VMware Workstation Working on Latest Ubuntu

Last Modified: Wed, 28 Dec 2022 19:24:46 +0000 ; Created: Wed, 28 Dec 2022 01:27:36 +0000

Latest Ubuntu (or Xubuntu) distros have kernel versions that don't compile nicely for VMware Workstation Professional 16.x (or 17). Errors like "vmnet-only/vm_assert.h:43:10: fatal error: stdarg.h: No such file or directory" or similar.

I found the solution via multiple searches.
Compiling vmmon module fails on linux kernel 5.16.0-arch1-1
How to Install VMware Workstation 17 Pro on Ubuntu 22.10
https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules/blob/master/INSTALL
The famous libssl problem in Linux distribtution
"Cannot open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory" error when powering on a VM (2146460)

Some pre-req commands:

sudo apt-get install make gcc g++ autoconf build-essential dkms linux-libc-dev git

#Ensure that Secure Boot is disabled of the modules will never load (unless you sign them)

# Assumed y0ou already ran the VMware installer once.

In the event that community forum content disappears here are the quick start steps (assumes VMware bundle already installed):

mokutil --sb-state

mkdir /opt/vmware

cd /opt/vmware

git clone https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules.git

cd vmware-host-modules/

# Change-out with your version here
git checkout workstation-16.2.5

make

tar -cf vmnet.tar vmnet-only
tar -cf vmmon.tar vmmon-only

sudo cp -v vmmon.tar vmnet.tar /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/

sudo make install

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

I also had libssl errors with vmware-authdlauncher

vim /etc/ld.so.conf.d/vmware-authdlauncher.conf

#linking libssl and libcrypto
/usr/lib/vmware/lib/libssl.so.1.1
/usr/lib/vmware/lib/libcrypto.so.1.1


sudo ldconfig