Since most of the guides I tried did not work so well, I made a better one, which I have personally tested.

As you may know, VmWare Server is installed only on kernels supported by the manufacturer of the software. There are two operating system types: Sidux 2008.1 and the new Ubuntu 8.04. If the installation fails, you can use a patch.

You can download the patch HERE.

To install VmWare, you must first equip the system with the necessary software installation:

apt-get install build-essential xinetd linux-headers-$(uname -r)

You can download the VmWare server (in tar.gz format) from the official website, and open and launch the installer. Once the setup is done, the following question should appear:

“Before running VMware Server for the first time, you need to configure it by
invoking the following command: “/usr/bin/vmware-config.pl” Do you want this
program to invoke the command for you now? [yes]”

Click NO.

Now, the installation stops and you must open the patch “any-update”, download it and then run it (./runme.pl).

Updating /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl … now patched
Updating /usr/bin/vmware … No patch needed/available
Updating /usr/bin/vmnet-bridge … No patch needed/available
Updating /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx … No patch needed/available
Updating /usr/lib/vmware/bin-debug/vmware-vmx … No patch needed/available
VMware modules in “/usr/lib/vmware/modules/source” has been updated.

At this point, the patch will ask whether to resume the VmWare setup using vmware-config.pl. Click Yes, go ahead.

Unfortunately, with this kernel, the patch “any-update”, may not be sufficient. If the setup stops, then download these two files:

vmmon and vmnet

and copy them into directory /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source, overwriting the existing ones and re-launching vmware-config.pl.

If there are still errors, open the file:

/usr/lib/vmware/lib/wrapper-gtk24.sh

and find the lines:

[code]vm_run()
{ local exitCode
Under these lines, paste the following:

# Fix for vmplayer pulling in libdbus-1.so.2 instead of .3
export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libdbus-1.so.3:$LD_PRELOAD

and then re-launch the setup. If there are still errors, type:

cp /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/
cp /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0/
ldconfig

At this point, the setup VmWare MUST terminate without problems.

I have personally tested this on a Sidux i686 kernel 2.6.25. Theoretically, everything should run smoothly even on the new Ubuntu. I will get it as soon as it’s available and let you know if it works. If someone has successfully tested this, please let me know.

The ideas expressed in this article were highly inspired by Spippolazione.