VMware - ArchWiki

# VMware

Related articles

- Category:Hypervisors
- Installing Arch Linux in VMware
- Moving an existing install into (or out of) a virtual machine

This article is about installing VMware in Arch Linux; you may also be interested in Installing Arch Linux in VMware.

Note:

- This article is about the latest major VMware versions, meaning VMware Workstation 11 and VMware Player (Pro) 7.
- For older versions, use vmware-patch from the AUR.

## Installation

1. Install the correct dependencies:

- fuse - the `vmware-vmblock-fuse` service is favored over the `vmblock` module, which is not built anymore without disabling fuse in the kernel
- gtkmm - for the GUI
- linux-headers - for module compilation

2. Download the latest VMware Workstation or VMware Player (Pro) (or a beta version, if available).

3. Start the installation (`--eulas-agreed` skips the EULAs):

    # sh VMware-edition-version.release.architecture.bundle --eulas-agreed

Tip: Some other useful flags:

- `--console` - Use the console UI.
- `-I`, `--ignore-errors` - Ignore fatal errors.
- `--set-setting vmware-workstation serialNumber XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX` - Set the serial number during install (good for scripted installs).
- `--required` - Only ask mandatory questions (results in silent install when combined with `--eulas-agreed` and `--console`).

4. For the `System service scripts directory`, use `/etc/init.d` (the default).

Note: During the installation you will get an error about `"No rc*.d style init script directories"` being given. This can be safely ignored, since Arch has moved to systemd.
Tip: To (re)build the modules from terminal later on, use:

    # vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

## Configuration

Tip: There is also a package called vmware-patch in the AUR with the intention of trying to automate this section (it also supports older VMware versions).
Note: Due to Workstation 11/Player (Pro) 7 taking advantage of the mainlined kernel modules, patching the VMCI/VSOCK sources is no longer required.

VMware Workstation 11.0.0 and Player (Pro) 7.0.0 support kernels up to 3.18.

#### 3.19 kernels

Since 3.19 kernel the `vmnet` module will fail to build.

A patch is available at [1]:

    $ curl http://pastie.org/pastes/9934018/download -o /tmp/vmnet-3.19.patch

Extract the `vmnet` module sources:

    $ cd /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source
    # tar -xf vmnet.tar

Apply the patch:

    # patch -p0 -i /tmp/vmnet-3.19.patch

Recreate the archive:

    # tar -cf vmnet.tar vmnet-only

Remove leftover:

    # rm -r *-only

Rebuild modules:

    # vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

### systemd services

6. (Optional) Instead of using `/etc/init.d/vmware` and `/etc/init.d/vmware-USBArbitrator` (`start|stop|status|restart`) directly to manage the services, you may also use `.service` files:

    /etc/systemd/system/vmware.service

    [Unit]
    Description=VMware daemon
    Requires=vmware-USBArbitrator.service
    After=vmware-USBArbitrator.service

    [Service]
    ExecStart=/etc/init.d/vmware start
    ExecStop=/etc/init.d/vmware stop
    PIDFile=/var/lock/subsys/vmware
    TimeoutSec=0
    RemainAfterExit=yes

    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

    /etc/systemd/system/vmware-USBArbitrator.service

    [Unit]
    Description=VMware USB Arbitrator

    [Service]
    ExecStart=/etc/init.d/vmware-USBArbitrator start
    ExecStop=/etc/init.d/vmware-USBArbitrator stop
    RemainAfterExit=yes

    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

After which you can enable them on boot, with:

    # systemctl enable vmware
    # systemctl enable vmware-USBArbitrator

## Launching the application

To open VMware Workstation:

    $ vmware

or VMware Player (Pro):

    $ vmplayer

## Tips and tricks

### Entering the Workstation License Key

#### From terminal

    # /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx-debug --new-sn XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Where `XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX` is your license key.

Note: The `-debug` binary informs the user of an incorrect license.

#### From GUI

If the above does not work, you can try:

    # /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-enter-serial

### Extracting the VMware BIOS

    $ objcopy /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx -O binary -j bios440 --set-section-flags bios440=a bios440.rom.Z
    $ perl -e 'use Compress::Zlib; my $v; read STDIN, $v, '$(stat -c%s "./bios440.rom.Z")'; $v = uncompress($v); print $v;' < bios440.rom.Z > bios440.rom

#### Using the modified BIOS

If and when you decide to modify the extracted BIOS you can make your virtual machine use it by moving it to `~/vmware/Virtual_machine_name`:

    $ mv bios440.rom ~/vmware/Virtual_machine_name/

then adding the name to the `Virtual_machine_name.vmx` file:

    ~/vmware/Virtual_machine_name/Virtual_machine_name.vmx

    bios440.filename = "bios440.rom"

### Using DKMS to manage the modules

This article or section is out of date.

Reason: Using DKMS like described below might not work, or this is not the only valid/working solution. There are several packages in the AUR, like vmware-modules-dkms. (Discuss)

The Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS) can be used to manage Workstation modules and to void from re-running `vmware-modconfig` each time the kernel changes. The following example uses a custom `Makefile` to compile and install the modules through `vmware-modconfig`. Afterwards they are removed from the current kernel tree.

#### Preparation

First install dkms from the official repositories.

Then create a source directory for the `Makefile` and the `dkms.conf`:

    # mkdir /usr/src/vmware-modules-11/

#### Build configuration

Fetch the files with git or use the ones below.

##### 1) Using Git

    $ cd /tmp
    $ git clone git://github.com/bawaaaaah/dkms-workstation.git
    $ sed -i 's/9/11/' dkms-workstation/dkms.conf
    # cp dkms-workstation/Makefile dkms-workstation/dkms.conf /usr/src/vmware-modules-11/

##### 2) Manual setup

The `dkms.conf` describes the module names and the compilation/installation procedure. `AUTOINSTALL="yes"` tells the modules to be recompiled/installed automatically each time:

    /usr/src/vmware-modules-11/dkms.conf

    PACKAGE_NAME="vmware-modules"
    PACKAGE_VERSION="11"

    MAKE[0]="make all"
    CLEAN="make clean"

    BUILT_MODULE_NAME[0]="vmmon"
    BUILT_MODULE_LOCATION[0]="modules"

    BUILT_MODULE_NAME[1]="vmnet"
    BUILT_MODULE_LOCATION[1]="modules"

    BUILT_MODULE_NAME[2]="vmblock"
    BUILT_MODULE_LOCATION[2]="modules"

    BUILT_MODULE_NAME[3]="vmci"
    BUILT_MODULE_LOCATION[3]="modules"

    BUILT_MODULE_NAME[4]="vsock"
    BUILT_MODULE_LOCATION[4]="modules"

    DEST_MODULE_LOCATION[0]="/extra/vmware"
    DEST_MODULE_LOCATION[1]="/extra/vmware"
    DEST_MODULE_LOCATION[2]="/extra/vmware"
    DEST_MODULE_LOCATION[3]="/extra/vmware"
    DEST_MODULE_LOCATION[4]="/extra/vmware"

    AUTOINSTALL="yes"

and now the `Makefile`:

    /usr/src/vmware-modules-11/Makefile

    KERNEL := $(KERNELRELEASE)
    HEADERS := /usr/lib/modules/$(KERNEL)/build/include
    GCC := $(shell vmware-modconfig --console --get-gcc)
    DEST := /lib/modules/$(KERNEL)/vmware

    TARGETS := vmmon vmnet vmblock vmci vsock

    LOCAL_MODULES := $(addsuffix .ko, $(TARGETS))

    all: $(LOCAL_MODULES)
    	mkdir -p modules/
    	mv *.ko modules/
    	rm -rf $(DEST)
    	depmod

    $(HEADERS)/linux/version.h:
    	ln -s $(HEADERS)/generated/uapi/linux/version.h $(HEADERS)/linux/version.h

    %.ko: $(HEADERS)/linux/version.h
    	vmware-modconfig --console --build-mod -k $(KERNEL) $* $(GCC) $(HEADERS) vmware/
    	cp -f $(DEST)/$@ .

    clean: rm -rf modules/

#### Installation

The modules can then be installed with:

    # dkms install vmware-modules/11 -k $(uname -r)

## Troubleshooting

### /dev/vmmon not found

The full error is:

    Could not open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory.
    Please make sure that the kernel module `vmmon' is loaded.

This means that at least the `vmmon` VMware service is not running. If using the systemd service from step 6. it should be (re)started.

### Kernel headers for version 3.x-xxxx were not found. If you installed them[...]

Install the headers (linux-headers).

Note: Upgrading the kernel and the headers will require you to boot to the new kernel to match the version of the headers. This is a relatively common error.

### USB devices not recognized

Tip: Also handled by vmware-patch.

If VMware services are running (see step 6. for a systemd service), your installation is missing the `vmware-USBArbitrator` script. To readd it manually, see this forum post.

You may also manually extract the VMware bundle and copy the `vmware-USBArbitrator` script from `destination_folder/vmware-usbarbitrator/etc/init.d/` to `/etc/init.d/`:

    $ sh VMware-edition-version.release.architecture.bundle --extract /tmp/vmware-bundle/
    # cp /tmp/vmware-bundle/vmware-usbarbitrator/etc/init.d/vmware-USBArbitrator /etc/init.d/
    # chmod +x /etc/init.d/vmware-USBArbitrator

### The installer fails to start

If you just get back to the prompt when opening the `.bundle`, then you probably have a deprecated or broken version of the VMware installer and it should removed (you may also refer to the uninstallation section of this article):

    # rm -r /etc/vmware-installer/

### Incorrect login/password when trying to access VMware remotely

VMware Workstation provides the possibility to remotely manage Shared VMs through the `vmware-workstation-server` service. However, this will fail with the error `"incorrect username/password"` due to incorrect PAM configuration of the `vmware-authd` service. To fix it, edit `/etc/pam.d/vmware-authd` like this:

    /etc/pam.d/vmware-authd

    #%PAM-1.0
    auth     required       pam_unix.so
    account  required       pam_unix.so
    password required       pam_permit.so
    session  required       pam_unix.so

and restart the `vmware` systemd service.

Now you can connect to the server with the credentials provided during the installation.

Note: libxslt may be required for starting virtual machines.

### Issues with ALSA output

To fix sound quality issues or enabling proper HD audio output, first run:

    $ aplay -L

If interested in playing 5.1 surround sound from the guest, look for `surround51:CARD=vendor_name,DEV=num`, if experiencing quality issues, look for `front:CARD=vendor_name,DEV=num`. Finally put the name in the `.vmx`:

    ~/vmware/Virtual_machine_name/Virtual_machine_name.vmx

    sound.fileName="surround51:CARD=Live,DEV=0"
    sound.autodetect="FALSE"

OSS emulation should also be disabled.

### Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is running

To disable `KVM` on boot, you can use something like:

    /etc/modprobe.d/vmware.conf

    blacklist kvm
    blacklist kvm-amd   # For AMD CPUs
    blacklist kvm-intel # For Intel CPUs

### Guests have incorrect system clocks or are unable to boot: "[...]timeTracker_user.c:234 bugNr=148722"

This is due to incomplete support of power management features (Intel SpeedStep and AMD PowerNow!/Cool'n'Quiet) in VMware Linux that vary the CPU frequency. In March 2012, with the release of linux 3.3-1 the maximum frequency Performance governor was replaced with the dynamic Ondemand. When the host CPU frequency changes, the Guest system clock runs too quickly or too slowly, but may also render the whole Guest unbootable.

To prevent this, the maximum host CPU frequency can be specified, and Time Stamp Counter (TSC) disabled, in the global configuration:

    /etc/vmware/config

    host.cpukHz = "X"  # The maximum speed in KHz, e.g. 3GHz is "3000000".
    host.noTSC = "TRUE" # Keep the Guest system clock accurate even when
    ptsc.noTSC = "TRUE" # the time stamp counter (TSC) is slow.

Tip: To periodically correct the time (once per minute), in the Options tab of VMware Tools, enable: "Time synchronization between the virtual machine and the host operating system".

## Uninstallation

To uninstall VMware you need the product name (either `vmware-workstation` or `vmware-player`). To list all the installed products:

    $ vmware-installer -l

and uninstall with (`--required` skips the confirmation):

    # vmware-installer -u product --required

Tip: Use `--console` for the console UI.

Remember to also disable and remove the `vmware` service:

    # systemctl disable vmware
    # rm /usr/lib/systemd/system/vmware.service

You may also want to have a look at the module directories in `/usr/lib/modules/kernel_name/misc/` for any leftovers.

Category:

- Hypervisors