VMware Workstation Pro 16 service no longer functioning

ipyakuza · 2022-07-01 21:47:44

Running ArchLinux latest updates and VMware workstation pro 16 (latest from the AUR). It was functioning until a few days ago when I noticed it no longer starts the vmware service. The vmware-networks-server.service and vmware-usbarbitrator.services are running at boot (as expected) but vmware.service is failed. Naturally it shows in systemctl that it's trying to find /etc/init.d/vmware and honestly I don't recall if this was always a failed service or not. I know Arch is on systemd and vmware workstation still built for init.d but some magic happens in the maintained AUR package which makes it all work. I usually just download the latest AUR package when it stops functioning and makepkg -sir then everything goes back to working. Not sure what has changed in the last week if kernel updates broke it or where it's failing. Logs in /var/log/vmware only exist for the usb arbitrator service but nothing useful in there to help me figure out where this is failing. On another note, whenever I shut down or reboot the system, the shutdown services for usb-abitrator does tend to stall for the full 1m 30s before it finally proceeds to reboot/shutdown. If I run vmware from the command line there arent any verbose params I can use to diagnose what's not working. Any insights on where to start looking for the root cause appreciated.

KERNEL: Linux rig 5.18.7-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sat, 25 Jun 2022 20:22:01 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux

× vmware.service - VMware daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/vmware.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2022-07-01 14:36:35 PDT; 3min 16s ago
   Duration: 1ms
    Process: 34112 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/vmware start (code=exited, status=203/EXEC)
   Main PID: 34112 (code=exited, status=203/EXEC)
        CPU: 682us

Jul 01 14:36:35 rig systemd[1]: Started VMware daemon.
Jul 01 14:36:35 rig systemd[34112]: vmware.service: Failed to locate executable /etc/init.d/vmware: No such file or directory
Jul 01 14:36:35 rig systemd[34112]: vmware.service: Failed at step EXEC spawning /etc/init.d/vmware: No such file or directory
Jul 01 14:36:35 rig systemd[1]: vmware.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=203/EXEC
Jul 01 14:36:35 rig systemd[1]: vmware.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

Last edited by ipyakuza (2022-09-01 16:31:46)

ipyakuza · 2022-07-04 17:25:18

Looks like the issue was resolved in the latest kernel update:

Linux rig 5.18.9-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sat, 02 Jul 2022 21:03:06 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux

VMware working again. Looks like the vmware.service is still failed (since it's pointing to legacy init.d) so I assume it was never a working component of Vmware workstation from the AUR.

ipyakuza · 2022-09-01 16:30:43

Looks like this issue keeps rearing its head off and on. Randomly vmware will work after boot, other times it wont. I also cant find any options for verbosity or logging (outside of /var/log/vmware which only provides usbartitrator logs). Seems like some kind of race condition on systemd services. Sometimes my NIC takes a little longer to get an address and vmware works. Other times it gets the address faster and something doesnt fire in order causing vmware not to work. I see both vmware-networks and vmware-usbarbitrator services are up and working. Confusing, can't find any answers on this one.

Lone_Wolf · 2022-09-02 09:58:26

for testing purpose disable the services and start/stop them manually .

What are you using to manage the network on the host ?

Arch Linux

#1 2022-07-01 21:47:44

VMware Workstation Pro 16 service no longer functioning

#2 2022-07-04 17:25:18

Re: VMware Workstation Pro 16 service no longer functioning

#3 2022-09-01 16:30:43

Re: VMware Workstation Pro 16 service no longer functioning

#4 2022-09-02 09:58:26

Re: VMware Workstation Pro 16 service no longer functioning

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