Running a VM created with VMware Workstation 7

Stefan3 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 20:27:18 GMT

I had bought VMware Workstation 7 many years ago and was using it since 2015 on a host system running Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. The guest system was Windows XP 32bit. Everything worked fine until I upgraded my host to Windows 10.

I had to remove VMware Workstation 7 because Windows 10 said it wasn't compatible!

Ok. Since the only thing I wanted is keep using the old VM that was created with VMware Workstation 7 I downloaded the latest VMware Player 16. However it refuses to run my old VM that was created many years ago with VMware Workstation 7!

I was also wondering what will happen to my old license of VMware Workstation 7, if I can upgrade to a later version maybe.

But my main concern is how do I run that old VM created under VMware Workstation 7?

Re: Running a VM created with VMware Workstation 7

a_p_ — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 21:09:22 GMT

Welcome to the Community,

I don't see a reason why the VM shouldn't work. Please provide more information about the issue, i.e. error messages, log files, ... to find out what's causing the issue.

One reason I can think of is that the VM may have been suspended with the old version. In this case you'd see a .vmss, file in the VMs folder. Deleting this file may already solve the issue.
Please note that deleting the file will cause a hard reset, comparable to pulling the power plug on a physical system, so ensure that you have a backup of the VM's files, so that you can restore the current state.

André

Re: Running a VM created with VMware Workstation 7

Stefan3 — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 16:59:14 GMT

Hi Andre,

Thank you very much for replying and welcoming me.

There is no .vmss, file in the VMs folder

Basically what I do is start the VMware Player 16, go to 'Open Virtual Machine',
I then go to the folder where the VM is and try to open the vmx file (Windows XP Professional.vmx).
Immediately I get the message "Failed to open virtual machine: Error while loading this virtual machine's policies: VMDB failure."

It doesn't even start to write a log file. There is no log file with today's date. It looks to me like it does not even try to load it. The message comes instantly.

I even tried double clicking on the vmdk file with the same name and I get the message "Error while opening the virtual machine. VMX file is corrupt."

I have not changed anything in the folder of the vm. This vm has been working for years until I upgraded to Windows 10 on the host. The Windows 10 installer forced me to uninstall VMware Workstation 7. After completing the Win10 upgrade I installed the VMware Player 16 (because I figured I should attept to reinstall VMware Workstation 7 because of the incompatibility wih Windows 10)

If it helps here is the full content of the vmx file:

.encoding = "windows-1252"
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "7"
maxvcpus = "4"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
memsize = "1024"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "Windows XP Professional.vmdk"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
floppy0.fileType = "device"
floppy0.fileName = ""
floppy0.clientDevice = "FALSE"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"
ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
usb.present = "TRUE"
ehci.present = "TRUE"
sound.present = "TRUE"
sound.fileName = "-1"
sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
mks.enable3d = "TRUE"
pciBridge0.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge4.functions = "8"
pciBridge5.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge5.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge5.functions = "8"
pciBridge6.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge6.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge6.functions = "8"
pciBridge7.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge7.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge7.functions = "8"
vmci0.present = "TRUE"
buslogic.noDriver = "FALSE"
roamingVM.exitBehavior = "go"
displayName = "Windows XP Professional"
guestOS = "winxppro"
nvram = "Windows XP Professional.nvram"
virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
extendedConfigFile = "Windows XP Professional.vmxf"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:e2:ad:33"
tools.syncTime = "FALSE"
uuid.location = "56 4d 73 db db 84 51 e5-e5 3b c3 c5 fb e2 ad 33"
uuid.bios = "56 4d 73 db db 84 51 e5-e5 3b c3 c5 fb e2 ad 33"
cleanShutdown = "FALSE"
replay.supported = "FALSE"
hgfs.mapRootShare = "TRUE"
unity.wasCapable = "TRUE"
isolation.tools.hgfs.disable = "TRUE"
sharedFolder.maxNum = "2"
replay.filename = ""
scsi0:0.redo = ""
pciBridge0.pciSlotNumber = "17"
pciBridge4.pciSlotNumber = "21"
pciBridge5.pciSlotNumber = "22"
pciBridge6.pciSlotNumber = "23"
pciBridge7.pciSlotNumber = "24"
scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "16"
usb.pciSlotNumber = "32"
ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "33"
sound.pciSlotNumber = "34"
ehci.pciSlotNumber = "35"
vmci0.pciSlotNumber = "36"
vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "134217728"
usb:0.present = "TRUE"
usb:1.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
vmci0.id = "901075374"
usb:1.deviceType = "hub"
usb:0.deviceType = "mouse"
floppy0.autodetect = "TRUE"
ide1:0.autodetect = "TRUE"
sharedFolder0.present = "TRUE"
sharedFolder0.enabled = "TRUE"
sharedFolder0.readAccess = "TRUE"
sharedFolder0.hostPath = "C:\virtualMachines\vmShare"
sharedFolder0.guestName = "vmShare"
sharedFolder0.expiration = "never"
checkpoint.vmState = ""
usb.autoConnect.device0 = ""
floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"
ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
policy.vm.mvmtid = "52 9c 50 54 a9 bd ab 49-c9 35 56 b3 4d 3d b9 bc"
policy.vm.managedVMTemplate = "TRUE"
policy.vm.managedVM = "FALSE"
sharedFolder1.present = "TRUE"
sharedFolder1.enabled = "FALSE"
sharedFolder1.readAccess = "TRUE"
sharedFolder1.writeAccess = "TRUE"
sharedFolder1.hostPath = "C:\Users\Stefan\Documents\svmshare"
sharedFolder1.guestName = "svmshare"
sharedFolder1.expiration = "never"
gui.exitOnCLIHLT = "TRUE"
debugStub.winOffsets.version = "7"
debugStub.winOffsets.value = "0x88,0x84,0x18,0x190,0x174,16,416,0x22c,0x228,0x1f0,0x224,0x20,0x18,0x18,0x20,0x24,4,0x11c,0x8,0x0,0x14,0x100000,0x1b0,0xc,0xc,0x18,0x13c,0x1f4"
usb.autoConnect.device1 = ""

[VMX content added to "spoiler" by moderator for easier scrolling]

----------------

Stefan

Re: Running a VM created with VMware Workstation 7

a_p_ — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 17:27:49 GMT

Can you please delete the "policy" lines from the .vmx file to see whether this helps?
In case it was a restricted VM there may also be a policy (.vmpl) file in the VM's folder. It may be necessary to delete this too.

That said, please make sure that you have a backup of the VM's files to be able to revert to the current state in case something doesn't work as expected.

André

Re: Running a VM created with VMware Workstation 7

Stefan3 — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 18:04:33 GMT

Hi André,

Whow! Deleting the .vmpl file helped!

The VM now starts and everything is fine.

Thank you very much for your help.

Regards

Stefan

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