How to fix VMware Workstation Installer Stuck at 100% on Debian 12 (bookworm)

[GoDanno]

Hello,

I have an existing laptop (host) with Debian pre-installed for which there were no installation issues. I initially installed Workstation Pro 17.5.2 and have upgraded every release since then to the current v17.6.3

Installing Workstation Pro 17.6.x. on a new laptop (host) with Debian 12 (bookworm) pre-installed hangs at 100%. After a few minutes, it causes GUI apps, including the GNOME Text Editor, etc., to hang. The only way out is to do a hard shutdown by pressing and holding the power button. Restarting the laptop and running the installer again immediately goes to 97%, then reports successful installation, but it did not. Both laptops are from the same source.

Starting a new virtual machine shows error:
2025-05-17T08:11:14.342Z In(05) vcpu-0 [msg.vnet.connectvnet] Could not connect 'Ethernet0' to virtual network '/dev/vmnet8'.
From the attached vmware.log file.

I've tried uninstalling (+ deleting most vmware files left by the uninstaller) and reinstalling, but with the same result.

I've attached the installer log which ends with a fatal error:
[2025-05-17 23:50:15,982] b'Stopping VMware services:\n   VMware Authentication Daemon\x1b[71G done\n   Virtual machine monitor\x1b[71G done\n'
[2025-05-17 23:50:15,983] b'modprobe: FATAL: Module vmnet is in use.\nrmmod: ERROR: Module vmnet is in use\n'

Which is probably a hint that the networking components could not be configured. Output of ps aux | grep vmware:

• existing laptop (host):
  root         979  0.0  0.0  14276  2820 ?        Ss   01:26   0:00 /usr/bin/vmware-usbarbitrator
root        2265  0.0  0.0   8944   344 ?        Ss   01:26   0:00 /usr/bin/vmnet-dhcpd -s 6 -cf /etc/vmware/vmnet1/dhcpd/dhcpd.conf -lf /etc/vmware/vmnet1/dhcpd/dhcpd.leases -pf /var/run/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet1.pid vmnet1
root        2269  0.0  0.0   3792  2540 ?        S    01:26   0:00 /usr/bin/vmnet-natd -s 6 -m /etc/vmware/vmnet8/nat.mac -c /etc/vmware/vmnet8/nat/nat.conf
root        2282  0.0  0.0   8944   368 ?        Ss   01:26   0:00 /usr/bin/vmnet-dhcpd -s 6 -cf /etc/vmware/vmnet8/dhcpd/dhcpd.conf -lf /etc/vmware/vmnet8/dhcpd/dhcpd.leases -pf /var/run/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet8.pid vmnet8
root        2343  0.0  0.0   9820  2516 ?        Ss   01:26   0:00 /usr/sbin/vmware-authdlauncher
dan         4122  0.0  0.0   6336  2152 pts/0    S+   01:29   0:00 grep vmware
• new laptop (host):
  root         945  0.0  0.0  14276  2512 ?        Ss   01:37   0:00 /usr/bin/vmware-usbarbitrator
root        1722  0.0  0.0   9820  2424 ?        Ss   01:37   0:00 /usr/sbin/vmware-authdlauncher
dan         3914  0.0  0.0   6336  2156 pts/0    S+   01:40   0:00 grep vmware

Note that networking components are running on the existing laptop, but not the new one.

Any ideas on how to resolve the networking issue on the new laptop?

Thanks,
Dan

Attachment(s)

vmware-installer.txt   26 KB 1 version

vmware.log   181 KB 1 version

[Dhairya Tomar]

GoDanno Request you to run the command "dmesg" command on the terminal of your Debian Host and share it's output.

[GoDanno]

Hi Dhairya.

I've uploaded the output from "dmesg".

Let me know if you need more info.

Thanks,
Dan

Attachment(s)

dmesg-output.txt   84 KB 1 version

[Dhairya Tomar]

GoDanno Not able to see the file uploaded, can you please reupload the output.

[GoDanno]

@Dhairya Tomar File uploads appear on the Library tab at the top of this thread. Click the Library tab to access the upload.