Vmware Workstation Host Modules Kernel Patch

Vmware Workstation often encounters issues in Linux when a new kernel version is released. If you are using Debian or Ubuntu and have recently updated the kernel, you might be unable to recompile the vmmon and vmnet modules until you modify the original source code, resulting in broken networking or even the inability to start the VMware workstation. Even if you try to recompile the host modules with sudo vmware-modconfig --console --install-all, you will see errors like:

Or something like “Unable to change virtual machine power state: Transport(VMDB) Error 4: Pipe connection has been broken.”:

In this post, we will explain how to apply the patch to the VMware Workstation host modules.

As so many users have this same issue, we have developed a patch. The patch works and is tested on:

• Linux Distribution: Debian Testing, Ubuntu, and Fedora Linux
• Kernel Version: 6.10.x
• Vmware Workstation Version: 17.5.2, 17.6.0

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure that you have Vmware Workstation 17.6.0 or a similar version and build-essentials package:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r) git

If you are using Fedora Linux, upgrade your system:

dnf update && dnf upgrade

Compile And Patch Vmware Workstation Modules

Clone the repository from GitHub:

git clone https://github.com/bytium/vm-host-modules.git
cd vm-host-modules

Make sure you are in the right branch:

git checkout 17.6.x

Finally, compile and install the patched host modules:

make
sudo make install

This command performs the following tasks:

This command will:

• Compile the patched vmmon and vmnet modules.
• Create vmmon.tar and vmnet.tar files.
• Copy the compiled .ko (kernel object) files to /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/misc/.
• Copy the generated vmmon.tar and vmnet.tar to /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/.
• Run vmware-modconfig --console --install-all to rebuild and configure VMware with the new patched modules.

Finally and optionally, you can reboot your system:

reboot

Happy virtualizing!