VMWare Workstation 8.0.3/Player 4.0.3 on 7.0.2

[Capricorny]

Maybe I shouldn't be any longer, but I'm still astounded at how VMware keeps on intimidating its customers. Don't think I'll even file a bug/support issue on this one, as my last were "closed" with no response at all.

The problem is, that some VMware kernel modules have to be compiled and installed before Workstation/Player will run on Knoppix, and this has often been non-trivial. When the compilation aborts on one module, you can't run VMware. With Workstation 8.0.3 on 7.0.2 (kernel 3.3.7) it aborted on vmnet, the other modules compiled fine this time.

The problems, and their solutions, are well known in the user community.
Weltall's (Stefano Angeleri) blog has come to the rescue for many http://weltall.heliohost.org/wordpre...l-3-2-and-3-3/

A small tarball may be downloaded, and with a minimal patch, it will work well. Change the
patch-modules_3.2-0.sh script so the vmreqver and plreqver variables are set correctly, and run as super user. Worked fine for me on first try with the first lines as follows.

#! /bin/bash
# VMWare Workstation/Player _host kernel modules_ patcher v0.6.2 by ©2010 Artem S. Tashkinov
# Tailored and fixed vmblock patching for the 2.6.39 patch by Stefano Angeleri (weltall)
# Use at your own risk.

fpatch=vmware3.2.0.patch
vmreqver=8.0.3  #  Change as needed
plreqver=4.0.3  #

Note that this has so far only been tried out with 32-bits Workstation, but seems to work just fine. I'm quite annoyed that VMware seemingly can't apply a well-known patch themselves..

[utu]

... my last were "closed" with no response at all...

Did you refer to Knoppix in your bug report(s)?

[Capricorny]

I may have. Been running Workstation under Knoppix for some 4 years (I think), under Linux for 12+ years..
The essential thing is VMware doesn't really care about service - they are in business, and we (me and people like me) are old, but rather uninteresting customers.
And they want to get money from us - the trouble with WS7 and new kernel was quite easily patched, for example, but they chose to correct it only in the new WS8, to milk some more money out of us..

[utu]

I've noticed with other forums, there quite often seems to be a reluctance
to discuss common LXDE problems with 'outsiders'. I find maintaining some
anonymity in regard to distribution details is prudent in such cases.

Your VMWare problem may come from more commercial considerations.
is VirtualBox a viable alternative in the 'free' world?

[Capricorny]

Clearly, many consider Virtualbox a very good alternative - depends on the uses, I think. Mine is for running Linux and Windows VMs simultaneously, to create a development environment that closely models actual production environments. Workstation/Player is very good at that. And Player is free. I prefer Qemu-kvm for testing and simple running purposes. VirtualBox seems to place itself between those, thus it is not that interesting for me.

And, using the patch presented, there is no real problem getting VMware 8+/4+ to work in 7.0.2.

[Capricorny]

Business as usual from vmware, Workstation 8.0.4+ (I think). Issues are well known, related to kernel 3.8+ (I think) - no patch from them, not even hints, and module compilation aborts with no real clue as to why. Seems like kind of mixture of planned and forced obsolescense to me.

I almost gave up this time

1. Fix "missing version.h" kernel header issue - a really old one. For example, by issuing

sudo ln -s /usr/include/linux/version.h /usr/src/kernels/$(uname -r)/include/linux/version.h

The $(uname -r) phrase will ensure to update the header tree for your currently running kernel.


2. Run module configuration from the command line

sudo /usr/bin/vmware-modconfig --icon=vmware-workstation --appname=VMware

The built-in configuration tool doesn't work - and running CLI is safer and more informative anyway. With any luck, most modules will compile just fine, except for vmci. Here is a diff of defunct original and working patched version of the culprit, driver.c:

diff driver.c  ~/Downloads/driver.c
127c127
<    .remove = __devexit_p(vmci_remove_device),
---
>    .remove = vmci_remove_device,
1744c1744
< static int __devinit
---
> static int
1972c1972
< static void __devexit
---
> static void

I found a patch on the vmware forum: http://communities.vmware.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0
using the patched driver.c provided by user HaoZhuyi there. Placed it in ~/Downloads.

3. Fix the vmci tarball: Untar, patch driver.c and tar again

cd /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source
sudo cp -a vmci.tar vmci.tar.806
sudo tar xf vmci.tar
cd vmci-only/linux
diff driver.c  ~/Downloads/driver.c
sudo cp -a ~/Downloads/driver.c .
cd ../..
sudo tar cf vmci.tar vmci-only

4. Run module configuration from the command line again

sudo /usr/bin/vmware-modconfig --icon=vmware-workstation --appname=VMware

Thus, I got Workstation 8.0.6 up and running on Knoppix 7.2.
BUT: I wasn't allowed to enter my Vs 8 license key - button didn't work...

[Capricorny]

After having tested some more:
There seem to be quite a few problems with Knoppix 7.2.0 and Workstation 8.0.6 - apart from basic module compilation. I could not get vmblock to compile with the 64-bits kernel, for example, and not being able to run vmware with the 64-bits kernel is too impractical for me. I'd like to hear from others wiith more luck running Workstation 8.X (or 9) under 7.2.0. This is in such a contrast to 8.05 and Knoppix 7.0.5. I will later try 8.0.6 with 7.0.5 to see whether issues crop up there too.