Problem
After downloading the latest version of VMWare workstation for linux and installing it, on first run you might get an error telling you to check the log for more info. When u check the logs you will observe some messages like: "Failed to compile module: <module_name>"
This error is usually due to some kernel incompatibility problems with the new linux kernels (Specifically 3.2.x)
This error is usually due to some kernel incompatibility problems with the new linux kernels (Specifically 3.2.x)
SOLUTION
After some Googling around, turns out that you need to patch VMWare workstation according to your kernel version and then try to re-run the VMWare workstation services. This can be done in as follows:
- Download the following patch to your home directory:

workstation-8.0.2_linux-3.2.patch |
2. Run the following commands:
cd /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source tar xfv vmnet.tar patch -p0 < ~/workstation-8.0.2_linux-3.2.patch tar cfv vmnet.tar vmnet-only/ vmware-modconfig --console --install-all
Source: VMWare community forums