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Cannot start vmware-netcfg after upgrade to Workstation 15.0 on debian host

I was running the latest version of Workstation 14 and upgraded to 15. Before the update, both starting the Virtual Network Editor via GUI and running vmware-netcfg as root on the command line worked properly. Now nothing happens when starting via GUI, and this is printed on the command line:

root@pc-tb-debian ➜  ~  vmware-netcfg

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'boost::exception_detail::clone_impl<boost::exception_detail::error_info_injector<boost::property_tree::json_parser::json_parser_error> >'

  what():  <unspecified file>: ptree contains data that cannot be represented in JSON format

I have already removed /etc/vmware/networking and reinstalled VMware Workstation 15, so basically I am running the default network config.

Any Ideas?

6 Replies
Steubing
Contributor
Contributor

I know this is just a "me too" but perhaps there's a wider problem.

I've been experiencing the exact same issue, it's driven me to install and try it both on Fedora 28 and Ubuntu 18.04.1. I'm now about to load ArchLinux to see if there's any difference; but at this stage this error is preventing me from finalizing my build.

I've tried everything, copying working /etc/vmware/networking from another machine; and still the same error that is described by the original poster.

Searched until I'm blue in the face trying to find a solution.

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Steubing
Contributor
Contributor

OK, it gets even more interesting now.

I've installed my 3rd distribution Fedora, Ubuntu, and now ArchLinux. "vmware-netcfg" will run right after the first install of the OS and then the install of Workstation. It will fail to run once you've set up your networking. For example I have a few VLAN interfaces that I set up on my machine. As soon as those are set up and enabled then "vmware-netcfg" will fail to run with the error listed in the original post.

I'm worn out after installing these 3 different distributions in order to narrow down the root cause.

Thoughts? Comments?

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Steubing
Contributor
Contributor

Further details. Appears to be a bug in "vmware-netcfg" v15.0.

Uninstalling 15.0, and installing 14.1.3 and then running "vmware-netcfg" from 14.1.3 works with no problems. So I guess I can set up networking with 14.1.3 and then upgrade to 15.0.

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Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I can confirm that reverting to VMware 14.1.3 works.

I also have some VLANs in my config, maybe the problem is related to VLANs.

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iRunner2016
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thank you for reporting this regression and sorry for the trouble. This is related to third-party JSON library used in vmnetcfg, and it should occur on all Linux distros. We have already internal bug to track this issue, and we are working on the fix. If VLAN is must for your host, you may revert to 14.1.3 for current solution.

sjelfs
Contributor
Contributor

Is there a fix for this yet in 15?

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