VMware player 6.0.4 can not start in CentOS6.x

[zjxphone]

I can not start VMware player after some update in the CentOS system,

Here is the error message:

----------------------------------------------------------

Could not open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory.

Please make sure that the kernel module `vmmon' is loaded.

Failed to initialize monitor device.

----------------------------------------------------------

Then I googled around and tried these:

/etc/init.d/vmware stop

/etc/init.d/vmware start

I got problem when start the vm monitor service:

Starting VMware services:

   Virtual machine monitor                                 [FAILED]

   Virtual machine communication interface                 [  OK  ]

   VM communication interface socket family                [  OK  ]

   Blocking file system                                    [  OK  ]

   Virtual ethernet                                        [  OK  ]

   VMware Authentication Daemon                            [  OK  ]

I then uninstalled my old VMware player, downloaded the latest versions:

VMware-Player-6.0.4-2237854.x86_64.bundle

VMware-Workstation-Full-10.0.4-2249910.x86_64.bundle

VMware-Player-6.0.4-2249910.x86_64.bundle

I tried all these 3 which are just released 2 weeks ago.  But none of them work.

All have the same problem.

This is not a new problem, since I found this:

VMWare Workstation 8 or 10 under CentOS 6.4 runs into "start .. Virtual machine monitor [FAILED]" er...

I think the reason might be that the wmware does not compatible with the new

kernel: 

Here is my OS kernal:

Linux xxx 2.6.32-504.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Tue Sep 16 01:56:35 EDT 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I hope someone can solve this.

[mntnbighker]

Yep, I'm betting you are right about the kernel. Not sure how you got on 504 on CentOS 6.4 though. I thought 504 came with the CentOS 6.6 update. I backed off to the older kernel hoping VMware will be patching so I don't have to.

[ServerSide · Accepted solution]

As root/sudo:

service vmware stop

yum install gcc kernel-devel #just to make sure

for EACH in vmmon vmnet vmci

do

     vmware-modconfig --console --build-mod $EACH

    modprobe $EACH

done

service vmware start

I hope the mini-script formatting holds in the post. Also note that the kernel you mention is from the CentOS 6.6 line.

[zjxphone]

Dear  Serverside,

  I would like to thank you for your help.

  Your mini-script really works.

  I do not reinstall the kernel since the machine is maintained by others.

I simply comment it out. The script runs very smooth and vmware

player is back in my CentOS6.2(keep updating to the latest kernel

and other patches).

Here is the script.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

service vmware stop

#yum install gcc kernel-devel #just to make sure

for EACH in vmmon vmnet vmci

do

     vmware-modconfig --console --build-mod $EACH

    modprobe $EACH

done

service vmware start

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

[coral2014]

i follow your an instructions your suggestions but i have the following issues: not "x86_x86_64_linux"

# vmware-modconfig --console --build-mod vmmon /usr/bin/gcc /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build/include/

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.

make: Entering directory `/tmp/modconfig-4wDOmk/vmmon-only'

/usr/bin/make -C /lib/modules/2.6.32-504.1.3.el6.x86_64/build/include//.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \

      MODULEBUILDDIR= modules

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.32-504.1.3.el6.x86_64'

Makefile:566: /usr/src/kernels/2.6.32-504.1.3.el6.x86_64/arch/x86_64_linux/Makefile: No such file or directory

make[1]: *** No rule to make target `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.32-504.1.3.el6.x86_64/arch/x86_64_linux/Makefile'.  Stop.

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.32-504.1.3.el6.x86_64'

make: *** [vmmon.ko] Error 2

make: Leaving directory `/tmp/modconfig-4wDOmk/vmmon-only'

# ls -lth /usr/src/kernels/2.6.32-504.1.3.el6.x86_64/arch/

total 100K

drwxr-xr-x  8 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 xtensa

drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 x86

drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 um

drwxr-xr-x  9 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 sparc

drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 sh

drwxr-xr-x  6 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 score

drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 s390

drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 powerpc

drwxr-xr-x  8 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 parisc

drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 mn10300

drwxr-xr-x 36 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 mips

drwxr-xr-x  7 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 microblaze

drwxr-xr-x  6 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 m68knommu

drwxr-xr-x 20 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 m68k

drwxr-xr-x  8 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 m32r

drwxr-xr-x 14 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 ia64

drwxr-xr-x  7 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 h8300

drwxr-xr-x  7 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 frv

drwxr-xr-x  8 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 cris

drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 blackfin

drwxr-xr-x  9 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 avr32

drwxr-xr-x 77 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 arm

drwxr-xr-x  8 root root 4.0K Nov 28 19:58 alpha

-rw-r--r--  1 root root 4.2K Nov 11 18:26 Kconfig

[vmtester602]

Hello,

I have this issue on CentOS 6.6 with kernel 2.6.32-504.1.3 and VMware Player  6.0.2.

I have this issue after the kernel update, but also after a new Installation of CentOS 6.6 and VMware Player 6.0.2.

This solution solved the problem, however this is not normal to have to rebuild vmware modules for the current kernel just after installing VMware Player :

# service vmware stop

# for EACH in vmmon vmnet vmci; do vmware-modconfig --console --build-mod $EACH; modprobe $EACH; done

# service vmware start

This command doesn't seem to rebuild vmmon module properly, do you know why ?

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

I use this command to rebuild vmware modules after a kernel update, this works perfectly (on CentOS 6.4/6.5, Ubuntu 12.04/14.04), except on CentOS 6.6 with kernel 2.6.32-504.1.3.

If this command is used by vmare-installer, this may be the cause of this issue.

So, do you think this is an issue related to VMware Player, to CentOS 6.6 or to kernel 2.6.32-504.1.3 ?

Thanks and have a good day