Linux Kernel 3.7 and VMware Tools issue
I got aware of this issue last week after installing a Fedora 18 virtual machine on Fusion 5. The installation of the Tools went as expected but when the install process launched the vmware-tools-config,pl script I got the typical error of not being able to find the Linux Kernel headers.
Searching for a valid kernel header path... The path "" is not a valid path to the 3.7.2-204.fc18.x86_64 kernel headers. Would you like to change it? [yes]
I installed the kernel headers and devel packages with yum.
[root@fed18 ~]# yum install kernel-headers kernel-devel
Fired up again the configuration script and got the same error. The problem is that snce kernel 3.7 all the kernel header files have been relocated to a new path and because of that the script is not able to find them. To solve it just create a symlink of the version.h file from the new location to the old one.
[root@fed18 src]# ln -s /usr/src/kernels/3.7.2-204.fc18.x86_64/include/generated/uapi/linux/version.h /lib/modules/3.7.2-204.fc18.x86_64/build/include/linux/
With the problem fixed I launched the config script again and the tools finally got configured without problems.
[root@fed18 ~]# vmware-config-tools.pl Initializing... Making sure services for VMware Tools are stopped. Stopping Thinprint services in the virtual machine: Stopping Virtual Printing daemon: done Stopping vmware-tools (via systemctl): [ OK ] The VMware FileSystem Sync Driver (vmsync) allows external third-party backup software that is integrated with vSphere to create backups of the virtual machine. Do you wish to enable this feature? [no] Before you can compile modules, you need to have the following installed... make gcc kernel headers of the running kernel Searching for GCC... Detected GCC binary at "/bin/gcc". The path "/bin/gcc" appears to be a valid path to the gcc binary. Would you like to change it? [no] Searching for a valid kernel header path... Detected the kernel headers at "/lib/modules/3.7.2-204.fc18.x86_64/build/include". The path "/lib/modules/3.7.2-204.fc18.x86_64/build/include" appears to be a valid path to the 3.7.2-204.fc18.x86_64 kernel headers. Would you like to change it? [no]
Juanma.
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Just wanted to say thanks; I ran into this issue last week and wasn’t sure how to handle it. I created the symlink and vmware-config found the kernel header path right away.
Glad it was of help, an thank you for reading the blog :)
Thank you so much!!! I was going crazy, I have bodhi linux, which also uses 3.7 at the time that I’m writing this, and vmware-config-tools.pl would just error out on a valid path, with no information on what was the problem. Linking version.h did the trick! So far this is the only website I’ve found that gives a working solution :)
I can now finally build the kernel modules correctly, thanks again!!!
Nice troubleshooting post. This is one of the reasons I have enjoyed learning Linux. It really makes you understand the inner working of your system. Raw and uncut