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TheoL
Contributor
Contributor

VM Workstation 14 - can no longer start a virtual machine configured to use a physical drive - Operation failed

I previously created a VM that used an entire physical disk (taken from an old computer). This was created in Workstation Pro 12.

I had not accessed the VM for a while, and had since upgraded to Workstation 14.

Now when I attempt to start the VM, if get an error message "The operation on file "\\.\PhysicalDrive3" failed."

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Investigating further, I found the same problem with creating a fresh VM using a physical drive.

I have also confirmed that error occurs before the virtual  machine's BIOS screen is shown. The log files in the virtual machine folder do not shed any light beyond repeating the error dialog.

Reverting back to 12 did not change the outcome.

When attempting to start the VM, (as expected) I am prompted for admin permissions.  I have also tried running Worksation with admin rights. This did not change the outcome.

I have checked the the disk (attached via a USB caddy) is visible in Disk Manager, and that there are no mapped drives on any of the partitions in that drive.

So, I am presuming that some recent (as in last year) Windows 10 updates may be the cause of the problem.

I have searched for people with similar problems, but have not found anything relating to Windows 10 or Workstation 14.

Does anybody have any ideas where I should be looking? 

Thanks,

Theo

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7 Replies
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Can you confirm that the disk is not mounted to the host?

see Prepare to Use a Physical Disk or Unused Partition

André

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TheoL
Contributor
Contributor

Yes - I can confirm the disk is not mounted, as per the link.

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

Are you sure that the disk is still identified as PhysicalDisk3 ?
Compare the number that is assigned in diskmanagement with the device referenced in the vmdk-descriptorfile.
Maybe trying to use the disk as a USB-device instead of a physical disk is an option for you.
See my notes: Virtual USB-disks | VM-Sickbay


________________________________________________
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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TheoL
Contributor
Contributor

That part is fine - I did check it.  In fact Workstation obviously looks up some other hardware ID at the time, because at one point I did have another disk plugged in first, and when I tried, it reported the drive it could not access as PhysicalDisk4 - which at the time was the correct one.

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TheoL
Contributor
Contributor

Bump:

I still have this problem - but I had given up trying - until recently. Issue still remains - have updated to Windows 10 1909, and re-installed WS 14.

Am I the only person with this problem?

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Mits2020
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Strange problem indeed.

My understanding is that the virtual machine is supposed to boot from that HDD, and not just use it as an additional hard disk for data, correct?

In my mind there are three scenarios. The first one is that the HDD has developed problems. The second is that the VMware installation or the VM settings are corrupt. The third is that both problems happen, or something particular to Windows 10 is at play (which maybe will need witchcraft to debug).

To address the first case, since you have a USB caddy available, I'd first check the disk's physical condition with Hard Disk Sentinel, to see if there are any bad sectors. Then I'd make a file system check (chkdsk) or a full surface check if bad sectors were found. Then I'd check whether the disk is active and bootable (use Disk Management).

For the second case, I'd recreate the VM from scratch: create a new Virtual Machine with the specifications for the OS that exists on the HDD. After that, add the physical disk manually via the Settings menu and delete the automatically made .vmdk file.

In the third case,I just hope somebody with more experience with Win10 will jump in to enlighten us...

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Platypus83
Contributor
Contributor

Let me know if you find a solution. I have the exact same issue. I'm getting the same error with a Linux VM that 3 weeks ago I didn't have an issue with. I get the error when I reinstall VMware tools. I reverted back to a previous restore point in Windows. I was afraid that recent update I did was the problem but no luck so far. I'm using FTK to mount and have been doing this for years and never came across this error.

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