Manually uninstalling VMware Workstation from Linux
VMWare Workstation doesn't ship in a deb, so it isn't registered in
dpkg (which is why you can't find it in the software center). It does
have an install and uninstall utility though.
To uninstall VMWare Workstation, you will need to run
To uninstall VMWare Workstation, you will need to run
#vmware-installer --uninstall-product vmware-workstation
Details
This article provides steps for manually removing VMware Workstation when the uninstaller script or RPM package fails to remove the product automatically.
Solution
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.
- 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.
- Shut down all VMware applications and services.
/etc/init.d/vmware stop
- 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.
- Move the VMware libraries to the
/tmpdirectory: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.
- Unload the kernel modules:
rmmod vmnet.o
rmmod vmmon.o
rmmod vmci.o
rmmod vmblock.o
rmmod vmppuser.o
- 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.
- 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*
- If an RPM package was used to install the VMware product, complete these steps to delete the RPM database entry:
rpm -qa | grep VMware
A list of VMware packages is presented. Copy the exact package name for the next step and paste it into the command where indicated.
- Remove the VMware packages:
rpm --erase --nodeps VMware_Package_Name
