How-to Install VMware Player / Workstation on 2.6.24 Kernel

Update: If you are looking for patching VMware for Linux 2.6.25 Kernel – check here

Currently latest VMware Player and Workstation do not install under Linux 2.6.24 Kernel. This is a short how-to resolve the gcc/make errors that arise while configuring (vmware-configure.pl)

1. Download the latest vmware player (workstation) – currently VMware Player 2.0.2 Build 59824
   url: http://www.vmware.com/download/player/ – Read the Eula before downloading

2. tar xzvf VMware-player-2.0.2-59824.i386.tar.gz

3. cd vmware-player-distrib/

4. ./vmware-install.pl – Proceed as usual when asked to run vmware-config.pl answer NO

5. Download the latest any-any patch – currently vmware-any-any-update-116
   url: http://vm…s.googlegroups.com/web/vmware-any-any-update-116.tgz

6. tar xzvf vmware-any-any-update-116.tgz

7. cd vmware-any-any-update116

8. ./runme.pl and when asked to run vmware-config.pl answer YES

9. Configure as usual

10. Enjoy!

PS. Link is broken so I reuploaded on my hosting. Patch is presented as is and I don’t take any responsibility for it. All credits go to the author.

Anyway vmware-any-any-update-116.tgz

Comments

Comment by Dave on 2008-02-19 21:24:21 +0300

Link to version 116 of the patch is broken.

Comment by Peter on 2008-02-19 23:41:58 +0300

link added

Comment by boreal on 2008-02-21 17:56:33 +0300

Thank you! It worked on debian unstable with the latest vmware workstation (6.0.2-59824).

Comment by ruppertus on 2008-02-22 14:45:21 +0300

Works fine:
– Kernel 2.6.24 (+ tuxonice patch)
– Debian lenny/testing distro.
– VMWare workstation 6.02

Comment by Maverick on 2008-02-22 22:50:31 +0300

Thank you! It works on Gentoo with 6.0.2-59824.

Comment by Petter on 2008-02-24 17:58:22 +0300

Nice guide! Thank you

Comment by Tom on 2008-02-27 12:51:20 +0300

Thank you!
It works on:
– ZenWalk 5 (2.6.24.2)
– VMWare workstation 6.0.2 build 59824

Comment by Abhi on 2008-02-27 23:43:10 +0300

Wow it works. was looking to make it run on debian and it does ;-)

Sys specs kernel:2.6.24.2(vanilla) on debian testing/unstable

Comment by Sean on 2008-02-28 10:12:02 +0300

Works with VMware Workstation 6.0.2 build-59824 and etch backport from http://kmuto.jp/b.cgi/debian/d-i-2624-etch3.htm , thankyou!

Comment by Eric on 2008-03-05 09:18:42 +0300

How about VMWare Fusion/OSX? The various threads I’ve found don’t address the version of vmware-tools included with Fusion. Dunno why Fusion has to have different tools…

Comment by n3uT on 2008-03-05 21:34:11 +0300

Thanks Peter!

Working on:

OpenSuSE-10.3
linux-2.6.24-3

Comment by gregster on 2008-03-06 09:11:31 +0300

I’m running Hardy alpha 5 (2.6.24-11 generic)
The tip works, but only if g++ is installed.
When trying to run VMWare (Server 1.04) I then had problems like this:
/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/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0′ not found (required by /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6)

So I ran these commands:
cd /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0
sudo mv libpng12.so.0 libpng12.so.0.old
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0 libpng12.so.0
cd /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1
sudo mv libgcc_s.so.1 libgcc_s.so.1.old
sudo ln -sf /lib/libgcc_s.so.1
(hope that’s clear…)

Now it seems to be OK.

Comment by antoine on 2008-03-07 17:36:46 +0300

Working on:
Fedora 8 x86
kernel 2.6.24.3-12.fc8

thanks

Comment by Master of Desaster on 2008-03-08 15:00:18 +0300

Hi Peter. I have to say thank you for this great work !!
The configuration of VMware Workstation 6.0.0 build-45731 for Linux for this
running kernel completed successfully.
I’m running 2.6.24.3-12.fc8.

Comment by daveStyle on 2008-03-08 18:37:29 +0300

Fedora 8
2.6.24.3-12

Still getting errors after running any-any-update?
Try: yum install gcc-c++

Worked for me :)

Comment by Nicco on 2008-03-08 20:19:26 +0300

To [daveStyle]:
it’s true.
Install gcc-c++ if you get:
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.24.3-12.fc8-i686′
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/driverLog.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/common/comport.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/common/cpuid.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/common/hash.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/common/memtrack.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/common/phystrack.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/common/task.o
gcc: error trying to exec ‘cc1plus’: execvp: No such file or directory
make[2]: *** [/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/common/task.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.24.3-12.fc8-i686′
make: *** [vmmon.ko] Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only’
Unable to build the vmmon module.

Comment by Dugald on 2008-03-10 12:11:21 +0300

Ubuntu 7.10 2.6.24.3 – worked a treat, thanks.

Comment by JJ on 2008-03-10 12:53:30 +0300

Thx very much.
It’s working very well, on my Fedora Core 8 with the kernel version 2.6.24.3-12

Comment by katazina on 2008-03-10 22:53:38 +0300

Thank me too!!! :)
It helps very much!

Comment by Harikumar on 2008-03-12 14:26:33 +0300

Thank you so much, it worked on my FC8

Comment by Berni on 2008-03-16 18:29:15 +0300

latest vmware server 1.0.5 plus only:

http://blog.creonfx.com/temp/vmware-any-any-update-116.tgz

Compiles ok with warnings:

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/common/task.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option “-Werror-implicit-function-declaration” is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++
cc1plus: warning: command line option “-Wdeclaration-after-statement” is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++
cc1plus: warning: command line option “-Wno-pointer-sign” is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++
cc1plus: warning: command line option “-Wstrict-prototypes” is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/common/task_compat.h: In function ‘void Task_Switch_V45(VMDriver*, Vcpuid)’:
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/common/task_compat.h:2666: warning:
‘sysenterState.SysenterStateV45::validEIP’ may be used uninitialized in
this function
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/common/task_compat.h:2666: warning:
‘sysenterState.SysenterStateV45::cs’ may be used uninitialized in this
function
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/common/task_compat.h:2666: warning:
‘sysenterState.SysenterStateV45::rsp’ may be used uninitialized in this
function
/tmp/vmware-config5/vmmon-only/common/task_compat.h:2666: warning:
‘sysenterState.SysenterStateV45::rip’ may be used uninitialized in this
function

All fine except bridge networking does not work. No errors logged in syslog or vmware.log.

Where to start looking?

Comment by Daniel Serodio on 2008-03-17 04:24:03 +0300

I’m using Ubuntu 8.04 alpha with kernel 2.6.24-12-generic

After the any-any patch, I’m able to compile the VMware modules, but when I try to open a virtual machine, I get the following error:

Version mismatch with vmmon module: expecting 161.0, got 137.0.
You have an incorrect version of the `vmmon’ kernel module.
Try reinstalling VMware Workstation.

Comment by Peter on 2008-03-18 15:32:36 +0300

@Daniel Serodio

Probably you are using old version of VMware Workstation. You can try downloading the latest version from the site.

If the problem persists please drop me a line

Comment by Joe Pfeiffer on 2008-03-18 19:10:03 +0300

Works perfectly with a Debian testing/unstable x86 system, kernel 2.6.24-1-686. Thanks!

Comment by Berni on 2008-03-19 21:12:20 +0300

An update to my earlier post. Oops, guess what I missed in the logs:

bridge-wlan0: enabling the bridge
bridge-wlan0: is a Wireless Adapter
vmnet: You are trying to use wireless bridged networking together with
vmnet: vmware-any-any-update. This is not supported configuration, and
vmnet: your wireless bridge will probably not work.
bridge-wlan0: up
bridge-wlan0: already up
bridge-wlan0: attached

Which all makes sense for a server product. bridge-eth0 works just fine – yippee.

So I have vmware server 1.0.5 working on Debian’s 2.6.24-1-amd64. This is likely to be the the kernel in the Debian release so this is good news. Please can I join Mr Pfeiffer in saying a BIG THANKS!

Comment by Raja on 2008-03-20 05:05:27 +0300

Coolness… thanks for the patch man. It works just fne.

Comment by Daniel Serodio on 2008-03-20 20:26:53 +0300

@Peter, I uninstalled VMware, installed VMware Workstation 6.0.3 build-80004 with the any-any 116 patch and still get the same error… :-/

Comment by zenrox on 2008-03-21 10:19:01 +0300

extract ,tgz
apt-get install g++-4.2-multilib
sudo ./runme.pl

ubuntu hardy
vmware server 2.0 beta-build 63231

Comment by Peter on 2008-03-22 12:20:43 +0300

ubuntu hardy beta
VMware-workstation-6.0.3-80004.i386.tar.gz

patch didn’t seem to work as it was still complaining about cc1plus –

apt-get install build-essential

and it compiled fine. Thanks for the hints guys, installing build-essential installed g++ and g++4.2.

Comment by Dominik on 2008-03-22 14:21:36 +0300

Thanks, it works on
– openSUSE 10.2
– kernel 2.6.24.3
– vmware server 1.0.5

Comment by Mike on 2008-03-26 21:12:43 +0300

vmware-any-any-update-116.tgz doesn’t work with VMware-workstation-6.0.3-80004, it’s expecting 167.0 of the module and is getting 137.0. I guess this doesn’t actually patch the modules as they’re distributed with VMware, it replaces them with older versions that have been patched to work?

Comment by Mike on 2008-03-26 21:28:29 +0300

After unpacking lib/vmware/modules/source/vmmon.tar and changing “asm/bitops.h” to “include/bitops.h” in vmmon-only/include/vcpuset.h, the vmmon module compiles fine. There are no other errors with the remaining modules on 2.6.24.4.

Comment by Sam Tregar on 2008-03-28 23:24:48 +0300

Mike is on the right track, but the correct include is “linux/bitops.h” not “include/bitops.h”.

Comment by khiem on 2008-03-31 09:22:43 +0300

Thanks a lot! You have saved me a lot of trouble!

Comment by alex on 2008-03-31 16:49:31 +0300

sorry, doesnt work for me…i googled and always found the same sollution. i use debian etch and kernel 2.6.24.4. tried it with all the different any-to-any patches but still get this fault:

make[2]: *** [/tmp/vmware-config8/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o] Fehler 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/tmp/vmware-config8/vmmon-only] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24.4-mananew’
make: *** [vmmon.ko] Fehler 2
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config8/vmmon-only’
Unable to build the vmmon module.

the path to the kernel-headers is definitly correct…

Comment by Peter on 2008-03-31 17:45:57 +0300

@alex

Could you please post more info – Vmware player, workstation or server are you using. Did you compiled this kernel or it is backport? What version of GCC do you use?

I’m sure if I can not help you there is someone who will

Cheerz

Comment by mordisko on 2008-04-01 09:11:01 +0300

Thanks a lot.
Im running debian lenny/sid 2.6.24-1-686 and vmware server1 .0.4 build-56528.

I couldn’t compile vmmon module when i updated my kernel and i downloaded the patch. After unsucessfull compiling, I tried to apply the patch and an error told me that the files required to patch did not exist.

This was because a failed vmware-config.pl deletes some files (or every file) of your vmware install. After skipping this comprobation i could patch and my vmware is now running, with my old configuration perfectly working (at least for now).
Mordisko

Comment by Ron Wolfe on 2008-04-05 18:14:03 +0300

thanks,
work on Ubuntu Hardy 8.0.4 beta
required
apt-get install build-essential
then installed as above

Comment by cicciokio on 2008-04-06 16:49:13 +0300

It worked perfectly for me, thanks a lot!

Comment by jagger on 2008-04-08 11:11:51 +0300

It does not work on FC8 – VMWare Player 2.0.3 (VMwareTools-6.0.3-80004)

1. vmware-config-tools.pl gives the following error while building vmhgfs module

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only’
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24.4-64.fc8/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.24.4-64.fc8-i686′
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/backdoor.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/backdoorGcc32.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/bdhandler.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/cpName.o
In file included from include/linux/string.h:11,
from /tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/cpName.h:18,
from /tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/cpName.c:18:
include/linux/types.h:40: error: conflicting types for ‘uintptr_t’
/tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/vm_basic_types.h:170: error: previous declaration of ‘uintptr_t’ was here
make[2]: *** [/tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only/cpName.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.24.4-64.fc8-i686′
make: *** [vmhgfs.ko] Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config4/vmhgfs-only’
Unable to build the vmhgfs module.

2. cut & paste between host (Win XP) and guest (FC8) still does not work

Comment by PLJ on 2008-04-08 23:57:55 +0300

FC8 & Kernel-2.6.24.4 & vmware workstation 5.5.6

Base install (with KDE instead of Gnome) required the installation of the following packages:

kernel-headers
kernel-devel
gcc
gcc-c++

Without the last package the any-any patch will exit with an error.

Thanks for the info!

Comment by timename on 2008-04-09 10:07:24 +0300

Thanks a lot, it works correctly.
To all – to be attention it works correctly only if you do:
1 – ./vmware-install.pl – Proceed as usual when asked to run vmware-config.pl answer NO
2 – ./runme.pl and when asked to run vmware-config.pl answer YES
If you ready have VmWare and updated Kernel to 2.6.24 you must to do installing from 1st step, not use vmware-any-any before you don’t reinstall vmwares’s system files from distrib.

Comment by Chris on 2008-04-11 08:58:58 +0300

Anyone have success with Hardy 64bit?

Lots of “wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64” errors..

-c

Comment by crazier9688 on 2008-04-14 09:51:36 +0300

@Daniel Serodio

i have met the same problem with you,but i reconfig the vmware,everthing is ok,i don’t know how can this happen

Comment by adsf on 2008-04-14 21:43:39 +0300

This does not work for VMware server 1.0.5 and kernel 2.6.24.4.
VMware server cannot be contacted afterwards, and the virtual machines does not have any network connection.

Comment by Peter on 2008-04-14 22:29:46 +0300

At least on Debian Unstable with linux-image-2.6.24-1-686 (2.6.24-5) I’m successfully running VMware Server 1.0.5 build-80187. Please post more information for your distribution, kernel, etc.

Comment by shareme on 2008-04-14 23:26:41 +0300

I apologize in advance as I have not been on linux in awhile..

After I try step 5..ie

sudo ./runme.pl

I am getting

unable to open the installer database /etc/vmware/locations

my thinking was maybe to move the patch to say /opt/local or something similar and try it again as a work around..doe stha tsound right..thanks

Comment by shareme on 2008-04-14 23:39:37 +0300

whoop ..Linux distro is Ubuntu 8.0.5

Comment by Peter on 2008-04-14 23:53:38 +0300

@shareme

Did all previous steps completed successfully?
Also if the message is “Unable to open the installer database /etc/vmware/locations in read mode” try googling because there are plenty of users describing the same issue.

Also I suggest to be root all the time (during install) instead of using sudus

Comment by shareme on 2008-04-15 00:24:18 +0300

I googled and it said for Ubuntu 8.0.5 use open-vm-tools instead so will post back results

Comment by ko0nz on 2008-04-16 21:07:28 +0300

hi,

i’m trying vmware server VMware-server-1.0.5-80187.tar.gz and the patch vmware-any-any-update-116.tgz
but it does not work.
kernel: 2.6.24-1-686
the message i got:

Building for VMware Server 1.0.0.
Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
make: entrant dans le répertoire « /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only »
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24-1-686/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: entrant dans le répertoire « /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-1-686 »
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driverLog.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
gcc-4.1: error trying to exec ‘cc1plus’: execvp: Aucun fichier ou répertoire de ce type
make[2]: *** [/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/task.o] Erreur 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only] Erreur 2
make[1]: quittant le répertoire « /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-1-686 »
make: *** [vmmon.ko] Erreur 2
make: quittant le répertoire « /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only »
Unable to build the vmmon module.

thank you in advance for return.

Comment by ko0nz on 2008-04-16 21:07:55 +0300

with Debian Testing

Comment by ko0nz on 2008-04-16 21:17:09 +0300

:)

i get it compile installing g++-4.1.

peace!

Comment by dLBR on 2008-04-16 21:44:59 +0300

Very helpful page, indeed Just tested with latest Fedora 8 kernel and latest VMWare Player, works perfectly with vmware-any-any-update116.

kernel-2.6.24.4-64.fc8
kernel-devel-2.6.24.4-64.fc8
VMwarePlayer-2.0.3-80004

As a rule of thumb, I would go for latest player/workstation and latest any-any patch whenever updating the kernel (I had similar experience on FC6 some time).

Comment by Jim on 2008-04-17 23:13:58 +0300

This procedure works fine for 2.6.24.4 and Ubuntu/Gutsy for x86 and amd64 and Debian/Etch x86 and amd64. I just tried the new kernel 2.6.25 and the vmware-any-any-update116 patch did not work anymore.

Comment by Regardt on 2008-04-18 23:10:38 +0300

Hi,

For those of you getting stuck with gcc versioning errors, I suggest you do the following:

env CC=/usr/bin/gcc-4.1 ./runme.pl

That simply overrides the compiler version being used to one that your kernel is compiled with.

This is a generic solution but was used for debian-lenny

Comment by Mike on 2008-04-19 00:08:51 +0300

vmmon tries to access the init_mm symbol, which seems to be gone in 2.6.25. A google search brings up http://communities.vmware.com/message/863066 which mentions a patch that delays it’s removal, but I don’t think it was checked in or we wouldn’t be having this problem. It also doesn’t sound like the patches on that thread help, so I think we’ll have to wait for better people to fix it this time…

Comment by phaoost on 2008-04-19 16:34:36 +0300

with Debian x64 sid (current) and recently downloaded vmware 6.0.3 b80004 it isn’t working :(
CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config6/vmmon-only/common/task.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option “-Werror-implicit-function-declaration” is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++
cc1plus: warning: command line option “-Wdeclaration-after-statement” is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++
cc1plus: warning: command line option “-Wno-pointer-sign” is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++
cc1plus: warning: command line option “-Wstrict-prototypes” is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config6/vmmon-only/common/hostKernel.h:56,
from /tmp/vmware-config6/vmmon-only/common/task.c:30:
include/asm/page.h: In function ‘pte_t native_make_pte(pteval_t)’:
include/asm/page.h:128: error: expected primary-expression before ‘)’ token
include/asm/page.h:128: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘{‘ token
include/asm/page.h:128: error: expected primary-expression before ‘.’ token
include/asm/page.h:128: error: expected `;’ before ‘}’ token
make[2]: *** [/tmp/vmware-config6/vmmon-only/common/task.o] Error 1
m

Comment by visor on 2008-04-23 22:51:06 +0300

Hi,

is there a solution to:

Version mismatch with vmmon module: expecting 167.0, got 137.0.
You have an incorrect version of the `vmmon’ kernel module.

(when I press the ‘Power on this virtual machine’ button)

VMware-workstation-6.0.3-80004
vmware-any-any-update-116
2.6.24-1-686

thanks, pid

Comment by slegsonly on 2008-04-25 16:28:37 +0300

Best page on the web to get VM going on Fedora 8. KUDOS!

Comment by florian on 2008-04-25 17:31:49 +0300

Hello!

Same Problem here, if starting a virtual maschine I used before I get this error:
Version mismatch with vmmon module: expecting 167.0, got 137.0.
You have an incorrect version of the `vmmon’ kernel module.
Try reinstalling VMware Player.

Error while powering on: Cannot find a valid peer process to connect to.

Ubuntu 8.04 rc
vmware player 2.0.3

Comment by Peter on 2008-04-25 18:40:42 +0300

I’m not using VMware workstation but I have the doubt you don’t need to apply the patch.

Could you please try installing without it and post the result?

Cheers

Comment by Marcelo on 2008-04-26 19:42:27 +0300

Works like a charm on Ubuntu Hardy FInal, 2.6.24 kernel!

Comment by visor on 2008-04-27 14:21:41 +0300

Hi

Could you please try installing without it and post the result?

Of course I did this in the first place, and it didn’t compile.
I didn’t find any solutions on the net (I tried hard), and I also wasn’t able to
patch the any-any patch by myself to get it running.
Meanwhile I use VirtualBox (without any problems).

thanks, pid

Comment by Jaocb on 2008-04-27 19:47:43 +0300

Running vmware workstation 6.0.3 on ubuntu 8.04 here! It works great – thanks for this post! Really usefull.

Comment by dhave on 2008-04-30 16:00:21 +0300

I’d very much like to have a similar patch or solution so that I can run VMware workstation 6.0.3 on kernel 2.6.25.

Does anyone know of such a thing? Thanks.

Comment by Peter on 2008-04-30 23:07:35 +0300

Unfortunately I’m in holidays for the next couple of days and I have been waiting for 2.6.25 to come into Debian unstable before testing Vmware’s products so I will not be able to help much.

Happy hacking !

Comment by btmorex on 2008-05-01 18:39:53 +0300

@visor and other people with the problem:

Version mismatch with vmmon module: expecting 167.0, got 137.0.
You have an incorrect version of the `vmmon’ kernel module.

This happens because the build scripts couldn’t determine the version of vmware you have when building the modules. The scripts run “vmware -v” which usually prints the version but if you haven’t successfully run vmware-config.pl yet, it just prints a message saying to run it. Simple solution is:

1.) Patch with any-any-116
2.) Run vmware-config.pl and check that “vmware -v” now reports the version correctly
3.) Run vmware-config.pl again, except this time it will build the correct module versions

Comment by Demosth on 2008-05-04 07:45:16 +0300

Thanks a million. Works on Ubuntu Studio 8.04 LTS (Hardy) (2.6.24-16-rt Kernel). I had to install a C compiler (sudo apt-get install build-essential) or it would give me a gcc error in the final step.

Comment by Mike on 2008-05-05 06:11:46 +0300

Some patches for vmware workstation that supposedly for 2.6.25 – http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=47704

Make sure UNUSED_SYMBOLS is enabled (on by default?) in your kernel or you’ll get init_mm errors when trying to load the module. I’m recompiling now and have to reboot. :P

Comment by Cyph on 2008-05-05 14:01:24 +0300

@btmorex

Thank you very much. Very helpful with the ‘167.0 got 137.0’ problem

Comment by lathuile on 2008-05-06 23:35:00 +0300

Hi Peter, hi Gregster! Thank you very much, Peter, for your script, and Gregster, for your tip from March 6th! I had exactly that problem starting the vmware after successfully running Peter’s script for vmware 5.5.6 on my Ubuntu system, recently upgraded to 8.04. After applying Gregster’s commands, everything works perfectly now!

Comment by no_working on 2008-05-07 13:41:44 +0300

Version mismatch with vmmon module: expecting 161.0, got 167.0 here.
rerun vmware-config.pl several times and with no luck.
got any clue?

btw, vmware -v show correct version

Comment by Peter on 2008-05-07 23:33:20 +0300

@Mike I have tested them and with couple of other fixes I have successfully recompiled my VMware Player for 2.6.25. Check the latest post

Cheerz

Comment by Alex Katebi on 2008-05-08 23:21:31 +0300

I am getting the “Unable to open the installer database /etc/vmware/directory in read-mode ” Error message when I ran runme.pl

I have no clue how to fix this.

Thanks,
-Alex

Comment by Peter on 2008-05-09 10:14:05 +0300

are you root ?

Comment by Alex Katebi on 2008-05-09 17:15:13 +0300

yes I am root.

Comment by Peter on 2008-05-09 17:43:13 +0300

@Alex

Can you check if this directory exist and you can edit files there. Other option is to check on which line of the perl file does this happen and see the exact reason.

Comment by Alex Katebi on 2008-05-09 18:45:22 +0300

Hi Peter,
Actually the exact name of the file is /etc/vmware-tools/locations. I did open the file and it’s file permissions are correct. All the perl open statments have this problem. I was able to get around this problem by replacing the variable name for the file with that actual name.
For example:
Changed: open(INSTALLDB, ‘<‘ . $cInstallerMainDB)
To: open(INSTALLDB, ‘</etc/vmware-tools/locations’)

I did that in there different open statments. I am passed this problem. Now I have another problem I will provide the details when I go home later. My system is at home.

Thanks,
-Alex

Comment by alexc on 2008-05-12 19:16:30 +0300

Hi.
Thank you everyone for your help. Even those who posted their problems helped me because I got the same issues when trying to install vmware player 2.0.3 on ubuntu 8.04 LTS, and now it is working fine.
-First got, the “cc1plus, etc etc” problem when running vmware-config.pl after the any-any-update116 patch. Fixed it runing “sudo apt-get install build-essential”
-Then, when happy that finally installed and configured vmware player, I tried to power on a virtual machine, and got the ‘expecting 161.0, got 137.0’ issue. Fixed it running vmware-config.pl again.
Both of these problems where posted by everyone, so again, thank you all.
Alex C.

Comment by Peter on 2008-05-12 21:07:13 +0300

@alexc

You are welcome :)

Comment by gotcha on 2008-05-13 15:29:36 +0300

VMware Workstation 6.0.3 build-80004. 2.6.24-gentoo-r7.
Those who still have compilation errors while compiling ‘vmhgfs’ module of VMWare Tools after the any-any patch and gcc-g++ downloads etc, go here:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ti72r1

Comment by bammers on 2008-05-13 18:25:16 +0300

Works for me too on Ubuntu 8.04 (Linux version 2.6.24-16-generic (buildd@palmer) (gcc version 4.2.3 (Ubuntu 4.2.3-2ubuntu7)) #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 13:23:42 UTC 2008)
Thanks!

Comment by Peter on 2008-05-13 21:41:03 +0300

How do you see the idea about some specialized site about virtualization under linux (more community based), with repositories, source control etc. If i get some cash from the ads i will get domain and hosting.

Please share your ideas.

Cheerz

Comment by windsword on 2008-05-16 06:32:17 +0300

Thanks a lot ! It works fine now

Comment by Eriol on 2008-05-18 13:11:19 +0300

Thank you. I’m a beginner in Linux and this how-to was very useful.

Comment by Dennis on 2008-05-18 19:10:30 +0300

Thanks a lot for all the input here. Took me an hour to compile the vmmon module, I also got the missing cc1plus error, the build-essentials package did the trick. I got a lot of warnings however, but everything seems to work so I don’t care anymore :)

Comment by SoftICE on 2008-05-18 22:15:25 +0300

Thank you :D.

Worked great on Debian Etch 4.0 with Kernel 2.6.25.3 and VMware Workstation 6.0.3-80004. I had to run vmware-config.pl twice to get rid of the “Version mismatch with vmmon module: expecting 167.0, got 137.0.”

SoftICE

Comment by Scott on 2008-05-20 00:42:58 +0300

So I got Ubuntu working off a dual boot am trying to set up all of the functions needed to get rid of Windows. Unfortunately one of the things I need is vmware player. Followed numerous how to’s and so far off a clean install of ubuntu I still cannot get it to work. I think tht maybe in my hast I may have downloaded the incorrect player. I have Ubuntu 8.04 and downloaded VMware-player-2.0.3-80004.i386. I get the following

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/common/task.o
gcc: error trying to exec ‘cc1plus’: execvp: No such file or directory
make[2]: *** [/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only/common/task.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic’
make: *** [vmmon.ko] Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config3/vmmon-only’
Unable to build the vmmon module.

For more information on how to troubleshoot module-related problems, please
visit our Web site at “http://www.vmware.com/download/modules/modules.html” and
“http://www.vmware.com/support/reference/linux/prebuilt_modules_linux.html”.

Execution aborted.

Any body now how to fix this?

Any body else have this issue. I was running this via sudo in ubuntu.

Thanks Guys

Comment by Scott on 2008-05-20 01:16:37 +0300

As found at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=770716

This fix worked great. It seemed that the any any updated patches are not needed with this either. Could be wrong as they were already copied over etc.

——————————————————————————————————————————————
Originally Posted by Rizlaw View Post

I had the same problem. If you are using VM Workstation 6, the following will work. Assuming you are familiar with working in terminal mode on the command line, execute the following series of commands:

• unpack VMware-workstation-6.0.3
• go to vmware-distrib/lib/modules/source
• untar the file vmmon.tar (tar xvf vmmon.tar)
• cd vmmon-only/include
• edit the file vcpuset.h
• go to line 74
• change #include “asm/bitops.h” to #include “linux/bitops.h” (Because there are some changes made to the 2.6.24 kernel, it’s not possible to include bitops.h from asm and you will have to include it from the linux directory)
• go back to vmware-distrib/lib/modules/source
• remove the old vmmon.tar file (rm vmmon.tar)
• repack the new vmmon.tar file (tar cvf vmmon.tar vmmon-only)
• remove vmmon-only directory (rm -rf vmmon-only)

Now go to vmware-distrib directory and install vmware as you usualy do. It should work without a glitch.
——————————————————————————————————————————————

Comment by Lark on 2008-05-22 01:31:00 +0300

I`ve just installed VMWare Player. It starts fine, but when I run any VM – whole system hangs!
Ubuntu 8.04 32bit

Comment by Peter on 2008-05-22 12:09:17 +0300

Probably there is some misconfiguration in your VMX file. Can you try with some prebuild virtual machine from here http://www.vmware.com/appliances/

You may also try to uninstall and install again the player, but it is not a real solution.

If you can put more info (logs, versions etc)

Comment by Pedro on 2008-05-25 01:10:13 +0300

Works perfectly on Ubuntu 8.04 kernel 2.6.24-17-generic. Vmware player 2.0.2 had been broken by upgrade from Ubuntu 7.10. Thanks very much!

Comment by Armin on 2008-05-30 12:13:48 +0300

Hi all.

I have problems uninstalling the vmware-any-any-update116.

I have installed VMWare Workstation 6.03 in Ubuntu Hardy 8.04.

To get access to the network again I needed to install the any-any-update116.

After a kernel update I have to recompile the VMWare Workstation.

But if I am running the installer I get the message I have to uninstall the any-any-update.

Terminal output is:

sudo ./vmware-install.pl

The following VMware kernel modules have been found on your system that were
not installed by the VMware Installer. Please remove them then run this
installer again.

vmnet
vmblock
vmmon

Execution aborted.

I deleted all vmware folders and files I found but it seem that anything might remain.

Can anybody help?

Thanks
Armin

Comment by Peter on 2008-05-30 12:45:18 +0300

@Armin

Check if you have vmnet.tar vmblock.tar vmmon.tar in /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source

If so delete them and try reinstalling. But generally recompiling should not need reinstalling (something went wrong)

Comment by Erik on 2008-05-30 23:15:48 +0300

Close but no cigar!

Kernel: 2.6.24.7-1.rt3.2.fc7.ccrmart; Vmware player 2.0.4 (RPM package)

I tried your patch with the latest planet ccrma kernel. As I installed the vm-player from rpm, there was no install.pl, but I assumed that it’d work anyway, as you normally have to run configure-pl as a post-install procedure anyway.

The compilation worked fine under runme.pl, but when I tried running it I got the error:

Version mismatch with vmmon module: expecting 168.0, got 167.0.
You have an incorrect version of the `vmmon’ kernel module.
Try reinstalling VMware Player.

Comment by Erik on 2008-05-31 00:43:46 +0300

…and btw I tried running config.pl twice as well… didn’t work

Comment by Erik on 2008-06-02 00:19:09 +0300

Anyway – my setup worked fine once I tried the 2.0.3 vmware Player. Thanks!

Comment by Anthony on 2008-06-16 23:23:16 +0300

Hey Peter, great tutorial, btw, but a while back, from Windoze I created a “mac os x86” virtual machine (Tiger, deadmoo iso) in vmware server for win. Since then I dual booted my laptop with ubuntu hardy using wubi, and used your tutorial to install vmware player. I installed it for the sole purpose of having the ability to boot my os x86 and solaris virtual machines from linux like i could with windows, but I get the same error everyone else is about vmmon when booting the “mac”, only it says “expecting 168.0, got 167.0”. Any ideas? This is the last thing keeping me from a vista/ubuntu/solaris/mac laptop!

Comment by Peter on 2008-06-16 23:28:09 +0300

@Anthony did you tried btmorex suggestion ?

Comment by Anthony on 2008-06-17 00:49:28 +0300

OK, followed btmorex’s advice, now I have a mess of a machine, lol.

but before i did, i uninstalled vmware player, “installed” vmware server (using patch), and now, no matter how many times I run runme.pl or vmware-config.pl, vmware -v prints:

/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_3.4′ not found (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0′ not found (required by /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_3.4′ not found (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0′ not found (required by /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_3.4′ not found (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0′ not found (required by /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6)

………
HELP!!!!!

A google digs mailing lists discussing the problem, and it traces to system shared library dependencies (what fun). I tried bluntly installing gcc 3.4, and 4.2 is already installed and used to make the thing in the first place. I tried symlinking around libcairo to fix it, but to no avail. like I said, my machine is an utter catastrophe. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Comment by Anthony on 2008-06-17 02:03:06 +0300

nevermind this fixed it

$ mv /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1libgcc_s.so.1.old
$ mv /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0.old
$ cp /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/
$ cp /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0/

hope that helps

Comment by jeepGuy on 2008-06-19 02:22:20 +0300

This worked as advertised on Ubuntu 8.04 and VMware-player-2.0.4.
Thanks!

Comment by jeepGuy on 2008-06-19 19:27:35 +0300

Update – close but no cigar:

Version mismatch with vmmon module: expecting 168.0, got 137.0.

You have an incorrect version of the `vmmon’ kernel module.
Try reinstalling VMware Player.

On the note from Erik – I will try VMware-player-2.0.3 next…

Comment by Peter on 2008-06-19 20:09:43 +0300

@jeepGuy 2.04 ?

ps. Smooking can break Vmware Player :)

Comment by Jesper kjeldgaard on 2008-06-27 02:35:36 +0300

Hi.

Got this working on hardy with kernel 2.6.24-19.

thanks

Comment by Jacob Dorne on 2008-07-02 04:42:20 +0300

I didn’t need this on Ubuntu 8.04 with the 2.6.24-19-generic kernel.

I use VMWare Workstation v6.0.4 build-93057

The install from vmware-install.pl went fine. Even the configure script. All modules were built and Virtual Machines run perfect.

One problem though: I get an error when starting a virtual machine because it cannot load the sound driver. Error accessing /dev/dsp
???

Does this guide fix this issue???

Comment by Peter on 2008-07-02 10:32:47 +0300

@Jacob – Your problem is probably due to your sound system.

1. Do not run any applications that are using sounds (mp3/video players, sites with flash etc)
2. Be sure you are using alsa or other relevantly new architecture.
3. Check your sound settings and reduce the time for unlocking the sound device

generally my suggestion is to boot, not starting any application wait for couple of minutes (if you have startup sounds) and then run vmware workstation

Comment by Dirk Weckerlei on 2008-07-08 22:57:23 +0300

I still haven’t found a solution (even on this page) regarding this error message: Version mismatch with vmmon module: expecting 161.0, got 167.0. What went wrong?
I installed vmware .v6.0.0.45731 with the 116 patch several times, but still get the same error. Who can help?

Comment by Dirk Weckerlei on 2008-07-08 23:26:02 +0300

Found the solution: Sometimes it helps thinking aloud and consulting google more specific!
Just copied the files from her: http://download.rhsoft.net/vmware.tar.bz2 and copied them to /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source; then rerun vmware-config.pl. Now it seems to work!!
If you experience problems contact me via debian_on_ebay*at*yahoo.de

Regards
Dirk

Comment by Dirk Weckerlei on 2008-07-13 23:24:21 +0300

Obviously my thread caught some attention .o)
Unfortunately the provided link (http://download.rhsoft.net/vmware.tar.bz2) is broken. I will upload the needed files and will notify you regarding the new url shortly.

So long
dw

Comment by Rudi on 2008-07-18 08:47:29 +0300

VMWare Server 1.0.6 under Ubuntu 8.04 does not need any patch anymore.
http://howtoforge.com/installing-vmware-server-on-ubuntu-8.04

Comment by Ngoc on 2009-03-06 10:55:53 +0300

Why you don’t use .rpm files. It isn’t difficult??

Comment by Peter on 2009-03-06 16:11:47 +0300

Because I’m using either Debian or Ubuntu/Kubuntu so I prefer deb packages and I’m not a big fan of rpm/alien under Debian