Fix for “VMware kernel headers for version … not found”

When starting VMware on Ubuntu, if you see an error similar to the following:

VMware kernel headers for version ... not found

it is usually because the currently running Linux kernel is missing the kernel headers for the corresponding version. VMware needs these header files to compile or recompile kernel modules on the host machine.

Solution

First, confirm the current kernel version in the terminal:

uname -r

Then install the headers that exactly match the current kernel version:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

You can also specify the version manually, for example:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-3.5.0-25-generic

After installation, you can check whether the headers have been linked to the current kernel module directory:

ls -l /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build

If that path exists, restart VMware, or manually recompile the VMware modules:

sudo vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

If it still reports that the headers cannot be found, confirm that the kernel version the system booted into matches the installed headers version. If necessary, reboot the system so Ubuntu uses the newly installed or updated kernel.

Referer link:

http://www.vi-toolkit.com/wiki/index.php/Build_host_vmware_kernel_modules