Download the installer

Install VMware Workstation

Sign the kernel modules

Enroll the MOK key

References Last year, I wrote a guide on how to install VMware Workstation Pro on Ubuntu Desktop. Since then, I've learned there's an easier way to manually install and sign the vmmon and vmnet modules when attempting to run VMware Workstation Pro on a UEFI-based system with secure boot enabled. No more custom building of the modules required! The modules can be installed using VMware's installer, and you just need to manually sign them. Let's go through this process step by step. First off, Broadcom has decided to rename all its product release versions from the traditional major.minor.patch format to a year-based format. So instead of version 17.6.2, the latest release is now version 25H2. I'm more of a semantic release version kind of dude, but I can see how it's easier to get a sense of how old a release is when looking at the year-based format. Anyway, the steps to install VMware Workstation Pro 25H2 on Ubuntu Desktop are pretty much the same as before. Head over to the Broadcom support site, sign in, and find VMware Workstation Pro. Expand VMware Workstation Pro 25H2 for Linux and click on the latest release. Accept the terms and conditions and click on the download link to get the installer. If the checkbox is disabled, click on the Terms and Conditions link first. Head over to the terminal and navigate to the directory where the installer was downloaded. Make the installer executable. Open the VMware Workstation Pro application and go through the typical setup process, including accepting the license agreement. Create a new virtual machine (if you don't have one already) and attempt to power it on. You should see an error message indicating that the vmmon and vmnet modules are not loaded. You may also see an error message about several modules needing to be compiled and loaded into the kernel. In that case, click on the Install button to attempt to compile and load the modules. If you have secure boot enabled, you will likely see an error message indicating that the modules could not be loaded because they are not signed. This is expected behavior, and we will address this in the next steps. To ensure the vmmon and vmnet kernel modules are loaded, we need to manually sign them. Back in the terminal, run the following commands to ensure the modules exist and to get their paths: You should see output similar to the following: Next, we need to generate a signing key. Create a directory to store the key and run the following command: This command will generate a new RSA key pair and create a self-signed certificate. The private key will be saved as MOK.priv and the certificate will be saved as MOK.der. Next, sign the modules using the generated key: This command uses the sign-file script provided by the Linux kernel to sign the vmmon and vmnet modules with the generated key. Next, import the signing key into the MOK (Machine Owner Key) list: You will be prompted to create a password. This password will be used to enroll the key during the next reboot. Finally, reboot your system: During the reboot process, you will be prompted to enroll the MOK key. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the enrollment process. After enrolling the key, your system will continue to boot normally. You will be prompted to enter the password you created earlier during the key import process. With the key enrolled, the vmmon and vmnet modules should now be loaded successfully when you power on your virtual machine. Try powering on your virtual machine again, and you should see that it starts without any issues. That's it! You've successfully installed VMware Workstation Pro 25H2 on your Ubuntu Desktop and signed the necessary kernel modules to ensure they load properly with secure boot enabled 🥳 Keep your ~/vmware-keys/ directory safe. After a kernel update, the VMware modules will be recompiled and you'll need to re-sign them using the same sign-file commands from earlier. Hope this helps. Cheers! ✌️ Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Hide child comments as well For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse