Ubuntu Linux Help

Last week we posted a very simple “How to Install VMware in Ubuntu Linux“. That guide used apt-get to access the appropriate repositories. Additionally, it explained a bit about the benefits of VMware for Linux users (or any operating system for that matter). A short pre-installation checklist was also provided, including te URL to obtain your free VMware registration key! If you have not read that post, you might want to look at that one first. Again, we’re using Ubuntu Linux 7.10 (Gutsy) to install the VMware server.

Prior to installing from source we’ll need to make sure we have the required package and a patch. You can download them from here…

Download the source: VMware Server 1.0.4

Note: As of this post, VMware Server 1.0.5 is out, however I installed when it was still 1.0.4 and have not yet upgraded. If you use 1.0.5, you might not need the patch.

The first time I did this, I could not compile properly (probably because I did not pay attention to the documentation)?

Here are two posts that helped with the issue: http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-610829.html and http://www.tssci-security.com/archives/2007/10/25/how-to-install-vmware-server-on-ubuntu-710-gutsy-gibbon/

And there’s a patch you can download here: http://knihovny.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/vmware-any-any-update115.tar.gz

Installation Via Source:

I am going to become root, just so I don’t have to keep typing sudo in front of some commands!

sudo su

After downloading the source, it’s a simple matter to untar the package, using the “tar xvzf” command. Do the same with the patch. In my case the files are in /src (the location will be different for you) so:

tar xvzf /src/VMware-server-1.0.4-56528.tar.gz
tar xvzf /src/vmware-any-any-update115.tar.gz

Stay in the same directory you used when untaring, because we need to apply the update115 patch to the source files, we can use the copy command (cp) to simply overwrite (patch) the source files like this:

cp vmware-any-any-update115/*.tar vmware-server-distrib/lib/modules/source/

Now all we have to do is run the installer script that we downloaded and untared:

cd vmware-server-distrib
./vmware-install.pl

Stop being root (sudo su):

exit

As with or last post, after the installation is complete all we have to do to start VMware is run the command:

vmware

Because I’m just running a simpler “guest OS” host system, I use “localhost” and then then see the interface to “Create a new virtual machine”.

Have fun with it!