Issue with VMWare on Ubuntu 20.04 after kernel change

Question

I have been using VMWare on Ubuntu for a while now and yesterday I received an error saying my /boot partition was full so I started googling how to fix this by removing unused headers

I ended up following the steps in this article to try and fix it, but today after booting up my system I started getting the following error:

I would normally get this error when doing a kernel change as I use secure boot and the modules need to be manually signed, but even after signing them and even after turning off secure boot the same issue appears. I followed the steps found here but this did not help either.

Below is the output of sudo vmware-modconfig --console --install-all:

Stopping VMware services:
   VMware Authentication Daemon[71G done
   Virtual machine monitor[71G done
make: Entering directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only'
/usr/bin/make -C /lib/modules/5.11.0-16-generic/build/include/.. M=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
  MODULEBUILDDIR= modules
make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-5.11.0-16-generic'
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/linux/driverLog.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/memtrack.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/apic.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/statVarsVmmon.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/sharedAreaVmmon.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/cpuid.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/task.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/crosspage.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/comport.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/common/phystrack.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/vmcore/moduleloop.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/bootstrap/monLoaderVmmon.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/bootstrap/monLoader.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/bootstrap/vmmblob.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/bootstrap/bootstrap.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/vmmon.o
  MODPOST /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/Module.symvers
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/vmmon.mod.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-5.11.0-16-generic'
/usr/bin/make -C $PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
  MODULEBUILDDIR= postbuild
make[1]: Entering directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only'
make[1]: 'postbuild' is up to date.
make[1]: Leaving directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only'
cp -f vmmon.ko ./../vmmon.o
make: Leaving directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmmon-only'
make: Entering directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only'
/usr/bin/make -C /lib/modules/5.11.0-16-generic/build/include/.. M=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
  MODULEBUILDDIR= modules
make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-5.11.0-16-generic'
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/driver.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/hub.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/userif.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/netif.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/bridge.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/procfs.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/smac_compat.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/smac.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/vnetEvent.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/vnetUserListener.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/vmnet.o
  MODPOST /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/Module.symvers
  CC [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/vmnet.mod.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only/vmnet.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-5.11.0-16-generic'
/usr/bin/make -C $PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. \
  MODULEBUILDDIR= postbuild
make[1]: Entering directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only'
make[1]: 'postbuild' is up to date.
make[1]: Leaving directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only'
cp -f vmnet.ko ./../vmnet.o
make: Leaving directory '/tmp/modconfig-xkkrDA/vmnet-only'
Starting VMware services:
   Virtual machine monitor[71Gfailed
   Virtual machine communication interface[71G done
   VM communication interface socket family[71G done
   Virtual ethernet[71Gfailed
   VMware Authentication Daemon[71G done

I also tried updating VMWare to version 16 but that did not help.

Also I always had the same issue with my displaylink adapter that I use for my two monitors and after yesterday's change that stopped working as well.

I since tried reverting my kernel back to linux-5.4.0-81 but when I boot using that it is stuck at the "Lenovo" boot screen and won't move any further.

I really hope someone knows how this can be fixed as it's really doing my head in. Thank you so much!