VMware Workstation – Multiple Patch Forks Since Broadcom..
I would like to start by thanking Michal Kubeček for his many years of expert support of the VMware vmmon/vmnet modules for later kernel versions..
Since the Broadcom takeover of VMware, his patches have been forked multiple times, for 17.5.2 and now 17.6 support, with varying degrees of success.. I have tested most of these and – currently – the version I have found to be the most reliable is at https://github.com/64kramsystem/vmware-host-modules-fork , and these compile cleanly with kernel 6.10.x and compile successfully – with a few warnings – on kernel 6.11..
For completeness, the forks I have found so far are:
https://github.com/64kramsystem/vmware-host-modules-fork
https://github.com/nan0desu/vmware-host-modules/tree/tmp/workstation-17.5.2-k6.9-sharishth (not yet updated for 17.6 support..)
https://github.com/bytium/vm-host-modules
https://github.com/philipl/vmware-host-modules/tree/workstation-17.6.0 (only just reported – not yet tested..)
The forum for all these can still be found at https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules/issues and, as can be seen, is becoming somewhat convoluted…..
I have been using VMware Workstation on Linux since the student/developer beta version in 1999, and still find it to be the only reliable solution for running Windows in a VM…..
Robert Gadsdon. September 15th 2024.
Robert, thank you for everything you’ve done over the years. This site is my go-to when deciding whether and when to update my system.
It’s sad to think that VMware Workstation is dying, but the writing seems to be on the wall. I’m really interested to know what alternatives you’re looking at for migrating. I really don’t want to go back to the bad old days of dual boot or even separate devices — there are very few things I still need Windows for — but it seems to be getting to that point.
Fantastically useful, thanks. The 4th link above (philipl) now has a patch that works for Workstation 17.6.1 and Linux 6.9.3 (Pop_OS).
Excellent work, thanks. It would be nice if the new owners of VMware could sort out some automatic mechanism to keep up with recent Linux kernels.
VMware 17.6.1
Running Fedora 40, kernel 6.11.3, Nvidia 550.120
Tried various patches but could not get network connectivity in the VM.
rbruce10966 suggested:
Network card fix. add:
mks.vk.allowUnsupportedDevices = “TRUE”
to:
~~~.vmx file
*** It worked perfectly! ***
Both NAT and Bridged.