VMware Workstation and Player for Linux do not match Linux theme

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• VMware Workstation or VMware Player do not match the selected theme of the Linux host operating system
• The user interface is not displayed as expected
• The UI displays with an older theme

Environment

VMware Player 4.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 6.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 15.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 8.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 15.x (Windows)
VMware Player 2.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 7.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 14.x (for Linux)
VMware Player 3.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 15.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 15.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 10.x (Linux)

Cause

VMware Workstation and Player for Linux look for the libgtkmm library when drawing the user interface. If the library is not present, a default (basic) theme is used.

Resolution

In order for VMware Workstation and Player to access the host operating systems GTK+ libraries, the library libgtkmm-2.4-1c2a needs to be installed on your Linux host.

To install the libgtkmm-2.4-1c2a library:

Most Linux distributions

1. Open a command prompt. For more information, see Opening a command or shell prompt (1003892).
2. Run the command appropriate for your distribution:
    
   • Ubuntu- and Debian-based distributions: sudo apt-get install libgtkmm-2.4-1c2a
   • Redhat- and Fedora-based distributions (including CentOS Linux): sudo yum install gtkmm24
   • Mandriva and Mageia Linux: urpmi libgtkmm2.4

SuSE Linux

1. Open Yast.
2. Search for gtkmm2.
3. Install the gtkmm2 package.

Additional Information

For more information, see the gtkmm download page at http://www.gtkmm.org/en/download.html.

Note: The preceding link was correct as of February 4, 2012. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

Opening a command or shell prompt