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7 Replies Last post: Feb 27, 2008 8:54 PM by etung

Can't start VM due to Permission Denied error posted: Feb 27, 2008 4:06 AM

damax99

11 posts since
Dec 8, 2007

I'm unable to start a VM under my user name because I get an error "Cannot open file "/Users/Shared/Virtual Machines.localized/Windows Vista.vmwarevm/Windows Vista.vmx": Permission denied." I am able to start this VM under a different user name. I've done a "Show Package Contents" of all files within the VM and have set all of them to Read & Write permissions. I noticed that some files show my user name as the owner and some are shown with the other (working) user as the owner. The .vmx file belongs to the other user.

My problems began when the other user had some issues with the VM being "hung up" and it also looks like the day before, a snapshot was taken under this user name. Initially when I logged in I was getting an error about "File Not Found: Windows Vista-000001.vmdk, etc..". That's when I found it appeared that a snapshot was taken so I reverted to the snapshot, then discarded it. Since then, I'm getting the Permission Denied error, which I find confusing because all files in the VM are Read & Write for Everyone.

The is version 1.1.1 and I just re-installed it again but my user still cannot open it.

My system is a 24" iMac. 4GB RAM. Thanks in advance.

Re: Can't start VM due to Permission Denied error

1. Feb 27, 2008 5:16 AM

in response to: damax99

WoodyZ

11,042 posts since
Apr 22, 2004

I would open a Terminal to the Bundle Package and use the chmod command as follows: $ chmod 777 asterisk dot asterisk

I would also run chmod 777 on the Bundle Package Folder itself.

Note: This message board sucks sometimes as I can not get the asterisk dot asterisk characters to show as properly typed! So type the asterisk dot asterisk characters when you type the command!

Re: Can't start VM due to Permission Denied error

2. Feb 27, 2008 10:12 AM

in response to: WoodyZ

etung

11,294 posts since
Oct 15, 2006

Note: This message board sucks sometimes as I can not get the asterisk dot asterisk characters to show as properly typed!

You could get {noformat}chmod 777 *.*{noformat} by using the { noformat } tag (no spaces).

Re: Can't start VM due to Permission Denied error

3. Feb 27, 2008 7:09 PM

in response to: etung

damax99

11 posts since
Dec 8, 2007

Success! Many thanks WoodyZ! Initially I ran chmod on the bundle from my user name and it didn't work - I was getting "Operation not permitted" on each of the files. However, I ran chmod from the user name where the VM would work and I didn't get the error. I was then able to load the VM from my user name, which I had not been able to do.

For the benefit of others, here is what worked:

Macintosh:~ Lynda$ cd /Users
Macintosh:Users Lynda$ cd Shared
Macintosh:Shared Lynda$ cd 'Virtual Machines.localized'
Macintosh:Virtual Machines.localized Lynda$ chmod 777 .
Macintosh:Virtual Machines.localized Lynda$ ls -l
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 4 dave dave 136 Dec 9 00:53 Clean Backups
drwxrwxrwx@ 12 dave dave 408 Feb 27 21:58 Windows Vista.vmwarevm
Macintosh:Virtual Machines.localized Lynda$ cd 'Windows Vista.vmwarevm'
Macintosh:Windows Vista.vmwarevm Lynda$ chmod 777 .
Macintosh:Windows Vista.vmwarevm Lynda$

When I tried this under my user name, here were the errors I received:

Macintosh:Virtual Machines.localized dave$ chmod 777 .
Macintosh:Virtual Machines.localized dave$ cd 'Windows Vista.vmwarevm'
Macintosh:Windows Vista.vmwarevm dave$ chmod 777 .
chmod: Windows Vista.nvram: Operation not permitted
chmod: Windows Vista.vmx: Operation not permitted
chmod: Windows Vista.vmxf: Operation not permitted
chmod: vmware-0.log: Operation not permitted
chmod: vmware-1.log: Operation not permitted
chmod: vmware-2.log: Operation not permitted
chmod: vmware.log: Operation not permitted

Now that I think of it, it would have been interesting to do ls-l on the bundle before running chmod just to see the before and after.

Re: Can't start VM due to Permission Denied error

4. Feb 27, 2008 7:29 PM

in response to: damax99

WoodyZ

11,042 posts since
Apr 22, 2004

You probably could have done it under your account using sudo...

$ sudo chmod 777 .

Edit: Okay I tried using etung's suggestion "using the { noformat } tag (no spaces)." to get asterisk dot asterisk to show as typed and even in Preview it would show the typed characters correctly however once posted, once again BS!

Re: Can't start VM due to Permission Denied error

5. Feb 27, 2008 8:34 PM

in response to: WoodyZ

etung

11,294 posts since
Oct 15, 2006

Edit: Okay I tried using etung's suggestion "using the { noformat } tag (no spaces)." to get asterisk dot asterisk to show as typed and even in Preview it would show the typed characters correctly however once posted, once again BS!

Did you put them both before and after the text? I mean, proof by example:

{noformat}$ sudo chmod 777 *.*{noformat}

Re: Can't start VM due to Permission Denied error

6. Feb 27, 2008 8:55 PM

in response to: etung

WoodyZ

11,042 posts since
Apr 22, 2004

etung wrote:

Edit: Okay I tried using etung's suggestion "using the { noformat } tag (no spaces)." to get asterisk dot asterisk to show as typed and even in Preview it would show the typed characters correctly however once posted, once again BS!

Did you put them both before and after the text? I mean, proof by example:

$ sudo chmod 777 .

Yes I did!

However what really pisses me off is I write most of my replies in a Text Editor or using DNS in Word and then copy and paste into the Reply window. Everything show as I typed it even from the Preview tab yet once posted it not as typed or Previewed and frankly I get real tired of having to deal with crap like this when I'm trying to help someone else with their issue. I wish the message board would work like all the others I post to and that is display what's typed period!

Edit: Also it would be real nice if VMware would fix whatever the problem is that VMware can't even keep these Forums online for 24 hours without some problem or another causing us to not be able to access it several time a day some days! It's really starting to get old!

Re: Can't start VM due to Permission Denied error

7. Feb 27, 2008 8:54 PM

in response to: WoodyZ

etung

11,294 posts since
Oct 15, 2006

I'd post about it over in http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/suggest/newsite - a plaintext/no-markup mode could be useful, though I think the web team has a more pressing problems to focus on in the near term (stability, speed, redesign).

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