Virtual Machines constantly shutting down after being idle. (VMware Fusion 11.5.6 & macOS Catalina 10.15.6)

[DJGinoMusic]

Hi,
I have been using a Kali Linux virtual machine for a couple years now without any issues on my MacBook Pro and on VMware Fusion. Ever since the past month, my Virtual Machines have started shutting down over a long period of being idle (when I sleep for example).

This also happens on a Windows 10 VM.

It only started happening after I updated to VMware Fusion 11.5.6. I have disabled the VM from suspending by adding this line in my Kali Linux's .vmx file:

suspend.disabled = "TRUE"

Although, it has not fixed the issue.

I have also configured my Windows VM to never turn off / sleep but the VM still suspends/shuts down after being idle for a long period of time as mentioned above. See below image:

https://imgur.com/wVTcqtP

Support would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

×H

[alihrphrp]

Hello which server are you using fully unmanaged? Also please tell us have you updated the system OS recently? Also what about the firewall status?

[DJGinoMusic]

> which server are you using fully unmanaged?

Not sure what you mean by this.

> Also please tell us have you updated the system OS recently?

Yes I have updated my MacOS recently. This was after the issue I mentioned in my original post happened. It seems to coincide with the update to the latest version of VMware Fusion.

> Also what about the firewall status?

I have never altered the firewall.

[DJGinoMusic]

[Log text dump removed by moderator]

[scott28tt]

Moderator: Please use the Attach function in the bottom-right of the post creator to upload your log file rather than doing a copy/paste of hundreds of lines of text.

[DJGinoMusic]

Please see attached logs if it helps.

[wila]

Hi,

Your imgur picture doesn't load for me. You can attach pictures via the attach button (bottom right of a reply window when replying in the thread) or copy & paste via clipboard into your reply.

I've only seen this happening because the host was a laptop and the powercord not connected.

In that scenario when the guest is idle for a bit, it might suspend or shut down itself depending on the settings in the guest OS.

There's a way to prevent that and that is by not passing the power status of the host to the guest.

You can change that default by going to the menu "Virtual Machine" -> settings -> Advanced -> "Pass power status to VM" and unchecking the checkbox down there.

--
Wil

[DJGinoMusic]

Hi,

Same issue even with "Pass power status to VM" unchecked.

The imgur image is just showing the Windows settings is set to "Never" for Power & sleep settings for the screen & sleep.

wila​

[ColoradoMarmot]

In system preferences / energy saver, is 'prevent sleep when screen blanks' checked?

[DJGinoMusic]

That option doesn't exist only these do:

(Battery)

- Put hard disks to sleep when possible (checked/ticked)

- Slightly dim the display while on battery power (checked/ticked)

- Enable Power Nap while on battery power (not checked/ticked)

(Power Adapter)

- Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off

- Put hard disks to sleep when possible

- Wake for Wi-Fi network access

- Enable Power Nap while plugged into a power adapter

Which are all checked/ticked.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Have you ever changed the power settings via pmset at the terminal?

I guess I'm assuming the host may be sleeping and causing it.  You could try disabling the power nap options.

One other thought.  If you have a third-party power adapter, it may not be providing sufficient juice to power the machine and the VM at the same time - I ran into that recently, and watched the power slowly decline (fortunately I caught it in time, and changed to the apple power supply).  

[DJGinoMusic]

> Have you ever changed the power settings via pmset at the terminal?

No.

> I guess I'm assuming the host may be sleeping and causing it.  You could try disabling the power nap options.

Possibly.

> One other thought.  If you have a third-party power adapter, it may not be providing sufficient juice to power the machine and the VM at the same time - I ran into that recently, and watched the power slowly decline (fortunately I caught it in time, and changed to the apple power supply). 

I have a Dell U3419W. My MacBook is powered via USB-C from my monitor.

[ColoradoMarmot]

That may very well be it.  Try using the actual Apple power adapter that came with it, and see if that solves the problem.

[DJGinoMusic]

This is not the issue. The Apple power adapter cannot even power the MacBook when connected to the monitor. The issue still persists.

[ColoradoMarmot]

It may not be the problem, but that's not correct information.   The computer will take power from whatever device is providing the greatest wattage.  My eGPU provides 85 watts, but I still have to use the 96-watt adapter when using heavy loads (like running more than 1 VM) to avoid the battery draining.  Very few external power supplies provide the 96 watts the new 16" requires under load.

[DJGinoMusic]

Thanks, but, this does not help me with my ongoing issue. Seems like when I am AFK or my Dell monitor goes idle, the VMs shutdown.

[wila]

Hi,

Finally looked at your log, sorry should have done that earlier, somehow it slipped through.

That tells the story of what happens here, it's not a shut down at all, it's a panic.

2020-09-01T20:38:52+10:00[+0.502]| keyboard| W003: Caught signal 11 -- tid 1360906 (addr 20C756F78)

This is a problem that sometimes shows up when VMware Fusion's new keyboard logic tries to sync the keyboard LED lights...

See the workaround as provided by Darius here:

Re: Problem when host (Mac) is going to sleep

--

Wil