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GUI Junkie
Asked: 2012-07-03 07:35:05 +0800 CST

How do I allow a standard user to update the kernel modules for VMware?

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I've set up VMWare Player for my wife. Every once in a while (notably after a kernel update), the VMWare Player needs to be compiled into the kernel.

My spouse does not have su- activated (if anybody screws up the OS, it's going to be me). I'd like to give her permission to do this, but only for that program.

Is this possible? Can it be done safely (for the OS)? How can it be done?

Edit: I tried to add the following to visudo

guijunkette ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/vmware-modconfig

When running with her user, after typing her password, the following error occurred: Error

So, in the end, no cigar.

Edit: I've given up on VMWare Player and moved to VirtualBox. Made a clean install.

sudo

1 Answers

  1. Note: If you want VMWare Player to perform the update automatically, I don't think it's possible via sudoers; that's because VMWare uses its own graphical sudo front-end to check if the user has unrestricted sudo privileges...

    A trace shows that this is how the GUI update is called when you start VMWare Player and it detects a new kernel:

    /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-gksu --sudo-mode --message=Please enter your password to proceed. '/usr/bin/vmware-modconfig' --icon='vmware-player' --appname='VMware' --gcc='/usr/bin/gcc' --headers='/lib/modules/3.2.0-27-generic/build/include'

    As you've already tried, even simply adding /usr/bin/vmware-modconfig doesn't work.

    We'll assume your spouse's username is guijunkette. The script to manage the VMWare kernel modules is /usr/bin/vmware-modconfig; in light of the note above, it's best to explicitly invoke this from the terminal; to make life easier for your wife, I have included a desktop shortcut so that she needn't even open the terminal.

    1. sudo visudo

    2. Around line 25, below the line %sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL, insert:

      guijunkette  ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/vmware-modconfig --console --install-all

    3. Exit the editor

    To rebuild the modules, she can now run sudo vmware-modconfig --console --install-all without being asked for a password.

    Desktop Shortcut

    What you can do is create the following desktop file in your wife's ~/Desktop folder, and whenever VMWare Player flashes the "You must..." message, ask her to click Cancel, run this shortcut, and then start VMware Player (successfully) again:

    [Desktop Entry]
Name=Update VMWare Modules
GenericName=VMWare Updater
Comment=Update VMWare modules for a new kernel (console mode)
Exec=sudo vmware-modconfig --console --install-all
Terminal=true
Icon=/usr/lib/vmware/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/actions/vm-upload.png
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true

    Paste this into, e.g. /home/guijunkette/Desktop/vmwareupdater.desktop, and remember to chmod +x it.

    Here's a demo:

    enter image description here

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