Talk:Setting up VMware on SUSE Linux

From openSUSE

Setting up VMware on SUSE Linux - Talk Page

Initial Author's Introduction

My goal for this page is to document exactly how to recompile the VMware modules for SUSE Linux. Although VMware has instructions for any distribution/kernel version, I found that they were still too cryptic to be considered "easy." Since I was planning to use VMware on SUSE Linux to host several virtual machines on my primary home system, I figured that I would document the process as best I can and help make SUSE Linux the easiest distribution to set up and use VMware on. --Reverend Ted 19:29, 21 Sep 2005 (MDT)

Team Up

I think we two should join up in building this page, so I can move my VMware-Pages with the screenshots (and upcoming installation movies as well) as a subsection to this page here. What do you think? --Macmewes 02:37, 22 Sep 2005 (MDT)

• Martin: Absolutely! I could use the help. I have hit a stumbling point that is keeping my build from completing properly. It completes, but then does not work. Something related to MSC. I won't be able to get more specific until I return home from work tonight. Any help you can lend would be great. --Reverend Ted 14:50, 22 Sep 2005 (MDT)

• • • Excellent :-) So please tell me what I can do for you exactly and where do you need help. You mentioned MSC; do you talk of MSC Linux? --Macmewes 14:25, 23 Sep 2005 (MDT)

• • • • Martin: Okay. I added a 2.4.1 showing the errors I am still seeing. I put them on the main page for now, so that anyone reading the page and getting the same will know that the issue is being worked on. My guess is that I am still missing a required package, but I have yet to figure out which one. Any insight you have on it would be great. I'm still pretty new at troubleshooting stuff like this on Linux. --Reverend Ted 07:42, 24 Sep 2005 (MDT)

• • • • • Well I do run into the same problems, but to me it is not a problem at all, because VMware is running just the way it should. Ok, at least in VMware 5.5 beta 1 maybe, but I saw this error in VMware 5.0 as well. This little script should help in getting the vmxnet-module to run.
          The order is as follows:
          • Install and configure VMware normally
          • After the reboot run the following lines you see in the code-section
          These lines are exactly those which are presented at the end of a vmware-config-tools.pl-run within a guest operating system. In the end I think there is no need to debug errors of a 2.4x-kernel as SUSE is shipping 2.6x-kernels by default since 9.1 I think.

/etc/init.d/network stop
rmmod pcnet32
rmmod vmxnet
depmod -a
modprobe vmxnet
/etc/init.d/network start

--Macmewes 06:17, 25 Sep 2005 (MDT)

• • • • • • Thanks, Martin. My reference to 2.4.1 was the # in the page's table of content, not a kernel version. Sorry for the mix up. Anyway, I think I got it now. The link to Cool Solutions was an immense help. Now sound and networking work with the updated process, which I have documented on the page. I hereby declare it done(-ish).

Introducing Re-Installation of VMware

• Martin: I think I need some more information on that. When/why do you find that VMware Workstation would need to be uninstalled/re-installed? Perhaps we should make your content into a completely new page. Possibly related: after updating to RC4, I added this page: Recovering VMware Workstation After a Kernel Update for fixing VMware modules after a kernel update. Does the uninstall/reinstall conten overlap, or are there some scenarios that I am overlooking? --Reverend Ted 11:37, 27 Sep 2005 (MDT)

• • Oh, I am sorry. When I tried to run VMware with the vmware-any-any-patch with already compiled VMware Tools the vmware-any-any-patch "patched" something and messed it all up (on SUSE 9.3 pro). So I had to remove VMware completely and install it again in order to have a "clean" environment for the vmware-any-any-patch. This to now is the only reason why someone will be in the need to reinstall VMware. But the main core is that there is no real upgrade scenario by installing (just as example) VMware 5.5 over VMware 5.0 with rpm -Uvh vmware-5.5.rpm. VMware says that you need to deinstall the old version and install the new one. So I think this section should be on the page. The re-compilation of the VMware-Modules after a Kernel-Update is a complete different thing and I wish there would be some automatism for that. --Macmewes 04:12, 28 Sep 2005 (MDT)

• • • Martin: Okay, I created a new page from some of your materials above. The page concentrates on just doing the uninstall. You have some other materials I was not sure how to fit in. Seems like your method condenses several of the steps we documented in Setting Up into a single command line. Does that mean that we should add that part in a Tips & Tricks section on the Setting Up page? --Reverend Ted 11:24, 28 Sep 2005 (MDT)

• • • • At first: I have added the link to VMware stating the need to uninstall prior to upgrade on the new page. And yes, I second the rest of above written to be going into Tips'n'Tricks as a good shot. Later we may find a better place, but Tips'n'Tricks sounds good to me. --Macmewes 05:26, 29 Sep 2005 (MDT)

• • • • • Martin: I incorporated your materials into the Recovering page. Details in the Talk page there. You will find a "Tips & Tricks" section showing the consolidated command trick. I changed make prepare-all to make modules-prepare. I also started started an entry called "Cleaning the Kernel-Source-Tree" in the Troubleshooting section. But, this is outside of my current knowledge, so I could use some help understanding it. Does it address a symptom?

• • • • • • make mrproper cleans out the configuration files and any object files an older version might have. Basically it resets the complete Kernel Source Tree into its original state. Kernel-Upgrades may happen to leave older .config-files based on the old kernel. This may lead into problems during the vmware-config.pl-run. In addition I do not have an URL present for this has been told to me ages ago by some VMware-Expert. --Macmewes 14:41, 29 Sep 2005 (MDT)

• • • • • • • Okay, the mrproper item is now in the Recovering page. Thanks for the help--I hope I got it right.--Reverend Ted 18:48, 30 Sep 2005 (MDT)

What about older kernels and older Versions of VMware?

At least we should talk about compiling the VMware Tools within older SUSE-versions when they run as a guest. As an example make cloneconfig depends on /proc/config.gz and is a non-standard make-command made by SUSE. It does not work on any other 2.6.x-kernel running on other distros. Kernels with 2.4.x need a make dep instead of make prepare. --Macmewes 14:41, 29 Sep 2005 (MDT)

• Hmmm...good point. I have been working under the assumption that the Wiki would be mostly a reference for SUSE Linux 10.0 and greater. Also, I had not even considered how the install might be different for older versions. Now that you bring it up, I have to say that I probably won't dive into doing that part, unleess something comes up that causes me to install VMware onto one of the older versions of SL. Are you using VMware on older versions of SUSE? --Reverend Ted 18:48, 30 Sep 2005 (MDT)

• • No, to now I run VMware 5.5 RC1 on SUSE 9.3 pro and will upgrade once VMware 5.5 is released. So I think VMware 5.x should be supported here. But as VMware is not really a low cost tool some developer will still work with VMware 4 or 3 if that old version fits his/hers needs. And as far as I know this Wiki may will be used for SUSE 10 and greater, but if I recall correctly SUSE will move ther KnowledgeBase articles to this wiki and these articles will apply at least to supported (and older) versions of SUSE Linux until they are out of support. I second your opinion to deal with problems of older VMware versions once they come up, but I think we should deal with some information about installing an older SUSE Linux version into VMware 5.x as a guest using the vmware.config-tools.pl script. I will do some test installations of SUSE Linux 9.0 up to 9.3 into VMware later this day and I will contribute images and commandlines for a proper setup of the VMware Tools to get those operatings systems work at its best (to my knowledge). --Macmewes 06:47, 2 Oct 2005 (MDT)