How to run VMWare player on kernel 2.6.38-8? [Failed to compile module vmmon]

Question

I upgraded my 10.04 system to 10.10 on my way to 11.04. I didn't try VMPlayer on 10.10, but it worked on 10.04.

I tried to start a VM in 11.04, and it prompted me to install the VMWare bits into the kernel. It would fail, and provide a log file. The log file looked normal until the end, at which point it said:

"Failed to compile module vmmon"

I found a number of references on the web for that, but all related to older versions of the kernel. The one I found for 2.6.38-8 was this patch:

VMware-player on Ubuntu 11.04 kernel 2.6.38-8

but that is for 64 bit. I assume those header patches won't work on 32 bit (yes?)

Answer 1

To answer my own question, the solution I used was to uninstall the old version, and install 3.1.4 from the VMWare site.

1. sudo vmware-installer -u vmware-player
2. sudo rm -rf /usr/lib/vmware
3. Download and install VMPlayer 3.1.4

Answer 2

The attached file says:
VMplayer_3.0.0-203739.x86_64_2.6.38-8.tar.gz (3.1 K)
x86 means 32 bits system, ASFAIK. So you could try with this file. The other option is to run older kernel. I usually try with stable releases from here:
Mainline kernel downloads
BTW, I dont see 2.6.38-8 kernel there, is this the rc8 version?
I hope at least some of this info helps