How to Install VMware Workstation 16 Pro on Ubuntu 22.04

In this article, we will install VMware Workstation 16 Pro virtualization software that allows you to create virtual machines and install various operating systems on Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish).

How to Set Up and Use VMware Workstation 16 (16.2.3) to Run a Virtual Machine on Ubuntu

As you know, VMware Workstation is the most popular virtualization program and this software runs on Microsoft Windows operating systems as well as on all Linux distributions such as Ubuntu.

Since installing VMware on the Windows 10 platform consists of only a few steps, the operations you will do are simple, but although the installation process on Linux-based systems is simple, in some cases you may need to install dependent packages.

With VMware Workstation, you can create virtual machines and run multiple virtual computers on your computer at the same time. Also, this virtualization program is not open source and free, but you can purchase it after a 30-day free trial period.

VMware Pro Download and Installation

First of all, if you are using both Windows and Ubuntu with dual boot configuration on your computer, do not install them directly on your living system whenever new versions of this virtualization software or other 3rd party software are released. First, install Ubuntu on a virtual machine, and then we recommend that you install new versions of related programs and check system compatibility on your living system.

   Step 1

To download VMware for Linux, visit https://www.vmware.com/products/workstation-pro/workstation-pro-evaluation.html and click “Download Now” to start the download process as in the image below.

   Step 2

After downloading the setup file with bundle extension, execute the sudo apt update and then the sudo apt upgrade command in the terminal to update the package list of the applications and components installed on your system.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

   Step 3

You can easily download the Workstation software via web browser from the VMware official website as in Step 1. You can also do this with a single command on the terminal.

wget https://download3.vmware.com/software/WKST-1623-LX-New/VMware-Workstation-Full-16.2.3-19376536.x86_64.bundle

   Step 4

After downloading the VMware virtual machine software to the desktop location, execute the following command in the terminal to configure the executable permissions of the file.

chmod +x VMware-Workstation-Full-16.2.3-19376536.x86_64.bundle

   Step 5

Now you need to use the command “sudo ./ + (FileName)” to start installing the Workstation software through the terminal. In this case, when you type only the initials of the downloaded file next to the “sudo ./” command and press the Tab key, the corresponding file name in that location will automatically appear in the terminal.

sudo ./VMware-Workstation-Full-16.2.3-19376536.x86_64.bundle

   Step 6

After the installation is complete, find the VMware Workstation program from the Show Applications section and run it. You can also see that Virtual Network Editor and VMware Player software have been installed after the installation.

   Step 7

When you encounter the VMware Kernel Module Updater window, you can understand that the related software needs some dependent packages. You can see that the GCC / GNU C Compiler (gcc) package in this window is not installed on the system. In this step, click the Cancel button to close the Kernel Module window and go to the next step.

   Step 8

Now run the sudo apt install build-essential command to fix the GNU C Compiler error and install the dependent packages required to run the virtual machine program. Next, check the dependent packages from the image below and press the Y key and then the Enter key to continue the installation.

sudo apt install build-essential

   Step 9

After downloading and installing the necessary packages, now when you run VMware Pro again, you will see the following warning this time. In this case, click the Install button to install the necessary modules in the running kernel.

   Step 10

Wait while the kernel modules are compiled and loaded and do not cancel the process. If you are encountering the “Unable to install all modules” error as in the image below, you need to manually download and compile the vmmon and vmnet modules of the Workstation program.

To solve the “Unable to install all modules” error in Ubuntu, execute the commands below in the order in the terminal to download the necessary modules from Github and copy them to the relevant location.

sudo apt install git
git clone https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules
cd vmware-host-modules
git checkout workstation-16.2.3
sudo make && sudo make install
tar -cf vmnet.tar vmnet-only && tar -cf vmmon.tar vmmon-only
sudo cp -v vmmon.tar vmnet.tar /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/
sudo vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

   Step 11

After a few modules have been compiled in the kernel, the VMware End User License Agreement window will automatically appear. Now, read the license terms provided by VMware and select “I accept the terms in the license agreement” and click the Next button to accept.

   Step 12

Also, accept the OVF Tool component for the Linux license agreement and click on the Next button.

   Step 13

If you want the virtual machine software to check for updates at system startup, select Yes and click Next.

   Step 14

Select Yes to confirm participation in the VMware customer experience program, and then click Next.

   Step 15

If you purchased the program for Linux, enter your license key. If you want to use the virtualization program for free for 30 days and try it, select “I want to try VMware Workstation 16 for 30 days” and click Finish.

   Step 16

After successfully installing VMware Pro software, you can now install and test new or old versions of Windows, Linux, or macOS operating systems on your host computer.

How to Create a Virtual Machine on Ubuntu

After installing VMware Workstation on Ubuntu, you can start installing the operating system you want by creating a new VM.

   Step 1

Open the VMware Workstation 16 Pro software on your Linux system and click Create a New Virtual Machine.

   Step 2

To configure the virtual machine with advanced settings, tick Custom (Advanced) and click Next.

   Step 3

Configure the hardware compatibility of the virtual computer as the latest version of your VMware software and click Next.

   Step 4

You can use your physical drive or ISO installation media as the method to install the operating system. However, to better configure the virtual machine’s settings, select I will install the operating system later and click Next.

   Step 5

If you have planned to install Windows 10 as the guest operating system, select Microsoft Windows, then select Windows 10 and later x64 from the Version section and click Next.

   Step 6

Create a new folder in the location where you want to install the Windows 10 virtual computer and select it.

   Step 7

Select UEFI as the firmware type and continue.

   Step 8

In the virtual processor configuration, determine the number of processors and cores according to the power of your host computer.

   Step 9

Likewise, configure the virtual memory size for the Windows 10 guest machine according to the RAM capacity of your host.

   Step 10

If you want to connect the guest machine to your physical network, you can choose the Bridged network. If you do not want your virtual computer to obtain an IP address from your local network, continue with the default option Network Address Translation (NAT).

   Step 11

Continue with the recommended LSI Logic SAS option as the I/O controller type.

   Step 12

You can specify the type of virtual machine’s virtual disk as IDE, SCSI, SATA, or NVMe. Since NVMe is a newer technology, it makes your guest operating system more efficient. Therefore, select the NVMe disk type for the virtual disk type and click Next.

   Step 13

When choosing the disk structure you want to use, select the Create a new virtual disk option and continue as you will be installing a Windows 10 from scratch.

   Step 14

Determine the virtual disk capacity of the guest machine depending on the actions you will take and choose to backup the virtual disk as a single file type.

   Step 15

Leave the virtual disk location at default and continue.

   Step 16

You can see the hardware information of the Windows 10 virtual computer you have configured in the summary window. Now, click the Customize Hardware button to add the Windows 10 ISO file.

   Step 17

After selecting the CD/DVD device from the Hardware section, select the Use ISO Image option and then click Browse to specify the location of the image file.

   Step 18

Select the Windows 10 image file you downloaded to your Linux computer and click Open.

   Step 19

To increase the performance of the Windows 10 virtual PC, open the Processors hardware settings and tick all the features in the Virtualization Engine section and close the window.

   Step 20

After checking the hardware information of your Windows 10 virtual system for the last time, click Finish and close the wizard.

   Step 21

After the virtual machine is successfully created, close the window that states that you need to install a guest operating system on it and install VMware Tools after installation.

   Step 22

Click Start up this guest operating system to run your Windows 10 x64 virtual machine.

   Step 23

Windows Setup will open after you press any key on your keyboard to start the installation during the Windows 10 operating system boot phase.

How to Uninstall VMware Workstation

When you want to remove the VMware virtualization software that you have installed on your Linux/Ubuntu system, you can do this quickly by using the terminal.

   Step 1

Open the terminal and execute the vmware-installer –list-products command to list the VMware products installed on your system.

vmware-installer --list-products
OR
vmware-installer -l

Then, after checking that the VMware Workstation program is installed on your system, execute the sudo vmware-installer -u vmware-workstation command to completely remove it from your system.

sudo vmware-installer -u vmware-workstation

   Step 2

After uninstalling VMware Workstation, run the vmware-installer -l command again and you can check that the program has been deleted successfully.

   Video

Installing Old Versions of Workstation Pro

Possible Installation Errors

   Unable to copy the user’s Xauthorization File Error

This error usually appeared when installing on Ubuntu 17.04 and 17.10 versions. To eliminate the xauthorization error, execute the following commands in the terminal and try to open the VM again.

touch ~/.Xauthority
chmod 600 ~/.Xauthority

   GCC7 Error

The GCC7 error appeared during the installation phase of Ubuntu versions 18.04 or 18.10. To fix this error, it will be enough to execute the following command on the terminal.

sudo apt install gcc-7

   Final Word

In this article, we have installed the VM Workstation program that allows you to run Windows, Linux, and even macOS on a virtual machine on Linux / Ubuntu. After installing a system on the virtual machine, do not forget to install VMware Tools. Thanks for following us!

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