Description:

Running standard Kernel 3.11.2-1-ARCH I get the error message

modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'vmw_vmci': Exec format error

when trying to insert the mentioned kernel module vmw_vmci which is owned by package 'linux'. It is inserted by the vmware script /etc/init.d/vmware that comes with VMWare Workstation or Player 6.0.0.

Oddly the module 'vmci' which is not owned by any package but comes with VMWare Player/Workstation Bundle seems to be enough to get VMWare working. However /etc/init.d/vmware tries to modprobe both: vmw_vmci AND vmci. The call fails, none of them is inserted, VMPlayer does not start any VMs.

So my questions are: What is the difference between the two modules and why can't I insert vmw_vmci?

Additional info:

> modinfo vmw_vmci
filename: /lib/modules/3.11.2-1-ARCH/kernel/drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmw_vmci.ko.gz
license: GPL v2
version: 1.0.0.0-k
description: VMware Virtual Machine Communication Interface.
author: VMware, Inc.
srcversion: B6694CCCB3919F14EAEF6BA
alias: pci:v000015ADd00000740sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:
intree: Y
vermagic: 3.11.2-1-ARCH SMP preempt mod_unload modversions
parm: disable_msi:Disable MSI use in driver - (default=0) (bool)
parm: disable_msix:Disable MSI-X use in driver - (default=0) (bool)
parm: disable_host:Disable driver host personality (default=enabled) (bool)
parm: disable_guest:Disable driver guest personality (default=enabled) (bool)

> file vmw_vmci.ko
vmw_vmci.ko: ELF 64-bit LSB relocatable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), BuildID[sha1]=1ab6b619a50bcd6953d6ae9a9611e05b3d71ab88, not stripped