Mastodawn

If you're trying to run Remnux on KVM by loading the OVA:

To get network access: KVM changes the network adapter name, so you've got to change the config in /etc/netplan, replacing the old vmware adapter (like enss0) with whatever the new one is and then reboot. You can use networkctl to find the non-loopback adapter name (like en1ps0)

The Remnux docs also say to run "remnux install" after loading into KVM to install spice and other tools. When I do that, it makes the VM worse: cursor disappears, resolution gets jacked.

Instead, installing spice-vdagent using apt gets you all the nice stuff like dynamic resolution and copy-paste. Afterwards, if you try to use remnux-install, it will again break the vm tools inside the VM. I'm unsure the cause.

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Jimmy Wylie Mar 10

Separate but related, when did VMware and Virtual Box get so terrible on Linux? I used to use them all the time, but with secure boot, installing either of them is not so straightforward. I gave up on VMWare after a few hours of trying to figure out the which combination of software version, user-provided patches, and kernel version to install.

I realized later that I had forgotten to sign keys for secure boot. You'd think the installer would at least give you a warning.

Virtual Box on the other hand, told me I had to sign its kernel modules, had me go through the process, and then failed to install. (via apt). Downloading the deb appeared to fix it, but the actual VM experience wasn't great.

KVM on the other hand, installs (optionally) with the Kubuntu installer, and worked fine out the box.

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Ichinin

✅🎯🙄Mar 10

@mayahustle What product are you talking about? If you are talking about Workstation, i installed that (v17.6.4) just fine with pretty much almost nothing that had to be done under Debian 13, just a oneliner to get the Linux headers installed for it to run.

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Jimmy Wylie Mar 10

VMware workstation was the one I had issues with. I needed to sign the vmnet and vmmon drivers so secure boot wouldn’t reject them. This was the main problem on Debian 13 anyhow.
On Kubuntu 24.04, on kernel 6.17, I had that same problem + hiccups building those same modules. (https://www.lucaswilliams.net/index.php/2025/11/25/building-the-vmware-workstation-modules-on-ubuntu-24-04-with-secure-boot-enabled/)

I’ve since figured out where I went wrong, but by that point, I already had KVM up and running 🤷‍♂️

Seeing as I didn’t strictly need VMware, I didn’t see any point in trying it again. But, I wish the VMware installer gave you more of a heads up. Def would have saved me time and headache.

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Ichinin

✅🎯🙄Mar 10

@mayahustle Ok. I guess the secure boot thing was the issue then.

I installed Deb on a new laptop, no secure boot. All i did was to pull down the bundle file, su (not sudo), install the headers using:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers.$(uname -R)

And then check for the Workstation icon, pin it to dash and i was done.

The enshittification of VMware and VirtualBox were guaranteed when they were acquired by Broadcom and Oracle, the graveyards of tech.