Ubuntu – VMware Workstation 12 vmmon not found or not loaded

vmware

On Ubuntu 12.04, I have been happily using VMware Workstation 6. Then, one fine day, this error occurred when starting a VM:

Could not open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory.
Please make sure that the kernel module `vmmon' is loaded.
Failed to initialize monitor device.

I'm not sure of the reason, but it could be, purely speculative, due to upgrading the Nvidia driver (it was akin to a visit to the dentist's office, so please do not tell me to mess around again with the graphic driver.)
In pursuit of a resolution, I updated to VMware Workstation 12 using the GUI installer.

gksudo bash xxxxx.bundle

I assume it was smart enough to uninstall the older version before proceeding to installing the new version. All is good, except the same problem above occured when I tried to start a virtual machine. Indeed, as counselled, I could not find the file or directory /dev/vmmon in my system (this is also true before reinstalling to the newer version.)
Following another wise counsel, I tried:

sudo vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

The full output (lest I be downvoted for lack of providing detail) is such:

Stopping VMware services:
   VMware Authentication Daemon                                        done
   VM communication interface socket family                            done
   Virtual machine communication interface                             done
   Virtual machine monitor                                             done
   Blocking file system                                                done
Using kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only'
/usr/bin/make -C /lib/modules/3.13.0-49-generic/build/include/..    SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
  MODULEBUILDDIR= modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-49-generic'
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/linux/driverLog.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/common/apic.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/common/comport.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/common/cpuid.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/common/hashFunc.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/common/memtrack.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/common/phystrack.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/common/task.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/vmcore/moduleloop.o
/tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c: In function   ‘LinuxDriver_Ioctl’:
/tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:1983: warning: the frame size of 1280 bytes is larger than 1024 bytes
  LD [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/vmmon.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST 1 modules
WARNING: "mcount" [/tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko] undefined!
  CC      /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/vmmon.mod.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-49-generic'
/usr/bin/make -C $PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
      MODULEBUILDDIR= postbuild
make[1]: Entering directory `/tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only'
make[1]: `postbuild' is up to date.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only'
cp -f vmmon.ko ./../vmmon.o
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmmon-only'
Using kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only'
/usr/bin/make -C /lib/modules/3.13.0-49-generic/build/include/..     SUBDIRS=$PWD     SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
  MODULEBUILDDIR= modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-49-generic'
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/driver.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/hub.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/userif.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/netif.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/bridge.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/procfs.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/smac_compat.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/smac.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/vnetEvent.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/vnetUserListener.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/vmnet.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST 1 modules
WARNING: "mcount" [/tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/vmnet.ko] undefined!
  CC      /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/vmnet.mod.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only/vmnet.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-49-generic'
/usr/bin/make -C $PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
  MODULEBUILDDIR= postbuild
make[1]: Entering directory `/tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only'
make[1]: `postbuild' is up to date.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only'
cp -f vmnet.ko ./../vmnet.o
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/modconfig-ha12A3/vmnet-only'
Starting VMware services:
   Virtual machine monitor                                            failed
   Virtual machine communication interface                             done
   VM communication interface socket family                            done
   Blocking file system                                                done
   Virtual ethernet                                                   failed
   VMware Authentication Daemon                                        done
Unable to start services

I see a couple of warning messages but no errors, hence baffling indeed the case of the missing and unloadable vmmon.

Following other counsels:

>> sudo /etc/init.d/vmware restart
Stopping VMware services:
   VMware Authentication Daemon                                        done
   VM communication interface socket family                            done
   Virtual machine communication interface                             done
   Virtual machine monitor                                             done
   Blocking file system                                                done
Starting VMware services:
   Virtual machine monitor                                            failed
   Virtual machine communication interface                             done
   VM communication interface socket family                            done
   Blocking file system                                                done
   Virtual ethernet                                                   failed
   VMware Authentication Daemon                                        done

>> sudo modprobe vmmon
FATAL: Error inserting vmmon (/lib/modules/3.13.0-49-generic/misc/vmmon.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)

Thy wise counsel I desperately seeketh.

Best Answer

sudo vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

This command fixed it for me

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – VMWare Workstation Pro 12 on Ubuntu 16.04 cannot compile vmmon

I had the same issue. Here is the fix Go to the folder

cd /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source

Untar the file vmmon.tar using (you might need su/sudo to do these)

tar xf vmmon.tar

Edit the file ./vmmon-only/linux/driver.c

nano ./vmmon-only/linux/driver.c

Apply these changes, courtesy of https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-7841306.html#7841306 At around line 400, delete lines starting with a - and add ones starting with a + (don't actually put the +). There's a way to do this using the patch command but whatever. If you know how to read patch files you'll see the user on that form included another change to another file but it all works without me carrying that out.

#ifdef VMX86_DEVEL 
    unregister_chrdev(linuxState.major, linuxState.deviceName); 
 #else 
-   if (misc_deregister(&linuxState.misc)) { 
-      Warning("Module %s: error unregistering\n", linuxState.deviceName); 
-   } 
+   misc_deregister(&linuxState.misc);

Backup the original

mv vmmon.tar vmmon.tarbackup

Retar the files

tar cf vmmon.tar ./vmmon-only

I'm a little iffy from this point on, since I did a few things and didn't test after each step. So both of these might not be strictly necessary. Recompile libs using the driver.c you just edited

sudo vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

Run VMWare, telling it to use the libs you just compiled

sudo VMWARE_USE_SHIPPED_LIBS=yes vmwarex:

Ubuntu – Vmware Workstation on Ubuntu 17.04

I had exactly the same problem. The solution that worked for me is in this article:
How to install VMWare Workstation 12 on Linux 4.10 Kernel

Install VMware as normal

In our case we installed VMware with a bundle file. To get the bundle to run you have to run chmod u+x on it, then run:
```
sudo ./VMware-Workstation-Full-12.5.bundle #(example filename)
```
Install GCC and build-essentials
```
sudo apt install gcc build-essential
```

Patch VMware

sudo tar -xf /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmmon.tar
sudo nano vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c

Around line 1162, change

#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE >= KERNEL_VERSION(4, 6, 0)
retval = get_user_pages((unsigned long)uvAddr, numPages, 0, 0, ppages, NULL);
#else
retval = get_user_pages(current, current->mm, (unsigned long)uvAddr,
numPages, 0, 0, ppages, NULL);
#endif

#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE >= KERNEL_VERSION(4, 10, 0)
retval = get_user_pages((unsigned long)uvAddr, numPages, 0, ppages, NULL);
#else
#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE >= KERNEL_VERSION(4, 6, 0)
retval = get_user_pages((unsigned long)uvAddr, numPages, 0, 0, ppages, NULL);
#else
retval = get_user_pages(current, current->mm, (unsigned long)uvAddr,
numPages, 0, 0, ppages, NULL);
#endif
#endif

Save the file and exit, then:

sudo tar -cf /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmmon.tar vmmon-only/
sudo tar -xf /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmnet.tar
sudo nano vmnet-only/userif.c

Below line 114, change

#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE >= KERNEL_VERSION(4, 6, 0)
retval = get_user_pages(addr, 1, 1, 0, &page, NULL);
#else
retval = get_user_pages(current, current->mm, addr,
1, 1, 0, &page, NULL);
#endif

#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE >= KERNEL_VERSION(4, 10, 0)
retval = get_user_pages(addr, 1, 0, &page, NULL);
#else
#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE >= KERNEL_VERSION(4, 6, 0)
retval = get_user_pages(addr, 1, 1, 0, &page, NULL);
#else
retval = get_user_pages(current, current->mm, addr,
1, 1, 0, &page, NULL);
#endif
#endif

Save the file, exit, and then re-tar that one too

 sudo tar -cf /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmnet.tar vmnet-only/

Run VMware again
Now just start VMware as normal and it should install vmon and vmnet correctly.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – VMWare Workstation Pro 12 on Ubuntu 16.04 cannot compile vmmon

Ubuntu – Vmware Workstation on Ubuntu 17.04

Related Question