sudo chown root.root /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/*tar
  5. Last but not least, rerun VMWare’s config file: sudo /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl

If the above mentioned solution should not work for you, please post a comment and I will see how I can help you.

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41 comments

    [...] From: http://www.yatblog.com/2007/04/21/vmware-work-under-feisty-fawn/ [...]

    Aristotle_Jones April 21st, 2007

    Thanks a bunch, my wife didn’t seem to be impressed with the smooth upgrade to Fiesty like I was once she learned her Winblows XP Virtual Machine quit running. I appreciate you sharing the knowledge!

    Dino April 23rd, 2007

    Thanks A LOT. Your page helped me to get my virtual machine back up and running.

    Scott April 24th, 2007

    Thanks… This works using VMplayer as well as Workstation and Server.

    Ankur April 27th, 2007

    Thanks. That worked.

    Thomas May 2nd, 2007

    This tip was AWESOME…I could never have figured out this on my own!

    LifeRow May 2nd, 2007

    Short and effective.
    Works like a charm. Thank you !

    pouderStream May 2nd, 2007

    Lifesaver, tnx ;)

    Paul Orsi May 6th, 2007

    ubuntu@ubuntu-desktop:~$ sudo /usr/bin/vmware
    Password:
    vmware is installed, but it has not been (correctly) configured
    for this system. To (re-)configure it, invoke the following command:
    /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl.
    —————————————————————————————————–
    after following your instructions everything went fine to the end but when executing the command “sudo /usr/bin/vmware” the output above was given.

    Paul Orsi May 6th, 2007

    ubuntu@ubuntu-desktop:~$ sudo /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl
    Making sure services for VMware Workstation are stopped.

    Stopping VMware services:
    Virtual machine monitor done
    /etc/init.d/vmware: 766: /usr/lib/vmware/net-services.sh: Permission denied
    Virtual ethernet done
    Unable to stop services for VMware Workstation

    Execution aborted.

    —————————————————–
    ubuntu@ubuntu-desktop:~$ uname -ar
    Linux ubuntu-desktop 2.6.20-15-generic #2 SMP Sun Apr 15 07:36:31 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

    Martin May 7th, 2007

    Hi Paul

    I’m sorry to hear that, it looks like there’s file permission problem with “/usr/lib/vmware/net-services.sh”. You could have taken a look at the permission level of that file. Don’t know if that 766 printed out by the config script is trustworthy, if it is it should be working. Anyway, as I understand it’s working again for you? Btw: I haven’t tried it on other products than vmware workstation, I have just from other people it works with vmware server as well, but I did not have any chance to test that.

    Jason May 7th, 2007

    Thank you soo much! I was searching for this and it really helped. All other suggestions were buy VMware workstation 6! Thanks!

    Andrew Ring May 9th, 2007

    Thank you.
    Worked like a charm.

    ali May 10th, 2007

    thanks man it works now
    I think the problem is I tried to install the newset VMWare version1.0.3

    I got back to 1.0.2 and it works now fine.

    BTW, find us a solution for the 1.0.3 ;)

    Rick May 16th, 2007

    Everything seemed to run fine. But when I run vmware I get the followig.

    sudo /usr/bin/vmware
    /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0: no version information available (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)
    /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0: no version information available (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)
    /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0: no version information available (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)

    Any help greatly appreciated!

    Martin May 16th, 2007

    Hi Rick

    Looks like there’s a problem with libpng (apparently), try to reinstall the package “libpng12″. “sudo apt-get install libpng12-0″ should get the job done.

    griggz May 23rd, 2007

    I am getting same error(s) posted by Rick on May 16th. Have reinstalled libpng12-0 with no change. Any additional thoughts would be welcome.

    B@MB@M May 23rd, 2007

    YOU THE MAN!

    [...] If vmware-config.pl crashes saying vmmon.tar not found, see this post [...]

    Lucie May 29th, 2007

    Thank you for your help! You are the best! Finally it works. I’m very very happy ;-)

    Adrian Ramiro May 30th, 2007

    After doing everything mentioned before I get the same error of Rick.
    I’m using VMware Server 1.0.3 build-44356

    3 times the same error and then vmware fails to start. The final solution was

    sudo apt-get remove libdbus-1-2

    Now vmware echoes only once the same error but runs perfectly.
    I found this solution in the VMVare Forums at
    http://www.vmware.com/community/message.jspa?messageID=515092

    Thanks for this guide.

    Will June 6th, 2007

    Worked perfectly with VMware Server 1.0.1 build-29996. Thanks.

    Stine June 19th, 2007

    Thank you, followed to the t, no issues now.

    Jack July 4th, 2007

    Fantastic!

    A well written and really useful tip.

    As an academic user, I have Workstation 5 for free. VMware have now decided to charge academic users for Workstation 6 so being able to get v5 working under Feisty has saved me money!

    Many thanks.

    Chris July 9th, 2007

    This was the most concise, straight to the point set of instructions for me.
    I spent an hour or so flipping through various sites looking for help on why my VMWare server would not run after my Fiesty upgrade.

    Thanks for making it so easy for me. I had no clue what to do or why it wasn’t officially working!

    Aidan McArthur August 1st, 2007

    hi!
    i have Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, and recently installed VMWare-Server 1.0.3. I am almost positive I have installed everything perfectly… but when I go to open VMWare-Server Console, it looks like it’s loading, but the window never console window never comes up.
    If you have a suggestion that would be awesome!
    -Aidan McArthur
    aidanmcarthur@gmail.com.

    Martin August 2nd, 2007

    Hi Aidan

    Hmm… Maybe you haven’t compiled the modules for your kernel yet. Try to open up a shell window and start VMWare from there. VMWare should give you a more precise error message. Feel free to post that message back here if you’re still experiencing problems.

    PaulG August 14th, 2007

    Great post thanks heaps, it took a few attempts I ended up removing build-essentials and headers and apt-getting them again and all worked :)

    Paul August 17th, 2007

    root@ubuntu-desktop:/usr/bin# /usr/bin/perl vmware-config.pl
    Making sure services for VMware Workstation are stopped.

    sh: /etc/init.d/vmware: Permission denied
    sh: /etc/init.d/vmware: Permission denied
    Unable to stop services for VMware Workstation

    Execution aborted.
    followed all directions. Thanks for any help

    Paul August 17th, 2007

    chmod u+x /etc/init.d/vmware helped in starting the vmware-config.pl but still run into problems launching vmware

    Starting VMware services:
    Virtual machine monitor done
    Virtual ethernet done
    Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 failed
    Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet2 failed

    The configuration of VMware Workstation 5.5.2 build-29772 for Linux for this
    running kernel completed successfully.

    You can now run VMware Workstation by invoking the following command:
    “/usr/bin/vmware”.

    Enjoy,

    –the VMware team

    ubuntu@ubuntu-desktop:~$ /usr/bin/vmware
    vmware is installed, but it has not been (correctly) configured
    for this system. To (re-)configure it, invoke the following command:
    /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl.

    Paul August 17th, 2007

    “WARNING: could not find /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/.smac_linux.x386.o.cmd for /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/smac_linux.x386.o”
    perhaps this why it will not launch?

    Paul August 17th, 2007

    I got it to work by chmod u+x everything in the /usr/bin associated with vmware. I run it in the terminal # sudo vmware. I also chmod u+x other files. You pointed in the right direction that it was a file permissions issue.

    vmnet-bridge
    vmnet-dhcpd
    vmnet-natd
    vmnet-netifup
    vmnet-sniffer
    vmplayer
    vmrun
    vmstat
    vm-support
    vmware
    vmware-config.pl
    fold mythtranscode vmware-loop
    font2c mythtv vmware-mount.pl
    font2psf mythtvosd vmware-ping
    fontconfig-voodoo mythtv-setup vmware-uninstall.pl
    foo2hp mythtv-setup.real vmware-vdiskmanager

    Mikko September 16th, 2007

    I have exactly the same problem as Paul. But I didn’t realize what Paul exactly did?

    Frank Starr October 22nd, 2007

    I followed the instructions on this website:
    http://www.advicesource.org/ubuntu/Run_Existing_Windows_Instalation_On_Ubuntu_With_Vmware_player.html
    I used VMWARE server instead of player, but was told that it would likely work, anyway.
    However, in spite of trying all that web site’s instructions and all those on this site, I keep getting the error when trying to start WindowsXP:
    Cannot open the disk /home/frank/windows.vmdk or one of the snapshot disks it depends on. Reason: insufficient permission to access file.
    I could try to post file and directory contents, if required.

    David Goodwin October 22nd, 2007

    In my case, upgrading to the latest version of vmware fixed the problem, namely :

    http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmserver/VMware-server-1.0.4-56528.tar.gz

    michelek November 19th, 2007

    Hi

    any ideas, what could be wrong:

    $ sudo /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl
    Making sure services for VMware Workstation are stopped.

    Stopping VMware services:
    Virtual machine monitor done
    Blocking file system: done
    Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 done
    Host network detection done
    DHCP server on /dev/vmnet1 done
    Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 done
    Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet2 done
    DHCP server on /dev/vmnet8 done
    NAT service on /dev/vmnet8 done
    Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 done
    Virtual ethernet failed
    Unable to stop services for VMware Workstation

    Execution aborted.

    Martin November 20th, 2007

    Hi michelek

    Well, obviously there’s something wrong with one of your ethernet adapters. I haven’t experienced that problem yet, but how about a workaround? Like trying to reinstall vmware? Btw: What version of VMWare are you using?

    Martin December 28th, 2007

    Many thanks!

    Luca Vollero January 2nd, 2008

    Hi Michelek,

    try to find (i.e. using “ps aux | grep vm”) and kill the process that is using the virtual interface. It worked for me.

    Luca

    iurianu June 17th, 2008

    Hello, i’m running a LinuxMint 5.x on my PC and a Vmware Workastation 6.04.
    After i install the program, when i try to configure it, this is what i get (it says the configuration was succesful, but i can’t manage to start the program)…
    iurianu@iurianu-desktop ~ $ sudo /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl
    Making sure services for VMware Workstation are stopped.

    Stopping VMware services:
    Virtual machine monitor done
    Blocking file system: done
    Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 done
    Host network detection done
    DHCP server on /dev/vmnet1 done
    Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 done
    DHCP server on /dev/vmnet2 done
    Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet2 done
    DHCP server on /dev/vmnet8 done
    NAT service on /dev/vmnet8 done
    Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 done
    Virtual ethernet done

    Configuring fallback GTK+ 2.4 libraries.

    In which directory do you want to install the theme icons?
    [/usr/share/icons]

    What directory contains your desktop menu entry files? These files have a
    .desktop file extension. [/usr/share/applications]

    In which directory do you want to install the application’s icon?
    [/usr/share/pixmaps]

    Trying to find a suitable vmmon module for your running kernel.

    None of the pre-built vmmon modules for VMware Workstation is suitable for your
    running kernel. Do you want this program to try to build the vmmon module for
    your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes]

    Using compiler “/usr/bin/gcc”. Use environment variable CC to override.

    What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running
    kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/build/include]

    Extracting the sources of the vmmon module.

    Building the vmmon module.

    Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
    make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only’
    make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
    make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic’
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/comport.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/cpuid.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/hash.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/memtrack.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/phystrack.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/task.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciContext.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciDatagram.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciDriver.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciDs.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciGroup.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciHashtable.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciProcess.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciResource.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciSharedMem.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmcore/moduleloop.o
    LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.o
    Building modules, stage 2.
    MODPOST 1 modules
    CC /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.mod.o
    LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko
    make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic’
    cp -f vmmon.ko ./../vmmon.o
    make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only’
    The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

    /dev is dynamic:
    Trying to find a suitable vmblock module for your running kernel.

    None of the pre-built vmblock modules for VMware Workstation is suitable for
    your running kernel. Do you want this program to try to build the vmblock
    module for your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your
    system)? [yes]

    Extracting the sources of the vmblock module.

    Building the vmblock module.

    Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
    make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only’
    make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
    make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic’
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/block.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/control.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/dbllnklst.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/dentry.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/file.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/filesystem.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/inode.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/module.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/stubs.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/super.o
    LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/vmblock.o
    Building modules, stage 2.
    MODPOST 1 modules
    CC /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/vmblock.mod.o
    LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/vmblock.ko
    make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic’
    cp -f vmblock.ko ./../vmblock.o
    make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only’
    The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

    /dev is dynamic:
    You have already setup networking.

    Would you like to skip networking setup and keep your old settings as they are?
    (yes/no) [yes]

    Trying to find a suitable vmnet module for your running kernel.

    None of the pre-built vmnet modules for VMware Workstation is suitable for your
    running kernel. Do you want this program to try to build the vmnet module for
    your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes]

    Extracting the sources of the vmnet module.

    Building the vmnet module.

    Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
    make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only’
    make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
    make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic’
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/driver.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/hub.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/userif.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/netif.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/bridge.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/filter.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/procfs.o
    CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/smac_compat.o
    SHIPPED /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/smac_linux.x386.o
    LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/vmnet.o
    Building modules, stage 2.
    MODPOST 1 modules
    WARNING: could not find /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/.smac_linux.x386.o.cmd for /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/smac_linux.x386.o
    CC /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/vmnet.mod.o
    LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/vmnet.ko
    make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic’
    cp -f vmnet.ko ./../vmnet.o
    make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only’
    The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

    Do you want to install the Eclipse Integrated Virtual Debugger? You must have
    the Eclipse IDE installed. [yes]

    Which directory contains your eclipse plugins? [/]

    Starting VMware services:
    Virtual machine monitor done
    Blocking file system: done
    Virtual ethernet done
    Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 failed
    Host network detection failed
    Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 (background) done
    DHCP server on /dev/vmnet1 failed
    Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet2 (background) done
    DHCP server on /dev/vmnet2 failed
    Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background) done
    DHCP server on /dev/vmnet8 failed
    NAT service on /dev/vmnet8 failed

    The configuration of VMware Workstation 6.0.4 build-93057 for Linux for this
    running kernel completed successfully.

    You can now run VMware Workstation by invoking the following command:
    “/usr/bin/vmware”.

    Enjoy,

    –the VMware team

    iurianu June 17th, 2008

    after this, if i type in the terminal vmware, i get this:

    iurianu@iurianu-desktop ~ $ vmware
    vmware is installed, but it has not been (correctly) configured
    for this system. To (re-)configure it, invoke the following command:
    /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl.

    Please help me, if you can …. Thanks a lot !

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