Vmware Workstation is almost always unable to put vmnet interfaces up. Here is examples how it looks like: # /opt/vmware/bin/vmware-config.pl Making sure services for VMware Workstation are stopped. Stopping VMware services: Virtual machine monitor done Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 done DHCP server on /dev/vmnet1 done Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 done DHCP server on /dev/vmnet8 done NAT service on /dev/vmnet8 done Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 done Virtual ethernet done ... Extracting the sources of the vmnet module. Building the vmnet module. VMware 2 or VMware Express detected, building for VMware 2, VMware Express and VMware Workstation 4.0.x. Using 2.6.x kernel build system. make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only' make -C /lib/modules/2.6.11-gentoo-r6/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.11-gentoo-r6' CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/driver.o CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/hub.o CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/userif.o CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/netif.o CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/bridge.o CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/procfs.o LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/vmnet.o Building modules, stage 2. MODPOST CC /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/vmnet.mod.o LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/vmnet.ko make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.11-gentoo-r6' cp -f vmnet.ko ./../vmnet.o make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only' The module loads perfectly in the running kernel. Starting VMware services: Virtual machine monitor done Virtual ethernet done Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 done Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background) done NAT service on /dev/vmnet8 done The configuration of VMware Workstation 5.0.0 build-13124 for Linux for this running kernel completed successfully. You can now run VMware Workstation by invoking the following command: "/opt/vmware/bin/vmware". Enjoy, --the VMware team # ifconfig vmnet8 vmnet8: error fetching interface information: Device not found # killall vmnet-bridge vmnet-natd && rmmod vmnet && rmmod vmmon vmnet-bridge: no process killed vmnet-natd: no process killed # ps x|grep vm 8895 pts/3 S+ 0:00 grep vm # /etc/init.d/vmware start * Starting VMware services: [ ok ] * Virtual machine monitor [ ok ] * Virtual ethernet [ ok ] * Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 [ ok ] * Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background) [ ok ] * NAT service on /dev/vmnet8 [ ok ] # ifconfig vmnet8 vmnet8: error fetching interface information: Device not found # I tried vmware-workstation-4.5.2.8848-r6 and mware-workstation-5.0.0.13124. There weren't any problems with the vmware on my old box with the same 2.6.11-gentoo-r6 kernel version but non-SMP(I use SMP kernel with SMT for P4's HT). Tried service restarting, reemerging, full deinstall then install it back, modules recompiling, but vmware puts interfaces up only sometimes. There is no choise to reliably get vmnet working except manually put interface vmnet8 up by vmnet-netifup: # vmnet-netifup -d /var/run/vmnet8.pid /dev/vmnet8 vmnet8 # ifconfig vmnet8 vmnet8 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:56:C0:00:08 BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b) After that vmnet works fine. I think this may be a problem with the vmware's launch scripts. Additional info about the system: # emerge info Portage 2.0.51.19 (default-linux/x86/2005.0, gcc-3.3.5-20050130, glibc-2.3.4.20041102-r1, 2.6.11-gentoo-r6 i686) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.11-gentoo-r6 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz Gentoo Base System version 1.6.12 Python: dev-lang/python-2.3.5 [2.3.5 (#1, May 6 2005, 12:55:31)] dev-lang/python: 2.3.5 sys-apps/sandbox: 1.2.9 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.59-r6, 2.13 sys-devel/automake: 1.8.5-r3, 1.5, 1.4_p6, 1.6.3, 1.7.9, 1.9.5 sys-devel/binutils: 2.15.92.0.2-r10, 2.15.92.0.2-r1, 2.16-r1 sys-devel/libtool: 1.5.16 virtual/os-headers: 2.6.8.1-r2 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-march=prescott -O2 -pipe" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3.4/env /usr/kde/3.4/share/config /usr/kde/3.4/shutdown /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/lib/X11/xkb /usr/share/config /usr/share/texmf/dvipdfm/config/ /usr/share/texmf/dvips/config/ /usr/share/texmf/tex/generic/config/ /usr/share/texmf/tex/platex/config/ /usr/share/texmf/xdvi/ /var/bind /var/qmail/control /var/service" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-march=prescott -O2 -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs autoconfig ccache distlocks sandbox sfperms strict" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://mirror.datapipe.net/gentoo ftp://ftp.du.se/pub/os/gentoo http://trumpetti.atm.tut.fi/gentoo/ ftp://mirrors1.netvisao.pt/gentoo/ http://www.gigaload.org/gentoo.org/" LANG="ru_RU.cp1251" LINGUAS="en ru" MAKEOPTS="-j2" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/local/portage" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="x86 X aalib acl activefilter alsa apache2 apm arts artswrappersuid audiofile avi bash-completion berkdb bitmap-fonts caps cdparanoia cdr crypt cups curl dba dhcp directfb divx4linux divxforlinux doc eds emboss encode erandom esd fam fbcon flac font-server foomaticdb fortran gd gd-external gdbm gif gnome gphoto2 gpm gstreamer gtk gtk2 guile hal hardened imagemagick imlib innodb ipv6 jack java jpeg junit kde kerberos ldap libclamav libg++ libwww lirc lm_sensors logrotate mad mbox mikmod milter mime mmap mmx mmxext motif mp3 mpeg mppe-mppc multislot mysql ncurses nls nptl ntlm ogg oggvorbis opengl oss pam pdflib perl pic png portaudio povray procmail python qt quicktime quotas rdesktop readline recode reiserfs ruby samba sasl scanner sdl sftplogging slang slp snmp socks5 speex spell sse sse2 ssl svga tcltk tcpd tetex threads tiff truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts usb v4l v4l2 vorbis wifi winbind wmf xine xinerama xml xml2 xmms xscreensaver xv xvid zlib linguas_en linguas_ru userland_GNU kernel_linux elibc_glibc" Unset: ASFLAGS, CBUILD, CTARGET, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS
vwmare herd re-assignment.
Seems problem is gone after updating kernel to 2.6.11-r11. Also it doesn't appers after igrating to kernel 2.6.12. Seems that was a kernel issue.
...fix resolution code...
We close bugs on this end... thanks...
I've discovered that the bug is still there there with the vmware-workstation-5.0.0.13124(vmware-workstation-4.5.2.8848-r6 may be too) and 2.6.11-gentoo-r6 and 2.6.11-gentoo-r11 kernels. I've found the situation when this problem apeears and it reproducable 100%. The problem appers when vmware-workstation launch script(/etc/init.d/vmware) started and there is any of ppp interfaces up (dialup connection for sure). '/etc/init.d/vmware start' script works fine if no ppp intarfaced up(no dialup connection). And if there any of ppp interfaces up then vmnet8 and vmnet0 interfaces are absent and I have a situation like this: $ ifconfig vmnet8 vmnet8: error fetching interface information: Device not found
The problem is due to PC with address 192.168.100.1 is present on ISP network and Vmware checks if address of vmnet8 interface reachable before bringing interface up by following function in script: .. lookForHostOnlyNetwork() { local ip="$1" "$vmdb_answer_BINDIR"/"$ping" -q "$ip" } ... if lookForHostOnlyNetwork "$ifIp"; then echo 'Host-only networking disabled because '"$ifIp" echo 'appears to be a real, physical, existing address.' echo 'Please run "'"$vmdb_answer_BINDIR"'/vmware-config.pl" to' echo 'modify your host-only network configuration.' exit 1 fi ...
Sounds like a specific configuration issue on your end, then. If the address exists with your ISP, then you either need to not be connected, or to choose another IP address.
