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22 Replies Last post: Nov 10, 2008 7:52 AM by BMIVM
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Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use

May 21, 2007 8:00 AM

Click to view Jaimi's profile Novice Jaimi 19 posts since
Aug 30, 2006
This morning when I went to open my virtual machine (WS6.0), I got the following error:

Could not open virtual machine: C:\VM\Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition.vmx. This virtual machine appears to be in use.

I booted just this morning, so nothing else can be using it - I also verified that it wasn't running in the task manager. Is there anything I can do to get this back up?
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use May 21, 2007 8:34 AM
Click to view RDPetruska's profile Guru RDPetruska 13,873 posts since
Jan 11, 2005 Moderator
Yes, if you are certain that the guest is truly not running, go to the guest's folder and delete any .lck files and folders.
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use May 21, 2007 9:43 AM
in response to: RDPetruska
Click to view Jaimi's profile Novice Jaimi 19 posts since
Aug 30, 2006
That worked - thank you, sir!
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use May 24, 2007 11:00 AM
in response to: RDPetruska
Click to view shp's profile Lurker shp 1 posts since
May 24, 2007
I have the same problem,
where can i find the guest's folder??
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use May 24, 2007 11:04 AM
in response to: shp
Click to view jameslin's profile Master jameslin 978 posts since
Jan 31, 2005 VMware
I have the same problem,
where can i find the guest's folder??

The error message should say something like:

Could not open virtual machine: C:\VM\Windows Server 2003 Enterprise
Edition.vmx. This virtual machine appears to be in use.

which tells you where the VM is located.
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use May 24, 2007 11:04 AM
in response to: shp
Click to view luvr's profile Novice luvr 11 posts since
Apr 30, 2007
where can i find the guest's folder??

It's the folder in which the configuration file is located. You can identify the configuration file by looking at the Summary view of the virtual machine.
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use May 24, 2007 11:33 AM
in response to: luvr
Click to view jameslin's profile Master jameslin 978 posts since
Jan 31, 2005 VMware
It's the folder in which the configuration file is
located. You can identify the configuration file by
looking at the Summary view of the virtual
machine.

That only works if you can open the VM in the first place. :)
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use Jun 5, 2007 7:28 PM
Click to view rdmeyers's profile Lurker rdmeyers 1 posts since
May 30, 2007
I am having the same problem with Backtrack2. Does anyone have an answer to this issue?
I just booted up and it gave me this same error.
"Virtual machine appears to be in use"

Any Help?
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use Jun 5, 2007 7:39 PM
in response to: rdmeyers
Click to view jameslin's profile Master jameslin 978 posts since
Jan 31, 2005 VMware
Did you do what RDPetruska said? And you don't have any other instances of Workstation running that have the VM open already?
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use Jun 16, 2007 9:04 PM
in response to: jameslin
Click to view uts's profile Lurker uts 1 posts since
Jun 16, 2007
Removed the instances of Workstation, it works for me. Thank you
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use Jul 25, 2007 2:15 AM
Click to view Rimmer's profile Lurker Rimmer 4 posts since
May 6, 2006
I've experienced this problem too. After shutting down normally, when I booted up my PC all of my VM tabs were gone (seen this in 4.x & 5.x dont know why). Usually the solution is just to re-open the VM - but this does not work with 6.0. Even VMs not used for weeks failed 'in use'.

I have found 2 workarounds to the problem:
- Rename / Delete the .LCK directory in the VM's folder.

Anyone know what the LCK directory is for??

PaulG
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use Aug 7, 2007 10:41 AM
in response to: RDPetruska
Click to view wbowley's profile Lurker wbowley 2 posts since
Aug 7, 2007
A thousand thanks, sir! I have a number of Wksta 5.5 virtual machines that I have hundreds of hours of testing on. I was getting extremely frustrated until I searched the forums and found your post. Thanks again! :)
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use Aug 7, 2007 10:46 AM
in response to: Rimmer
Click to view wbowley's profile Lurker wbowley 2 posts since
Aug 7, 2007
Not a directory, but a file. Identical to the vmx but with an lck extension. Delete it, and the error disappears.
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use Aug 7, 2007 10:51 AM
in response to: Rimmer
Click to view RDPetruska's profile Guru RDPetruska 13,873 posts since
Jan 11, 2005 Moderator
Anyone know what the LCK directory is for??
Newer methods used by Workstation 6, instead of the older lock files. I'm not sure of the reasoning... you can search for some threads where KevinG posted some explanations of this if you're really interested.
Reply Re: Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use Sep 8, 2007 10:36 AM
in response to: RDPetruska
Click to view Flicka's profile Enthusiast Flicka 45 posts since
Feb 12, 2005
Is there any important information in the .lck files that is worth keeping to help restore a VM that might have been damaged? My host locked up and I had to cold boot it, which left the .lck files in place and kept the VM from restarting.

I assume these lock files only contain transient info, but it would be good to know if they are worth saving...

Thanks!
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