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Jaimi
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Error: Virtual machine appears to be in use

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?

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RDPetruska
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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.

View solution in original post

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27 Replies
RDPetruska
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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.

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Jaimi
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That worked - thank you, sir!

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shp
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I have the same problem,

where can i find the guest's folder??

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admin
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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.

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luvr
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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[/b] view of the virtual machine.

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admin
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It's the folder in which the configuration file is

located. You can identify the configuration file by

looking at the Summary[/b] view of the virtual

machine.

That only works if you can open the VM in the first place. Smiley Happy

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rdmeyers
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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?

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admin
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Did you do what RDPetruska said? And you don't have any other instances of Workstation running that have the VM open already?

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uts
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Removed the instances of Workstation, it works for me. Thank you

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Rimmer
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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 your .VMX file & do a File, open

\- Rename / Delete the .LCK directory in the VM's folder.

Anyone know what the LCK directory is for??

PaulG

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wbowley
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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! Smiley Happy

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wbowley
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Not a directory, but a file. Identical to the vmx but with an lck extension. Delete it, and the error disappears.

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RDPetruska
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>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.

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Flicka
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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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continuum
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Look at the filesize - there is no useful information stored in them.

They are created when VM opens a vmx or vmdk file so that a second VMware-instance knows that it should not open the file too.

Often VMware does not clean up properly and so sometimes you got to delete them manually.


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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Flicka
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That's what I figured... thanks for the quick reply.

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Aidaca
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When attempting to logoff a win2K VM, the VM crashed and I have been unable to restart the VM. There are no lck files, but I still receive the message about the machine being in use.

I found the lck files and folder. Took me a while to find them in the Roaming VM cache folder.

Message was edited by:

Aidaca

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PredatorVI
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When I had that problem, I had copied my VM's to a drive with more disk space, but forgot to delete the old ones and redirect the VMWare client to look in the new location. I inadvertently thought I was using the VM from the new location when I was actually using the old one (where the lck files were). I'd double check that this isn't your case.

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kasimcee
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Yes, I had the same issue and I just added a (*.old) (.old) so I can keep the folder in case I need it in the future and it worked. I really appreciate it as well and realize that VMware Communities is an excellent resource for wanting to use VMware vs. other VM applications. Thanks again!

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