# vmware-user broke after big upgrade



## piggy (May 22, 2010)

Hello, I do use Freebsd 8 R2 with a lot of satisfaction as a VMware guest machine.


Here the revision of my Freebsd install:


```
FreeBSD freebsd8vm 8.0-RELEASE-p2 FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE-p2 #0: Tue Jan  5 16:02:27 UTC 2010     [email]root@i386-
builder.daemonology.net[/email]:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  i386
```


I do have VMware Tools installed and running and I have to say I didn't had any problem running full screen, resize guest window and so on (everything done via vmware-user program).


Here my actual vmware tools programs correctly running:


```
<max@freebsd8vm>/home/max # ps -A | grep vm
    9  ??  DL     0:01,91 [vmdaemon]
 1377  ??  S      0:32,69 vmtoolsd
```


As u can see vmware-user is not on the list.

It happened after I did a big successfull (but vmware-user broke) update of my Freebsd packages to the last version.

After this big update vmware-user executable die with segmentation fault at start time.


Here the dmesg related with how this program die:


```
pid 1418 (vmware-user), uid 1002: exited on signal 11 (core dumped)
```


If I try to start it on a shell window it always die and say core dumped as reported before.

I have to say my problem is just related with this program. ALL the other programs work pretty well, no problems at all, never ever saw a core dumped before.

Do anyone is running a completely up to date Freebsd 8 system under VMware as a guest machine? Do vmware-user do work for u? Any idea how to troubleshoot this problem? Any idea which program could have broken vmware-user?

It can be related with libdnet-1.11_3? This port was missing after the update (the command I used to make my system up to date is: portmaster -a -v -d -B --no-confirm) and vmware started complaining about it missing (it complained about version 1.05 if memory serve me well). After I installed the latest port I started keep segmentation faults.

I did try to remove and install vmware-tools again with no luck. They install pretty ok then vmware-user is still broken with segmentation fault.

Thankx in advance for any possible help.


----------



## piggy (Jun 4, 2010)

I posted this same message on VMware Workstation board and someone confirmed the problem.

Here the confirmation message:


```
Re: vmware-user signal 11 crash in Freebsd 8
1. Jun 2, 2010 5:55 PM in response to: piggyz
```

I can confirm the same problem with FreeBSD 8.1-PRERELEASE, GNOME 2.30, and VMWare Fusion 3.1 (3.0.2 as well). The vmware-user binary segfaults shortly after starting, but the toolbox does launch.

So it is deinitely a problem related with new Freebsd ports. It can be interesting to see which port broke vmware-user.

Considering we are a lot of people using Freebsd under VMware it could be maybe interesting if some developer or very advanced user can find some spare time to look into the problem.

Obviously this same post is forwarded to VMware boards.


----------



## piggy (Jun 6, 2010)

piggy said:
			
		

> So it is deinitely a problem related with new Freebsd ports. It can be interesting to see which port broke vmware-user.


I did some research by myself and found the package breaking vmware-user. It is:

```
/usr/ports/devel/glib20
```
Exactly is:

```
version glib20 2.24.1_1
```
Now the VMware-tools source code is needed. In the past I remember it was on the tools cd, now I can't find it anymore. I will ask on VMware boards too.

In the meantime, if someone can help with some workaround, is welcome.


----------



## piggy (Jun 7, 2010)

piggy said:
			
		

> I did some research by myself and found the package breaking vmware-user. It is:
> 
> ```
> /usr/ports/devel/glib20
> ...


On the VMware forum someone helped this ignorant piggy 

```
Jun 6, 2010 3:18 PM  in response to: piggyz
joemarcus
3 posts since
Nov 12, 2009
I actually worked around this by installing emulators/open-vm-tools instead of using the vmware-tools provided by Fusion. This solved the crash, 
and I can see no other functional loss by using the OSS version of the vm tools.
```
I installed that port the nice joemarcus pointed to me. It works! Finally! So I can say my virtual and very very complexed Freebsd up up up to date is ok. Then, I think VMware original tools were faster, the open-vmware tools install a lot of code and I'm not sure all this is usefull. So I wont mark this post as solved.

Honest, I was wondering this forum was more helpfull than what IMHO was to me  No pun intended!


----------



## ohauer (Jun 8, 2010)

Is it possible you forgot the compat6x package which is needed for the official VMware tools?
Since now FreeBSD 8 is not official supported by VMware but 7.x.
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/GuestOS_guide.pdf



> Now the VMware-tools source code is needed. In the past I remember it was on the tools cd, now I can't find it anymore. I will ask on VMware boards too.



VMware FreeBSD has no package but a tar ball with the VM-tools. Inside this tar file there should be the sources for the drivers.


----------



## piggy (Jun 8, 2010)

ohauer said:
			
		

> Is it possible you forgot the compat6x package which is needed for the official VMware tools?


I do have both Compat6x and Compat7x installed.


----------



## DrJ (Jun 16, 2010)

How did you get the open tools to work?  I have them installed from ports, and added the lines to rc.conf.  The cursor still is not controlled properly.  Need I let Player know that they are there?  If so, how?


----------



## piggy (Jun 23, 2010)

DrJ said:
			
		

> How did you get the open tools to work?  I have them installed from ports, and added the lines to rc.conf.  The cursor still is not controlled properly.  Need I let Player know that they are there?  If so, how?


First of all, u need to be sure vmware-user is correctly loaded on startup. Whatever the shell u use is, u just need to open a terminal window and type

```
<piggyboy@freebsd8vm>/home/piggyboy # ps -A  | grep vm
    9  ??  DL     0:02,53 [vmdaemon]
  979  ??  S      0:54,02 /usr/local/bin/vmtoolsd -c /usr/local/share/vmware-tools/tools.
 1290  ??  S      1:27,67 /usr/local/bin/vmware-user
71514   2  S+     0:00,00 grep vm
```
U have to look for that "vmware-user" line. If it is not  there, just open a terminal window and type:

```
vmware-user
```
Now try if u can move the mouse in and out the vm window, if u can copy and paste from host and so on.

The problem can also be related with your xorg.conf file and u also need the proper vmware xorg server and vmware xorg mouse driver, u can also install them from ports.


----------



## DrJ (Jun 23, 2010)

Yeah, I figured this out some time ago and forgot to note that here.  The missing piece was that vmware-user wasn't running, and it was not clear that the open-source version needed the same command.  So I tried it, and everything works well.


----------



## piggy (Jun 24, 2010)

DrJ said:
			
		

> Yeah, I figured this out some time ago and forgot to note that here.  The missing piece was that vmware-user wasn't running, and it was not clear that the open-source version needed the same command.  So I tried it, and everything works well.


If u wont VMware keep asking to install VMware Tools (it don't recognise OpenVMTools as real VMware Tools) u need to add this to your Freebsd VM machine configuration file:


```
tools.remindInstall = "false"
```

BTW performance with OpenTools are perfectly fine, after some deep test.


----------



## DrJ (Jun 24, 2010)

Thanks for the tip, but I've never been asked to install it yet.  Performance seems fine to me too, but the mouse lags a bit.  Also, it tends to be rather touchy when one works near the VM borders, like where there are scroll bars.


----------



## piggy (Jun 24, 2010)

DrJ said:
			
		

> Thanks for the tip, but I've never been asked to install it yet.  Performance seems fine to me too, but the mouse lags a bit.  Also, it tends to be rather touchy when one works near the VM borders, like where there are scroll bars.


Mine is perfectly fine. Try this in your xorg.conf:

```
Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "VMware Mouse"
        Driver      "vmmouse"
        Option     "Protocol" "ps/2"
        Option     "Device" "/dev/psm0"
        Option     "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
```


----------

