[SOLVED] VMware on Arch "Could not open /dev/vmmon:"

michaelmoreno · 2022-02-05 11:21:26

SOLUTION

The version of linux-headers I had installed was for a more recent linux kernel than I had installed. By upgrading my kernel to 5.16.5-arch1-1, and then installing that corresponding version of linux-headers from pacman, I was then able to run sudo make inside of the vmware-host-modules.git repo, which allowed me to then run sudo vmware-mod-config --console --install-all, which solved the "Could not open /dev/vmmon:" error.

So working backwards, the steps are:
1. Update your linux kernel and install the right linux-headers for it.
2. Clone this git repo, cd into it, git checkout -b 16.2.1 origin/workstation-16.2.1, and run sudo make install
3. Run sudo vmware-mod-config --console --install-all

See the section DETAILED SOLUTION at the bottom for more details.

ORIGINAL POST

I've been trying to get vmware-workstation working on my machine for days now. I run into one issue, whose solution require solving their own issues, and so on. After repeatedly surfing through various forum posts and trying different solutions with no success, I've decided it's time to make a thorough post on the Arch forums.

Kernel version: 5.15.10-arch1-1
Laptop model: Asus M16 GU603

I first install vmware-workstation 16.2.1-3 from the AUR

yay -s vmware-workstation

You can see a gist of the output Here. The installation seems successful, but one thing that might be worth noting is this bit:

(4/6) Install DKMS modules
==> ERROR: Missing 5.16.2-arch1-1 kernel modules tree for module vmware-workstation/16.2.1_18811642.

In any event, I am able to startup vmware (although I have to do it in su on the very first time for some reason).
I start up vmware, create a virtual machine, and try starting up the virtual machine. I receive this error:

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

Relevant forum posts say that I need to run the following command:

vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

When I try running this (with sudo), I get the following error:

[AppLoader] GLib does not have GSettings support.

(process:10586): GLib-CRITICAL **: 04:15:37.201: g_file_test: assertion 'filename != NULL' failed
Failed to setup build environment.

Related forum posts suggested that these issues might be related to my linux kernal version not being compatible with gcc or something, or that I am missing the linux-headers package.
I've installed the linux-headers from pacman, and have switched to the Linux-lts 5.15.19-1 kernel, but no success.

At one point I was suggested to clone the git repo https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules.git and make it, but that runs into it's own errors:

vmware-host-modules]$ sudo make
make -C vmmon-only
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/mm/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only'
Using standalone build system.
In file included from ./autoconf/geninclude.c:20:
./include/compat_autoconf.h:38:13: fatal error: generated/autoconf.h: No such file or directory
   38 | #   include <generated/autoconf.h>
      |             ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
make[2]: Entering directory '/home/mm/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only/driver-5.15.10-arch1-1'
In file included from .././autoconf/geninclude.c:20:
.././include/compat_autoconf.h:38:13: fatal error: generated/autoconf.h: No such file or directory
   38 | #   include <generated/autoconf.h>
      |             ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
Dependencies for task.c
cc1: error: code model kernel does not support PIC mode
make[2]: *** [.././Makefile.normal:121: task.d] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/mm/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only/driver-5.15.10-arch1-1'
make[1]: *** [Makefile.normal:132: deps] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/mm/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only'
make: *** [Makefile:21: vmmon-only] Error 2

DETAILED SOLUTION

To solve the error "Could not open /dev/vmmon/:" you need to run:

sudo vmware-mod-config --console --install-all

If this returns an error about Glib not having support, you need to clone https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules.git and make it.

$ git clone https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules.git
$ cd vmware-host-modules
$ git checkout -b 16.2.1 origin/workstation-16.2.1
$ sudo make

If this returns an error containing fatal error: generated/autoconf.h: No such file or directory, you need to install linux-headers and make sure it matches your linux kernel version. Probably also make sure your kernel is up to date, although I'm not sure if that's necessary.

$ sudo pacman -S linux
$ sudo reboot
$ sudo pacman -S linux-headers

Now you should be able to make install in that cloned repo, which should install the required modules for you to be able to run the vmware-mod-config --console --install-all command, which should solve the issue.

Last edited by michaelmoreno (2022-03-11 13:19:54)

WorMzy · 2022-02-05 12:06:06

Mod note: moving to AUR Issues

michaelmoreno · 2022-02-05 12:11:34

WorMzy wrote:

Mod note: moving to AUR Issues

It actually turned out to be bottom out in my linux kernel and linux-headers not matching/potentially not being up to date, rather than an AUR/application problem. I've updated my post with the solution.

Last edited by michaelmoreno (2022-02-05 12:12:09)

2ManyDogs · 2022-02-05 13:54:12

Please remember to mark your thread [SOLVED] (edit the title of your first post).

slycat_Bruce · 2022-07-15 08:59:54

I typed

sudo make

in the folder which cloned from Github according to your post, but it returns the following error message:

/home/slycat/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c: In function ‘isVAReadable’:
/home/slycat/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c:2384:4: error: unknown type name ‘mm_segment_t’
 2384 |    mm_segment_t old_fs;
      |    ^~~~~~~~~~~~
/home/slycat/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c:2386:13: error: implicit declaration of function ‘get_fs’; did you mean ‘sget_fc’? [-Werror=implicit-function-declaration]
 2386 |    old_fs = get_fs();
      |             ^~~~~~
      |             sget_fc
/home/slycat/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c:2387:4: error: implicit declaration of function ‘set_fs’; did you mean ‘sget_fc’? [-Werror=implicit-function-declaration]
 2387 |    set_fs(KERNEL_DS);
      |    ^~~~~~
      |    sget_fc
/home/slycat/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c:2387:11: error: ‘KERNEL_DS’ undeclared (first use in this function); did you mean ‘KERNEL_2_1’?
 2387 |    set_fs(KERNEL_DS);
      |           ^~~~~~~~~
      |           KERNEL_2_1
/home/slycat/vmware-host-modules/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c:2387:11: note: each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each function it appears in
cc1: some warnings being treated as errors

I have installed the linux and linux-headers packages then reboot the system, but still failed.
Can you help me with that? (Sorry about my bad English, I'm not in an English-speaking country)

My operating system is archcraft(A distro on the top of Archlinux, site:https://archcraft.io/ 5.18.11-arch1-1

Last edited by slycat_Bruce (2022-07-15 09:06:44)

V1del · 2022-07-15 09:16:56

Note that you are bumping a solved thread with an operating system we do not support according to our rules https://bbs.archlinux.org/misc.php?action=rules

Please ask on the support channels of your distribution for help. More generally instead of relying on a random git repo, use https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/vmware-workstation which should already contain patches for 5.18/5.19 compat.

Closing.

Arch Linux

#1 2022-02-05 11:21:26