Package should not install over existing tar installation

I can confirm this bug.

I use the k7 kernel modules.

I resolved the issue for me (and hopefully for the others).

I had a standalone installation of the vmware-player already installed before. During my first installation with the ubuntu packages I tried to keep my old config files in /etc/vmware. Wiping the old configs and a fresh reinstall of the Ubuntu vmware-player package solves the problem.

I've opened a bug in VMware's internal bug tracking system. There are several problems with installing the .deb packages over a previous tar installation. The VMwarePlayer deb should detect and deal with a previous tar install. I'll change he bug summary to reflect this.

I can confirm it. Kernel i686, K8

I can confirm this on Dapper.

This bug is *still* here, and it is now January 2007.

I should note that this can occur if you install vmware-player and then add it back again, never having touched a vmware tarball on this machine.

I spent a few frustrated hours with this issue. What eventually fixed things for me is ClemensBier comment. I just removed everything under the /etc/vmware folder and reinstalled vmware-player and things worked perfectly.

I had this same issue, still do sort of.

I did as said and delted the entire /etc/vmware folder, synaptic still showed vmware player, so I clicked reinstall and now I can at least add/remove programs without havingt o show the details terminal and without having to answer "y" to a series of questions, twice, before it works. Now I just get a pop up error about the dpkg file but that I can just click close and ignore it.

This problem really is annoying though.

Here's an English version of the installation error, for google:

murrayc@murrayc-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get install vmware-player
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
vmware-player is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B of archives.
After unpacking 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up vmware-player (1.0.2-2) ...
Now configuring VMware Player. (This may take some time...)
Configuring a bridged network for vmnet0.

Configuring a NAT network for vmnet8.

Probing for an unused private subnet (this can take some time)...

The subnet 172.16.188.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.

The file /etc/vmware/vmnet8/dhcpd/dhcpd.conf that this program was about to
install already exists. Overwrite? [yes]

The file /etc/vmware/vmnet8/dhcpd/dhcpd.leases that this program was about to
install already exists. Overwrite? [yes]

The file /etc/vmware/vmnet8/dhcpd/dhcpd.leases~ that this program was about to
install already exists. Overwrite? [yes]

The file /etc/vmware/vmnet8/nat/nat.conf that this program was about to install
already exists. Overwrite? [yes]

Configuring a host-only network for vmnet1.

Probing for an unused private subnet (this can take some time)...

The subnet 192.168.229.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.

The file /etc/vmware/vmnet1/dhcpd/dhcpd.conf that this program was about to
install already exists. Overwrite? [yes]

The file /etc/vmware/vmnet1/dhcpd/dhcpd.leases that this program was about to
install already exists. Overwrite? [yes]

The file /etc/vmware/vmnet1/dhcpd/dhcpd.leases~ that this program was about to
install already exists. Overwrite? [yes]

Starting VMware services:
   Virtual machine monitor done
   Virtual ethernet done
VMware Player is installed, but it has not been (correctly) configured
for the running kernel. To (re-)configure it, invoke the
following command: /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl.

invoke-rc.d: initscript vmware-player, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing vmware-player (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 vmware-player
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
murrayc@murrayc-laptop:~$

common nobody has the solution to this problem ???

After much cursing, I'm slowly making progress while trying to install this sucker. Removing everything in the /etc/vmware dir seemed to just mess things up for Adept. Plus, it didn't work here, so I don't recommend it.

Here's my recipe so far:

1) Using the Adept Manager, install the vmware-player-kernel-modules package to match your kernel's release and build (in my case, these were version 2.6.17-12).¹ If you get stuck with Adept Manager to the point where it doesn't let you install stuff, enter "dpkg --configure -a" in your terminal.² ³

2) Possibly unneeded, issue a "dpkg --configure -a"² ³.

3) Load some needed kernel modules by issuing these commands²:
modprobe vmmon
modprobe vmnet
modprobe bridge

4) Install or reinstall the vmware-player package issuing: "apt-get install vmware-player"². Answer "yes" (or just press Return) to all questions.

These are the results on my machine:

Starting VMware services:
   Virtual machine monitor done
   Virtual ethernet done
   Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 failed
   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 (background) done
   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background) done
   NAT service on /dev/vmnet8 failed
invoke-rc.d: initscript vmware-player, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing vmware-player (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 vmware-player

As you see, there are still errors (namely on bridged networking and NAT) but I still don't know if they affect services that I need. The program starts OK, I haven't tried to load any VM so far. Will keep you posted if I encounter more problems.

Notes:

¹ To find out your kernel's release/build numbers, issue "uname -a" in your terminal.
² All terminal commands given here must be issued as root.
³ Ignore the errors returned here, if any.

Followed instructions by Jazz above. It works, and I played some virtual machines. Clearly there something very broken with this package. Please fix!!!

On another subject, each time I run it, it tells me of a newer version and requests to go to their website. I will
wait for the new .deb package. Can I disable this message?

This package has been removed from Ubuntu. Closing all related bugs.