How To Install VMware Workstation on openSUSE

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install VMware Workstation on openSUSE. VMware Workstation is a powerful virtualization tool that allows users to run multiple operating systems on a single machine. It’s a versatile tool, widely used by IT professionals and developers for testing and development purposes.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of VMware Workstation on openSUSE.

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: openSUSE.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• You will need access to the terminal to execute commands. openSUSE provides the Terminal application for this purpose. It can be found in your Applications menu.
• You’ll need an active internet connection to download VMware and its dependencies.
• You’ll need administrative (root) access or a user account with sudo privileges.

Install VMware Workstation on openSUSE

Step 1. Before embarking on the installation journey, it’s essential to ensure your system meets the necessary requirements. VMware can be installed on various versions of openSUSE, including Tumbleweed and Leap. However, it’s always a good practice to keep your system up-to-date. This can be achieved by running the following commands in the terminal:

sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper update

These commands will refresh your system’s package list and upgrade all your system’s packages, ensuring you’re working with the latest and most secure versions.

Step 2. Installing Dependencies.

Before installing VMware Workstation, you need to install certain packages that are necessary for building kernel modules. These include kernel headers and the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). Use the following command to install these packages:

sudo zypper install gcc make kernel-devel

Step 3. Installing VMware Workstation on openSUSE.

Now download the VMware Workstation bundle from the official VMware website. While a web browser is typically used for downloads, you can also use the wget command in the CLI. Replace the URL in the following command with the download link for the latest version of VMware Workstation for Linux:

wget -P ~/Downloads/ https://www.vmware.com/go/getworkstation-linux

Once the required packages are installed, navigate to the directory where the VMware Workstation bundle was downloaded. You can do this with the cd command:

cd ~/Downloads/

Then, make the downloaded file executable using the chmod command:

chmod +x VMware-Workstation*.bundle

Now, you can install VMware Workstation with the following command:

sudo ./VMware-Workstation*.bundle

Step 4. Configuring VMware Workstation.

After the installation, you need to run the VMware configuration script. This can be done with the following command:

sudo vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

During this process, you may encounter issues related to secure boot and signing modules. If this happens, you’ll need to disable secure boot in your system’s BIOS settings.

Once VMware Workstation is installed and configured, you can activate it by entering your license key. This can be done in the CLI with the following command:

sudo /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx-debug --new-sn XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Replace the X’s with your actual license key.

Step 4. Launching VMware Workstation on openSUSE.

Once the installation is complete, launch VMware Workstation from the applications menu or by running the following command in the terminal:

vmware

To create a new virtual machine, select “Create a New Virtual Machine” from the welcome screen, and follow the prompts to choose your operating system and configure your virtual machine’s settings.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed VMware. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing VMware Workstation on your openSUSE system. For additional or useful information, we recommend you check the official VMware website.