Manually uninstalling VMware Workstation from Linux hosts
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Manually uninstalling VMware Workstation from Linux hosts

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Article ID: 343592

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Updated On:

Products

VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps for manually removing VMware Workstation when the uninstaller script or RPM package fails to remove the product automatically.

Environment

VMware Workstation 10.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Linux)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 7.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 4.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 14.x (for Linux)
VMware Workstation 8.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 5.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 10.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation Pro 12.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 6.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 3.x (Linux)

Resolution

Note: Log into the host using the root account to execute the terminal commands in this article. If running Ubuntu, the root account is not available by default. Prepend all commands with sudo, or switch to root using this command:

sudo su -

Warning: This command provides unrestricted access to the operating system. It is possible to cause damage to the system when using this access level.
 
  1. Open a command prompt. For more information, see Opening a command or shell prompt (1003892). Type the commands as indicated in the steps of this procedure.
  2. Shut down all VMware applications and services.

    /etc/init.d/vmware stop
     
  3. Verify that all processes have stopped:

    lsmod | grep vm

    Note: A zero must be listed beside VMware related modules to indicate that they are no longer running.
     
  4. Move the VMware libraries to the /tmp directory:

    cd /lib/modules/kernel_version/misc
    mv vm* /tmp

    Note: If the kernel has ever been updated, you must check and move the files from multiple paths. Substitute the kernel version where indicated above.
     
  5. Unload the kernel modules:

    rmmod vmnet.o
    rmmod vmmon.o
    rmmod vmci.o
    rmmod vmblock.o
    rmmod vmppuser.o
     
  6. Remove the VMware startup scripts:

    RedHat and Most Distributions:

    rm /etc/rc.d/init.d/rc2.d/*vmware*
    rm /etc/rc.d/init.d/rc3.d/*vmware*
    rm /etc/rc.d/init.d/rc5.d/*vmware*
    rm /etc/rc.d/init.d/rc6.d/*vmware*

    Ubuntu:

    rm /etc/rc2.d/*vmware*
    rm /etc/rc3.d/*vmware*
    rm /etc/rc5.d/*vmware*
    rm /etc/rc6.d/*vmware*

    Note: If you are using a different Linux distribution, substitute the correct path in the commands.
     
  7. Remove the remaining VMware files and directories:

    rm -rf /etc/vmware*
    rm /usr/bin/vmware-usbarbitrator
    rm /usr/bin/vmnet*
    rm -r /usr/lib/vmware*
    rm -r /usr/share/doc/vmware*
     
  8. If an RPM package was used to install the VMware product, complete these steps to delete the RPM database entry:

    rpm -qa | grep VMware

    Note: A list of VMware packages is presented. Copy the exact package name for the next step and paste it into the command where indicated.
     
  9. Remove the VMware packages:

    rpm --erase --nodeps VMware_Package_Name
 

Additional Information

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