I am getting this error message in Linux Mint x64: How can I fix this? I am running it in VMware Workstation.

Thanks.

on a VM you only have the software defined card
the one you defined

no 3d acceleration

if you install a second 3d card you ? might? be able to pass that card through

maybe ?

Hello sniper8752

Bassicaly virtual machines are nothing more than a set of files "lying" to a certain os about what hardware it is dealing with. It is pretty easy to tell "lies" about RAM, HDD storage and CPU but if it comes down to grafics it gets pretty complicated. Grafic cards are more specialised pieces of hardware that perform well on producing a certain kind of data. There a even diffrent typs of graphic cards. It deffintly is a diffrent pair of boots wether you are procesing vidoes and animations, rendring racing games or CAD drawings. Meanwhile the CPU is more of a general purpose calculator, it performs numerical and logical task. If you do virtualisation you basicaly tell your CPU to do the graphic card for the guest operating system. This is like telling mason to do the plumbing and the electricity too. It will some how work out but it wont give you fantastic performance. This means you will get some 2D graphics for basic window rendering and stuf like that, which will be enough for most Desktop/Server oriented task in a VM.

If you want 3D graphics in a VM you need, as mentiond by John VV, to pass a graphic card to the VM. Which means that you need to install a second card into your host and pass this one on to your VM. Just out of interest: What do you want this VM to do?

Greetings paradoxon

The easiest solution IMHO would be to disable compositing in Cinnamon, presumably this would be a lighter load on your virtual machine. I belive this is done by going into Cinnamon Settings and disabling Desktop Effects, but since I am not a Cinnamon user myself, I am not 100% sure (so you should double-check the accuracy of my suggestion against the Mint documentation).

You do not need a separate videocard to use 3D in VMware workstation. What you have to do:
- Enable 3D acceleration in your VM's settings
- Make sure that the VMware video driver is installed. On Mint that should be the case by default, but to be sure install the VMware Tools inside the VM

Keep in mind that the speed and availability of features in the virtual video card will prevent you from playing newer games or run demanding 3D applications, but VMware's 3D driver is definitely good enough to run OpenGL accelerated desktop environments like Cinnamon.

I am not looking to use my VM for anything 3-d. Just more as a server. I did not know that it had to do anything with 3-d stuff. Is there a tutorial on how to install the tools? I clicked on it, and it says I need to extract and run it, but I can't seem to find it.