VMWare esxi 8 and Ubuntu 24.04 web console Black screen.

[roblange]

Describe the bug

Installed a new Ubuntu 24.04 desktop enabled vm on VMWare ESXi 8.0.2 and if I leave them and go in to the Web Console after a while there is just a black screen.

16 procs 16gb memory 200GB disk

I installed the vmtools version 12.3.5.46049 build-22544099 as the vmware tools did the same thing.

The vm is fully accessible via SSH during this time.

To see the desktop again, I would need to reset the vm on vmware while the web console is open.

I created 8 Ubuntu 24 VMs and all of them do the same thing.

If someone has any ideas please let me know.

Reproduction steps

1. install VMWare esxi 8 2.Install Ubuntu 24.04 (ubuntu-24.04-desktop-amd64.iso) 3.Patch OS fully and install SSH and disable firewall, restarted, . 4.Install vmtools version 12.3.5.46049 build-22544099
2. Logged out and left the vm.
3. 1 hour later, black screen that wont show desktop.

Expected behavior

If I leave them and go in to the Web Console after a while there is just a black screen on all of them. I have tried waiting for up to 10 minutes and still nothing appears.

Additional context

There are other servers and desktops running on the VMWare from windows 2019, Centos 7, ubuntu 20 and Debian 8. None of them have this issue but they are running the vmtools from the vmware esxi 8 standard issue which is version 10.

[rprabhud]

Hi, Thanks for reporting the issue. I have filed an internal bug with the relevant team for this issue. I have tested on my setup that this issue is seen only in Wayland session but not in X11. As a workaround you can try modifying the session to "Ubuntu on Xorg" before installing open-vm-tools. Thanks.

[roblange]

Thanks for the advice, I will try that today on one of the servers and see if it makes a difference.

[roblange]

So update on the issue. I changed the settings in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf to WaylandEnable=false on the Ubuntu 24.04 servers it has fixed the issue. I have monitored for the last 3 hours and all looks well. Thanks for the advice.

[amundead]

any update for this issue ?

[roblange]

As far as I have seen, no patch has been released for it. However the workaround is working fine. I just make sure the config change is done as soon as I create a new Ubuntu 24 server. The problem does not happen with VMWare version 6.7 or 7 as far as I can see when testing.

[sliddjur]

same issue here, ubuntu 24.04, but using esxi 7.0 u2

[vincenthoehn]

Same issue and same environment as @sliddjur. The config change solved the issue, but a patch would be great!

[richardlrzjw]

So update on the issue. I changed the settings in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf to WaylandEnable=false on the Ubuntu 24.04 servers it has fixed the issue. I have monitored for the last 3 hours and all looks well. Thanks for the advice.

I have done the same way as you did , use WaylandEnable=false /etc/gdm3/custom.conf and after I reboot I can not even restart the server and I have tested onexsi 8 and exsi 6.7 , behaves same. I am using ubuntu 24 LTS desktop version. instead of the pure black screen, I can see the flash line at upper left corner no matter how many time I rebooted or did the cold start up.

[LukeG25]

So update on the issue. I changed the settings in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf to WaylandEnable=false on the Ubuntu 24.04 servers it has fixed the issue. I have monitored for the last 3 hours and all looks well. Thanks for the advice.

I have done the same way as you did , use WaylandEnable=false /etc/gdm3/custom.conf and after I reboot I can not even restart the server and I have tested onexsi 8 and exsi 6.7 , behaves same. I am using ubuntu 24 LTS desktop version. instead of the pure black screen, I can see the flash line at upper left corner no matter how many time I rebooted or did the cold start up.

I am experiencing the same issue as @richardlrzjw setting WaylandEnable=false in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf does not solve the problem, it leads to VM displaying only a black screen.

[nizammmusa]

issue also happens on centos stream 10 where the only option is wayland. no more xorg in centos stream 10 to fallback to. probably will also affect rhel 10 in the future

[zarandija]

So update on the issue. I changed the settings in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf to WaylandEnable=false on the Ubuntu 24.04 servers it has fixed the issue. I have monitored for the last 3 hours and all looks well. Thanks for the advice.

Work for me.

[jbravo94]

For me only works to restart gdm with sudo systemctl restart gdm

[LukeG25]

For me only works to restart gdm with sudo systemctl restart gdm

Yes that solves the issue, but only temporarily as issue re-occurs again after a while

[jbravo94]

@LukeG25

I think found a workaround which works for my scenario where I autologin into the desktop and trigger the lockscreen:

sudo apt install -y dconf-editor sudo apt install -y gnome-shell-extension-manager

On the left window I disabled many power settings within dconf-editor On the right windows I installed unblank gnome extension

Maybe you try as well for your use case?

[LukeG25]

@LukeG25

I think found a workaround which works for my scenario where I autologin into the desktop and trigger the lockscreen:

sudo apt install -y dconf-editor sudo apt install -y gnome-shell-extension-manager

On the left window I disabled many power settings within dconf-editor On the right windows I installed unblank gnome extension

Maybe you try as well for your use case?

Hi @jbravo94

Yes that is a good workaround. However, ideally Ubuntu solves this issue from their end without having to resort to a workaround.

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

[synosyno8]

Changing the settings in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf to WaylandEnable=false worked well.

[erikgieseler]

The problem also exists with AlmaLinux 10 under ESXi 7. Changing the settings in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf to WaylandEnable=false does not work as a workaround.

[rprabhud]

Issue is fixed in fixed in Ubuntu 25.04. Please check https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/+bug/2089709

[LukeG25]

Issue is fixed in fixed in Ubuntu 25.04. Please check https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/+bug/2089709

So it will not be fixed in Ubuntu 24.04?

[johnwvmw]

@LukeG25 Please read through the above mentioned Ubuntu bug. This is not an open-vm-tools issue. It has been reported on hardware and on other hypervisors.

The status given between comment #95 and #96 indicates that a fix should be available (from Ubuntu) for both 24.04 (Noble) and 25.04 (Plucky)

[LukeG25]

@LukeG25 Please read through the above mentioned Ubuntu bug. This is not an open-vm-tools issue. It has been reported on hardware and on other hypervisors.

The status given between comment #95 and #96 indicates that a fix should be available (from Ubuntu) for both 24.04 (Noble) and 25.04 (Plucky)

I have updated the Ubuntu system and the issue still persists.

[johnwvmw]

Sorry to hear that specific Ubuntu fix has not resolved your problem.

As stated previously, this is not an open-vm-tools issue.
Please work with the Ubuntu support either:

• on the above mentioned launchpabd.net bug report
• or open at new bug report at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/

Best Regards, John

[nayeem2345]

Issue is fixed in fixed in Ubuntu 25.04. Please check https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/+bug/2089709

I can reproduce the issue on Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky puffin) , i see a blackscreen after deploying a ubuntu 25.04 vm on ESXi /vCenter 8.0

Issue is not fixed in Ubuntu 25.04