One of my favorite pieces of software is VMWare. I hate clutter, and VMWare allows me to run 2 (and more) OS’s on one system. At work, my host system runs Dapper Drake 6.06 LTS with Windows XP SP2 in a VM for Outlook and a few other Windows only programs. At home, my host system is Feisty 7.04 with a test domain complete with a Domain Controller, Exchange Server and an XP SP2 client to practice for MSCE’s in VMWare. I’ve just recently added a MOSS server to test prior to implementing at work. I interact with VMWare daily. It is the one piece of software that I would truly be lost w/out. In a word - indispensable.

That being said, every so often an Ubuntu update will render VMWare unusable. The update in question is a kernel update. After applying the update, and trying to open VMWare, nothing happens. No error, no fireworks - just blank.

To fix this, open a terminal and type:

sudo vmware-config.pl

VMware will begin the reconfiguration process that looks much the same as the initial install script. However, it will hang at the following line:

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

If you hit enter, the following error line will be returned:

The path "/usr/src/linux/include" is not an existing directory.

Solution

Unfortunately, the kernel update won’t update the header files. Checking the path, /usr/src/linux/include/ will reveal your previous header files but the most recent is not present. A little tip: to check what kernel you are running simple type uname -r in a terminal. Anyway, a manual update is necessary to download the most up-to-date header files. So in a terminal, type:

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`

Now simply go back to the vmware configure script, vmware-config.pl and complete the header reconfiguration. This time around, VMWare automatically locates the C header files as seen in the highlighted text below:

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.15-52-386/build/include]

Just click the Enter key to continue the update.

Note: Remember, to click Enter or type yes when coming to this line:

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

to keep the old network settings. Otherwise, you’ll have to re-network everything!

So, after a kernel update, this 5 minute fix will have VMWare running good as new.