VMWare Workstation 16 Launcher

README.md

VMWare Workstation for Linux v16 has issues related to memory fragmentation. This will cause the CPU to choke with 100% after a time. The scripts provided will allow you to fix this at launch of vmware on Linux.

Instructions:

1. Put vmware-workstation.sh to a good location on your computer like ~/bin or similar
2. Make vmware-workstation.sh executable
3. Edit vmware-workstation.desktop to have correct paths based on your setup
4. Open shell, cd to directory with .desktop file and run:

desktop-file-install --dir=$HOME/.local/share/applications ./vmware-workstation.desktop

The above will create a new desktop launcher that will open a terminal window initially, prompt for su , drop vm caches, compact vm memory and then launch vmware

After a few days of running VMs, the kcompacd0 issue may come back and if it does, hybernate or shutdown vms and bounce vmware.

vmware-workstation.desktop

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
# Home Path: <svn>/sys/shortcuts
# Installation:
# % desktop-file-install --dir=$HOME/.local/share/applications ./vmware-workstation.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=VMware Workstation
Comment=Run and manage virtual machines (fixed)
Exec=sh -c "/dpool/vcmain/sys/shortcuts/vmware-workstation.sh"
Terminal=true
Type=Application
Icon=vmware-workstation
StartupNotify=true
Categories=System;
MimeType=application/x-vmware-vm;application/x-vmware-team;application/x-vmware-enc-vm;x-scheme-handler/vmrc;

vmware-workstation.sh

#! /bin/sh
# See: https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/kcompacd0-using-100-CPU-with-VMware-Workstation-16/td-p/2896972
echo "Need sudo to drop caches and compact memory"
sudo sync
echo dropping caches ...
sudo sh -c 'echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches'
echo compacting memory ...
sudo sh -c 'echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/compact_memory'
echo launching vmware
/usr/bin/vmware