Re. VMWare Workstation Pro v17.5.1 - RHEL Linux v8.9.0

[bvperepa]

I am using the above stack and I get the following error:

I/O warning : failed to load external entity "/etc/vmware/hostd/proxy.xml"
Warning: program compiled against libxml 210 using older 209

My licensed copy is unusable given the above error.

I am wondering - what package(s) do I need to upgrade - in order to get past this issue and use my licensed S/W? Any guidance or wisdom?

Thank you

[Technogeezer]

You've got something else going on. Those are both warnings (and in particular, the file /etc/vmware/hostd/proxy,xml does not exist on a standard running Workstation installation) and should not prevent Workstation from running.

Can you provide more information on what's happening, what you were doing and where you found these error messages?

[bvperepa]

Trying to install a clean instance of licensed copy of my VMWare Workstation Pro v17.5.1 on RHEL v8.9.0 - also licensed and I can provide details.

After a successful install and bring up - I imported a tiny instance of an ova file from here - https://virtuallymikebrown.com/2012/02/05/a-small-virtual-machine-for-a-test-lab/ - to test my instance and this is where I get the error in the terminal and my import errors out.

I can attach screen shots and/or logs or whatever is needed, shortly.

FORWARD thanking for your wishing to help me, gratefully!

[Technogeezer]

If you drop into a command line and then execute the ovftool command, does it complain about a missing shared library?

I found that I had to install an additional package (libxcrypt-compat) on Fedora 39 to get ovftool to work.

[bvperepa]

Dear Technogeezer (Immortal),

Forward thanking you unconditionally and I got a bunch of errors as shown below.

Do you suggest uninstall and re-install or clean rebuild. Last time I tried uninstall and reinstall - do not go well.

I need this to work on this release level of RHEL since it is supported. I tried on Fedora 39 and it flashes minus anything showing up.

I would try ovftool on that instance of my Fedora 39. Thank you!

[Technogeezer]

Ok, it's. little clearer now - the problem isn't with ovftool it's with the linux kernel modules that Workstation needs. It looks like something's not quite right there.

I'm going to spin up a RHEL 8.9 testbed and see if the latest Workstation kernel modules compile fine under it. If they don't I'm going to check @mkubecek 's repository to see if that makes any differences.  Hold tight.. might take me a bit. 

[bvperepa]

Dear Technogeezer (Immortal),

God bless you! I replicated ovftool issue on my Fedora 39 and I get that error. When I install the missing package and confirm that it is installed - it still complains and I can not open the ova instance - the tiny one. I did not pursue Fedora 39 since it is not on supported and tested list by VMWare.

If I can get up on RHEL 8.9.x - I should be good and gratefully yours. Thank you!

PS: I have patience!

[mkubecek]

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@Technogeezer wrote:

I'm going to spin up a RHEL 8.9 testbed and see if the latest Workstation kernel modules compile fine under it.

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For the record, the host modules are exactly the same in 17.5.1 and 17.5.0, the latest update seems to address only some CVE issue in userspace part of the software.

[bvperepa]

Dear @Technogeezer @mkubecek,

Good to know that the collection of host modules being used are identical between 17.5.0 and 17.5.1 and it is very very likely that VMWare Workstation Pro is still broken. This has not worked in v17 at all - starting from 17.0.0, 17.0.x, etc.

So may be waiting is required....

Thanks and best wishes.

[Technogeezer]

Nothing has turned up in my testing.. I built the RHEL 8.9 VM as a Server with GUI and opted for the development environment to be installed in the software selection.

I then downloaded Workstation 17.5.1, opened a root shell, and installed it. Once I installed it, I went back to the original GUI session and fired up Workstation. It started, and I created a new empty VM just to see if it would power up at all.  Because I’m on an older CPU, I got the message (expected) that the VM could not be powered on because of the missing XSAVE instruction,

So, I uninstalled 17.5.1, downloaded 17.0.2, and repeated the experiment in the RHEL VM. This time I was able to power up my test VM.

I did not have to resort to using mkubecek’s kernel module patches in either case. The modules worked fine.

What I did not do was to apply any updates to RHEL after installation. Given that Red Hat simply applies patch updates to the same kernel base version, I would expect that there would be no issues. But I’ll give that a go just to make sure. 

[bvperepa]

Dear @Technogeezer @mkubecek,

Tremendous and uplifting progress, giving me hope. I can replicate your success on my end on a beefy machine, that I have. I can also use the RHEL 8.9.0 licensed version minus any major or minor updates and give it a try with 17.5.0 or 1. If I can get it up on my end - that would work for me and I can happily live with this option as well.

So your key insight - not perform major or minor maintenance and give it a try - which I did not try or thought of - so credit to you!

THANK YOU!