VMware On SuSE 10.1


Beta-1 Note:

    I have decided to put the Beta-1 notes in here because ... there were so many areas, important to me, that didn't work correctly in alpha-4, and I want to say whether ther were fixed ... or not. They will be marked so just jump to the area of interest and see if I have checked anything yet.

Special Note:

    VMware now has a player. There is an article in the January Linux Magazine that talks about it. You can also check it out yourself at http://www.vmware.com/products/player. This will be a boon to those of us who only want the bare neccessities.

VMware 3.2 vs. SuSE 10.1

    An "Out of the Box" version of VMware 3.2 will just flatly not install in SuSE 10.1. This requires some fanagling, like was described in my SuSE 9.x installs and VMware setups. You might review those in case I forget something in this write-up.
Note: As it turns out VMware 3.2 will not work on SuSE 10.1 alpha-3 at all. All this jibberish is in attempt to help others ... and remind myself. If you are not interested just skip to the The 10.1 scenario.

The Kernel

    First off, we have switched from version 2.6.11.4-20a, in 9.3, to version 2.6.14.2-2. VMware has to have code matched to the version of Linux that it is running on. It needs vmmon and vmnet. Both of these are supplied by VMware. The sources for vmmon and vmnet are in: /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source. The sources for the Kernel are in: /usr/src/linux, which in this case is a link to 2.6.14.2-2/.

    drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2005-11-24 01:27 ./
    drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4096 2005-11-24 01:27 linux-2.6.8-24.18/
    lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 2005-11-24 01:27 linux -> linux-2.6.14.2-2/
    lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2005-11-24 01:27 linux-obj -> linux-2.6.14.2-2-obj/
    drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 2005-11-24 01:27 linux-2.6.14.2-2/
    drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4096 2005-11-23 16:36 ../
    drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2005-11-14 10:21 packages/
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2005-11-11 20:01 linux-2.6.14.2-2-obj/
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2005-10-31 04:12 linux-2.6.8-24/

    I listed the directories up there for some reasons. One, I talk about switching from the kernel in 9.3 but I am really switching from 9.2. Two, I have dirs listed for both kernels. I don't remember that in the past. Course most of the time I ended up reloading the whole thing anyway. But... I and you must keep an eye on such things or will will run out of disk space. Just a thought...

    Do a full compile of the kernel before trying the install so that all the dependancies are loaded and in the correct locations. Besides, if you can't compile the kernel, then you can't install VMware. The two go hand in hand.

  1. cd /usr/src/linux
  2. make cloneconfig
  3. make prepare
  4. make modules
There are those who claim the above is not neccessary. However, everytime I have encountered problems, performing all three operations above seemed to be the cure. (In addition to other items mentioned here) The longest operation is "make modules". It takes 104 minutes and 15.883 seconds on my 2.0Ghz P4 with 1GB of SDRAM and a 7200rpm Hard Disk.

Download the patch

    You should check the patch site for new releases.

  The releases are named vmware-any-any-update*.tar.gz.
  I downloaded the most recent patch: vmware-any-any-update94.tar.gz

This info was obtaineed from Markus at KernelTrap.org. I just used a newer version of the update file. I was able to use this info when all that was required for SuSE 9.x was an update.

vmware-any-any-update96.tar.gz
  Fix vmnet error 515 on WS4.0 and older products.
  --- update95 ---
  Fix problem with memory locking on 2.6.15-rc1 and newer kernel.
  Added GSX 3.2.0 support.
  Add some changes to be ready when WS5.5 gets released.
  --- update94 ---
  Remove code to print processes using vmnet device from vmnet. It needs RCU,
  and RCU is patented for non-GPL uses. Sorry, boys.
  Added defined(_MSC_VER) here and there to shut up some warnings.
  Updated vmnet for different API of dev_add_pack() callback in 2.6.14-rc1+

    Now then, I am going to see if I can get by with just doing a vmware-config with my present setup. As you can see above in the extra from Petr's readme, the update I have been using will take care of kernel 2.6.14.

Patching BEFORE Install:

     We need to make some changes. You must be root to do this. Of course I am making the assumption that you work like I do. In case you don't, I untar'd both archives into a /TRinstalls directory that I created and work from there. The files can be removed afterwards.

  1. In vmware-distrib/bin you will find vmware-config.pl which is read-only. Change that with: chmod u+w vmware-config.pl
  2. Bring vmware-config.pl up in your favorite programmer's editor.
  3. Change every occurance of ksyms to kallsyms and re-save the file.
  4. copy vmware-any-any-update94/vmmon.tar to vmware-distrib/lib/modules/source/
  5. copy vmware-any-any-update94/vmnet.tar to vmware-distrib/lib/modules/source/
  6. Note: The reason for the above two is... in order to use update94 VMware must be installed. Because of changes in the new SuSE the Out of the Box version won't compile and therefore will not get installed. So, we replace the two items that need compiling, and won't, with two items that will compile.
  7. In the vmware-distrib dir execute ./vmware-install.pl to install VMware. You will possibly see an error or failure notice at the end of this. But do not fear... continue.
  8. Now in the vmware-any-any-update94 execute ./runme.pl This will complete the updates.
  9. Install and update is now done.

All is not Well

    Hmmmmm... When I try to start VMware I get the following:

Starting VMware services:
   Virtual machine monitor                                            failed
   Virtual ethernet                                                   failed
   Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0                                   done
   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 (background)                    done
   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background)                    done
   NAT service on /dev/vmnet8                                          done
This is not good.

    Allllrighty now. This looks like something ain't working or setup right or both. So in Windows fashion I will re-boot the system. (mainly cause I ain't smart enough to do otherwise) After the re-boot we will see what happens.

The 10.1 scenario...

    ... did not work. It did not like LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.4.21. /usr/bin/vmware   Got
ERROR: ld.so: object '/lib/libNoVersion.so.1' from nonversioned binary cannot be preloaded: ignored.
/usr/bin/vmware: error while loading shared libraries: libm.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

    Ok. So let's see what we can find out. I just may have to finally retire VMware 3.2. I have a 5.0 version that I was given at the VMware confrence held here in Phoenix. I like the simplicity of version 3.2 but I just may have to move on.

    Yep. I must move on. It is explained why .here The usage of LD_ASSUME_KERNEL is over. So I must move on to version 5.0 or 5.5 of VMware or quit updating my SuSE. I don't think so on the latter idea. So let's review my notes on installing a trial version of VMware 5.0 on an earlier version of SuSE. VMware 5.0 On Linux

Switching to VMware 5.5

    Now then, I already have VMware 3.2 loaded. In my previous experience the installation code for VMware 5.0 unloaded former version. I presume that this one will also.

Step What Done Results or Further Actions
1 Obtained VMware 5.5 This was a download to replace the 5.0 that I already have. I prefer the tar'd versions over the RPM versions. The file was un-tar'd to my TRinstalls dir for installation.
2 Pre-Install Installation is the same as before ./vmware-install.pl I would expect the areas to be changed to be in /usr/bin and /etc/vmware. There may be some in the lib too.
Prior to the 5.5 install:
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # ldm /usr/bin/vm*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root      31920 2005-11-11 19:27 /usr/bin/vmstat*
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root trusted 2157216 2005-10-31 12:45 /usr/bin/vmware*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root     136544 2005-10-31 12:39 /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root       4624 2005-10-31 08:58 /usr/bin/vmnet-bridge*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root     105012 2005-10-31 08:58 /usr/bin/vmnet-dhcpd*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root      77560 2005-10-31 08:58 /usr/bin/vmnet-natd*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root       4388 2005-10-31 08:58 /usr/bin/vmnet-netifup*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root       5988 2005-10-31 08:58 /usr/bin/vmnet-sniffer*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root     327108 2005-10-31 08:58 /usr/bin/vmware-nmbd*
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root trusted    8784 2005-10-31 08:58 /usr/bin/vmware-ping*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root     703588 2005-10-31 08:58 /usr/bin/vmware-smbd*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root        629 2005-10-31 08:58 /usr/bin/vmware-smbpasswd*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root     389772 2005-10-31 08:58 /usr/bin/vmware-smbpasswd.bin*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root      53153 2005-10-31 08:58 /usr/bin/vmware-uninstall.pl*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root    1220890 2005-10-31 08:58 /usr/bin/vmware-wizard*
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # ldm /etc/vmware/
total 128
drwxr-xr-x  4 root root  4096 2005-11-25 12:01 ./
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 83294 2005-11-25 11:58 locations
-r--r--r--  1 root root   312 2005-11-25 11:58 config
drwxr-xr-x 78 root root  8192 2005-11-25 11:28 ../
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root  4096 2005-10-31 12:45 vmnet1/
drwxr-xr-x  4 root root  4096 2005-10-31 12:44 vmnet8/
-r-xr-xr-x  1 root root 14709 2005-10-31 08:58 installer.sh*
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # ldm /etc/vmware/vmnet1
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2005-11-25 12:01 ../
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-25 11:59 dhcpd/
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2005-10-31 12:45 ./
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # ldm /etc/vmware/vmnet1/dhcpd/
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-25 11:59 ./
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  417 2005-11-25 11:59 dhcpd.leases
-r--r--r-- 1 root root  743 2005-11-25 11:58 dhcpd.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 2005-11-25 11:58 dhcpd.leases~
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2005-10-31 12:45 ../
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # ldm /etc/vmware/vmnet8
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2005-11-25 12:01 ../
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-25 11:59 dhcpd/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-25 11:58 nat/
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2005-10-31 12:44 ./
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # ldm /etc/vmware/vmnet8/dhcpd/
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-25 11:59 ./
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  417 2005-11-25 11:59 dhcpd.leases
-r--r--r-- 1 root root  772 2005-11-25 11:58 dhcpd.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 2005-11-25 11:58 dhcpd.leases~
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2005-10-31 12:44 ../
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # ldm /etc/vmware/vmnet8/nat/
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-25 11:58 ./
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 1257 2005-11-25 11:58 nat.conf
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2005-10-31 12:44 ../
3 The Install Now then, I had previously cloneconfig'd, prepared and made modules as a for-runner in the installation attempt of VMware 3.2. So, I shouldn't have to worry about the compile in this installation failing.
The following operations are performed in root:
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # ./vmware-install.pl 
A previous installation of VMware software has been detected.

The previous installation was made by the tar installer (version 3).

Keeping the tar3 installer database format.

Uninstalling the tar installation of VMware Workstation.

Stopping VMware services:
   Virtual machine monitor                                             done
   Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0                                   done
   DHCP server on /dev/vmnet1                                          done
   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1                                 done
   DHCP server on /dev/vmnet8                                          done
   NAT service on /dev/vmnet8                                          done
   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8                                 done
   Virtual ethernet                                                    done

This script previously created the file /dev/vmnet7, and was about to remove it.
Somebody else apparently did it already.

File /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl is backed up to /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl.old.0.

This script previously created the file /dev/vmnet9, and was about to remove it.
Somebody else apparently did it already.

This script previously created the file /dev/vmnet6, and was about to remove it.
Somebody else apparently did it already.

This script previously created the file /dev/vmnet5, and was about to remove it.
Somebody else apparently did it already.

This script previously created the file /dev/vmnet4, and was about to remove it.
Somebody else apparently did it already.

This script previously created the file /dev/vmnet3, and was about to remove it.
Somebody else apparently did it already.

This script previously created the file /dev/vmmon, and was about to remove it. 
Somebody else apparently did it already.

This script previously created the file /etc/vmware/not_configured, and was 
about to remove it. Somebody else apparently did it already.

This script previously created the file /dev/vmnet2, and was about to remove it.
Somebody else apparently did it already.

File /usr/bin/vmware is backed up to /usr/bin/vmware.old.0.

The removal of VMware Workstation 3.2.1 build-2242 for Linux completed 
successfully. Thank you for having tried this software.

Installing the content of the package.

In which directory do you want to install the binary files? 
[/usr/bin]

What is the directory that contains the init directories (rc0.d/ to rc6.d/)? 
[/etc/init.d] 

What is the directory that contains the init scripts? 
[/etc/init.d] 

In which directory do you want to install the library files? 
[/usr/lib/vmware] 

The path "/usr/lib/vmware" does not exist currently. This program is going to 
create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want? [yes] 

In which directory do you want to install the manual files? 
[/usr/share/man] 

In which directory do you want to install the documentation files? 
[/usr/share/doc/vmware] 

The path "/usr/share/doc/vmware" does not exist currently. This program is going
to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want? 
[yes] 

The installation of VMware Workstation 5.5.0 build-18463 for Linux completed 
successfully. You can decide to remove this software from your system at any 
time by invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-uninstall.pl".

Before running VMware Workstation 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] 

Making sure services for VMware Workstation are stopped.

Stopping VMware services:
   Virtual machine monitor                                             done
   Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0                                   done
   DHCP server on /dev/vmnet1                                          done
   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1                                 done
   DHCP server on /dev/vmnet8                                          done
   NAT service on /dev/vmnet8                                          done
   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8                                 done
   Virtual ethernet                                                    done

You must read and accept the End User License Agreement to continue.
Press enter to display it.

- - - - license is displayed - - - -

Do you accept? (yes/no) yes

Thank you.

Configuring fallback GTK+ 2.4 libraries.

In which directory do you want to install the mime type icons? 
[/usr/share/icons]

What directory contains your desktop menu entry files? These files have a 
.desktop file extension. [/usr/share/applications] 

In which directory do you want to install the application's icon? 
[/usr/share/pixmaps] 

Trying to find a suitable vmmon module for your running kernel.

None of the pre-built vmmon modules for VMware Workstation is suitable for your 
running kernel.  Do you want this program to try to build the vmmon module for 
your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes] 

Using compiler "/usr/bin/gcc". Use environment variable CC to override.

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running 
kernel? [/usr/src/linux/include] 

Extracting the sources of the vmmon module.

Building the vmmon module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only'
make -C /usr/src/linux/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.14.2-2'
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/cpuid.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/hash.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/memtrack.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/phystrack.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/task.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmcore/moduleloop.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST
  CC      /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.mod.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.14.2-2'
cp -f vmmon.ko ./../vmmon.o
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only'
The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

You have already setup networking.

Would you like to skip networking setup and keep your old settings as they are? 
(yes/no) [yes]

Extracting the sources of the vmnet module.

Building the vmnet module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.
make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only'
make -C /usr/src/linux/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.14.2-2'
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/driver.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/hub.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/userif.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/netif.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/bridge.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/procfs.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/smac_compat.o
  SHIPPED /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/smac_linux.x386.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/vmnet.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST
Warning: could not open /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/includeCheck.h: Invalid argument
  CC      /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/vmnet.mod.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/vmnet.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.14.2-2'
cp -f vmnet.ko ./../vmnet.o
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only'
The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

Starting VMware services:
   Virtual machine monitor                                             done
   Virtual ethernet                                                    done
   Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0                                   done
   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 (background)                    done
   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background)                    done
   NAT service on /dev/vmnet8                                          done

The configuration of VMware Workstation 5.5.0 build-18463 for Linux for this 
running kernel completed successfully.

You can now run VMware Workstation by invoking the following command: 
"/usr/bin/vmware".

Enjoy,

--the VMware team

Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib #
4 Installed and Running?? Alllrighty now. We have it installed and supposedly running such that I may execute vmware from my home dir and re-install Win2k. Yep, I will have to re-install Win2k... unless there is a conversion from 3.2 to 5.5?? I'll have to check that. Anyway, the dirs after the install look like this:
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # dir /usr/bin/vm*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root    6160 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmnet-bridge
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  110872 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmnet-dhcpd
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  118948 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmnet-natd
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root    5192 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmnet-netifup
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root    8140 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmnet-sniffer
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root    4574 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmplayer
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root    4946 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmrun
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   31920 2005-11-11 19:27 /usr/bin/vmstat
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   12292 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vm-support
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root    4570 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmware
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  268817 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  136544 2005-11-26 11:08 /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl.old.0
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  486368 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmware-loop
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   25488 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmware-mount.pl
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2157216 2005-11-26 11:08 /usr/bin/vmware.old.0
-r-sr-xr-x 1 root root   10852 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmware-ping
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root   90467 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmware-uninstall.pl
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  694312 2005-11-26 11:11 /usr/bin/vmware-vdiskmanager
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # dir /etc/vmware
total 328
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root   4096 2005-11-26 11:21 .
drwxr-xr-x 78 root root   8192 2005-11-26 11:08 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    265 2005-11-26 11:21 config
-r-xr-xr-x  1 root root  15523 2005-11-26 11:08 installer.sh
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 286670 2005-11-26 11:21 locations
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root   4096 2005-11-26 11:08 state
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root   4096 2005-11-26 11:17 vmnet1
drwxr-xr-x  4 root root   4096 2005-11-26 11:17 vmnet8
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # dir /etc/vmware/state
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:08 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:21 ..
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # dir /etc/vmware/vmnet1
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:17 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:21 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:21 dhcpd
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # dir /etc/vmware/vmnet1/dhcpd/
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:21 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:17 ..
-r--r--r-- 1 root root  748 2005-11-26 11:17 dhcpd.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  417 2005-11-26 11:21 dhcpd.leases
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 2005-11-26 11:17 dhcpd.leases~
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # dir /etc/vmware/vmnet8
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:17 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:21 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:21 dhcpd
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:17 nat
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # dir /etc/vmware/vmnet8/dhcpd/
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:21 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:17 ..
-r--r--r-- 1 root root  777 2005-11-26 11:17 dhcpd.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  417 2005-11-26 11:21 dhcpd.leases
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 2005-11-26 11:17 dhcpd.leases~
Dusty-tr:/TRinstalls/vmware-distrib # dir /etc/vmware/vmnet8/nat/
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:17 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2005-11-26 11:17 ..
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 1257 2005-11-26 11:17 nat.conf
5 Ok. In my home dir I am executing /usr/bin/vmware. Alllrighty, we get a VMware Workstation widow with a smaller tip window in it. I closed the tip window and I was left with three button choices. The first one is New Virtual Machine, the second is New Team and the third is Open Existing Virtual MachWindows2000Proine or Team. Naturally, I will be choosing the first.
1. This starts the Virtual Machine Wizard. Your first choice is Typical or Custom. I chose typical.
2. You pick a Guest OS. I chose Windows
3. Pretty Smart - In Name the Virtual Machine, they had Windows 2000 Professional for the name and /home/ctaylor/vmware/Windows 2000 Professional for the directory. I shortened the dir name to Windows2000Pro. Don't like spaces in names and it was to long.
4. For Network type I chose Bridged.
5. Disk Size - Looks like they have spent some time on this one. Lots of choices. They have a default of 8.0GB and they don't allocate all at once. I don't want fragmentation so I am going to allocate all of the space at once but only 4GB cause I really don't do that much in the Win environment itself. I usually store stuff in different dirs. The other item is spliting the disk into 2GB files. I think this is to handle some controllers that can't handle files larger than 2GB. Mine can, so I am not going to do the split. (incidently, my drive is 120GB)
6. The next button is Finish. After clicking on Finish, a little status window pops up showing that it is creating a disk. When finished it displayed a VMware Workstation with statistics for Win2k. Now I don't have Win2k installed yet so this is just a prelim:

7. Clicking on Power on this virtual machine presents a dialog stating that you need a license.
Please enter a valid serial number by choosing Help > Enter Serial Number
I followed the directions and entered my serial number.
6 Win2k Install After the Serial Number install I clicked on Power On again. First thing it complained about was the sound. So I will have to investigate that. Probably need the VMware tools unless they have done away with them in these newer versions. So we'll check that first. Then I will need to have the CD in the drive so it can find it and load Win2k. Later: Nope they have not done away with VMware Tools BUT they don't get loaded until after the Guest OS is installed so ... I need to check out my SuSE Linux version 10.1 alpha-3 set up.
Later: I didn't read the message correctly. It didn't say it couldn't find the sound it said:
   Failed to open sound device /dev/dsp: Permission denied
   Virtual device sound will start disconnected.
So, we'll load up Win2k and go from there after the Tools are installed.
7 Win2k again Ignoring the Sound Message, it found the install CD. It checked the equipment and then presented the Install, Repair or Quit menu. I hit Enter and then got a Disk warning screen. Since I am installing I just hit C for Continue. Next we get the license to which I agreed with an F8 key. Now we move to a screen asking about the partition. The selected one was the area that I have set aside so I just hit Enter. It then offers the choice of FAT or NTFS. I chose NTFS and continued. It started installing the software.
8 Oooops Well, it is Thanksgiving week-end and there is a lot of activity. I was trying to do this at the same time. Now then, I certainly should have been able to start the Win2k install and walk off and do other things till it needed input. Well, I did but something went awry. When I got back to it, it had started over on the install! So, I sat through the second install and everything worked. So, we now have Windows 2K installed. Now I must finish the Christmas decorations with the Family and get back to load up my Windows Apps later.
9 Win Apps The first item to load/install was, naturally, Homesite. That is one of the main reasons I have this VMware/Win2k Setup. It is my favorite Web Page creation tool. Now then, after the install I learned that my Linux Host was not listed in the PC's near me. I find this interesting cause this was only supposed to be a SuSE Linux Update from 9.2 to 10.1. Now, in the 9.2 version I was accessing my host BUT... I have now installed a new version of VMware also. So, I must check out my Permission settings and my Network settings. I had this problem in a previous version ... think it was 9.1. So, I will check my notes on that version.
10 Ah HA!! Samba I didn't setup Samba!! Wait a minute here ... I shouldn't have to ... But we'll check it anyway.
Oh Darn, darn!!! I got interrupted by my wife cause she couldn't access the printer. Sometimes my Netgear PS110 gets confused and I have to go into my Windows XP setup to fix it. I'm not sure why it happens, but it does. Must be cause of my actions here with multiple OS's and changes. At any rate, I had to shutdown Linux and re-boot into WinXP. Well, after fixing that problem I came back into this one. Guess what???? This now works also!!! I just hate it when that happens. Things get fixed and I am not sure what I did.!
Hmmmm... whilst fixing the printer problem I noticed that the hosts file on my wife's PC was not correct. I corrected it. Now here in this VMware/Win2k I don't have a hosts file yet. Hmmmm...arrggg!! Upon re-looking at the hosts file in my Linux hosts file ... it wasn't correct either!!! All this re-loading and re-starting has cause dhcp to put out different addreses. So, I changed all the hosts files and added one to the VMware/Win2k. So, let's shut everything down, fire it up and see if it all still works.
11 Arrggg!! After the Power off and restart all was not well. I came up in Linux and then went to VMware/Win2k. I could not access my Linux Host from within VMware/Win2k. On a hunch, I re-booted into WinXP and then back to Linux and VMware/Win2k. Sure enough, I could then access my Linux host from with VMware/Win2k.! In addition to that, sound was accessible in Win2k. On startups before it claimed there were not proper permissions on /dev/dsp. Oh these computers can get strange. Even stranger when you try to operate two or more OS's on the same box.!
12 Networking And Sound This problem is a share between this Web Page and my SuSE Install 10.1 page. Mainly cause this is where I am experiencing most of my Network problems. From the VMware/Win2k setup I could access all of my Network except my Linux Host which is on the same box!! However, after re-booting over into WinXP and then re-booting back to Linux, I can fire up VMware/Win2k and Networking and sound work. The scenario is this:
  • Power on system and go into Linux.
  • Fire up VMware/Win2k. During this I get informed that sound will start disconnected. Permission was denied on /dev/dsp.
  • After Win2k is up inside VMware I can not access my Linux Host. I cam access the Printer Server and my wife's PC but not the Linux host on the same box.
  • Shutdown Windows 2000 and then the Linux Host and reboot into the WinXp section.
  • Shutdown WinXP and reboot into Linux.
  • Fire up VMware/Win2k and I can not access anything in my Network. TRComputing is not accessible!!
  • Ok. Let's get more like yesterday's scenario. Powered on the Printer and fired up the wife's PC.
  • Shutdown VMware/Win2k and then re-booted into WinXP.
  • While in WinXP, I printed a test page from my wife's machine and then printed one from mine.
  • Shutdown WinXP and reboot into Linux...again.
  • Delayed a few by bringing up Bluefish and making these last few notes.
  • Fired up VMware... another delay adding this note.
  • Over in the devices section on the right I double clicked on Ethernet 1. Looked at the dialog info then closed it.
  • Fired up Win2k... not good. Can't do sound... Can no longer access TRComputing workgroup.
  • Hmmmmm... I was trying to report how dual booting fixed my Networking and Sound problem (yesterday) but this time it has made things worse!! Really thought it was a fluke that it was fixed by dual booting. But hey... stranger things happen in this computing world.
So we are back to the statement I made over in the other page... got to fix the permissions... somewhere.
13 Ooop, Ooops In researching I came across some info on devices. Take out the 2 by 4 and get my attention!! Duhhh, I didn't have linux sound till I started it. Hello... we had this problem before. 'rcalsasound start' while in root will fix the sound.
Nope it did not.! Well, yes it did OR the Linux sound was working already.?.!
    aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/test.wav
will play the Orchestra. But I still get no dsp active.
14 Sound According to MattToups on Debian ISR Host
  • sound: vmware wants /dev/dsp (oss-style) but the combination of ALSA audio and udev makes this tricky. need a good long term solution ... for now i did a mknod dsp c 14 3 and chown'd it to isruser which works.
Now then, I need to see how that fits my situation. Well, I went to the VMware Community Forum and as usual found some help. go to http://platan.vc.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware and download vmwaredsp from there. Version 1.2 supports vmware ws 3,4 & 5 Just run 'runme.sh' to install package contents, and then start 'vmware' by using 'vmwareesd' For ESD or 'vmwarearts' for aRts. Naturally, this fix came from our man Petr Vandrovec. I've never met him but I consider him a friend. He is very smart in all this.
15 Sound Explained From: Novell Linux Desktop Overview: Sound
  • Sound on Linux is handled quite differently than on Windows. The Novell Linux Desktop (NLD) supports both the KDE and GNOME desktop and therefore adds to the complexity if they are both installed. In order for us to understand sound on the NLD, we must first come to know the sound components. We will start by taking a look at the difference between a Sound System and a Sound Server.
ESD (Enlightenment Sound Daemon) is the default sound server for GNOME and aRts (ART Sound Daemon) is the default for KDE.
16 ARRGGGG!!! As usually happens with my bungling... things got worse. Now when I am firing up Win2K in Linux it says device not present. It was only complaining about permisions. Hmmmmm... let me see if I can back out the messes I have gotten myself into.
Ok, instead of using /usr/bin/vmwarearts I went back to /usr/bin/vmware. Now it is back to 'no permissions' instead of it can't find it.
17 Permissions!! I read and tried most of the suggestions available on the Net and nothing has worked. Even the little tibit from my VMware Hero didn't work. Now then, I had trouble once before accessing things from VMware/Win2k to the Linux Host and I had to add permissions to the 'other' section. (this came to mind after all the other tries failed) So, /dev/dsp and /dev/mixer already had ug+rw. I added o+rw and fired up VMware/Win2k. Guess what?? It worked. Not only did the sound work but I could also access my Linux Host on my local network. In order to get included in the 'Computers Near Me' you have to be sharing at least one item. In this case the share is the sound.
18 ARRGGGG!!! Wellll... I'm not so smart either. This is the nextday, after a Power Off Shutdown. Win2k sound doesn't work and I can't access my LAN.!! I looked at /dev/dsp and the permissions were reset back to crw-rw---- which is what it was before I changed them. I added the o+rw and fired up VMware/Win2k again. Sound worked but still no Network.
I killed LMHOSTS and now I can see dusty2 in Computers Near Me, which is self. Still nothing for others. After reboot it did not show but I didn't get the message that TRComputing was not accessable either. Progress???
19 Hmmmmm... I say, Hmmmm After letting it just sit for a while, I checked my computers near me and it showed self, dusty2. Maybe if I go put up the Christmas tree, like I was supposed to last night, and come back, the rest will be there.?. Well, that didn't work. Let's see what happens after a Power Off shutdown.
20 The Plot Thickins With Samba running, there is a Network Browsing icon on the KDE desktop, which if clicked upon will display SLP Services, SMB Shares, Zeroconf and Add a Network. Now then, when I click on SMB Shares, I see two workgroups. One is what I expect, TRComputing but the other, Workgroup, was not expected. Inside TRComputing I find Dars-pc and Psd55465. Which are my wife's PC and the Printer server. The Workgroup contains dusty2, which is not what I want and Dusty-tr doesn't showup in either one!! Hmmmmmm... now where did that Workgroup come from????
21 There is an "Update Name Servers and Search List via DHCP" in the Linux settings, which I normally leave unchecked. I found it checked. I unchecked it.
Later: Wasn't that one it was "Change host name via dhcp" that I was not allowing. I recheck the above one.
22 Allllrighty Now. Somehow, someway the group setting in my Network System Properties of Win2k got set back to Workgroup! Yeah, yeah I know what you're thinkin'. I forgot to set it. Well that is possible but ... anyway it is set now.
23 Darn Powered off and started up. No sound in Win2k unless I set 0+rw on dsp. Annndd... dusty-tr, my hostname for the linux box, does not show up in the TRComputing workgroup.   Development system.    Is that the reason for all my troubles??
Later: I really wish these damn programs would leave my setting alone. I found my hosts file on my Linux master changed!!
Doesn't make any difference. I can see everyone but my Linux Host. I also have to change the permissions on the dsp in order to get sound in Win2k. Think I am in a proverbial rut and I need to quit and look elsewhere.
24 AllllRighty Now! nmbd was not getting started!! When Samba runs you will see smbd and nmbd is a ps or qps output. (Yep got qps working again. It was wiped out during the install and I had to re-install it.) Now then, I had thought that when smbd got started that it started nmbd. Ah but such is not the case in this episode. At any rate, after I started nmbd I could see my Linux host in the Network Neighborhood. Matter of fact, this paragraph was written in Homesite on Win2k inside Linux and saved to my public_domain which is in my home dir on Linux. So we have interaction.
25 What? How-to? Need to figure out the problem with the sound and also why nmbd isn't consistant. Hmmmm... the two might go together. I did get sound once or twice without changing dsp. So let's shutdown and then when we start, make sure that nmbd is running and if not start it before we do VMware to see if the sound works.
26 YaHoooo!! Well, now. All that fumin' and fussin' and it turned out like I thought above. This time named came up running at Power On and when I started VMware/Win2k I got sound and Networking visabilty. All I have to do now is figure out why nmbd is not consistant.
You have to install two daemons, smbd (to be able to see the Windows) and nmbd (so that the Windows sees you).
27 Well I'll Be... Shutdown the system and went to work. Came home and fired it up. nmbd was not running. I started it and then called up VMware. Once again the system made a fool and a liar out of me. Could not see dusty-tr in the Neigborhood. Also did not get the sound going. Then I waited and all of a sudden it was there... duh.. in the Neighborhood. Still no sound.
## Finish The finish is just using this Win2k setup like normal. Loading my few progs that I like. Mainly this one, Homesite.

???

    

    




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