How to disable auto start of virtual machine when Fusion is started ?

[djdule]

Hi all,

I am using Fusion 2.0.4 for running various OSs and have 4 different VMs that are installed. But whenever I start Fusion, regardless of previous state when I shut it down, it starts one specific virtual machine. How to avoid this ? I want to start just Fusion and then choose what machine to start.

TIA.

[wila · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Welcome to the VMware Forums!

In the virtual machine library, there's a star in the list of your virtual machines which you can click and it acts as a toggle for start VM on opening Fusion.

It's a bit of a weird user interface design choice, didn't know about it myself either until someone pointed it out last week.

--

Wil

_____________________________________________________

Visit the VMware developers wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com

[WoodyZ]

It's a bit of a weird user interface design choice

The concept is fine if all you have or normally run just one Virtual Machine and while I suspect most Consumer Users fall into that category nonetheless IMO it's a stupid design and this just should have been a check box on the Settings sheet. With no offense intended it is as thorough VMware has designed the Fusion GUI and the default settings for Users that are Technically Impaired and want to run Windows as though it's nothing more then a Mac Application and that's fine however they should Build and Release a Professional Version of VMware Fusion that is more in line with VMware Workstation/ACE as well as provide the features that Parallels Desktop has that VMware Fusion doesn't.

[smanches]

Not to mention it wasn't this way in previous versions of 2.0. I just recently upgraded from 2.01 to 2.04 and all of a sudden VMs are starting automatically. VERY annoying. And I couldn't figure out how to disable it either. Wouldn't it be great if it was just in the VM guests settings like in other VMWare products?

A star on the library page denotes autostart? Comon' people, if you are implementing a common feature, implement it in it's most boring and obvious way, just like every other product. This was not something to get creative about, muchless change it's default setting on a minor point upgrade.

[SysEngPaulWhite]

The star thing doesn't work for me. I have recently had to set up a second XP machine and want only the newer, second one to start up automatically.

So I clicked on the star for the second machine and made sure it was not clicked on the first one.

Do a restart on my iMac and - well - they both start up. I have found no way of stopping it happening. The trouble is that the first machine grabs devices and so the second machine won't start up properly until I answer some message boxes. Also I have found nowhere on VMware fusion where it is possible to reset the sequence of the virtual machines.

Any ideas?

[SvenGus]

... Or they could maybe provide an enhanced - with more options, etc. - Power User mode (together with a Beginner mode) in Fusion, without the need for two separate versions.

(Adobe Photoshop Elements has something like that: but I' don't really know if it would work well also with Fusion; perhaps it could be sufficient to expand the Advanced section of the VM Settings with more options, or something like that.)

[admin]

So I clicked on the star for the second machine and made sure it was not clicked on the first one.

Do a restart on my iMac and - well - they both start up

Fusion will only automatically start at most one virtual machine (to avoid the possibility of accidentally selecting more than your host can handle). If more than one virtual machine is starting up, it's something else triggering them. Check your login items and how you're launching Fusion (e.g. launching the app, not opening a virtual machine).

Also I have found nowhere on VMware fusion where it is possible to reset the sequence of the virtual machines.

What do you mean by "sequence of virtual machines"?

[SysEngPaulWhite]

Hello,

thanks for your reply. Well whether you believe it or not when I restart the iMac it starts both virtual machines, no matter what I do with the stars in the VMware control panel.

Maybe the problem, or the misunderstanding is that I am not starting VMWare but actually restarting my iMac.

Where can I check my login or the way VMware is launched? The only options I can find concern what do on a shutdown. Suspend the machine, or power off the machine.

Assuming that VMWare really does start more than 1 machine - because there is more than one defined on the iMac then it obviously has some strategy as to which one it will start first. In fact in some of the newsgroups the linux people actually talk about some config files where such things can be specified. Here on the iMac I have found nothing like that. All I have is the VMWare Library (which I referred to as the control panel) and within that a small options dialog.

Where are the virtual machines defined? Can I change the definitions to disable a machine (I don't want to delete it)

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[rcardona2k]

Maybe the problem, or the misunderstanding is that I am not starting VMWare but actually restarting my iMac.

Where can I check my login or the way VMware is launched?

Look in System Preferences > Account > Login items for things OS X will open automatically at startup or power on your iMac.

[admin]

thanks for your reply. Well whether you believe it or not when I restart the iMac it starts both virtual machines, no matter what I do with the stars in the VMware control panel.

I believe you're seeing what you're saying.

However, I'm a Fusion developer. The favorite virtual machine is a single record, not a list. Last I checked, the autostart codepath only uses that one virtual machine. So whether you believe it or not, I'm pretty sure it's not Fusion automatically starting two virtual machines.

What is the exact series of steps (e.g. things you click on) you do to run your virtual machines?

In fact in some of the newsgroups the linux people actually talk about some config files where such things can be specified. Here on the iMac I have found nothing like that.

Fusion is not Workstation; not everything you read about Workstation applies to Fusion.

Where are the virtual machines defined? Can I change the definitions to disable a machine (I don't want to delete it)

It's not quite clear what you're asking. Fusion virtual machines are sets of files, just like with Workstation/Player/Server/ESX/etc. There are .vmx config files, .vmdk disks, and so on. You could say these "define" a virtual machine; you can ctrl-click a Library entry and select Show In Finder (then ctrl-click it and select Show Package Contents). However, editing these files is not recommended or supported (and has some caveats I don't want to take the time to get into right now), and will not achieve what you want - there's nothing in them that affects Fusion automatically running virtual machines.

If you're asking about where the contents of the Library are stored, it's in Fusion's preferences. It's unclear what you mean by "disable" a virtual machine - if you want to remove one from the Library, you can select it and press delete - Fusion will ask if you want to keep the virtual machine or move it to the trash.

[SysEngPaulWhite]

OK.

I have checked all the settings as you suggest and all I can find is that VMWare is started on a system startup.

Scenario:

two almost identical Windows XP virtual machines. VMWare Version 3.0.1 running on an iMAC with MAC OS X Version 10.6.4.

Machine "A" Windows XP has caused problems so it should only be powered up manually.

Machine "B" Windows XP should always restart automatically

Machine "A" and "B" appear in this sequence in the VMWare Library

I have just done the following:

1. Call up VM Machine "A" and do a shutdown (not a suspend).

2. Check in virtual machine library that the machine shows as powered off.

3. Check Virtual Machine "B" is running OK.

4. Hit the power switch and kill all machines - simulate a power failure

5. Restart the iMac

AND NOW...

the iMac restarts

on the second monitor ( use separate monitors for the Mac and Windows) I get a message from virtual Machine "B" saying "It appears that other virtual machines are running, some host devices may be unavailable ......"

Can't open the VMWare Library until this message has had a response.

Look in the Virtual library and see that both Machine "A" and "B" are running.

Why do we do all this?

Because on the virtual machine there is an ISDN telephone hard-/software which runs day and night to receive calls and depending on the number switch to various answering machines. Because we often have long power failures - possibly when nobody is around - we need the machines to restart automatically.

What is the best solution?

? Delete Machine "A"

-Paul-

[admin]

all I can find is that VMWare is started on a system startup.

How exactly do you have this set up?

It appears that other virtual machines are running, some host devices may be unavailable

You might try disconnecting devices (e.g. CDs, USB devices) from both guests. This should work around this prompt.

Look in the Virtual library and see that both Machine "A" and "B" are running.

Was the screenshot taken at this point? It shows only one virtual machine running.

[SysEngPaulWhite]

Nothing has worked.

If I disconnect all usb devices from both machines, then when the machines start they cannot do the tasks they were designed for.

I tried moving the virtual machine file from the first machine to a different folder (I didn't want to delete it) and now I get an error message saying a required file is missing. This leads me to believe that somewhere there is a configuration file which tells the virtual machine software/library that there is a virtual machine file stored.

Now if I could get to this config file I might just be able to fix this problem.

[WoodyZ]

Now if I could get to this config file I might just be able to fix this problem.

In the "/Users/{$USER}/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.plist" file the key that holds the name of the Virtual Machine that starts automatically when VMware Fusion is opened is shown in the example below.

<key>VMDefaultVM</key>
<string>/User/${USER}/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/Windows XP Professional.vmwarevm</string>

If you have Developer Tools installed you can use Property List Editor to work with .plist files.

I know you can use TextWrangler to edit non-binary .plist files however this one is a binary file so for editing it I'd use Property List Editor from Developer Tools although you certainly can use TextWrangler to read it and see if the key exists and what it shows.

There should only be one Virtual Machine listed for the VMDefaultVM key and the key doesn't exist in the file if no Virtual Machine is selected to start when VMware Fusion opens. BTW I say this in the context of VMware Fusion 3.1.1 as that is the version I looked at at this on.

[SysEngPaulWhite]

Hi, that is what I also found out by looking around.

There is a place in one of the preference files where the virtual machines are listed. I removed the entry I didn't want (after saving the preference files) and the machine has disappeared and will not start automatically now.

I think they should provide a better mechanism for doing this sort of thing. I saw in the help files that you can delete a virtual machine but tell it to retain the virtual files. However I couldn't find anywhere how you might want to restore the machine should you need it again later. There is tons of information on creating virtual machines from all sorts of sources but nowhere on re-creating from their own files.

Thanks for your help

[ChipMcK]

I couldn't find anywhere how you might want to restore the machine should you need it again later.

File-->Open will add the vm to the Library

[WoodyZ]

However I couldn't find anywhere how you might want to restore the machine should you need it again later. There is tons of information on creating virtual machines from all sorts of sources but nowhere on re-creating from their own files.

In addition to what ChipMcK said you can also just execute (double-click) the Virtual Machine Package or if not packaged then the .vmx configuration file and it will run the Virtual Machine and in turn place an entry on the Virtual Machine Library window. Or you can drag and drop the Virtual Machine Package or if not packaged then the .vmx configuration file onto the Virtual Machine Library's left side above Home.

[SysEngPaulWhite]

Thanks everyone