VMWare Server error 0xed00

Dec 30 13:08:21 hostname vmware-authd[13919]: The "/opt/vmware/server/lib/bin/vmware-vmx" process did not start properly. Exit 0xed00

I was getting the above on one of my old soon-to-be-replaced servers after it had crashed and been rebooted. I put VMWare server on it recently to run an SBS2003 image, as it runs perfectly on that machine's Duron and horribly on the Pentium3 of my normal VMWare box. VMWare + Pentium3 does not mix, as I have been slow to recognise.

Any, to cut the story short:
VMWare must see your ~/.vmware directory. Even if you are using the remote console, the machine running the VM needs to see the .vmware dir in the home directory of the user you are running the VM as.

I have a single /home shared over my network, and this machine - for reasons of very basic security - has never auto-mounted /home. When I set up VMWare, /home was there. After the reboot, /home wasn't.

If the error message had said that to start with, I might have got back to work an hour ago.