The previous version 12.0.0 has been completely uninstalled; no other vmware product on the host.
#vmplayer
No error message at CLI.
From the log: "Failed to connect to the existing arbitrator."
2015-11-25T11:09:26.490+01:00| usbArb| I125: Log for VMware USB Arbitration Service pid=1261 version=12.0.1 build=build-3127166 option=Release
2015-11-25T11:09:26.490+01:00| usbArb| I125: The process is 64-bit.
2015-11-25T11:09:26.490+01:00| usbArb| I125: Host codepage=UTF-8 encoding=UTF-8
2015-11-25T11:09:26.490+01:00| usbArb| I125: Host is Linux 4.2.0-18-generic Ubuntu 15.10
2015-11-25T11:09:26.453+01:00| usbArb| I125: VTHREAD initialize main thread 3 "usbArb" tid 1261
2015-11-25T11:09:26.453+01:00| usbArb| I125: DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/usr/lib/vmware/settings": No such file or directory.
2015-11-25T11:09:26.453+01:00| usbArb| I125: PREF Optional preferences file not found at /usr/lib/vmware/settings. Using default values.
2015-11-25T11:09:26.453+01:00| usbArb| I125: Could not expand environment variable HOME.
2015-11-25T11:09:26.453+01:00| usbArb| I125: DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "~/.vmware/config": No such file or directory.
2015-11-25T11:09:26.453+01:00| usbArb| I125: PREF Optional preferences file not found at ~/.vmware/config. Using default values.
2015-11-25T11:09:26.453+01:00| usbArb| I125: Could not expand environment variable HOME.
2015-11-25T11:09:26.453+01:00| usbArb| I125: PREF Disabling user preferences because disableUserPreferences is set.
2015-11-25T11:09:26.453+01:00| usbArb| I125: PREF Failed to load user preferences.
2015-11-25T11:09:28.905+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT --- GLOBAL SETTINGS /usr/lib/vmware/settings
2015-11-25T11:09:28.905+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT --- NON PERSISTENT
2015-11-25T11:09:28.905+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT --- USER PREFERENCES
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT --- USER DEFAULTS ~/.vmware/config
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT --- HOST DEFAULTS /etc/vmware/config
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT NETWORKING = "yes"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT VMBLOCK_CONFED = "yes"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT gksu.rootMethod = "su"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT libdir = "/usr/lib/vmware"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT VMCI_CONFED = "yes"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT VSOCK_CONFED = "yes"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT initscriptdir = "/etc/init.d"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT authd.fullpath = "/usr/sbin/vmware-authd"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT bindir = "/usr/bin"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT installerDefaults.componentDownloadEnabled = "yes"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT installerDefaults.autoSoftwareUpdateEnabled.epoch = "8829457160"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT vix.config.version = "1"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT player.product.version = "12.0.1"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT installerDefaults.dataCollectionEnabled.epoch = "3961949418"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT installerDefaults.dataCollectionEnabled = "no"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT installerDefaults.transferVersion = "1"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT installerDefaults.autoSoftwareUpdateEnabled = "yes"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT product.buildNumber = "3160714"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT --- SITE DEFAULTS /usr/lib/vmware/config
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.help = "introduction.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.configurationEditor = "config_editor_newvm.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.ideConfig = "devices_virtualdrive.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.floppyConfig = "devices_floppy.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.mouseConfig = "devices_mouse.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.netConfig = "devices_netadapter.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.parallelConfig = "devices_parallel.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.serialConfig = "devices_serial.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.soundConfig = "devices_sound.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.memConfig = "configvm_memory.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.miscConfig = "configvm.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.usbConfig = "devices_usb.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.displayConfig = "configvm_display-problems.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: DICT tag.tools = "vmtools.htm"
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: USBArbRuleStore: Loading device rules from '/etc/vmware/usbarb.rules'.
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: VMware USB Arbitration Service Version 15.1.6
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: USBGL: USB Sysfs found at /dev/bus/usb
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: USBArb: Attempting to connect to existing arbitrator on /var/run/vmware/usbarbitrator-socket.
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: SOCKET creating new socket, connecting to /var/run/vmware/usbarbitrator-socket
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: SOCKET connect failed, error 2: No such file or directory
2015-11-25T11:09:28.906+01:00| usbArb| I125: USBArb: Failed to connect to the existing arbitrator.