VMWare Player crashes after upgrading to Ubuntu 14.04

What did you upgrade from?

Thanks

Running the terminal command

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic

should install the required files.

If you have already installed the kernel header files, the solution might be

sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-$(uname -r)/include/generated/uapi/linux/version.h /usr/src/linux-$(uname -r)/include/linux/

source: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/trouble-recompiling-vmware-modules-for-new-kernel-4175452137/#post4901966

I upgraded to Trusty Tahr from Precise.
I installed the required files as suggested with the given command sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic.

Please find the output of same :
linux-headers-generic is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  9menu bluez-alsa:i386 esound-common g++-4.6 gcc-4.6-base:i386 gcj-4.6-base
  gcj-4.6-jre-lib gir1.2-gst-plugins-base-0.10 gir1.2-gstreamer-0.10
  gir1.2-indicate-0.7 gir1.2-json-1.0 gir1.2-timezonemap-1.0 gir1.2-xkl-1.0
  glib-networking:i386 gnome-games-data gstreamer0.10-plugins-base:i386
  gstreamer0.10-plugins-good:i386 gstreamer0.10-x:i386 gtk2-engines:i386
  gtk2-engines-murrine:i386 gtk2-engines-oxygen:i386 gtk2-engines-pixbuf:i386
  gvfs:i386 gvfs-libs:i386 html2text ia32-libs ia32-libs-multiarch:i386
  ibus-gtk:i386 kvm-ipxe lib32z1 libaa1:i386 libaio1:i386 libalgorithm-c3-perl
  libao4:i386 libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap
  libapt-inst1.4 libasn1-8-heimdal:i386 libatk1.0-0:i386 libaudio2:i386
  libaudiofile1:i386 libavahi-client3:i386 libavahi-common-data:i386
  libavahi-common3:i386 libavc1394-0:i386 libbind9-80 libboost-iostreams1.46.1
  libc6-i386 libcaca0:i386 libcairo-gobject2:i386 libcanberra-gtk-module:i386
  libcanberra-gtk0:i386 libcanberra0:i386 libcapi20-3:i386 libcdparanoia0:i386
  libcdt4 libclass-c3-perl libclass-c3-xs-perl libcmis-0.2-0 libcroco3:i386
  libcups2:i386 libcupsfilters1:i386 libcupsimage2:i386 libcurl3:i386
  libcurl3-nss libdb5.1:i386 libdbus-glib-1-2:i386 libdiscid0 libdns81
  libdrm-nouveau1a:i386 libdv4:i386 libdvbpsi7 libebml3 libesd0:i386
  libexif12:i386 libexiv2-11 libexo-1-0 libexo-common libexo-helpers
  libfluidsynth1:i386 libfm-data libgail-common:i386 libgail18:i386
  libgcj-common libgcj12 libgconf-2-4:i386 libgcrypt11:i386 libgd2-xpm:i386
  libgd3:i386 libgdata1.9-cil libgdbm3:i386 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0:i386
  libgettextpo0:i386 libgexiv2-1 libglew1.6 libglewmx1.6
  libgnome-keyring0:i386 libgnutls26:i386 libgomp1:i386 libgpg-error0:i386
  libgphoto2-2:i386 libgphoto2-6:i386 libgphoto2-port0:i386
  libgphoto2-port10:i386 libgraph4 libgsoap1 libgssapi-krb5-2:i386
  libgssapi3-heimdal:i386 libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0:i386
  libgstreamer0.10-0:i386 libgtk2-gladexml-perl libgtk2-trayicon-perl
  libgtk2.0-0:i386 libgtkspell-3-0 libgudev-1.0-0:i386 libgvc5
  libhcrypto4-heimdal:i386 libheimbase1-heimdal:i386 libheimntlm0-heimdal:i386
  libhx509-5-heimdal:i386 libibus-1.0-0:i386 libibus-1.0-5:i386 libice6:i386
  libidn11:i386 libiec61883-0:i386 libieee1284-3:i386 libisc83 libisccc80
  libisccfg82 libjasper1:i386 libk5crypto3:i386 libkeyutils1:i386
  libkrb5-26-heimdal:i386 libkrb5-3:i386 libkrb5support0:i386 liblcms1:i386
  libldap-2.4-2:i386 libllvm3.0 libllvm3.0:i386 libltdl7:i386 liblwres80
  libmad0:i386 libmagickcore4 libmagickcore4-extra libmagickwand4 libmatroska5
  libmenu-cache1 libmikmod2:i386 libmng1:i386 libmpg123-0:i386
  libmro-compat-perl libmusicbrainz3-6 libnet-ipv6addr-perl
  libnetwork-ipv4addr-perl libnspr4:i386 libnss3:i386 libntfs10 libnux-2.0-0
  libnux-2.0-common libodbc1:i386 libopenal-data libopenal1:i386
  libp11-kit0:i386 libpango1.0-0:i386 libpathplan4 libpoppler19 libpq5
  libproxy1:i386 libpulse-mainloop-glib0:i386 libpulsedsp:i386
  libqt4-dbus:i386 libqt4-declarative:i386 libqt4-designer
  libqt4-designer:i386 libqt4-help libqt4-network:i386 libqt4-opengl:i386
  libqt4-qt3support:i386 libqt4-script:i386 libqt4-scripttools
  libqt4-scripttools:i386 libqt4-sql:i386 libqt4-svg:i386 libqt4-test
  libqt4-test:i386 libqt4-xml:i386 libqt4-xmlpatterns:i386
  libqtassistantclient4 libqtcore4:i386 libqtdbus4:i386 libqtgui4:i386
  libqtwebkit4 libqtwebkit4:i386 libraw1394-11:i386 libraw5 libreadline6:i386
  librhythmbox-core5 libroken18-heimdal:i386 librpmio2 librsvg2-2:i386
  librsvg2-common:i386 librtmp0:i386 libsane:i386 libsasl2-2:i386
  libsasl2-modules:i386 libsasl2-modules-db:i386 libsdl-image1.2:i386
  libsdl-mixer1.2:i386 libsdl-net1.2:i386 libsdl-ttf2.0-0:i386
  libsdl1.2debian:i386 libsecret-1-0:i386 libshout3:i386 libsm6:i386
  libsoup-gnome2.4-1:i386 libsoup2.4-1:i386 libspeex1:i386 libsqlite3-0:i386
  libssl0.9.8:i386 libssl1.0.0:i386 libstdc++5:i386 libstdc++6-4.6-dev
  libtag1-vanilla:i386 libtag1c2a:i386 libtasn1-3:i386 libtcl8.5 libtdb1:i386
  libtelepathy-farstream2 libtheora0:i386 libtiff4:i386 libtokyocabinet8
  libunistring0:i386 libusb-0.1-4:i386 libusb-1.0-0:i386 libv4l-0:i386
  libv4lconvert0:i386 libvorbisfile3:i386 libvpx1:i386 libwavpack1:i386
  libwebp5:i386 libwind0-heimdal:i386 libx264-120 libxatracker1 libxaw7:i386
  libxcomposite1:i386 libxcursor1:i386 libxdo2 libxfce4util4 libxi6:i386
  libxinerama1:i386 libxml2:i386 libxmu6:i386 libxp6:i386 libxpm4:i386
  libxrandr2:i386 libxslt1.1:i386 libxss1:i386 libxt6:i386 libxtst6:i386
  libxv1:i386 lxmenu-data lxshortcut odbcinst odbcinst1debian2
  odbcinst1debian2:i386 open-vm-dkms open-vm-toolbox open-vm-tools-dkms
  python-beaker python-central python-magic python-mako python-markupsafe
  python-packagekit python-pyicu python-qt4 python-sip python-sqlalchemy
  python-sqlalchemy-ext qemu-common tcl8.5 ubuntuone-client-data uml-utilities
  unity-2d-common vgabios wwwconfig-common xaw3dg:i386 xfce-keyboard-shortcuts
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
amol@amol-Lenovo-G570:~$

The command "sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-$(uname -r)/include/generated/uapi/linux/version.h /usr/src/linux-$(uname -r)/include/linux/" got me past vmware not finding the headers. However now when I click 'install' to start the kernel modules installing it just silently crashes, log file contains no errors.

Did Precise work ok?

yes it was absolutely working fine with precise. I guess there is no other option rather than installing newer version of vmware player 6.0.3 and check if it can be all good.

Then why did you fix something that wasn't broken? Precise is LTS and supported til April 2017. ...?

Hi Andrew, you are right, though Precise is LTS and supported till 2017, I always go for upgrade whenever Ubuntu releases new LTS, as I am always eager to check what new changes been made and how solid and stable it is from previous LTS, irrespective of how stable my previous version was. Otherwise why Ubuntu launches new LTS after every 2 years though it is supported till 5 yrs. Since I did not find any difficulty while upgrading from Lucid to Precise, I was in the same mood this time but at the end I had to look for some workaround suggested by you and Manfred. And that has worked quiet nicely. Thanks for your assistance.

Hi Manfred, I am very thankful to you, You saved my important data and bcoz of you I got out of login problem.

How do you know that it "silently crashed"? Is there any error message? : I did not receive any error message but also I did not get the VMware Player dialogue box for creating, adding or deleting any new VM machines which earlier I was getting. Nonetheless, problem is solved after purging Vmware player 4.0 and upgrading it to 6.0.3. Before installing new version, I clean up my system with the above given commands by you and it worked quiet nicely. Thanks, everything is good now ......Wish you HAPPY DIWALI .....:)

Thanks Manfred Hampl, that solved my question.