Install Vmmon and Vmnet Modules on Ubuntu

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Are you facing the below error when installing the vmware modules in Vmware workstation?

I followed the instructions to install those modules from this GitHub repo.

1. Find the vmware version installed

To find version of the vmware installed, run the below command

vmware -v

It will show the output as

VMware Workstation 17.5.0 build-22583795/code

From the above out the version of the vmware installed is 17.5.0

2. Get the code form Github

Go to this github repository and branches, click the all tab. Search for the version you have installed like shown below.

Copy the branch name, and run the below command to get the source code into your system(Host).

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

Replace the branch-name with, you copied from github repository

3. Compile and Install

Go to directory vmware-host-modules like cd cmware-host-modules, And run the following two command. Make sure all VMs are stopped

sudo make
sudo make install

Restart the vmware by using the below command

sudo systemctl restart vmware

Then, open the vmware it will work smoothly and won’t show the pop to install the moduels again.

For more visit this installtion guide from the author

The above soultion may not presist for every reboot. So, we may need to do every time the system reboots. To overcome from this, do the following

1. Create a Module Configuration File

1. Navigate to the modules-load.d directory:

cd /etc/modules-load.d/

2. Create a new file for VMware modules:

sudo nano vmware-modules.conf

2. Add VMware Modules

Add the following lines to the file to specify the modules to load:

vmmon
vmnet

3. Update Dependencies

Run depmod to ensure the system recognizes the modules:

sudo depmod -a

Now the modules will be loaded automatically every time the system reboots.

Originally published at https://blog.udhay.dev on October 9, 2024.