Virtual machine fails to start on a Linux host and reports the error: Could not open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Virtual machine fails to power on with an error after installing VMware Workstation on UEFI based host.
• You see the error:
  
  Could not open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory.
  Please make sure that the kernel module `vmmon' is loaded.
  

Environment

VMware Workstation 10.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Linux)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 14.x (for Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 12.x (Linux)

Cause

This issue occurs on any Linux based host operating system which boots through UEFI with Secure Boot enabled. Linux host operating systems require kernel modules to be signed when Secure Boot is enabled. VMware kernel modules are not signed which result in the error.

Resolution

To work around this issue, disable Secure Boot from UEFI. Contact the PC vendor or the motherboard manufacturer for more details on disabling the option.

Additional Information

To be alerted when this document is updated, click the Subscribe to Article link in the Actions box