VMware Player on Mageia 4

[alansecker]

I am unable to install VMware-Player-6.0.3-1895310.x86_64.bundle on Mageia 4.

I have downloaded it twice, verifying the check sum second time round. Despite making it executable,

it claims the installer is installed but it isn't.

The log is attached.  My reading of it doesn't inspire confidence.

Someone on another newsgroup wrote that java must be installed. It is.

Can someone help?

TIA

[WoodyZ]

Mageia is not a supported Host OS for VMware Player however you might be able to use Google and find out if anyone has VMware Player 6.0.3 running on Mageia 4.

[alansecker]

I have managed to move on a bit. VMplayer now fails during module compilation. The last few lines explain why.

2014-09-26T16:52:01.249Z| vthread-3| I120: Invoking modinfo on "vmci".

2014-09-26T16:52:01.254Z| vthread-3| I120: "/sbin/modinfo" exited with status 256.

2014-09-26T16:52:01.370Z| vthread-3| I120: Setting destination path for vmci to "/lib/modules/3.12.25-desktop-3.mga4/misc/vmci.ko".

2014-09-26T16:52:01.370Z| vthread-3| I120: Extracting the vmci source from "/usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmci.tar".

2014-09-26T16:52:01.374Z| vthread-3| I120: Successfully extracted the vmci source.

2014-09-26T16:52:01.374Z| vthread-3| I120: Building module with command "/usr/bin/make -j4 -C /tmp/modconfig-fvImGU/vmci-only auto-build HEADER_DIR=/lib/modules/3.12.25-desktop-3.mga4/build/include CC=/usr/bin/gcc IS_GCC_3=no"

2014-09-26T16:52:02.387Z| vthread-3| W110: Failed to build vmci.  Failed to execute the build command.

It seems I need a translation of the  the 'build' command line. Apologies for persistence.

[WoodyZ]

It seems I need a translation of the  the 'build' command line. Apologies for persistence.

As was already mentioned, "Mageia is not a supported Host OS for VMware Player however you might be able to use Google and find out if anyone has VMware Player 6.0.3 running on Mageia 4." however let me add to that so there is no misunderstanding...  You need to use Google to search for the answer as it has already been covered with other VMware unsupported OSes, and supported OSes using unsupported (by VMware) kernels, where modules fail to build they need to be patched.  Depending on what kernel you're running there may not yet be a patch available.  A good search string might be "vthread-3| W110: Failed to build vmci.  Failed to execute the build command" or "W110: Failed to build vmci.  Failed to execute the build command" or "Failed to build vmci.  Failed to execute the build command". or "Failed to build vmci [and the kernel version]"  etc.!

[alansecker]

I've Googled for England" You were my last resort. Looks like the end of the line.

[WoodyZ]

Then I'd suggest you use a VMware supported Host OS using a VMware supported kernel if you want to relatively effortlessly use VMware products on Linux.

[alansecker]

Events have taken a positive turn. Mageia rolled out kernel 3.14.18. This was good news as ArchLinux had rolled out a patch for it. I installed the patch and Player came up. I then copied over my XP guest and was able to bring it up. However I am left with a problem.

I have two virtual network cards enabled. One set to NAT and the other to Bridged. However XP cannot contact anything outside its shell. No network connections show up from ipconfig.

As XP is executed it displays a message staying that 'The network bridge on /dev./vmnet0 does not exist (or words to that effect).

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[WoodyZ]

Okay, I installed Mageia 4.1 x86_64, updated it till there were no additional updates and also installed the kernel-desktop-devel-3.14.18-3.mga4 package.

I then installed VMware Player 6.0.3 using VMware-Player-6.0.3-1895310.x86_64.bundle, patched it using information from: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Vmware

Even though not prompted I rebooted Mageia before running VMware Player.

Next I ran VMware Player and created a VM using both Bridged and NAT on the NIC and was able to get to the Internet without any issues.

So it can work and I've attached the VMware_Player_6.0.3_x86_64_Install_on_Mageia_4.1_x86_64.txt file so you can review what commands I issued and the output to install it.  If you saved the Terminal output from your install you can see if there were any errors.

[alansecker]

That is magnificent of you.

My original system still operational on a second drive. Has worked throughout using the same bundle and through several kernels and never needed patching. However whenever I bring up VMware Player, its modules have to be regenerated.

As an aside, the supported systems seem to include a fair number of obsolete ones yet ignore some of the most popular. It does seem odd.

Once again, thanks for your kindness.

[alansecker]

In the light of your success, I decided to try again. Mageia 4 is up to date, so I uninstalled Player

and followed your steps. If went wrong at:

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

Whereas your first reported step was:

make: Entering directory '/tmp/modconfig-XU4JBw/vmmon-only'

mine is:

make: Entering directory '/tmp/modconfig-0oQ2Sl/vsock-only'

A zip file containing the listing is attached.

HOWEVER! Ever the optimist, I started up Player (which came up) then my XP guest to be surprised by a report churning out of the printer followed by total access to the internet and my shared Linux folders. I am over the moon.

Thank you again.

Alan