# vmware-player on headless host

## fog

I run a Gentoo server in a remote data center. It doesn't run X, but I installed and configured vmware-player. I got all the requisite stuff setup--ssh now has X support and xauth is installed. I installed xeyes, and tunnelling it over ssh works -- I can view my server's "xeyes" just fine on my desktop through the ssh tunnel.

However, running "vmware-player" (as root) sits there on the command line for about 5 seconds, never opens a window here, and then just aborts with no text.

Any idea what's going on?

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## fog

This looks like a common problem, but usually on Itanium / 64-bit... I'm on a 32-bit Athlon.

I initially got this error:

```

The correct version of one or more libraries needed to run VMware Player may be

missing.  This is the output of ldd /opt/vmware/player/bin/vmware:

        linux-gate.so.1 =>  (0xffffe000)

        libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0xb7f7f000)

        libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0xb7f7b000)

        libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0xb7f64000)

        libX11.so.6 => /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 (0xb7e91000)

        libXtst.so.6 => not found

        libXext.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXext.so.6 (0xb7e84000)

        libXt.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXt.so.6 (0xb7e40000)

        libICE.so.6 => /usr/lib/libICE.so.6 (0xb7e2c000)

        libSM.so.6 => /usr/lib/libSM.so.6 (0xb7e24000)

        libXrender.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXrender.so.1 (0xb7e1c000)

        libz.so.1 => /lib/libz.so.1 (0xb7e0b000)

        libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0xb7cda000)

        /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7fad000)

        libXau.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXau.so.6 (0xb7cd5000)

        libXdmcp.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6 (0xb7ccf000)

This program cannot tell for sure, but you may need to upgrade libc5 to glibc 

before you can run VMware Player.

```

But installing libXtst from portage eliminated it. And yet I get the same behavior -- it sits there for 3.25 seconds (varies slightly) before returning me to the prompt, never opening a window.

Anyone seen this before?

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## fog

So I unmerged vmware-player and installed vmware-server instead.

Now I get new problems...

```

oxygen ~ # vmrun start /root/VMs/Mailserver\ 4.2/Mailserver.vmx

Error: Command failed: A file was not found

oxygen ~ # ls /root/VMs/Mailserver\ 4.2/

Mailserver.vmdk  Mailserver.vmsd  Mailserver.vmx  Mailserver.vmxf

```

As an aside, "A file was not found" is a pretty pointless error message. If I feed it something else (e.g., Mailserver.vmdk), it complains that it can't open the VM at that file name, as opposed to "A file was not found," so it's definitely able to tell a difference between VM files and non-VM files.

Argh! Anyone?

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## zeek

Similar problem here trying to get vmware-workstation working on headless host.  I'm emerging xorg-x11 to see if that helps (I'll still be running it headless).

I've run vmware headless in the past so it used to work ...

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## zeek

```
~ $ /opt/vmware/workstation/bin/vmware

The program 'vmware' received an X Window System error.

This probably reflects a bug in the program.

The error was 'BadAccess (attempt to access private resource denied)'.

  (Details: serial 229 error_code 10 request_code 149 minor_code 5)

  (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;

   that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.

   To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line

   option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful

   backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)

```

This fixes that:

```
export VMWARE_USE_SHIPPED_GTK='yes'
```

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