[SOLVED] Getting VMware Workst 9 in custom kernel 3.4.20

[bertaerts]

I made my own custom kernel to include a kernel patch for my Alps Touchpad on my Dell Inspiron 17R SE 7720.
See other topic "Alps touchpad kernel patch".
Current status is
+ custom kernel 3.4.20-1.mga2custom boots ok
+ nVIDIA GeForce GT 650M runs driver 310.19 just fine
+ issue: VMware Workstation 9.0.1 gives errors when starting virtual machine
Could not open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory.
Please make sure that the kernel module `vmmon' is loaded.
Failed to initialize monitor device.
Unable to change virtual machine power state: Cannot find a valid peer process to connect to

So the modules that need to be made for my custom kernel are not there...

Code: Select all

[root@Dell7720Mageia2 log]# modprobe vmmon
ERROR: could not insert 'vmmon': Exec format error


What is the command to build the vmmon (and other VMware modules) again?

VMware Workstation 9.0.1 works fine with stock kernel 3.4.20-desktop-1.mga2

[bertaerts]

I removed the vmware module files in /lib/modules/3.4.20-1.mga2custom/misc
because they were most probably built without Module.symvers.

I started vmware as normal user and a user interface comes up "VMware Kernel Module Updater".
It wants the kernel headers for my custom kernel 3.4.20-1.mga2custom.
So I select the full 3.4.20 source "/usr/src/linux-3.4.20-1.mga2" where I started from.
But I get:
C header files matching your running kernel were not found. Refer to your distribution's documentation for installation instructions.

What is checked and how can I correct what is missing?

[martinw]

I'm guessing wildly here, but you could try creating a soft link in /usr/src that exactly matches the name of your running kernel, e.g.

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ln -s /usr/src/linux-3.4.20-1.mga2 /usr/src/linux-3.4.20-1.mga2custom


[bertaerts]

No, unfortunately this is not a solution

Code: Select all

[bert@Dell7720Mageia2 src]$ ls -al /usr/src
total 24
drwxr-xr-x  6 root root 4096 Dec 16 22:07 ./
drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 4096 Oct  3 21:03 ../
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   19 Dec  8 22:23 linux -> linux-3.4.20-1.mga2/
drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4096 Nov 22 18:33 linux-3.3.8-desktop-2.mga2/
drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4096 Dec 15 22:24 linux-3.4.20-1.mga2/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   19 Dec 16 22:07 linux-3.4.20-1.mga2custom -> linux-3.4.20-1.mga2/
drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4096 Dec 15 21:22 linux-3.4.20-desktop-1.mga2/
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 4096 Dec 15 21:21 nvidia-current-310.19-1custom.nvidia.mga2/
[bert@Dell7720Mageia2 src]$ ls -al /lib/modul
module-init-tools/ modules/
[bert@Dell7720Mageia2 src]$ ls -al /lib/modules/
total 20
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 4096 Dec 15 16:44 ./
drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 4096 Oct 30 21:37 ../
drwxr-xr-x  6 root root 4096 Dec 15 21:41 3.3.8-desktop-2.mga2/
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 4096 Dec 15 22:40 3.4.20-1.mga2custom/
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 4096 Dec 15 21:22 3.4.20-desktop-1.mga2/


[bertaerts]

Google was my friend
These were the required steps:

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  su
  cd /usr/src/linux-3.4.20-1.mga2
  make headers_install INSTALL_HDR_PATH=/usr/src
  # this creates link
  # lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   19 Dec  8 22:23 linux -> linux-3.4.20-1.mga2/
  make prepare
  make scripts
  exit
  vmware


Scripts were needed by VMware Workstation module builder.
vmware command was run as normal user.