How fix the Transport (VMDB) error -14: Pipe connection has been broken problem in VMWare 9 LINUX (Ubuntu 12.04)?

[Coolio_Burned]

I've installed the VMWare 9 Workstation in my Ubuntu 12.04 64 bits, and when i'm trying to boot any VMware inside the workstation it hangs giving me the message: Unable to change virtual machine power state: Failed to power on '/VMs/XP_Asus/XP_Asus.vmx'. Transport (VMDB) error -14: Pipe connection has been broken.

I've already tryed to boot XP, Win 7 64 bits, Ubuntu 12.04 and Slackware inside the Workstation 9 and the problem still.

The partition /VM is a local EXT4 filesystem, so I don't believe that's the problem.

Has anyone get the same problem? Someone have fixed it?

[TheGazza]

Hi,

Same issue. To fix it, repair the Workstation 9 installation.

Rgds,

[Coolio_Burned]

I've tryed to remove/reinstal/install like a hundred times and it didn't work. I've already remove my downloaded file and downloaded again, still not working...

There's the screen...

[TheGazza]

Ok, I'll check!!!

In my case, a simple W9 reinstall, and host restart solved the issue.

[netbob]

Have you had any success with this issue? I been getting the error on 12.04 and 12.10 and have had no success with so called patches.

Thanks in advance,

Nb

[Coolio_Burned]

Nothing yet... I'll already read all the logs like 1.000.000 times and makes no sense. I'm using software raid, and when I got this error, I think that's the cause, but no log tell me that.

I believe, now, that it must be because the RAID... but no sucess making it work yet...

Note: I'm even able to open a conection to a ESX server with this VMWare Workstation... use all resources... but can't open a local file...

[netbob]

I think the main issue is the 3.5 kernel itself as this known issue doc states:

The vmmon module crashes the Linux kernel 3.5 due to an exception table changing
The vmmon module crashes the Linux kernel 3.5 due to exception table changing. Installing Workstation 9 with Linux kernel 3.5 causes the kernel to stop functioning.

I am looking into this module concerning the exception table to see if it's related to the transport or peer errors we are seeing.

As for the software raid, I am not sure that would be an issue but I will create a system with a software raid to check it as well.

Nb

[Coolio_Burned]

I do believe that the kernel 3.5 may be the issue... Unfortunately I can't try another kernel or another distro (older) 'cause I've got many programs running at this machine. I use it for development, so can't afford being offline...

Anyway... I hope the issue about kernel crashing the VMMON can be solved soon, so I can go back on VMWare...

P.S. The trial time is abou to expire and I still can't run any VMware on my note... Damn...

[AndreD]

same problem here.  (Ubuntu 12.10 + VMWks 9.0)

any solution yet ?

[AndreD]

problem solved by cleanup and patch in:  http://communities.vmware.com/message/2133959#2133959

[netbob]

Thanks for the update. I have been over this several times with 12.10 (with the patch also) and everytime i get stopped by the same error:

"Unable to change virtual machine power state: Failed to power on '/home/netbob/vmware/Windows 7 x64/Windows 7 x64.vmx'.
Transport (VMDB) error -14: Pipe connection has been broken."

So I was pretty happy when I saw this.

1. I uninstalled VMware 9 with the steps in the instructions and performed the cleanup steps.

2. As I was on 12.04, I performed an upgrade to 12.10 whereupon I promptly borked my install. Bigtime.

3. So I grabbed the daily build of 12.10 and and after doing the update and dist-upgrade, I installed VMware 9.

4. Downloaded the patch again ("vmware9_kernel35_patch.tar.bz2") and promptly got the error that the patch only works on Vmware 9 or vmware player 9. Um ok. So the patch has an extra = in lines 27 and 28 so removing it so that it looks like this works:

[ "$vmver" = "workstation$vmreqver" ] && product="VMWare WorkStation"
[ "$vmver" = "player$plreqver" ] && product="VMWare Player"

5. Rerunning the patch again works but I receive these errors:

patching file vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c
Stopping VMware services:
   VMware Authentication Daemon                                        done
At least one instance of VMware VMX is still running.
Please stop all running instances of VMware VMX first.

   VMware Authentication Daemon                                        done
Unable to stop services
-e

All done, you can now run VMWare WorkStation.
Modules sources backup can be found in the '/usr/lib/vmware/modules/source-workstation9.0.0-2012-10-21-15:03:32-backup' directory

Despite the message that I can now run VMWare WorkStation,  when I start Vmware and then try to start the vm, back comes the error.

But fter rebooting again with that half modified patch, it causes a black kernel panic screen which I found this item of note:

https://mergy.org/2012/10/ubuntu-12-10-and-vmware-workstation-9-black-screen-kernel-panic-workaround...

Could this be an issue with the new Grub 2?

So I guess I need to know how to stop these services so that the patch can succeed.

Thanks in advance all for listening to my rambling.

Nb

[Deus23]

VMware Workstation 9 /VMware Player 5 - Ubuntu 12.10

Step 1: Open a terminal and install synaptic (sudo apt-get install synaptic)

Step 2: Open the synaptic package manager (sudo synaptic) and install:

lowlatency Linux kernel headers

linux-headers-generic

linux-headers-3.5.0-17-lowlatency

linux-headers-3.5.0-17-generic

linux-generic

linux-headers-3.5.0-17

(NOTE: Its recommended to have graphic card driver installed or vmware may give you other errors. I had this issue too )

Step 3: Install VMware Workstation 9 / VMware Player 5 (Only if you dont have it installed yet!)

Step 4: Reboot and Select 'Advanced options of ubuntu' from GRUB loader and select generic kernel 3.5.0-17 (NOT the one with recovery option!!!)

Step 5: Download vmware patch from here vmware 9 kernel 3.5 patch and extract the content

Step 6: Now edit the file patch-modules_3.5.0.sh (gedit patch-modules_3.5.0.sh). Find the part [ -z "$product" ] and CHANGE it with [ -v "$product" ]

Step 7: Install the patch (./patch-modules_3.5.0.sh)

Step 8: Finally Start VMware 9 and Enjoy.

I had a lot of problems with VMware on the new ubuntu 12.10 official release and this worked for me I hope this can halp you to solve the problem.

[netbob]

Thanks for a well written tutorial.

I did every step in order and after changing the z to a v in the patch script file, it runs with the following output:

sudo ./patc*
patching file vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c
Stopping VMware services:
   VMware Authentication Daemon                                        done
At least one instance of VMware VMX is still running.
Please stop all running instances of VMware VMX first.

   VMware Authentication Daemon                                        done
Unable to stop services

All done, you can now run VMWare WorkStation.
Modules sources backup can be found in the '/usr/lib/vmware/modules/source-workstation9.0.0-2012-10-21-21:38:17-backup' directory

When I try to power on a vm, I get this error:

Unable to change virtual machine power state: Failed to power on '/home/mmcshane/vmware/Windows 7 x64/Windows 7 x64.vmx'.
Transport (VMDB) error -14: Pipe connection has been broken.

Usually at this point if I reboot, I get the black kernel panic screen but I took great care in updating to the latest Nvidia video drivers:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:noobslab/nvidia-quantal

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current

Thanks again for your efforts. I will kieep at it. I loaded a spare drive with Windows 8 9200 build and am throughly disappointed so 12.10 is it for me.

Nb

[AndreD]

you rpoblem is right here, the script is not smart enough, so it congratulates you anyway.

"At least one instance of VMware VMX is still running."

the most foolproof way to solve it, os to delete/move  the *.o  files as described and reboot.

[netbob]

I tried to do that and of course it didn't let me:

root@netbob-N80Vb:/home/netbob# rmmod vmnet.o
ERROR: Module vmnet is in use
root@netbob-N80Vb:/home/netbob# rmmod vmmon.o
ERROR: Module vmmon is in use
root@netbob-N80Vb:/home/netbob# rmmod vmci.o
ERROR: Module vmci is in use by vsock
root@netbob-N80Vb:/home/netbobe# rmmod vmblock.o
ERROR: Module vmblock does not exist in /proc/modules
root@netbob-N80Vb:/home/netbob# rmmod vmppuser.o
ERROR: Module vmppuser does not exist in /proc/modules

Is there a better way to delete those .o files?

Thanks for your help!

Nb

[AndreD]

like I wrote in the post above:  "delete or move" - not "unload from kernel"

sudo rm /lib/modules/3.5.0-17-generic/misc/*

or

cd /lib/modules/3.5.0-17-generic/misc/

sudo mv * /tmp

if you have only 5  .o files, they are belong to VMware.

if there are more than five, (unlikely) then move/delete only : vmblock.ko  vmci.ko  vmmon.ko  vmnet.ko  vsock.ko

(you won't find any files there in any normal Ubuntu installation)

[netbob]

That worked!

I restarted vmware and it asked to recompile the kernel. It errored out and after I rebooted, the vm started as normal.

Thanks for your patience and to all to provided input: you guys rock!

Have a great week.

Nb

[Deus23]

Don't install nvidia-current in Ubuntu 12.10 I had a lot of problems with the Nvidia driver.

1) First install kernel-headers.

2) Then Download your driver from http://www.geforce.com/drivers.

3) Open a terminal and type sudo su and enter your superuser password.

4) Stop the X server services lightdm stop.

5) Now you got a black screen, don't panic press CTRL + ALT + F1 and login with your user account.

6) Now login with the superuser again sudo su and go to the folder where you downloaded your Nvidia driver (probably /home/user/Downloads).

7) Start the installation sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.60.run and follow the steps responding to all questions with YES.

😎 When the installation fail (it will fail the first time because of the generic driver but don't worry) just REBOOT the system.

9) Now repeat step 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7

(open a terminal, login with superuser, kill the X server, ctrl+alt+f1, login, login with superuser again, start the installation and follow the steps responding with YES to all questions).

10) When the installation is done reboot and try to start vmware.

11) If you still got this problem re-patch vmware and try again.

This is the only thing may help.

[BrunoF_2013]

I just reinstall, and the problem is solved.

[JoPatel]

I am not sure if this will add in as as useful as it should be but its worth trying, as I have successfully resolved my issue, please see below the issue, help and resolution in my own way and word:

Windows 8 installed with Workstation 9 that has Server 2003 R2 & on that installed SAP Basis

So here are the details:

Host System = Windows 8

Virtualization Software  =  VMware Workstation 9

On Virtual System I have installed Server 2003 R2

And on that OS I have installed SAP Basis ECC 5 with Ora 9.2

After installation I had restarted system and at that time it started giving me following Errors:

Window could not start the VMware Authorisation Service  service on Local Computer
Error 1075 The dependency service does not exist or has been marked for deletion

I try to manually restart service but it didn't... So I copy and pasted the path that was under the VMware Authorisation Service :
C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmware-authd.exe

When ran it from Command Prompt atleast at that point it did gave me live link and option to restart, however it still did not ran and gave following error:

Transport (VMDB) error -44: Message. The VMware Authorization Service is not running.

When looked in to the dependent serivices - None Found but it still did not ran successfully or actively

I have also turned of FireWall Settings for service restart so that security parameter wont interupt to have desire result sitll no luck.

I have taken Screenshot using "Prtscr" and saved in JPEG file but no way to attache here.

Please help me. as I am touching new Workstation after 5 years so workstarion 9 is  bit new to this version of Workstation and so is to Windows 8

 
All Replies (2)

Babu V
Found this helpfulMe Too 0  

Babu V replied on
May 2, 2013 

Support Engineer  Community Star

Hi Jopatel,

Let’s place the computer in clean boot and check if you can start the vmware application.
Clean boot will help us identify if any third party applications or start up items are causing the issue.

To do this, follow steps from this link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Note: After checking the functionality in clean boot, follow the suggestions under “How to reset the computer to start as usual after troubleshooting with clean boot”.

If the issue still persists, you may post your question in vmware forum using the following link.

http://communities.vmware.com/index.jspa

Hope the above is useful.

Jopatel
jopatel replied on
May 5, 2013 

Now let me come to the solution that I found for my issue!!

Hence VM is a software, just like every other software the base rule is one can repair, reinstall or uninstall, by keeping its data intact if you decide to reinstall!

In my case I had to  reinstall software which wouldn't have  effected what I had on VMDX means the virtual hard drive as its a part of the software and was not effected while reinstall.

I could have saved all this trouble had i had a screenshot or Lets say copy the current working stat then I could have reran it from that phase onwards provided the software database itself was not corrupted. As the "Transport (VMDB) error -44: Message" related to Database of the software!!