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LinuxG1rl
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workstation pro 12 not working on ubuntu 19.04

Hi Everyone,

I just upgraded to ubuntu 19.04 and my workstation stopped working, please see attached the error I receive.

The version of my workstation is 12.04 and my ubuntu is 19.04 with kernel 5.0.0-15-generic

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

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wila
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Hi,

The first part of our answers is an explanation that it doesn't work with VMware Workstation 12.

Then there's a response that you can get it to work, if you first upgrade to VMware 12.5.9 - the last free upgrade for Workstation 12.

After that you have to follow the instruction in github in order to get it to work.

If you are looking for an easier way to run your existing VMware VM's then you can download and install VMware Workstation Player

Download VMware Workstation Player | VMware

It's free for personal use and should work on Ubuntu 19.04.

The main question is if your CPU works with Workstation 15. If the processor is from 2013 or newer then it most likely will.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva

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daphnissov
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It's not supported on that version of Ubuntu, so that makes sense.

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wila
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Hi,

While what Chip says is true, it might help if you also get to know what version does support a Ubuntu 19.04 host.

This was only recently introduced with VMware Workstation 15.1 (here's the release notes)

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/15/rn/VMware-Workstation-151-Pro-Release-Notes.htm...

So no, this is not going to work with Workstation 12.x or even Workstation 14.x.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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mkubecek
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For the sake of completeness, the error message shown here has little to do with anything being supported or not. It simply says gcc (version used to build running kernel) wasn't found. That would be a problem with any newer version of Workstation as well, including the latest. That being said, Workstation 12.0.4 is indeed outdated.

On the other hand, there are quite a few people happily running Workstation 12.5.9 (last release of 12.x series) on recent kernels, it only requires few patches to host modules. The reason is that starting with version 14, Workstation no longer supports some older CPUs so that upgrading Workstation would require upgrading their hardware. But one should be aware that this version lacks some fixes, including those needed for mitigation of Intel CPU vulnerabilities.

wila
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Hi,

Would this be one of those patches?

GitHub - mkubecek/vmware-host-modules at workstation

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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mkubecek
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Yes, branch workstation-12.5.9 is still alive and builds against any vanilla kernel from 4.9 to 5.2-rc2 (it's not tested, though, I'm not using that version any more). With 12.0.4, you may need some older build fixes which are already present in out-of-the-box 12.5.9 module sources.

LinuxG1rl
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Hi friends,

Thank you all for the useful answers! I'm guessing from what you say it is not worth going through the trouble of upgrading to 12.5....does anyone know if there is way for me to convert the vms that I can no longer open to another type of vm, that is free, like virtual box?

I have to be able to somehow retrieve the material I have in those vmdk 😞

Thank you all again for the helpful replies!

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wila
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Hi,

The first part of our answers is an explanation that it doesn't work with VMware Workstation 12.

Then there's a response that you can get it to work, if you first upgrade to VMware 12.5.9 - the last free upgrade for Workstation 12.

After that you have to follow the instruction in github in order to get it to work.

If you are looking for an easier way to run your existing VMware VM's then you can download and install VMware Workstation Player

Download VMware Workstation Player | VMware

It's free for personal use and should work on Ubuntu 19.04.

The main question is if your CPU works with Workstation 15. If the processor is from 2013 or newer then it most likely will.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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LinuxG1rl
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WOW! Thank you so much for the kind and detailed response! I will follow your advice! You can consider this thread closed, thanks everyone!!!!!!

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