VMware Communities
kresto7
Contributor
Contributor

Issue with VMWare on Ubuntu 20.04 after kernel change

I have been using VMWare on Ubuntu for a while now and yesterday I received an error saying my /boot partition was full so I started googling how to fix this by removing unused headers

I ended up following the steps in this article(https://askubuntu.com/questions/89710/how-do-i-free-up-more-space-in-boot) to try and fix it, but today after booting up my system I started getting the following error:
https://i.stack.imgur.com/7HrVx.png

I would normally get this error when doing a kernel change as I use secure boot and the modules need to be manually signed, but even after signing them and even after turning off secure boot the same issue appears. I followed the steps found here (https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Player/VMMON-and-VMNET-Unable-to-install-module...) but this did not help either. Below is the output of the "sudo vmware-modconfig --console --install-all" command:

Stopping VMware services:
VMware Authentication Daemon done
Virtual machine monitor done
make: Entering directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only'
/usr/bin/make -C /lib/modules/5.11.0-16-generic/build/include/.. M=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
MODULEBUILDDIR= modules
make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-5.11.0-16-generic'
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/linux/driverLog.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/memtrack.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/apic.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/statVarsVmmon.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/sharedAreaVmmon.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/cpuid.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/task.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/crosspage.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/comport.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/phystrack.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/vmcore/moduleloop.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/bootstrap/monLoaderVmmon.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/bootstrap/monLoader.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/bootstrap/vmmblob.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/bootstrap/bootstrap.o
LD [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/vmmon.o
MODPOST /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/Module.symvers
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/vmmon.mod.o
LD [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-5.11.0-16-generic'
/usr/bin/make -C $PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
MODULEBUILDDIR= postbuild
make[1]: Entering directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only'
make[1]: 'postbuild' is up to date.
make[1]: Leaving directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only'
cp -f vmmon.ko ./../vmmon.o
make: Leaving directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only'
make: Entering directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only'
/usr/bin/make -C /lib/modules/5.11.0-16-generic/build/include/.. M=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
MODULEBUILDDIR= modules
make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-5.11.0-16-generic'
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/driver.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/hub.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/userif.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/netif.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/bridge.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/procfs.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/smac_compat.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/smac.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/vnetEvent.o
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/vnetUserListener.o
LD [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/vmnet.o
MODPOST /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/Module.symvers
CC [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/vmnet.mod.o
LD [M] /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/vmnet.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-5.11.0-16-generic'
/usr/bin/make -C $PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
MODULEBUILDDIR= postbuild
make[1]: Entering directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only'
make[1]: 'postbuild' is up to date.
make[1]: Leaving directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only'
cp -f vmnet.ko ./../vmnet.o
make: Leaving directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only'
Starting VMware services:
Virtual machine monitorfailed
Virtual machine communication interface done
VM communication interface socket family done
Virtual ethernetfailed
VMware Authentication Daemon done

I also tried updating VMWare to version 16 but that did not help.

Also I always had the same issue with my displaylink adapter that I use for my two monitors and after yesterday's change that stopped working as well..

I since tried reverting my kernel back to linux-5.4.0-81 but when I boot using that it is stuck at the "Lenovo" boot screen and won't move any further

I really hope someone knows how this can be fixed as it's really doing my head in. Thank you so much!

1 Reply
csotolopez
Contributor
Contributor

Hey Kresto I had the same issue you did and I was able to fix the issue but going to the following git site:

https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules/tree/workstation-16.2.1

cloning the it (download in Zip) to my local drive, un-zipping it to my home directory and running the following commands in the directory

 

$ make

$sudo make install

 

Once that was done I ran vmware workstation again and i complied with no issues

 

the original post I found the fix is here:

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/VM-Workstation-16-1-gt-16-2-1-on-Ubuntu-21-...

Just a note: I didn't have to make any modifications to the files in Git as suggested in the comments in the forum page.

 

I hope that helps

Chris