How to run Vmware player as root?

Question

I want to use a physical disk in Vmware Player. To do that I need to run Vmware Player as root. How do I do that?

I have tried to start it via terminal but no luck. I have tried to start it via gksu but no luck.

Solution 1

According to this answer, gksu is now deprecated. And according to a couple of Ubuntu bug reports, it appears this is the case.

You can just use sudo to open vmware player as root:

% sudo -i vmplayer &

To open vmware workstation as root:

% sudo -i vmware &

Another options is to just switch to su:

% sudo su
% vmplayer &

Or workstation:

% sudo su
% vmware &

Solution 2

The actual command for launching vmware player from the terminal is vmplayer, That is why it wasn't launching for you. To launch vmware player as root just run the following command from the terminal.

gksu vmplayer

I know you found a workaround for your problem but I hope this helps anyway.

Also it is apparently not advisable to run desktop virtualization software as root so please keep that in mind (I was told about this in the comments).

Comments

[Ron]

Are you getting any errors or does it almost immediately exit upon startup?

[Rumesh]

what command are you using to launch vmware?

[jse71]

It didnt launch at all. I tried sudo Vmware / sudo Vmware-player etc. But, i finally remembered how i did it last time, i just run "gksu nautilus" and then navigate to the appfolder where Vmware is, and launch it from there. Thanks for your time and answers though, have a great Friday :)

[guntbert]

You should at least add the warning that all VM providers agree on: "don't run a desktop virtualization product as root, ever"

[Rumesh]

oh I wasnt aware of that sorry ill add it in

[jse71]

Thanks! Thats much easier for sure, i just hope i remember it the next time. - Guntbert: You have to run as root if youre going to install the virtual pc on a physical disk, like i did.

[Thorsten Niehues]

@guntbert why not rund vmware as root - and what other options are available to use a physical disk?

[Thorsten Niehues]

Assuming that /dev/sda2 is the dist of the guest OS then is sudo chmod o+rw /dev/sda2 an option?

[Adam Plocher]

Well fortunately we've all been told how it's horrible to run as root. Of course, alternatives and reasons why were withheld, but hey... It is very likely the case, but on a private workstation, I'm not too worried about. More importantly is making the damn vmware icon work (which, with my current misconfig'ed system, involves making it run under root)