Installing VMware Workstation Player on a Linux Ubuntu 20.04 Host with a Windows 10 Evaluation Guest

Video

Download Links

You will need to download VMware Workstation Player 16 for Linux. You will also need to download the Windows 10 Development Environment Virtual Machine or an older Legacy Version of Windows Development Environment Virtual Machine:

System requirements:

• ≥6th generation i5 or later
• ≥8 GB of RAM
• ≥250 GB SSD (120 GB for VM)

The Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation VM is a temporary 50 day throw away VM designed for software development and software testing. After 50 days you should just download a newer up to date Windows 10 Enterpriae Evaluation VM.

Checking ISO Checksums

Open the terminal and change directory to Downloads:

cd Downloads

cd is an abbreviation for the command change directory, the directory to change to in this case Downloads is passed as an argument following cd.

You can also right click an empty space within the folder and select "Open in Terminal".

Check ISO Checksum using:

sha256sum WinDev2008Eval.VMware.zip

The command sha256sum is used to check the sha256 checksum, the file to be checked is passed as an argument including its file extension.

If a newer version is available then use that date instead of the data above (2008=August 2020).

Right click the file and copy its file name including the extension. Right click in the terminal window and select paste.

This should match the value provided by Microsoft.

If not your download is corrupt and you should try again:

Perquisites

open up a terminal and type in:

sudo apt install build-essential

sudo is an abbreviation for super user do and apt is an abbreviation for advanced package tool. install will install a package, in this case the package named build-essential.

Because super user do (sudo) was typed in you will need to authorise this with your password.

Then input:

Y

In order to proceed with the install.

The perquisites should now be installed:

Installing VMware Player

Change the directory to Downloads:

cd Downloads

The console will now be open in the Downloads folder.

In the downloads folder you should have the VMware Player file. Right click it and select rename, then copy its name including its .bundle extension:

Install the bundle file using:

sudo sh VMware-Player-16.0.0-16894299.x86_64.bundle

sh is an abbreviation used for a shell install. If a newer version of VMware player is available use that file name instead of the one above. You can paste the file name in the console by right clicking the console and selecting paste.

VMware Player should now be installed:

You can launch it from All Applications:

Accept the License Agreement and select Next:

Accept the License Agreement and select Next:

You can optionally search for updates at start-up:

You can optionally join the VMware customer experience program:

You can either License VMware Player for Commercial use or use it for Free for non-commercial use:

You will need to authenticate these settings. Input your password and select Authenticate:

Select OK at the welcome screen:

For some reason, the VMware software update informs you about the version you just installed… you can close this:

You will see the main VMware window:

Enabling Virtualization Technologies within your UEFI BIOS

In order to create a VM, you will need to enable CPU Virtualisation technologies in your UEFI BIOS Setup. Power up your Dell and press [F2], if using a Lenovo press [F1]:

Look for Virtualization Support. Enable Intel Virtualization Technology:

Enable VT for Direct I/O:

You do not need Trusted Execution (this is only required if using a service like Windows 10 BitLocker in a Windows 10 VM):

Save the changes and exit the UEFI BIOS Setup:

Extracting the VM to Documents

Right click the downloaded zip file and select Extract to…

Then select the Documents folder:

You should have the following three files:

Launch VMware Player and select Open a Virtual Machine:

Select the folder of your Virtual Machine:

Select your ovf file and select open:

Select Import:

A progress bar will display:

You can now Power On the VM:

Creating New Machine Owner Key (MOK) with vmnet and vmmon Services

If you have Secure Boot Enabled you will get the following error message:

Could not open /dev/-vmmon: No such file or directory. Please make sure that the kernel module 'vmmon' is loaded.

This is because two critical services do not start due to Secure Boot. To add these when Ubuntu Boots we need to create a MOK.

Create a New MOK Key:

openssl req -new -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout MOK.priv -outform DER -out MOK.der -nodes -days 36500 -subj "/CN=VMware/"

The blank MOK file will be created

Add the vmmon service to it:

sudo /usr/src/linux-headers-`uname -r`/scripts/sign-file sha256 ./MOK.priv ./MOK.der $(modinfo -n vmmon)

Because the command begins with super user do, you will need to authenticate it:

The service will be added to the MOK file:

Add the vmnet service to it:

sudo /usr/src/linux-headers-`uname -r`/scripts/sign-file sha256 ./MOK.priv ./MOK.der $(modinfo -n vmnet)

Switch to a super user:

sudo su

Send the MOK to the UEFI BIOS:

mokutil --import MOK.der

You will need to create and confirm a one time MOK password which you will supply to your UEFI BIOS.

Close the Terminal and Reboot.

You will be taken to the MOK management screen within your UEFI BIOS/ Select Enroll MOK:

Select Continue:

Select Yes to Enroll the key(s):

Input the password (note on my systems there is no indication on the screen for character input) and then press [↵]:

Then select Reboot:

Ubuntu should then Boot:

First Time Boot

Your VM should now boot with the services enabled. In my case it hangs here, I had to select Virtual Machine → Power and then Reset Guest:

The VM then booted:

Enabling Drag and Drop

When I tried to use Drag and Drop I found it didn't work. When using a right click context menu with Copy and Paste I got the following error:

To resolve it I had to go to Virtual Machine → Virtual Machine Settings:

Then select the Options Tab at the top and then the Shared Folders in the left hand side list and set the option to Always Enabled to the right:

Then to the left hand list select VMware Tools and check Synchronize Guest time with host and select Save:

Increasing the VM Performance

When the VM is powered off, the VM Virtual Machine Configuration settings can be modified for increased performance.

The settings are very peculiar. Change the VM configuration settings so there is:

• 2 Processors
• USB 3.1 Support

You will get boot issues if you use more processors and the 3D graphics acceleration won't work. You can also change to 4 GB of RAM but will get a warning on startup.