Kernel upgrade to 2.6.39-30-desktop breaks VMWare Workstation 7.1.4 64bit

English Install/Boot/Login
1

VMWare Workstation fails to start with the following error:

May 23 09:35:12.660: app-139793342387968| Building module vmmon.
May 23 09:35:12.660: app-139793342387968| Extracting the sources of the vmmon module.
May 23 09:35:12.681: app-139793342387968| Building module with command: /usr/bin/make -C /tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmmon-only auto-build SUPPORT_SMP=1 HEADER_DIR=/lib/modules/2.6.39-30-desktop/build/include CC=/usr/bin/gcc GREP=/usr/bin/make IS_GCC_3=no VMCCVER=4.5
May 23 09:35:14.614: app-139793342387968| Failed to compile module vmmon!

???

2

Found this thread where Frank in post 7 seems to have the referenced patch working but the solution is over my head

vmware workstation 7.1.4 fixes to use linux 2.6.39 (updated) | Weltall’s blog

Perhaps someone can understand the solution and interpret for me?

3

On 05/23/2011 06:06 PM, Ski K2 wrote:
>
> VMWare Workstation fails to start … ???

it is routine to have to recompile VMs, graphic drivers and other such
drivers…they must match the kernel in use…

in fact, on the first page of the Tumbleweed wiki you were warned about
that:

“Due to the Linux kernel being updated very frequently, users who rely
on proprietary graphic drivers should not use the Tumbleweed repository
unless they are familiar with updating these drivers from source on
their own.” <http://en.opensuse.org/Tumbleweed>

so, if you don’t know how to recompile on your own, now is great time to
learn that…or back-level to openSUSE 11.4…

–
dd CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP via openSUSE 11.4 [2.6.37.6-0.5] + KDE 4.6.0 + Thunderbird 3.1.10]
Dual booting with Sluggish Loser7 on Acer Aspire One D255

4

Thanks DD but that’s not much help :frowning:

5

On 05/23/2011 07:06 PM, Ski K2 wrote:
>
> Thanks DD but that’s not much help :frowning:

how is it not helpful? just download the headers for your new kernel and
recompile the VM kernel module from source…

or back-level to the 11.4 kernel, where then you won’t need to…

–
dd CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP via openSUSE 11.4 [2.6.37.6-0.5] + KDE 4.6.0 + Thunderbird 3.1.10]
Dual booting with Sluggish Loser7 on Acer Aspire One D255

6

Your suggestions defeats the purpose of testing Tumbleweed.

The idea is to get widely used applications like VMWare Workstation to work with Tumbleweed :slight_smile:

Rolling back to a previous version of the kernel doesn’t do that.

7

It’s a pity VMware don’t care about much (if at all) about Linux users. I suppose that’s a commercial decision.

8

On 05/23/2011 09:06 PM, Ski K2 wrote:
>
> Your suggestions defeats the purpose of testing Tumbleweed.
>
> The idea is to get widely used applications like VMWare Workstation to
> work with Tumbleweed :slight_smile:

no the purpose of Tumbleweed is to offer users a rolling release,
offering the latest stable software…

> Rolling back to a previous version of the kernel doesn’t do that.

right, so compile OR roll back…those are your only choices…well,
there is one other: do neither and wait until VMWare catches up with
openSUSE…have you asked them when that will be?

–
dd CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP via openSUSE 11.4 [2.6.37.6-0.5] + KDE 4.6.0 + Thunderbird 3.1.10]
Dual booting with Sluggish Loser7 on Acer Aspire One D255

9

They used to be better about keeping up with Suse but since Ubuntu we’ve taken a back seat.

Yes it commercial and costs good money.

If they continue to fall behind I’ll give VirtualBox another try.

Tried VB a coupke years ago and couldn’t get my USB mices working :slight_smile:

10

We have depended on the Ubuntu hot shots to write patches to keep VMware working with increasing kernels, for years now, maybe three years. Those pacthes have stopped working or just got too hard, and in any case were quite a hassle to make them work in openSUSE. So 12 months ago I gave up on VMware and switched to VirtualBox. From the get go it was better than VMware ever was, in terms of it’s versatility and also its GUI access, much better. BTW I have no trouble at all with USB devices, including mices. VirtualBox in Tumbleweed hasn’t skipped a beat (so far).

11

Thanks for that feedback! I respect your opinion and will give VB another shot.

I believe they have developed an import for Windows VMs ?

12

I have no trouble at all with USB devices, including mices

I assume you are using the OSE version? I’m reading a review that claims only the paid version supports USB.

13

I’m using the Oracle VirtualBox repo at this location:

http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/opensuse/11.4/

and from there I got this RPM:

VirtualBox-4.0-4.0.8_71778_openSUSE114-1.x86_64

I just double checked USB by plugging into XP pro (in VBox in openSUSE host) my iPhone (worked) a LaCie USB drive (worked) and a spare mouse (worked) and I stopped there.

Actually, I have the iPhone only because I can plug it into the Virtual XP, and get iTunes (which, shame on me, I love. I can’t wait for open source to do something like it so I can get an Android phone).

I believe they have developed an import for Windows VMs ?
AAArrrgghhhh!.

14

It works better if you make it with shell and use run file for all linux ditributions plus oracle additions for usb. I have XP in VB only cose my nokia hates linux.

15

Thanks.

I’ll tinker with that a bit today.

Love my Droid phones but I don’t music much.

16

Hi Ski_K2

Further to your link to Welltall’s Blog:

vmware workstation 7.1.4 fixes to use linux 2.6.39 (updated) | Weltall’s blog

I thought it might help to add some details to applying this patch:

First Download a copy of the patch to your PC and make a note of the path and file name - Mine was downloaded to:

/home/joe.blogs/Downloads/vmware2.6.39fixed.patch

Next Open a terminal session as this fix does require a bit of work from the command line:

Login as root using the command su - hitting enter and providing the root password:

su

Next move to the vmware installation folder:

cd /usr/lib/vmware/modules/

Backup the original source files and move the official source to a temporary patch folder:

cp -R source source.bak
mv source source-original

Next unpack the origional source files:

cd source-original
tar -xvf vmblock.tar
tar -xvf vmci.tar
tar -xvf vmmon.tar
tar -xvf vmnet.tar
tar -xvf vsock.tar

Now apply the patch:

cd …
patch -p0 /home/joe.blogs/Downloads/vmware2.6.39fixed.patch
cd source-original

Now repack the source files so they can be used by the installer:

rm *.tar
tar -cvf vmblock.tar vmblock-only
tar -cvf vmci.tar vmci-only
tar -cvf vmmon.tar vmmon-only
tar -cvf vmnet.tar vmnet-only
tar -cvf vsock.tar vsock-only

Finally put the patched source files back in the right location:

mkdir …/source
cp *.tar …/source/

You should now be able to run up VM Ware workstation - You should be prompted for your root password so the system can build the required binaries from the source code for you.

If this works, you might want to delete the temporary patch folder. As root run:

rm -R /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source-original

If you need to apply any further patches - You’ll need to use you’r original source files you backed up to /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source.bak rather than your patched files in /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source

If that all sound’s like too much work then it might be best to revert to 2.6.38 kernel and wait for VMware to provide an update.

17

Thanks audiocomp.

Thought that might be what the patch script needed.

Thanks for taking the time to detail it out :slight_smile:

I’ll give this a go today.

18

Workstation still fails to launch with the following error in log

May 26 11:21:15.746: app-139718219626240| Building module with command: /usr/bin/make -C /tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmmon-only auto-build SUPPORT_SMP=1 HEADER_DIR=/lib/modules/2.6.39-30-desktop/build/include CC=/usr/bin/gcc GREP=/usr/bin/make IS_GCC_3=no VMCCVER=4.5
May 26 11:21:17.792: app-139718219626240| Failed to compile module vmmon!

The only thing that didn’t go as I expected was the call to the download script. After several minutes of disk activity I was not returned a command prompt. I waited 5 minutes after disk activity finished and returned to command prompt using crtl C.

???

19

There is a pretty good script off of the VMWare Workstation forums for previous versions (I take no credit for the work, only made minor modifications) -


#! /bin/bash
# VMWare Workstation/Player _host kernel modules_ patcher v0.6.2 by ©2010 Artem S. Tashkinov
# Use at your own risk.

fpatch=vmware2.6.39fixed.patch
vmreqver=7.1.4
plreqver=3.1.3

error()
{
	echo "$*. Exiting"
	exit
}

curdir=`pwd`
bdate=`date "+%F-%H:%M:%S"` || error "date utility didn't quite work. Hm"
vmver=`vmware-installer -l 2&gt;/dev/null | awk '/vmware-/{print $1substr($2,1,5)}'`
vmver="${vmver#vmware-}"
basedir=/usr/lib/vmware/modules/source
ptoken="$basedir/.patched"
bkupdir="$basedir-$vmver-$bdate-backup"

unset product
 -z "$vmver" ] && error "VMWare is not installed (properly) on this PC"
 "$vmver" == "workstation$vmreqver" ] && product="VMWare WorkStation"
 "$vmver" == "player$plreqver" ] && product="VMWare Player"
 -z "$product" ] && error "Sorry, this script is only for VMWare WorkStation $vmreqver or VMWare Player $plreqver"

 "`id -u`" != "0" ] && error "You must be root to run this script"
 -f "$ptoken" ] && error "$ptoken found. You have already patched your sources"
 ! -d "$basedir" ] && error "Source '$basedir' directory not found, reinstall $product"
 ! -f "$fpatch" ] && error "'$fpatch' not found. Please, copy it to the current '$curdir' directory"

tmpdir=`mktemp -d` || exit 1
cp -an "$basedir" "$bkupdir" || exit 2

cd "$tmpdir" || exit 3
find "$basedir" -name "*.tar" -exec tar xf '{}' \; || exit 4

patch -p1 < "$curdir/$fpatch" || exit 5
tar cf vmblock.tar vmblock-only || exit 6
tar cf    vmci.tar    vmci-only || exit 7
tar cf   vsock.tar   vsock-only || exit 8
tar cf   vmnet.tar   vmnet-only || exit 9
tar cf   vmmon.tar   vmmon-only || exit 10

cp -a *.tar "$basedir" || exit 11
rm -rf "$tmpdir" || exit 12
touch "$ptoken" || exit 13
cd "$curdir" || exit 14

vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

echo -e "
"
echo "All done, you can now run $product."
echo "Modules sources backup can be found in the '$bkupdir' directory"

The modifications I made were for the new patch (grab it from the author’s site as linked above) and the different version of Workstation/Player. Put the patch file and copy the above code into a shell script in the same directory as the patch, then execute the shell script as root, and everything is taken care of for you. It worked quite well for me with 2.6.39… the script basically automates what is mentioned in a post further up.

20

Thanks ryuu7988 I’ll give this patch a try.

I assume I need to replace the /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source with the original working version tarbals under the previous kernel?