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11 Replies Last post: Jan 22, 2008 7:14 AM by Gryzor  

"It appears that other virtual machines are running" problem posted: Dec 30, 2006 3:33 AM

Click to view Uli Zappe's profile Enthusiast
Uli Zappe
44 posts since
Dec 27, 2006
Hi all,

I've just started to experiment with the Fusion beta. The first thing I'm trying to do is to get OPENSTEP running, which is what I basically want Fusion for.

Very early on in my experimentation I obviously did something I shouldn't have done, since from then on, each time I start an existing virtual machine or try to create a new one, I get the following message:

"It appears that other virtual machines are running"

However, there aren't any other virtual machines running.

Now, my real problem is that I cannot get OPENSTEP to work properly in screen resolutions other than VGA since the graphics driver says it can't allocate the necessary resources. Since I know that other people were successful in using the same driver and exactly the same settings as I do, and since the message from above suggests that resources may be shared among the virtual machines, I suspect this could be the problem, and want to get rid of these "other virtual machines running" which in fact do not exist.

However, I can't. No matter what I try (restarting Fusion, rebooting my Mac, etc.) I always get this "It appears that other virtual machines are running". Can someone please tell me how to get rid of this?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Bye

Uli

Re: "It appears that other virtual machines are running" problem

1. Dec 30, 2006 8:41 AM in response to: Uli Zappe
Click to view brianriceca's profile Master VMware Employees
brianriceca
982 posts since
Oct 11, 2003
It sounds like you have two unrelated problems.

One is the mysterious "It appears that other virtual machines are running" message. I am not sure what algorithm we use to detect that condition, so I can't help much here, other than to suggest looking at Activity Monitor or "ps aux" for processes named "vmware".

But that probably has no impact on your other problem. I can't think of any resources shared among virtual machines that would cause it.

OPENSTEP is not a supported guest OS, which means that VMware supplies no version of VMware Tools for it. You need the SVGA driver included with VMware Tools in order to get bigger screen resolutions.

Your message suggests that you have gotten OPENSTEP working previously with SVGA resolutions, which means that someone has ported the SVGA driver to OPENSTEP and included it in the VM image he or she gave you. When you say that you know other people were successful, do you mean that they got it to work on Fusion, or on other platforms?

Anyway, assuming that you somehow have an SVGA driver in your OPENSTEP image, you could try giving the VM more video memory. To do that, add a line like this to your .vmx file while the VM is powered off:

svga.vramSize = 67108864

The value after the = is the amount of video memory in bytes. The value 67108864 is 64 MB, instead of the default, which is 16.

Another unrelated experiment: If you have access to a Windows or Linux host, you might try the same VM under the Workstation 6 beta and see whether the results differ.

Re: "It appears that other virtual machines are running" problem

2. Dec 30, 2006 2:57 PM in response to: Uli Zappe
Click to view rcardona2k's profile Champion vExpert
rcardona2k
5,543 posts since
Oct 20, 2005
"It appears that other virtual machines are running"

This problem is certainly odd. I tried leaving file locks for VMs, having bogus vmware-vmx-debug processes running and re-creating the socket files under /var/run/vmware and none of these trigger that message. For me only another VM truly running gives me the message. Also opened or suspended VMs do not matter.

I tried some unsavory things like killing the Fusion GUI and killing a vmware-vmx process hoping something would be left behind, but the message still didn't appear.

What exactly do you recall triggered this?

Re: "It appears that other virtual machines are running" problem

3. Dec 31, 2006 5:03 AM in response to: brianriceca
Click to view Uli Zappe's profile Enthusiast
Uli Zappe
44 posts since
Dec 27, 2006
It sounds like you have two unrelated problems.

It seems you are right.

One is the mysterious "It appears that other virtual
machines are running" message. I am not sure what
algorithm we use to detect that condition, so I can't
help much here, other than to suggest looking at
Activity Monitor or "ps aux" for processes named
"vmware".

Turns out I had these "zombie" processes running for whatever reason:

root 9391 0.0 -1.3 380848 26848 ?? S Wed10PM 3:27.69 /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-vmx-debug -# product=1;name=VMware Fusion;version=e.x.p;licensename=VMware Fusion for Mac OS;licenseversion=6.0 build-36932; -@ pipe=/var/tmp//vmware-uli/vmx4be3ae705a0f29b6;readyEvent=25 /U
root 11026 0.0 -0.4 62956 8676 ?? S Sat01AM 0:03.64 /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-vmx-debug -# product=1;name=VMware Fusion;version=e.x.p;licensename=VMware Fusion for Mac OS;licenseversion=6.0 build-36932; -@ pipe=/var/tmp//vmware-uli/vmx706ed0f2f319fcc3;readyEvent=25 /U

Quitting VMware Fusion wouldn't kill them. I had to do it via Terminal, then everything was OK.

OPENSTEP is not a supported guest OS,

I know, but it's a shame! NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP was probably the most advanced operating system ever (relative to the time of its release), it's the system on which the web was developed, and it's the direct ancestor of Mac OS X, which makes it especially interesting for users of VMware Fusion on Mac OS X.

which means
that VMware supplies no version of VMware Tools for
it. You need the SVGA driver included with VMware
Tools in order to get bigger screen resolutions.

Thankfully, people outside of VMware have developed a complete set of OPENSTEP drivers for VMware, including an SVGA driver. The drivers don't work perfectly, but basically, they work. Should VMware ever decide to officially support OPENSTEP (as Parallels does), they could easily build upon this work (the drivers are all open source).

Anyway, assuming that you somehow have an SVGA driver
in your OPENSTEP image, you could try giving the VM
more video memory. To do that, add a line like this
to your .vmx file while the VM is powered off:

svga.vramSize = 67108864


That was indeed the issue! After adding this line, everything works as it should! :-)

(I guess this is a value that will be configurable in the GUI later on.)

Thanks a lot for your help! I would have never been able to figure that out by myself at the current state of Fusion's GUI.

Bye

Uli

Re: "It appears that other virtual machines are running" problem

4. Dec 31, 2006 5:15 AM in response to: rcardona2k
Click to view Uli Zappe's profile Enthusiast
Uli Zappe
44 posts since
Dec 27, 2006
This problem is certainly odd. I tried leaving file
locks for VMs, having bogus vmware-vmx-debug
processes running and re-creating the socket files
under /var/run/vmware and none of these trigger that
message. For me only another VM truly running gives
me the message. Also opened or suspended VMs do not
matter.

It's probably the typical "absolute beginner" phenomenon. I managed to produce this issue during the first hour of ever using VMware, so I probably did something no user with a little experience would do ...

What exactly do you recall triggered this?

Unfortunately, my "absolute beginner" status also means I have no recollection whatsoever of what I did.

See my other reply for what processes exactly provoked these messages. However, I have no idea why these processes were running (even after quitting Fusion), and if they will reappear at some point in the future.

Note, however, that I'm not the only one with this problem. There was another (unsolved) thread on the vmware forums (http://www.vmware.com/community/message.jspa?messageID=124080).

Bye

Uli

Re: "It appears that other virtual machines are running" problem

5. Jan 2, 2007 5:47 PM in response to: rcardona2k
Click to view n6mod's profile Novice
n6mod
10 posts since
Jul 13, 2006
FWIW, I've had the Fusion GUI disappear without a trace, leaving the vmware-vmx-debug process running. Starting Fusion again produced this message, and killing the old (not defunct, but happily chewing CPU) vmware-vmx-debug process took care of it.

Re: "It appears that other virtual machines are running" problem

6. Jan 2, 2007 6:07 PM in response to: n6mod
Click to view rcardona2k's profile Champion vExpert
rcardona2k
5,543 posts since
Oct 20, 2005
I've had the Fusion GUI disappear without a trace, leaving the vmware-vmx-debug process running.

Actually there's a GUI log file in ~/Library/Logs/VMware Fusion, the filename is vmware-vmfusion.log. The end of that log will record the reason the GUI died. Consider sending this log to VMware via a beta support request so they can address the problem. The logs from prior runs are named -0.log, -1.log, etc in case you've restarted the GUI again.

Starting Fusion again produced this message, and killing the old (not defunct, but happily chewing CPU) vmware-vmx-debug process took care of it.

Restarting the Fusion GUI and re-opening the VM should re-attach to the already running vm console. Was this not the case?

Re: "It appears that other virtual machines are running" problem

7. Jan 3, 2007 3:11 PM in response to: rcardona2k
Click to view n6mod's profile Novice
n6mod
10 posts since
Jul 13, 2006
Consider sending this log
to VMware via a beta support request so they can
address the problem. The logs from prior runs are
named -0.log, -1.log, etc in case you've restarted
the GUI again.

Found the log, I'll send it in.

Restarting the Fusion GUI and re-opening the VM
should re-attach to the already running vm console.
Was this not the case?

As it failed in the middle of an OS install, I think I just started over.

Re: "It appears that other virtual machines are running" problem

8. Dec 12, 2007 6:03 AM in response to: Uli Zappe
Click to view rcfa's profile Lurker
rcfa
4 posts since
Dec 7, 2007
Has anything changed in the way the screen is handled since this was written? I just installed the latest version of VMWare Fusion Version 1.1 (62573), but I while I can get everything else to work, not so the screen (thank heavens for the snapshot feature!). Increasing the virtual VRAM size didn't help, unless it would need to be even bigger than 64MB, but I doubt that, back then we didn't have graphics cards of that size...

VGA, no problem. When I enable the VMWare SVGA driver, the window resizes properly to reflect the screen size chosen (1024*768), but the screen is first filled with some garbage (which is the contents of the previous boot screen in VGA mode, reinterpreted into the new format), and then goes just black, and there it is stuck.

This is a total bummer, because while I like VMWare Fusion to experiment with some Linux setups (and that't why due to its 64-bit VM capability I got it over Parallels), the main reason I bought VMWare is to run OpenStep, such that I can give some legacy machines a well deserved rest while still being able to access legacy documents and software. At 640*480 OpenStep is pretty much useless.

So I need to get this going or switch to Parellels, which I'd rather not do.
Attachments:

Re: "It appears that other virtual machines are running" problem

9. Jan 22, 2008 5:06 AM in response to: rcardona2k
Click to view Gryzor's profile Novice
Gryzor
21 posts since
Apr 20, 2005
actually this very same thing happened to me today with Version 1.1 (62573), Leopard 10.5.1. The GUI just "dissapeared". So I said ok, now the Crashreporter will appear. But that didn't happened. So I launched VMware again and was surprised to see the VM intact as it was. But it was using way too much CPU power so I had to kill it from the dock (force kill).

After that, I had to resort to Terminal (or VMWare will say that there are locked files and/or virtual machines running):

ophelia:~ martin$ ps ax | grep VMware

and found this..

11260 ?? Rs 25:37.96 /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmx/Contents/MacOS/vmware-vmx -E en -D 7RTSwOFPk4gDMgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA= -# product=1;name=VMware Fusion;version=1.1;licensename=VMware Fusion for Mac OS;licenseversion=6.0 build-62573; -@ pipe=/var/folders/o0/o00BNkoTHIaBQdflGWURzU+++TI/-Tmp-//vmware-martin/vmx8b015a272672ae37;readyEvent=10 /Volumes/LaCie/VirtualMachines/XPFusion/Develop VS2005.vmwarevm/Develop VS2005.vmx

So I did:
ophelia:~ martin$ kill -15 11260

And now it works; however my VM previous state has been lost. A pity I had stuff opened... sigh

Re: "It appears that other virtual machines are running" problem

10. Jan 22, 2008 6:32 AM in response to: Gryzor
Click to view etung's profile Guru VMware Employees
etung
11,304 posts since
Oct 15, 2006
actually this very same thing happened to me today with Version 1.1 (62573), Leopard 10.5.1. The GUI just "dissapeared". So I said ok, now the Crashreporter will appear. But that didn't happened. So I launched VMware again and was surprised to see the VM intact as it was.

You observed a UI crash. As A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion explains, Fusion uses a two-part strategy: a small GUI process whose job is to draw the screen and get input, and the vmware-vmx process that does all the work. Sometimes the GUI process dies, but the vmware-vmx process keeps going (you can also trigger this on purpose). If you see this happen unexpectedly in the future, see HOWTO: Ask (and Answer) Questions for the logs of interest to the developers.

Re: "It appears that other virtual machines are running" problem

11. Jan 22, 2008 7:14 AM in response to: etung
Click to view Gryzor's profile Novice
Gryzor
21 posts since
Apr 20, 2005
Etung,

Thanks for the info. As you may have already know, power users don't read manuals. ;) Less chances are if it's called "Beginner's..." :S
I didn't know there was a GUI process dedicated to draw on the screen, quite clever. Don't know if the competition (Aka Parallels) is doing the same; don't think.

I'm sorry I didn't include the logs; should this happen again, I'll do it and investigate the matter further. Actually I'm comparing Fusion / Parallels. I've been a Parallels user since they started and I have "no serious complains" with it, but having user other VMware tools in the past, decided to try it. And that I am doing. I kind of push the VMWare with a huge VSTUDIO 2005 project.
So far, happy with Fusion, except for a few glitches. The most annoying thing perhaps is the lack of an option to map the cmd/ctrl keys. I'm used to cmd-c/v/x to copy/paste/cut... having to remember to switch while inside the VM is a PITA. :(

Thanks again.

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