PowerOff after shutdown timeout

[kplusalot]

I am using VMware server 2.0 for testing end-user Windows applications. Sometimes, when I try to do a soft shutdown of a guest OS, the shutdown halts. When this happens via the VI web page, the interface will not allow me to perform a hard power off while it waits indefinitely for the soft shutdown.

I have a pretty extensive backup script that I have written to shuts down VM's before archiving and compressing them. Currently, I simply use a blocking synchronous wait (WaitWithoutResults). I know I can create a timeout wait by just looping on the VM power status instead. Before I bother actually modifying the code to do this, I want to ask the simple question. Can I actually force a hard power off using the VixCOM package if I have already initiated a soft shutdown? I know I can't using the VI interface; I just want to know if I can programatically.

[fixitchris]

I am not sure if a hard power op would work after a soft one fails... but more importantly, why is the guest shutdown failing?

What is the guest OS?

What is the VM Version?

What version of tools is running?

[kplusalot]

I am not sure how this one fell of my desk, I guess I was expecting an email indicating a response but never got one.

The problem does still exist though. I am running Win 2k3 enterprise on the guest, but there are some background services that occasionally fail to shutdown cleanly. When this happens, the system hangs. The same used to occur on a physical machine and it required a hard reset - the virtual machine does as well. When I am logged into the guest and initiate a soft shutdown directly, I can always perform a hard shutdown through the web gui. If my script initiates a soft shutdown using VIX, I can not perform a hard shutdown using the gui, VIX or vmrun while waiting for the soft shutdown to complete.

[kplusalot]

Sorry, forgot version info:

virtual hardware version 7

vmware tools 2.0.0

vmware server 2.0 host also running 2k3 enterprise