Video drivers issue on Linux Mint 20 VM in vmware workstation

[lmftw]

Hello,

Post #1.

Searched, and found this discussion,

viewtopic.php?f=90&t=304969&p=1718341&h ... s#p1718341

Unfortunately no fix or workaround in that discussion.

Quick background: Been long time Debian user. Then dabbed on Ubuntu. I recall with Ubuntu as VM in same VMware workstation environment the op-vm-tools package sets up to provide the video hardware acceleration from the installed vmware tools package. Not sure what's going on with Linux Mint and vmware tools though.

So, lately searched which Linux distro is the top dog, and overwhelmingly Linux Mint as better Ubuntu comes up. So, decided to jump in to Linux Mint 20 (BTW, recently Linux Mint 20 live CD saved my bacon by using the gparted built-in to the live cd, thank you! Linux Mint 20 live CD is the ONLY rescue CD that ran on latest HP x360 laptop with amd ryzen 5/radeon CPU)


Back to my issue:

Some basic outputs and screenshots for troubleshooting:

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vmware-toolbox-cmd -v
11.0.5.17716 (build-15389592)

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inxi -Fxxxz
System:    Kernel: 5.4.0-26-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: N/A dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
           Distro: Linux Mint 20 Ulyana base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Vmware System: VMware product: VMware Virtual Platform v: N/A serial: <filter> Chassis: No Enclosure 
           type: 1 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Intel model: 440BX Desktop Reference Platform serial: <filter> BIOS: Phoenix v: 6.00 date: 05/19/2017 
CPU:       Topology: 2x Single Core model: Intel Xeon X5677 bits: 64 type: SMP arch: Nehalem rev: 2 L2 cache: 24.0 MiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 bogomips: 13853 
           Speed: 3463 MHz min/max: N/A Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3463 2: 3463 
Graphics:  Device-1: VMware SVGA II Adapter driver: vmwgfx v: 2.15.0.0 bus ID: 00:0f.0 chip ID: 15ad:0405 
           Display: server: Colin Harrison X.org 1.20.8 driver: vmware unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa 
           resolution: 7680x1080~N/A 
           OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 9.0.1 128 bits) v: 3.1 Mesa 20.0.4 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Ensoniq ES1371/ES1373 / Creative Labs CT2518 driver: snd_ens1371 v: kernel bus ID: 02:02.0 
           chip ID: 1274:1371 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-26-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Intel 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI vendor: VMware Virtual Machine type: network bridge driver: N/A 
           port: 1060 bus ID: 00:07.3 chip ID: 8086:7113 
           Device-2: Intel 82545EM Gigabit Ethernet vendor: VMware PRO/1000 MT Single Port driver: e1000 
           v: 7.3.21-k8-NAPI port: 2000 bus ID: 02:01.0 chip ID: 8086:100f 
           IF: ens33 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 40.00 GiB used: 7.94 GiB (19.9%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: VMware model: Virtual S size: 40.00 GiB serial: N/A rev: 1.0 scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 38.63 GiB used: 7.94 GiB (20.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 
Sensors:   Message: No sensors data was found. Is sensors configured? 
Info:      Processes: 267 Uptime: 11m Memory: 7.75 GiB used: 915.5 MiB (11.5%) Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 
           Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash v: 5.0.16 running in: sshd (SSH) inxi: 3.0.38 

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dpkg -S /usr/bin/vmware-toolbox-cmd
open-vm-tools: /usr/bin/vmware-toolbox-cmd

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dpkg -l open-vm-tools
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version      Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-=============================================================
ii  open-vm-tools  2:11.0.5-4   amd64        Open VMware Tools for virtual machines hosted on VMware (CLI)

Where else can i look to further diagnose this symptom?


Thanks much.

[lmftw]

I've gone through comparisons, and only Linux Mint has this symptom with regards to vmware svga driver.

Ubuntu 20 - works
Debian 10 - works
Centos 8 - works

Linux Mint 20 - broken

[moonsurfer]

Glad I found this thread. I'm seeing the exact same issue.

I'm running a brand new install of Linux Mint 20. open-vm-tools and open-vm-tools-desktop look to be installed by default but the video driver is not working.

[moonsurfer]

Resolved the issue for me by enabling 3D Support for the VM:



I'll add that I am using ESXi 6.7 and not VMware Workstation.

@lmftw - While it seems you have this enabled already, perhaps by some VMware bug it's not really enabled. Check the VMX file and/or disable/enable 3D graphics support.

Last piece I'll mention is that even though I was getting the video hardware acceleration warning, I was still able to adjust the resolution by navigating to Home --> Preferences --> Display. I called Home the button at the bottom-left accessing the apps navigator (see below).

[lmftw]

Resolved the issue for me by enabling 3D Support for the VM:

@lmftw - While it seems you have this enabled already, perhaps by some VMware bug it's not really enabled. Check the VMX file and/or disable/enable 3D graphics support.

Last piece I'll mention is that even though I was getting the video hardware acceleration warning, I was still able to adjust the resolution by navigating to Home --> Preferences --> Display. I called Home the button at the bottom-left accessing the apps navigator (see below).

Yes, that setting to enable 3D graphics is turned on in VM setting,



I've also toggled this setting few times, no difference in the outcome.

And in the corresponding VM vmx file the enable 3D setting is set to TRUE, as expected (i have not togged this line though),



Yes, i noticed too that despite the warning (seems like false negative sign), i'm able to stretch, fit, autosize, resize guest vm display. And LM display matches to the vm display change from VMware Workstation.

[hohlik741]

Did anyone find a solution for that? I've already have enabled 3d support with VMSVGA graphics controller, but it still doesn't find my GPU .

[jmrharris]

On upgrading to 20.04 LTS I lost the ability to resize the screen under vmware.

It turned out that the vmwgfx driver was missing.

Installing the linux-modules-extra-xxxx package for my kernel resolved this and the open-vm-tools-desktop capabilities were restored.

I hope this helps.