VMware Server 1.0.7 and Linux Kernel 2.6.26

They don't work together! In fact, Kernel 2.6.26 won't work with VMware 1.0.x (any version) because the Kernel developers had been warning for quite some time that some deprecated symbols would be disappearing. Of course, VMware 1.0.7 relies on these symbols.

When this kind of stuff happens, My first inclination is to hit the web. Initially, I found nothing that didn't I, a basic Linux user, could really use. So, I switched back to kernel 2.6.25 (re-installed VMware, re-configured VMware for the fast-clock problem) and waited for something else to hit the web.

Well today, I couldn't run VM on 2.6.25 for some reason (I usually just re-install VMware, etc.). But being kind of tired of that procedure, I checked the web again. This time I was in luck. I found a blog referencing a patch and instructions.

So, I downloaded the patch, actually patches, followed the directions (and corrected for some mistakes) and finally have a VMware Server that runs with the latest Fedora 9 updates.

Now, I don't particularly like to repeat information you can already find, but there are some mistakes in the steps that I found. So, here are the steps to follow that worked for me. But first, Kudos to...

Frank001

... for the sharing the links to the solution on the VMware Communities forum.

Lenrek

... for the publishing the instructions which I hope to improve upon.

Paldo

... for creating the patches.

How To Get VMware Server 1.0.7 working with Linux Kernel 2.6.26
Caveat... These instructions worked for kernel 2.6.26.3-29.fc9.x86_64 and VMware Server 1.0.7. They may work for other 2.6.26 kernels and for other 1.0.x VMware Servers, but no guarantees.

Prerequisite: The instructions assume you have downloaded the 1.0.x release, have unzipped/untarred, and know the basics for installing VMware Server 1.0 on Linux. I've read that this procedure does not work if you have installed the vmware-any-any* patch. My steps should work because it starts by reinstalling 1.0.7.

Here are the steps...

Download the Patch files
Paldo's VMMon Patch
Paldo's VMNet Patch

Open up a Linux Terminal window and "Su" to "root" (use the dash to get root's profile)
$>su -

Start the Install of VMware Server, but STOP at the point where it asks if you want to run /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl (/usr/bin may vary). Anwer "no" instead of accepting the default "yes". This will exit the installation.

Make a new directory to perform the patch and go to that directory...
#>cd /tmp
#>mkdir myVMwarePatches
#>cd myVMwarePatches

Copy the "bad" VMware modules from the vmware source directory...
#>cp /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vm{net,mon}.tar .

Extract the directories "vmmon-only" and "vmnet-only" from the source module tar files...
#>tar xvf vmnet.tar
#>tar xvf vmmon.tar

Copy the Patch files from your download location and extract the patches...
#>cp /VMw*{vmmon,vmnet}*.bz2 .
#>bunzip2 *vmmon*bz2
#>bunzip2 *vmnet*bz2

Patch the VMware modules...
#>cd vmnet-only
#>patch -p1 < ../*vmnet*patch
#>cd ../vmmon-only
#>patch -p1 < ../*vmmon*patch
#>cd ..

Update the VMware modules by recreating the Tar files and over-writing the originals...
#>rm {vmmon,vmnet}.tar
#>tar cvf vmnet.tar vmnet-only/
#>tar cvf vmmon.tar vmmon-only/
#>cp *.tar /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source

Complete the installation by running the vmware-config.pl portion of the install...
#>/usr/bin/vmware-config.pl

That should get you up and running. I hope these steps help you.