VMware workstation 6.5.3 is supported only on Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 and backwards. With this brief tutorial we’ll have a look on how to install it also on Ubuntu Karmic 9.10. By default the installer would freeze at the “Configuring…” stage, never actually completing.

1) The first step consists in installing the program via terminal and suppressing the warnings otherwise eventually stucking the installer. BitOBear has provided a more in depth explanation of what’s behind the scenes for the installer to stop.

NOTE: I’m considering the 32bit build, if you use the x64 bit build simply replace i386 with x86_64

chmod u+x VMware-Workstation-6.5.3-185404.i386.bundle

while true; do sudo killall -9 vmware-modconfig-console; sleep 1; done

in a separate terminal run:

sudo ./VMware-Workstation-6.5.3-185404.i386.bundle --ignore-errors

when the installer has finished, terminate the previous command (while true…) with a CTRL+C or simply close the terminal window.

vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

BitOBear adds the following tips:

a) Once you have a hung installer session you have to kill the python command that is running the installer. Think of that as a step-0 if it comes up.

b) If the installer still hangs, the kill loop may not be fast enough; start over but leave the ‘sleep 1;’ out of the kill loop. It will slow down the install even more, but it is more likely to catch the command in time.

2) The setup step has completed. However you would have to face a few usability issues:

a) The mouse automatically ungrabs outside an area of 640 x 480 (vga resolution)

edit file

/etc/vmware/bootstrap

add at the bottom

VMWARE_USE_SHIPPED_GTK=force

Leave a trailing line at the end of the file (as Steve suggests in the comments).

b) If you cannot use any more modifier keys (CTRL ALT SHIFT INS etc.) first check if you have a residual fix from previous setups which is no more needed now. (If this is the first time you install VMware you can skip this step).

Notice, however, that randomly you could still lose modifier keys, typing in any terminal or ALT+F2 field setxkbmap restores them. Furthermore the xkeymap.nokeycodeMap = true is still needed if you are willing to install VMware Workstation 7 beta.

edit file

$HOME/.vmware/config

ensure the following text is not present or commented out with a #

xkeymap.nokeycodeMap = true

as an alternative temporary fix you can simply type

setxkbmap

in any terminal window. This would resume the modifier keys function.

Related posts:

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7. Do not require the password for cpu frequency scaling in Ubuntu Karmic 9.10