install/uninstall doesn't complete because of broken init-script

I can confirm this when I try to install this package. I get the following when I try to do a sudo aptitude install vmware-player:

####################################
Starting VMware services:
   Virtual machine monitor failed
   Virtual ethernet failed
Module vmnet is not loaded. Please verify that it is loaded before
running this script.

invoke-rc.d: initscript vmware-player, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing vmware-player (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 vmware-player

####################################

I tried to run vmplayer after the install and it crashed. I've attached the crash file from when it happened. These problems have only appeared after recent updates. They may be related to the new libhal, as indicated in this post on the ubuntu forums.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=1444166&postcount=9

On another note it would be great to package vmware-server since that has been freely released as of July.

I can not install vmware-player in ubuntu edgy too, same problem.

I am not sure this is the same problem for all of you guys !

Ali : can you check that you have security channel for dapper-security ? Do you still have the issue ?

saads, this is clearly a problem of kernel modules availability. Please check if you are on Dapper if you activated security channel for Dapper updates.

wlx : problem has been fixed in Edgy.

Yes I am sure I have the security software channel, And what's weird is that it worked once, after altering the postrm and prerm files to uninstall it, and then install it again, I didin't add/remove any repository during that time.

I am on Edgy and it failed to install vmware-player. There was also an
issue installing vmware-server from the vmware website even though it worked
fine on Dapper. The issue is related to the new libdbus. After installing
vmware server, I was able to run it using 'LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libdbus-
1.so.3 vmware'

There's more information on this and other vmware issues on this thread in
the forums: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=247350

I am having a similar problem when install via adept. I'm running Kubuntu 6.06 LTS Dapper Drake. Though vmplayer actually does now work, the install is listed as failing and actually prevents any other updates from being applied. So my first question is how can I get adept to ignore what it construes as problems with vmware-player install. I've tried to uninstall and purge, but since the cleanup script fails I seem stuck in this loop.

More info:
I believe I got into this situation in the first place because I attempted to install vmplayer on kernel 2.6.15-26 without any modules for that kernel. After getting module loading errors, I did some searches and saw the recommended approach was to install 2.6.15-23 and the associated vmware modules. Then I attempted to reinstall vmplayer and ran into the above issue.

The full set of log messages is below:

#########################################################

Now configuring VMware Player. (This may take some time...)
Configuring a bridged network for vmnet0.

Configuring a NAT network for vmnet8.

Probing for an unused private subnet (this can take some time)...

The subnet 172.16.9.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.

The file /etc/vmware/vmnet8/dhcpd/dhcpd.conf that this program was about to
Use of uninitialized value in chomp at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 929.
install already exists. Overwrite? [yes]
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 903.
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 903.
The file /etc/vmware/vmnet8/dhcpd/dhcpd.leases that this program was about to
Use of uninitialized value in chomp at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 929.
install already exists. Overwrite? [yes]
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 903.
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 903.
The file /etc/vmware/vmnet8/dhcpd/dhcpd.leases~ that this program was about to
Use of uninitialized value in chomp at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 929.
install already exists. Overwrite? [yes]
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 903.
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 903.
The file /etc/vmware/vmnet8/nat/nat.conf that this program was about to install
Use of uninitialized value in chomp at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 929.
already exists. Overwrite? [yes]
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 903.
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 903.
Configuring a host-only network for vmnet1.

Probing for an unused private subnet (this can take some time)...

The subnet 172.16.115.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.

The file /etc/vmware/vmnet1/dhcpd/dhcpd.conf that this program was about to
Use of uninitialized value in chomp at /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl line 929.
install already exists. Overwrite? [yes]
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at ...

Not sure if my problem is the same as the others. In my case vmware-player does not install using synaptic package manager on either of my two computers.

Error notice given at the end:

"
E: vmware-player: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
"

Attached is the output from the console.

Well, the only way I was able to find resolution on this problem was to do the following:

1. Found the script that was throwing the errors. In my case it was:
/usr/lib/vmware-player/net-services.sh

2. Backed up the file and then commented out the parts that were causing the problems. In my case it was the following lines:

-- snip --
# Commented out by jmg on 10/6/06 to get vmplayer out of half-installed state
# vmware_exec 'Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet'"$vHubNr" \
# vmware_start_bridge "$vHubNr" "$interface"
               exitcode=$(($exitcode + $?))
            elif [ -n "$hostaddr" -a -n "$netmask" ]; then
               vmware_create_vmnet "$vHubNr"
               vmware_bg_exec 'Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet'"$vHubNr" \
                  vmware_start_hostonly "$vHubNr" 'vmnet'"$vHubNr" \
                  "$hostaddr" "$netmask" 'yes'
               exitcode=$(($exitcode + $?))

               eval 'nat="$vmdb_answer_VNET_'"$vHubNr"'_NAT"'
               if [ "$nat" = 'yes' ]; then
# Commented out by jmg on 10/6/06 to get vmplayer out of half-installed state
# vmware_exec 'NAT service on /dev/vmnet'"$vHubNr" \
# vmware_start_nat "$vHubNr"
                  exitcode=$(($exitcode + $?))
-- snip --

3. Ran the following command:
dpkg --configure -a

The script ran clean and the package was now listed as cleanly installed.

4. Backed up the edited file and clobbered with the original.

Everything's working hunky dory now!

Jonathan.

Doesn't work for me. I got the same error message after following your instructions.

However... After adding some more repositories and dowloading later versions I got it to work.

I'm having the same problem as Bensin, can you tell me what repositories had you added?

thnx

Still seeing the same problem here in feisty. Is any progress being made on this?

As far as I can remember, I've never seen this package install successfully all the way back to dapper

still having the same problems as everyone else. Semi-newbie here and not sure what to do. I have tried to install and uninstall and the darn things tries to re-install. I am using a AMD 3300 + processor. Please help ... I just upgraded to 7.04 and it still is an issue as of today

Why is this package still in the repositories in Feisty with the same problem if it has been a known issue for so long?

I would like to add that this has been causing me to have to wait > a minute for the postint script to fail _every_ time I do anything with apt and the package cannot even be removed without editing the offending script .

I tend to agree about this problem needing to be fixed sooner rather than later if possible since it essentially breaks apt. I ran into it recently, and there is no easy workaround other than to hack the scripts enough to make apt-get "remove" work as mentioned above.

FWIW, I believe the root of this problem in my case is caused by having an atheros (mad-wifi) based WLAN card in my laptop (see related Bug #92938). Similarly, also see wishlist Bug #99393 talking about player version 1.0.3 rather than the 1.0.2 version we are getting that is both dated and broken.

For what its worth, my laptop and desktop also both have an atheros wireless chipset in them (yes, the desktop does too) and both of them have this problem with vmware player.

What about other people here? Is this just a coincidence that two of us have an atheros WLAN chipset, or do more people here also have one?

I also do have an atheros WLAN chipset.

I don't have a WLAN chipset. I'm on a desktop machine with a cheap ethernet card (Intel?) and using the e100 module. My problem arose when I tried to uninstall and then reinstall vmware. Just wanted to be clear that there's likely more to this problem than just the wireless issue. Thanks.

I have an atheros chipset, and I have exactly the same problem.

If apt is still broken, you can execute the following command:

echo|sudo tee /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl

This blanks the vmware config script which allows apt to proceed with the installation. This won't make the player work! It just frees apt. You should now purge the player like so:

sudo aptitude purge vmware-player

It's possible to install the player directly from a tarball from the VMware website instead of from the repositories, but as far as I know you have to disable all networking to get it to work on atheros chipsets, which sort of defeats the purpose of a virtual machine. Here's hoping this bug gets fixed soon.

Oops, before you purge the player you need to complete the installation. So basically, execute the following three commands to free apt:

echo|sudo tee /usr/bin/vmware-config-network.pl
sudo apt-get install
sudo aptitude purge vmware-player

Why bother with the tarball and all... I found that this quite easy fix (mentioned earlier) does the job: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vmware-player/+bug/57957/comments/8

I also have these vmware install problems on a atheros wifi card. Since edgy I'm not able to install via synaptic. Took another computer with an intel wificard. So both laptops ubuntu 7.04 the one with atheros card not working, the other one working directly. there is defenitely a problem related to the atheros card and no easy solution I found until now. I tried some things writen above, by others, but I hope that someday it is fixed and i can install via synaptic again. I will be just patient.

Thank you guys programmers and in depth testing people. I only see that atheros doesn't work and intel does for me...

I modified Jonathan Gordon's instructions to:

1. sudo cp /usr/lib/vmware-player/net-services.sh /usr/lib/vmware-player/net-services.sh.orig
2. sudo echo echo done > /usr/lib/vmware-player/net-services.sh
3. sudo dpkg --configure -a
4. sudo cp /usr/lib/vmware-player/net-services.sh.orig /usr/lib/vmware-player/net-services.sh

I'm running Feisty with an Atheros card. Doing this worked fine for me

Jonathan Gordon's instructions worked well for me to preserve a functioning VMWare Player ver. 1 install from Applications | Add/Remove.

It may be helpful if Mr. Gordon let us know how to go about finding these wayward scripts, when we see this error being returned (I'm a Linux newbie).

I found a few different installs which had this problem, when I was researching my own VMWare issue. They were found via a Google search for "subprocess post-installation script returned error". Among them was JRE, oss-linux, etc., many on the Ubuntu forums.

Most of the references deal with uninstalling the offending software, which makes sense as it's probably a botched install which causes the script error. I was lucky enough to get mine working and use this method to shut down the triggering script. I didn't try Corey's last modification.

Skibum

It's been a while since I worked through this so I can't say I exactly recall how I found the offending file. I think I just worked backwards from the fact that the /etc/init.d/vmware-player script was throwing the error. Reading that file I think it was relatively simple to track down the other files it called. Then it was just a matter of searching in the file for the text of the error message.

If you're really at a loss, one brute force way to find files that throw specific error messages is to do something like the following:
# sudo find / -iname "*vmware*" -type f -exec grep -H "Bridged networking on" {} \;

This will search all files that have vmware in their name (case insensitive), then grep through them for a specific piece of text, in this example "Bridged networking on".

Hope that helps.

Jonathan's instructions didn't work for me. I get:

Starting VMware services:
   Virtual machine monitor failed
   Virtual ethernet failed
done
invoke-rc.d: initscript vmware-player, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing vmware-player (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 vmware-player

Vmplayer seems to have some trouble with Atheros chipsets. I used a tar.gz installation before and it stopped working after I installed an Atheros PCI WiFi card and bridged vmnet0 (or any vmnet, for that matter) to ath0. Whenever I did that it would tell me vmplayer wasn't properly configured. The tar.gz install still does work fine when bridged to eth0.

I've tried all methods on here and nothing has worked for me so far. I just want vmware-player OUT of my system and out of my terminal! Is there any way of deleting files in nautilus or something?

OK this thread got a bit messy. As a newbie I try to summarize how I fixed my VMWare player installation (Xubuntu 7.04, Compaq Deskpro, no Atheros chipset):

===SYMPTOM=== (after VMWare player package installation. As described by saads above)

 Starting VMware services:
     Virtual machine monitor failed
     Virtual ethernet failed
  Module vmnet is not loaded. Please verify that it is loaded before
  running this script.

===SOLUTION=== (quoting Jonathan Gordon & Corey):

1. Back up: sudo cp /usr/lib/vmware-player/net-services.sh /usr/lib/vmware-player/net-services.sh.orig
2. Edit script: sudo mousepad /usr/lib/vmware-player/net-services.shecho done > /usr/lib/vmware-player/net-services.sh
       Comment out four lines as in the snip :
-- snip --
# Commented out by myself on 05-sept-07 to get vmplayer out of half-installed state
# vmware_exec 'Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet'"$vHubNr" \
# vmware_start_bridge "$vHubNr" "$interface"
                   exitcode=$(($exitcode + $?))
                elif [ -n "$hostaddr" -a -n "$netmask" ]; then
                   vmware_create_vmnet "$vHubNr"
                   vmware_bg_exec 'Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet'"$vHubNr" \
                      vmware_start_hostonly "$vHubNr" 'vmnet'"$vHubNr" \
                      "$hostaddr" "$netmask" 'yes'
                   exitcode=$(($exitcode + $?))
                   eval 'nat="$vmdb_answer_VNET_'"$vHubNr"'_NAT"'
                   if [ "$nat" = 'yes' ]; then
# vmware_exec 'NAT service on /dev/vmnet'"$vHubNr" \
# vmware_start_nat "$vHubNr"
                      exitcode=$(($exitcode + $?))
-- snip --
3. Complete installation: sudo dpkg --configure -a
    (script may prompt to overwrite 4 files, choose no)
4. Restore: sudo cp /usr/lib/vmware-player/net-services.sh.orig /usr/lib/vmware-player/net-services.sh

As experienced by Bensin, step 3 first failed: I got the same error again. So I fiddled around with the packages, I added other vmware-player-kernel-modules-2.XX.XX-X using synaptic. I repeated step 3 and magically somehow it worked on the 3rd attempt - I could finally start VMWare player from the apps menu.

Would be great if this could be fixed soon, since it's not quite encouraging for beginners... (I need VMWare in an early stage as I intend to use it for a smooth migration from Windows to Linux)

Is this symptom still reproducible in 8.10 alpha? Which version(s) of the external vmware-player?

I am not sure

On Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:33:08 -0400, Daniel T Chen <email address hidden>
wrote:

> Is this symptom still reproducible in 8.10 alpha? Which version(s) of
> the external vmware-player?
>
> ** Changed in: vmware-player (Ubuntu)
> Status: Confirmed => Incomplete
>

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We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!

ok, this is not an issue any longer

On Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:53:06 -0500, duanedesign <email address hidden>
wrote:

> We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need
> to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments.
> Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't
> hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report
> you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change
> the Status back to "New". Thanks again!
>
> ** Changed in: vmware-player (Ubuntu)
> Status: Incomplete => Invalid
>
> ** Tags added: gbj-oklahoma-0902
>

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