topic VMWare Tools download & install fails on Linux host in VMware Workstation Pro Discussions

VMWare Tools download & install fails on Linux host

tom___ — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 20:06:40 GMT

from the vmware-installer log:

[2016-08-17 15:34:04,801] Installer running.
[2016-08-17 15:34:04,801] Command Line Arguments:
[2016-08-17 15:34:04,801] ['/usr/lib/vmware-installer/2.1.0/vmware-installer.py', '-t', '--console']
[2016-08-17 15:34:04,802] UI Initialization failed.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/vmware-installer/2.1.0/vmware-installer.py", line 288, in main
    ui.Initialize(options.ui)
  File "/usr/lib/vmware-installer/2.1.0/vmis/ui/__init__.py", line 83, in Initialize
    exec 'from vmis.ui.null import *' in globals()
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/lib/vmware-installer/2.1.0/vmis/ui/null.py", line 13, in <module>
    from vmis.ui import console
  File "/usr/lib/vmware-installer/2.1.0/vmis/ui/console.py", line 9, in <module>
    import curses
  File "/usr/lib/vmware-installer/2.1.0/python/lib/curses/__init__.py", line 15, in <module>
    from _curses import *
ImportError: libncursesw.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I have two python versions installed, 3.5.2 and 2.7.12 and both can import curses, so I assume this is with the VMWare provided python which is linked to ncurses 5 (my system has only ncurses 6 installed).

I am also not sure why it is trying to run the console version at all, as this is being triggered from the GUI after it downloaded the vmware tools update. Shouldn't it be launching the --gtk version (which does appear to work if I run it manually from the command line)?

Re: VMWare Tools download & install fails on Linux host

bonnie201110141 — Fri, 19 Aug 2016 01:49:31 GMT

You are correct about the version of ncurses. When trying to install tools via GUI, it will trigger 'vmware-installer -t --console' to obtain the installed component but failed due to libncursesw version mismatch. You have several workarounds for this:

1) Manual install the library ncurses-compat-libs

2) Create soft link: sudo ln -s /usr/lib64/libncursesw.so.6 /usr/lib64/libncursesw.so.5

3) Manually specify the tools iso images (/usr/lib/vmware/isoimages) in VM Settings->CD/DVD

Re: VMWare Tools download & install fails on Linux host

xunil1 — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 22:59:42 GMT

Awesome!, I installed the cursed ncurses package and (after paging to what seems like hundreds of agreement pages), the software installed without any other hiccups. Thank you so very much.

Re: VMWare Tools download & install fails on Linux host

NetArcher — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 03:36:08 GMT

Following option worked on Ubuntu Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS while installing OVF Tool

2) Create soft link: sudo ln -s /usr/lib64/libncursesw.so.6 /usr/lib64/libncursesw.so.5

This is the command i ran

sudo ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libncursesw.so.6 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libncursesw.so.5