VMware won't start at the end - Secure Boot?

[maribox]

Hey, at the end of the process, I get:

Starting vmware (via systemctl):  Job for vmware.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status vmware.service" and "journalctl -xeu vmware.service" for details.
                                                           [FAILED]

If I look in the logs I get:

Sep 13 08:07:29 <username> vmware[147346]: Starting VMware services:
Sep 13 08:07:29 <username> vmware[147346]:    Virtual machine monitor[FEHLGESCHLAGEN]
Sep 13 08:07:29 <username> vmware[147346]:    Virtual machine communication interface[  OK  ]
Sep 13 08:07:29 <username> vmware[147346]:    VM communication interface socket family[  OK  ]
Sep 13 08:07:29 <username> vmware[147346]:    Virtual ethernet[FEHLGESCHLAGEN]
Sep 13 08:07:29 <username> vmware[147346]:    VMware Authentication Daemon[  OK  ]
Sep 13 08:07:29 <username> systemd[1]: vmware.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE

(FEHLGESCHLAGEN means FAILED, I don't know why it's using my native language here, my system language is set to english...) I am on Fedora 40, kernel 6.9.7-200.fc40.x86_64.

I looked a bit around in the internet and the problem might be that I have secure boot enabled. If I check with

lsmod | grep vmmon
lsmod | grep vmnet

I get nothing, so the modules are not loaded, right? If secure boot is the problem and I would need to sign the new compiled modules, it might be good to talk about this in the documentation a little bit for rookies like me, maybe explain what to do then or link a good article .

Thanks for your work!

[der-siebte-schatten]

Yes, you have to sign the modules and enroll them to your UEFI. Just follow the steps here: https://thelinuxforum.com/articles/968-how-to-sign-vmware-workstation-pro-kernel-modules-on-uefi-secure-boot-enabled-linux-systems

You might want to bookmark this guide, as you will need to use it EACH TIME the modules are updated and compiled again

[maribox]

Thanks!

[jaclas]

I have the same issue on Kubuntu 24.04 LTS, but i don't use a secure boot, what's happen?

❯ mokutil --sb-state

SecureBoot disabled
Platform is in Setup Mode

❯ sudo systemctl status vmware
× vmware.service - LSB: This service starts and stops VMware services
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/vmware; generated)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2024-10-28 10:14:55 CET; 10min ago
       Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
    Process: 41324 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/vmware start (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
        CPU: 82ms

paź 28 10:14:54 aorus vmware[41324]:    VM communication interface socket family - done
paź 28 10:14:55 aorus vmware[41324]:    Virtual ethernet - failed
paź 28 10:14:55 aorus vmware[41324]:    VMware Authentication Daemon - done
paź 28 10:14:55 aorus systemd[1]: vmware.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
paź 28 10:14:55 aorus systemd[1]: vmware.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
paź 28 10:14:55 aorus systemd[1]: vmware.service: Unit process 41395 (vmware-authdlau) remains running after unit stopped.
paź 28 10:14:55 aorus systemd[1]: vmware.service: Unit process 41396 (logger) remains running after unit stopped.
paź 28 10:14:55 aorus systemd[1]: vmware.service: Unit process 41399 (sh) remains running after unit stopped.
paź 28 10:14:55 aorus systemd[1]: vmware.service: Unit process 41401 (lsb_release) remains running after unit stopped.
paź 28 10:14:55 aorus systemd[1]: Failed to start vmware.service - LSB: This service starts and stops VMware services.

and modules are loaded:

❯ lsmod | egrep "vmmon|vmnet"
vmnet                  73728  9
vmmon                 167936  0

❯ uname -r
6.8.0-47-generic