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birdie
Expert
Expert

VMWare WorkStation 7.1.4 is out. It is *compatible* with all recent Linux kernels. Hooray!

Such a wonderful day!

Release notes are published here.

P.S. I haven't tested kernel 2.6.29-rc1 Smiley Wink

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22 Replies
plurboy
Contributor
Contributor

Actually the vmnet module fails to compile for me...

Running on debian sid with linux kernels 2.6.38-1-amd64 and 2.6.38-2-amd64

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birdie
Expert
Expert

I couldn't care less about distro patched kernels, sorry. Smiley Wink

I'm only using vanilla, guess I'm in minority.

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martyfelker
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Deos anybody know if 7.1.4 will compile and actually  run on Debian wheezy/sd  kernel 2.6.38-02063802-generic?

I downloaded this kernel from the Ubuntu ppa and  the kernell works great it works great on Debian wheezy/sid - the question is whether  WS it will work on this kernel.  I guess I'll know in a half hour or so.I f it does not I'll will try Noel patch  for 2.6.38 and see how lthat goes.

EDIT

1)  WS GUI did come up -hooray.

2)  Bridged or NAT networking did not work - boo.

3) Forgot the patch for 2.6.38 would not work on WS 7.1.3 - I suppose  the shell script and patch only needed to be renamed (my fault)

4)  Removed the /usr/lib/vmware subdirectoy as I always have when the patch did not work for some reason - always could reinstall WS.  Exceptiionally fine patchwork by Noel and others as I have said.  I also removed /dev/vm* since those devices didn't work anyway.

4)  Could not uninstall  WS 7.1.4 - said a VM was running when of course none were.

5)  Uninstalled  and re-installed kernel 2.6.38 - several reboots to make an unpatched (by VMware) 2.6.38 kernel as above.  WS still would not uninsatll or reinstall (reisntallation report VMware isntaller extracted - done!).

6) Will download lWS 6.5 but the odds of insatlling it on this kernel are doubtful.

7)  I am truly sorry for those of you that have either support WS or those  that are trying to resell it.

😎  Since I can't get my money back for  two licenses I fully expect that when version 7.5 is released it will be a free upgrade.

9)  I am extremely  disappointed with VMwre, Inc (subsidary of EMC).  I have been with them since v 2.0

Marty

Marty Felker
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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

I would try inside a VM first - thats what VMs are made for - to boldly  go where no man has gone before Smiley Wink


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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Joe1948
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Just a quick question.  When I uninstall 7.1.3 is it necessary to run the VMware Install Cleaner before installing 7.1.4?

Joe

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matthewls
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I just upgraded to 7.1.4. I had been using Noel's patch to get 7.1.3 to run hosted on recent the ubuntu kernels (now 2.36.8.2).

The 7.1.4 install worked perfectly, no need to patch, the VM (xp-64) works great.

Thanks to all!

Matthew

PS. Network is not working, though. Some investigation is in order...

PPS. Reboot solved the problem. VMnetwork now up.

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moebiusstrip
Contributor
Contributor

Actually the vmnet module fails to compile for me...

Patch for 2.6.38-1.

Patch for 2.6.38-2.

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chucktr
Contributor
Contributor

Works without any patches to VMware on Host openSuSE 11.4. Worked great with

Windows 2000 Guest. -BUT- the following was required for Windows 7 Guest:

On SUSE 11.2 and possibly other Linux distributions, the sudo command does

not preserve the DISPLAY environment, which could cause the VMware Workstation

installer user interface to fail.    It did!! on Windows 7 Guest.
       Workaround: To preserve the DISPLAY environment add:
       Defaults env_keep+="DISPLAY"    to the /etc/sudoers file.

Works fine with Windows Vista Guest too.

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martyfelker
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Finally. WS 7.1.4 works on Ubuntu Natty 64 bit kernel 2.6.38-7-generic without any patching. So far I haven't been able to (re-install) on Debian wheezy/sid completely becuse of install l problems very likely do to the kernel. Despite following manual removal instructions renstallation does not bring up the EULA acceptance screen - hence the its not a complete vanilla installation. Some devices like vmnet(x) etc are missing so no networking. I've copied these devices directly from Natty and see if that works - doubt it I might just install the 2.6.38-7 geneic kernel and see what happens..

Also there are very good articles in the KB that outline steps to completely remove WS from a Linux or Windows. I'm sorry I can't find the link which I sent to myself at the moment but I found it through a Google search. The article about Linux removal is quite interesting on its own account since it gives a bit of insight as to how VM WS affects the kernel.

As alast, or may first, resort use VirtualBox.

Marty

Marty Felker
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Deathspawner
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Kudos to VMware for tackling the installer problem in Linux with cutting-edge kernels.

Running Gentoo and a 2.6.38 patched kernel, I was able to install the program no problem at all. Once in the program though, there are a lot of things that can cause it to crash, such as going to create a new virtual machine. Anyone else having this problem? Could it be because I am using a patched kernel?

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deploylinux
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

If you are having any issues with 7.1.4 on gentoo, you should open or update a bug at http://bugs.gentoo.org.   From what I can tell, issues with newer kernels are being fixed rather quickly and we can certainly use any additional feedback.

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Deathspawner
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi deploylinux:

Thanks for the feedback! I should have updated my post, though. I switched over to a non gentoo-patched kernel (2.6.38.2) and still have the same problem (even after doing a full reinstall of VMware). So, I am not entirely sure if this is truly a Gentoo bug or not. I might still file one, but I'd hate to risk wasting the dev's time.

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plurboy
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you moebiusstrip, your patch worked perfectly!

I had suspected the BKL was the cause, since I had the same problem with a 2.6.37 kernel I complied with BKL disabled. But I no very little C nor much about the kernel at that level, so your help is very much appresiated, thanks Smiley Happy

Oh and continuum your completely right, next time will do testing in a vm first!

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Krellan
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yes, I'm rather impressed!

I remember having to do a *lot* of work to get VMware's kernel modules to successfully compile on newer Linux kernels, back around the 6.5.x timeframe.

After upgrading from 7.1.3 (which still required patching) to 7.1.4, I gave the magic command, and expected to settle in for a long night of patching, to see what broke:

vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

To my surprise, it worked the first time!

Wow!

I'm glad VMware has finally heard the cries of Linux users wanting a more aggressive support schedule with respect to newer kernels.

Now, with all this unexpected spare time I have, what to do now?

That's right, find the library incompatibility that's preventing me from opening the Preferences page in VMware Workstation or even starting VMware Player at all (beyond the first license acceptance screen).  It segfaults someplace around libxml, or something like that.  Such is life Smiley Happy

Josh

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TEphraim
Contributor
Contributor

Hey,

I try to run a Win7 32Bit in Workstation 7.1.4 on an Ubuntu 11.04 64bit host and mostly the VM won't even start caused by different "internal errors".

When it successfully started, the performance is miserable while booting the  machine or trying to login.

It was much faster with VM Work. 7.1.3 and U.  10.10.


When the boot worked and the login is done, the machine runs smoothly  but til this point, it take ages, often cleanup of the host  system (rm -r *.lck or /tmp/virtual-*, as I needed to kill -9 vmware-vmx as it was stuck about 15 min. with a black screen and vmrun said the vm wasn't started) and restart of any VMWare related stuff.

The Win7 VM was running absolutley fine in 7.1.3 Smiley Sad

Would be interessting if someone else has the same problems.

Ciao Ephraim

EDIT: when I hit "Power On to Bios" with a newly typical created win7 32bit machine, VMware workstation just dies. Not errormessage nothing Smiley Sad.

EDIT2: Newly installed Ubuntu 11.04 amd64, with all current updates. My win7 32bit VM, When I start the vm, workstation dies directly. Black screen, even the BIOS can't be spotted in the short time workstation runs and then WS is closed without any errormessage.

Moved to use VirtualBox-OSE, which boots the same vmdk perfectly. Bye Bye VMWare.

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solsson
Contributor
Contributor

I have the same issues with WinXP machines (not running Win7 currently). Worked reliably under Ubuntu 10.10 and player 3.1.3. Initially with 11.04 and 3.1.4 the UI just crashed. Solved that by running:

export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/vmware/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0/libglib-2.0.so.0

vmplayer

After that it has worked, once. Most of the time when I attempt to boot I get only a black screen and the tray icon saying 1 machine is running.

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Noel
Expert
Expert

plurboy wrote:

Actually the vmnet module fails to compile for me...

WS 7.1.4 works fine with many distros that have temporarily kept the BKL for compatibility, but needs a tiny patch otherwise to remove a dependency on the BKL.

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FabioPortes
Contributor
Contributor

VMware Workstation 7.1.4 on Ubuntu 11.04 is not working for me at all.

It was OK on Ubuntu 10.10, but after upgrade I am unable to open console tab.

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doningli
Contributor
Contributor

I am trying to load ws7.1.4 on RHEL 6.1 (2.6.32-122.el6.x86_64).

Everything seems to go ok except vmmon.

I saw there was an earlier patch for vmmon for < 7.1.3.

Here is the output of my vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

Stopping VMware services:
   VMware USB Arbitrator                                             [  OK  ]
   VM communication interface socket family                 [  OK  ]
   Virtual machine communication interface                    [  OK  ]
   Virtual machine monitor                                             [  OK  ]
   Blocking file system                                                  [  OK  ]
Installed vmmon pre-built module
Installed vmnet pre-built module
Installed vmblock pre-built module
Installed vmci pre-built module
Installed vsock pre-built module
Starting VMware services:
   VMware USB Arbitrator                                             [  OK  ]
   Virtual machine monitor                                             [FAILED]
   Virtual machine communication interface                    [  OK  ]
   VM communication interface socket family                 [  OK  ]
   Blocking file system                                                  [  OK  ]
   Virtual ethernet                                                         [  OK  ]
Unable to start services

Also a screenshot is attached...

Help?

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