• Install VMware Workstation 15 on Linux
• Install version 15.5.5 / 15.5.6 on Win 7

VMware Workstation is a cross-platform virtualization solution available on Windows and Linux.
However, since version 16 of VMware Workstation, the installation is now done from the command line instead of the graphical interface.
In addition, it's no longer possible to download the installer with a simple "wget", because the VMware site redirects to a maintenance page instead of the correct url.

Tutorial made with VMware Workstation Pro 16 on Debian 10.5.0 x64.
Tutorial also tested with VMware Workstation Pro 17 on Debian 11.5.0 x64.

1. Downloading VMware Workstation for Linux
2. Installation prerequisites (compilations tools)
3. Installing VMware Workstation

1. Downloading VMware Workstation for Linux

Pour pallier à ce problème, il suffit de télécharger VMware Workstation pour Linux via votre navigateur web favori.
Dans notre cas, nous avons utilisé Firefox qui est préinstallé avec Debian 10.5.0 x64.

Note that the list of supported Linux hosts is available on the VMware website : Supported host operating systems for Workstation Pro 16.x and Workstation Player 16.x (80807)

2. Installation prerequisites (compilations tools)

For VMware Workstation Pro to install correctly, it is necessary to install these dependencies before installing VMware Workstation Pro:

• build-essential : compiler tools (including gcc) by dependency
• linux-headers-$(uname -r) : Linux kernel headers for your version of Linux

Bash

apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

3. Installing VMware Workstation

Once the "VMware-Workstation-Full-16.x.x-xxxxxxxx.x86_64.bundle" file has downloaded, open a terminal and navigate to the folder where the downloaded file is located.
By default, the terminal is positioned in your personal directory.
We therefore move to the "Downloads" folder which is the default folder used by Firefox.

Bash

cd Downloads

Then, add the execute right on the downloaded file and launch it.

Note : in the commands below, replace "VMware-Workstation-Full-16.x.x-xxxxxxxx.x86_64.bundle" with the name of the file downloaded in your case. Indeed, the link proposed above allows you to download the latest version of VMware Workstation Pro for Linux. The version therefore changes over time.

Bash

chmod +x VMware-Workstation-Full-16.x.x-xxxxxxxx.x86_64.bundle
./VMware-Workstation-Full-16.x.x-xxxxxxxx.x86_64.bundle

Unlike older versions of VMware Workstation for Linux, the installation of the new version 16 is done directly in the terminal :

Plain Text

Extracting VMware Installer...done.
Installing VMware Workstation 16.0.0
    Configuring...
[######################################################################] 100%
Installation was successful.

Once the installation is complete, open the "Applications" section of your Linux distribution (in our case : Debian) and you will find the shortcuts to the programs :

• Virtual Network Editor : the virtual network editor allowing you to create new virtual networks that you can use to interconnect your VMware virtual machines
• VMware Workstation Pro : the full version of VMware Workstation
• VMware Player : the free and simplified version allowing you to virtualize machines

When starting VMware Workstation for the first time, you will need to accept the license agreement for VMware Workstation.

As well as for : VMware OVF Tool component for Linux.

Choose whether you want to enable automatic checking for updates or not for VMware Workstation.

Join the VMware's Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) if you wish.

Provide the VMware Workstation 16 serial number if you have already purchased it, otherwise activate the 30-day trial version.

Provide the root account password when Debian prompts you for the administrator (super user) password.

A "Thank you for buying VMware Workstation 16" message appears.

VMware Workstation 16 Pro appears.