Hung virtual machine--even the VMware controls are inactive

[rjf7r]

I upgraded VMware Workstation 7.1.4 to VMware 8.0.1 on November 30.  I have a number of existing VM images that I have continued to use.  One of them is a Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit system.  I upgraded VMware tools.  The VM has been working well for about a week.

Today, while that particular VM was executing a long regression testing suite, it froze up.  Not only was the Windows guest frozen, but all VMware operations on that VM also appear to be unavailable or frozen.  Everything on the power menu is grayed out, as is Send Ctrl+Alt+Del.  I can start and run other VMs with no problem.  There is no CPU or other resource usage apparent (aside from memory).  I cannot close, exit, or shut down VMware Workstation entirely--a box pops up and says ""Windows 7 x64 Ultimate" is still busy. Please wait until the operation is complete before closing." if I try to exit or close.

I've been using VMware Workstation since version 6 with dozens of VMs and I have never had a problem like this.

I assume I will have to use Task Manager to kill VMware Workstation.  I have never had to do this before.

The host system is also Windows 7 x64 Ultimate running on a Core 2 Duo quad processor with 8 GB memory.

Has anyone else experienced this, and more specifically, has anyone any insight to cause and cure?

[continuum]

Yep - I see that occasionally as well - sometimes I just wait half an hour until the system is responsive again.

Most of times I see this when I overcommit RAM or run very large VMs.

As I run WS 8 to know WS 8 I dont care.
If I would use WS 8 just to run a few VMs like 99.99% of the other users - I would revert back to WS 7

[rjf7r]

well, it's good to know I'm not alone.  My VM has not come back after 20+ hours (and it looks as if my only way to kill VMware Workstation 8 in that case is to use the Task Manager).  I can run any other VM, so I'm not dead in the water even without killing it.

I have submitted a formal support request.

Bob

[continuum]

kill vmware.exe first - then restart Workstation and check if that VM is still hanging.

If yes - kill vmware-vmx.exe

[rjf7r]

I've collected a few clues in replicating this hang.

One is that it occurs after our software application is intensively accessing (read only) a particular file on a VMware shared folder.  If I access the same file and folder using a Windows network file share, this hang does not occur!

The other clue is that frequently (not always) when the hang occurs, simultaneously I get a message on the message log "the default sound device cannot be opened".

I've repeated this dozens of times.  The hang isn't always a hang.  Sometimes (perhaps 3-2 times) I get an actual VMware error message (see some attachments).  Other times it just appears that Windows has crashed (with no particular error message).  Occasionally I just get a file open error; but if I then proceed to do anything with Windows, it will quickly hang.

I did file a problem report with VMware support, and I am told that they are working on it.

[rjf7r]

I was able to reproduce this VMware Workstation 8 hang using a Windows Vista 32-bit guest system (otherwise the identical setup).

[continuum]

cant you use regular Windows filesharing ? - vmware shared folders are famous for such obscure effects

if you want something reliable just dont use them

[rjf7r]

yes I can -- and it works!  I just figure that shared folders are a feature of VMware Workstation that worked with no such problems in prior versions (pre-8) and we should get what we paid for!

Bob