VMware Server 2.0 on Ubuntu Intrepid (8.10)

March 10, 2009 by Resa
Filed under: Linux, Ubuntu, Virtualization

Yesterday I finally allowed myself some time to upgrade my Ubuntu Hardy (8.04) installation on my Dell D620 laptop to Ubuntu Intrepid (8.10). In my Hardy installation I still had VMware Server 1.07 running despite quite a number of notifications that an update was available. Due to the fact that I need my laptop for work, also a reason why I did not upgrade to Intrepid yet, I decided to stick to the well known saying: “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. However, due to the fact that I wanted to use a USB Dongle for internet access, which is much easier to use in Intrepid, I decided to upgrade and along with that also install the latest available VMware Server.

Another reason for sticking to VMware Server 1.07 was because of the fact that I did not have to good experiences with the beta version about which I posted in the Dreamlinux Forums. I also asked a question about the issue at the VMware Forums.

Since then I did “experiment” with the final VMware Server 2.0 release in Dreamlinux 3.5 RC4 and Debian Lenny. More about this can be found in the Dreamlinux Forums and the Linux-Hardcore Forums. By doing so I got acquainted with the new, web based, interface and the installation procedure. Furthermore I also tested the creation of a VM and how to use an installed guest. One thing I learned that in order to use the VM in a separate window (so called remote console) in Firefox an add-on, the VMware Remote Console Plugin, needed to be installed. Once installed you can click on the console “screen” to open up a separate window.

vmware-server-20-console

During these trial I opted for running Damn Small Linux in the VM since it is a small iso that does not require too much resources. Something I seriously lack on my “old” PIII, the desktop I use for testing.

vmware-server-20-dsl

Yesterday these trials paid off. After the upgrade to Intrepid installing VMware Server 2.0 in Intrepid went smooth and without any issues. No errors, no problems. One thing I must add, I am aware that improvement in performance is often a “sales pitch”. But the VM’s I have running on my laptop run a lot smoother and faster since the upgrade and the lag I used to have in the old version is completely gone.

I did however had to use my friend Google to find how I could log into my Windows guest. The “old” version had an option in the menu to “send” the Ctrl-Alt-Del command to the guest console. This option is no longer present. After a search it turned out that the solution is to click on the guest console and use Ctrl-Alt-PrntScrn instead. Worked like a charm for me.

Once logged in, I ran into a strange issue when running the Windows guest (I have not tried this yet with a Linux guest). I noticed that in the guest my arrow keys, the page up and page down and some more of the “special keys” did no longer function as expected. Which can be very annoying if you like to select things with <Shift>-<Ctrl>-<Page Down> or other actions that require these keys.
Fortunately Google turned out to be my friend again. In the search result I found the following blog entry: VMware Server 2.0 breaks keyboard mappings in Ubuntu 8.10 and more information also in this thread at VMware Forums. Turns out you have to “hack” the /etc/vmware/config file in order to get the keys working properly.

Basically there are two solutions, one that is “simple” and one that looks “harder”. Being who I am I of course went for the “harder” one. Which consists of adding the following lines (without the line numbers) to the config file:

1	xkeymap.keycode.108	=	0×138	# Alt_R
2	xkeymap.keycode.106	=	0×135	# KP_Divide
3	xkeymap.keycode.104	=	0x11c	# KP_Enter
4	xkeymap.keycode.111	=	0×148	# Up
5	xkeymap.keycode.116	=	0×150	# Down
6	xkeymap.keycode.113	=	0x14b	# Left
7	xkeymap.keycode.114	=	0x14d	# Right
8	xkeymap.keycode.105	=	0x11d	# Control_R
9	xkeymap.keycode.118	=	0×152	# Insert
10	xkeymap.keycode.119	=	0×153	# Delete
11	xkeymap.keycode.110	=	0×147	# Home
12	xkeymap.keycode.115	=	0x14f	# End
13	xkeymap.keycode.112	=	0×149	# Prior
14	xkeymap.keycode.117	=	0×151	# Next
15	xkeymap.keycode.78	=	0×46	# Scroll_Lock
16	xkeymap.keycode.127	=	0×100	# Pause
17	xkeymap.keycode.133	=	0x15b	# Meta_L
18	xkeymap.keycode.134	=	0x15c	# Meta_R
19	xkeymap.keycode.135	=	0x15d	# Menu

The simple solution is just adding the following line (but I have never tested this):

xkeymap.nokeycodeMap

true

After modifying the config file and restarting VMware Server 2.0 the issue was resolved.
Finally, for closure, a screenshot of VMware Server 2.0 in Ubuntu Intrepid.

vmware-server-20-main