Vmware16 Install Issue

I’m installing VMWare Workstation on Linux Ubuntu 20, and had trouble with it not starting. The issues was related to Linux not being able to compile and install vmmon and vmnet kernel modules.

2022-07-29T08:55:47.901-04:00| host-220593| I005:       | 
2022-07-29T08:55:47.901-04:00| host-220593| I005: make[1]: *** [Makefile:1875: /tmp/modconfig-wOXCH0/vmnet-only] Error 2
2022-07-29T08:55:47.901-04:00| host-220593| I005: make: *** [Makefile:117: vmnet.ko] Error 2
2022-07-29T08:55:47.901-04:00| host-220593| I005: Unable to install all modules.  See log for details.

I needed to install some kernel modules to get VMWare Workstation to work.

There are some kind souls that manage a very nice repo for ptaching the kernel.

This is how I used it

cd ~/tmp
git clone https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules.git

Once checked out, you need to find your kernel version

uname -a

Yields:

Linux coolbox 5.15.0-41-generic #44~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jun 24 13:27:29 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

So this kernel is 5.15

If you search the tags for the vmware-host_modules repo:

git fetch --tags
git tag -l w15*

(Or use the web console)

I find the tag I need:

git tag -l w16*k5.15*
w16.1.2-k5.15
w16.2.0-k5.15
w16.2.1-k5.15
w16.2.3-k5.15
w16.2.4-k5.15

And check it out:

git checkout w16.2.4-k5.15

I used the most up-to-date version for workstation that matched my kernel.

Then build it:

make
sudo make install

Workstation then starts up!

Written on July 29, 2022