02 Oct 2010 Installing VMware Workstation 7.1.1 64 bit on Ubuntu 10.10
Installing the 64 bit VMware Workstation 7.1.1 on Ubuntu
# ./VMware-Workstation-Full-7.1.1-282343.x86_64.bundle
When you try to start VMware Workstation for the first time you will get the following error message
You have to read the log file to get the details why VMware would not start, in my case it is named /tmp/vmware-root/setup-24056.log
Oct 02 00:10:54.570: app-140471525164800| Your GCC version: 4.4 Oct 02 00:10:54.618: app-140471525164800| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 2.6.35-22-generic. Oct 02 00:10:54.622: app-140471525164800| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 2.6.35-22-generic. Oct 02 00:10:54.626: app-140471525164800| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 2.6.35-22-generic. Oct 02 00:10:54.628: app-140471525164800| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 2.6.35-22-generic. Oct 02 00:10:54.629: app-140471525164800| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 2.6.35-22-generic. Oct 02 00:10:54.734: app-140471525164800| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 2.6.35-22-generic. Oct 02 00:10:54.734: app-140471525164800| Building module vmmon. Oct 02 00:10:54.734: app-140471525164800| Extracting the sources of the vmmon module. Oct 02 00:10:54.744: app-140471525164800| Building module with command: /usr/bin/make -C /tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmmon-only auto-build SUPPORT_SMP=1 HEADER_DIR=/lib/modules/2.6.35-22-generic/build/include CC=/usr/bin/gcc GREP=/usr/bin/make IS_GCC_3=no VMCCVER=4.4.5 Oct 02 00:10:56.712: app-140471525164800| Failed to compile module vmmon!
You can see that the vmmon module will not compile.
According to ArchWiki you have to compile and install a patch that enables you to compile the VMware modules:
For 2.6.35 kernel and VMware 7.x.x, there’s a script to patch the VMware sources
# cd /tmp # wget http://www.sputnick-area.net/scripts/vmware7.1.1-patch-kernel-2.6.35.bash # sudo chmod +x vmware7.1.1-patch-kernel-2.6.35.bash # sudo ./vmware7.1.1-patch-kernel-2.6.35.bash
Now you can install the modules. You can do this with either by launching VMware and letting it install the modules from there with the GUI or alternatively you can execute the command
# vmware-modconfig --console --install-all
Please note that this solution has not been tested on VMware 7.1.2
Tags: patch, VMware, VMware Workstation
Posted by Hans-Henry Jakobsen
14 Aug 2009 Getting VMware vSphere Client to run on Windows 7 RTM
This post describes how you can get your VMware vSphere Client version 4 running on a 32-bit Windows 7 (RTM) installation until VMware makes an update to fix this Microsoft .Net problem. Be aware that this method of getting the client to run is not recommended in a production environment since you are running the client in development mode.
First you need to edit the VpxClient.exe.config file located in your C:\Program Files\Vmware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher folder and make it look like the code below
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <configuration> <system.net> <connectionManagement> <clear/> <add address="*" maxconnection="8" /> </connectionManagement> </system.net> <appSettings> <add key = "protocolports" value = "https:443"/> </appSettings> <runtime> <developmentMode developerInstallation="true"/> </runtime> </configuration>
Next we have to ensure that you we the .Net system.dll from a non Windows 7 machine.
It’s possible to download the config file and the DLL filer from here.
Place the modified config file in your C:\Program Files\Vmware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher folder.
Then we create a new folder called Lib in the folder noted above and place the downloaded DLL file in the folder.
Reboot your PC and VMware vSphere Client should now work without any error messages.
Edit your system properties and create a new ‘Environment Variable” Name it “Devpath” with the value of C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib. You can locate these variables under Control Panel –> System and Security –> System –> Advanced system settings
This post came to life after reading this thread on the VMware Communties discussion forum. The thread also describes how to make VMware vSphere Client to work on 64-bit Windows 7 but I’m not going to describe that in this post.
Tags: VMware, vSphere Client, Windows 7
Posted by Hans-Henry Jakobsen
07 Aug 2009 Suspend a VMware Workstation host from command line
This post gives a short description of how to suspend a VMware Workstation 6.5.x host on a Ubuntu 9.04 Workstation but it shouldn’t be any problem to follow it on other linux distributions. Lately I’ve experienced that one of my VMware hosts lock up and my mouse cursor stops responding. The keyboard doesn’t let me switch applications (Alt+Tab) because the Tab-key doesn’t respond. The solution to my problem was to suspend the virtual machine from the console.
- First you have to switch to a console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 – This lets you login to a console.
- Suspend the virtual machine by issuing the following command from the console
# vmrun suspend /path/to/the/vmx-file/vmxfile.vmx
Switch back to your graphical desktop by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F7. You will now see that the suspend indicator is hard at work suspending the virtual machine that is causing problems. When the host has been suspended you can shutdown VMware Workstation as you normally do.
To make sure that VMware haven’t got any processes that are defunct stop and start the VMware daemon.
Note:
Remember to shut down or suspend all virtual machines before issuing the following commands from the console to avoid losing data
Stopping the VMware daemon
# /etc/init.d/vmware stop Stopping VMware services: Virtual machine communication interface done Virtual machine monitor done Blocking file system done
Starting the VMware daemon
# /etc/init.d/vmware start Starting VMware services: Virtual machine monitor done Virtual machine communication interface done Blocking file system done Virtual ethernet done Shared Memory Available done
Start VMware as you normally do and resume the host. The host should now work without any problems.
The vmrun command gives you other options as well like list, start, stop, reset and upgradevm, but I won’t describe the use of these in this post.
Tags: console, suspend, Ubuntu, vmrun, VMware, VMware Workstation
Posted by Hans-Henry Jakobsen
14 Jan 2009 Resize a VMWare virtual disk
This post describes how you can resize your VMWare disk in linux using the vmware-vdiskmanager tool, a offline disk manipulation utility.
I’ve been using VMWare Workstation version 6.5 on a Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex linux installation.
Shrink a disk image
vmware-vdiskmanager -k diskname.vmdk
Expand the disk to the specified capacity
vmware-vdiskmanager -x <new-capacity> diskimage.vmdk
Example extend a disk to 120GB
vmware-vdiskmanager -x 120GB diskimage.vmdk
You should use a Live-CD or something to resize/expand the filesystem to fill the extended disk. I used gparted on a Ubuntu Live-CD and the operation var quick and painless.
Note
Only local virtual disks may be expanded og shrinked and these features are unavailable if you have used the Snapshot functionality. If you have made a Snapshot, then I recommend creating a clone of the system and then resize the cloned image disk.
Always remember to backup your virtual machine before doing this operation.
Posted by Hans-Henry Jakobsen
08 Jan 2009 Vmware Workstation 6.5 On Ubuntu 8.10 Modifiers Keys Not Working
This post describes a quick fix to enable arrow, delete, ins, end and other special keyboard keys in a VMWare Workstation 6.5 for linux like the norwegian/norske letters/bokstavene ÆØÅ.
Solution #1
echo 'xkeymap.nokeycodeMap = true' > ~/.vmware/config
This has been tested successfully on Windows hosts.
Solution #2
Another solution is to paste the following code into ~/.vmware/config
xkeymap.keycode.108 = 0x138 # Alt_R xkeymap.keycode.106 = 0x135 # KP_Divide xkeymap.keycode.104 = 0x11c # KP_Enter xkeymap.keycode.111 = 0x148 # Up xkeymap.keycode.116 = 0x150 # Down xkeymap.keycode.113 = 0x14b # Left xkeymap.keycode.114 = 0x14d # Right xkeymap.keycode.105 = 0x11d # Control_R xkeymap.keycode.118 = 0x152 # Insert xkeymap.keycode.119 = 0x153 # Delete xkeymap.keycode.110 = 0x147 # Home xkeymap.keycode.115 = 0x14f # End xkeymap.keycode.112 = 0x149 # Prior xkeymap.keycode.117 = 0x151 # Next xkeymap.keycode.78 = 0x46 # Scroll_Lock xkeymap.keycode.127 = 0x100 # Pause xkeymap.keycode.133 = 0x15b # Meta_L xkeymap.keycode.134 = 0x15c # Meta_R xkeymap.keycode.135 = 0x15d # Menu
This code comes instead of the line added in Solution #1.
Source
The solution was found on the VMWare Forums in a thread named Keyboard in bad shape with Workstation 6.5 running under Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10
Another interesting page about this problem can be found on http://nthrbldyblg.blogspot.com/2008/06/vmware-and-fubar-keyboard-effect.html
Tags: VMware, VMware Workstation
Posted by Hans-Henry Jakobsen
