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HidalgoLLC
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The VM that wouldn't die --or-- How the %^$^%$ do I shut down a suspended VM?

Fusion: v4.1.4

VM: Windows XP SP3

OK so I copied over my ancient XP VM, originally created on Workstation 5, to my Mac. It boots just fine and I added Fusion tools no problem. All is functioning well. BUT if I power down using the guest's start->Turn off Computer->Turn Off, it just goes into suspend mode. I un-suspend and try Virtual Machine->Force Shut Down and it just goes back to suspend mode. I try start->Turn off Computer->Restart followed by start->Turn off Computer->Turn Off and same thing. Virtual Machine->Force Restart followed by start->Turn off Computer->Turn Off same results. So nothing I tried will turn this off so I can change settings.

I think what happened is, I had originally set Fusion Preferences to 'Suspend the virtual machine', powered on the VM, and then changed it to 'Power off the virtual machine' and then tried to shut down.

An OS X Lion VM I have powers down no problem.

What can I do, short of deleting the damned thing and starting over? And if I do that I will have the same problem I suspect.

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WoodyZ
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Give the following a try... While the Virtual Machine is shutdown, manually edit the .vmx configuration file placing a # in front of: snapshot.action = "autoRevert"

This is a setting that's available from the VMware Workstation UI but not the VMware Fusion UI and I believe this may be at the root of the issue.

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WoodyZ
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My suggestion would be to remove the Suspended State file (.vmss) from the Virtual Machine.  Note that deleting the suspend state has the same effect as performing a hard reset of the virtual machine, or pushing the Reset button on a physical computer, in that any unsaved data in open applications is lost!

To remove the suspend state from the Virtual Machine close VMware Fusion and then delete the .vmss file and .lck files/folders from within the Virtual Machine Package.  After deleting these files try running the Virtual Machine again.  Have a look at: Work with Virtual Machine Packages

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HidalgoLLC
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Thank you WoodyZ for that suggestion. I did not know about .vmss files. There were no .lck folders/files since Fusion was not running. I deleted the .vmss file, then started the VM. It started up from scratch, not like it was being un-suspended. BUT, when I powered it down from within the VM, it went right back to suspend state. I started and powered it down again but no change. When I quit Fusion, I noticed the .vmss file is still gone. Here are the files in the VM's directory now, if it's any help:

Screen Shot 2013-09-10 at 12.42.27 PM.png

Attached:

vmware.log

vmware-tools-userd_2013-09-10-131730_Mac-Pro-2010.crash

Heartwarming messages:

2013-09-10T12:32:10.558-07:00| vmx| I120: Log for VMware Fusion pid=9973 version=4.1.4 build=build-900582 option=Release

2013-09-10T12:32:10.558-07:00| vmx| I120: The process is 64-bit.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.558-07:00| vmx| I120: Host codepage=UTF-8 encoding=UTF-8

2013-09-10T12:32:10.558-07:00| vmx| I120: Host is Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63b)

2013-09-10T12:32:10.544-07:00| vmx| I120: VTHREAD initialize main thread 0 "vmx" pid 9973

2013-09-10T12:32:10.553-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_SetLocaleEx: HostLocale=UTF-8 UserLocale=en

2013-09-10T12:32:10.553-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:10.553-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/messages/en/vmware.vmsg": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.553-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: ConfigDB: Failed to load /Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/config": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: ConfigDB: Failed to load /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/config

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/settings": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: ConfigDB: Failed to load /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/settings

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Users/user/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: ConfigDB: Failed to load ~/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: PREF Optional preferences file not found at /Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config. Using default values.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/settings": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: PREF Optional preferences file not found at /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/settings. Using default values.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/config": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: PREF Optional preferences file not found at /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/config. Using default values.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Users/user/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:10.554-07:00| vmx| I120: PREF Optional preferences file not found at /Users/user/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config. Using default values.

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: Hostname=Mac-Pro-2010.local

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: IP=fe80::1 (lo0)

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: IP=127.0.0.1 (lo0)

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: IP=::1 (lo0)

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: IP=fe80::72cd:60ff:fea8:f64b (en1)

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: IP=192.168.1.106 (en1)

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: IP=2002:18fb:7e:e472:72cd:60ff:fea8:f64b (en1)

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: IP=2002:18fb:7e:e472:79c8:777e:fd9e:7521 (en1)

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: IP=192.168.171.1 (vmnet1)

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: IP=172.16.129.1 (vmnet8)

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: System uptime 25970582487 us

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: Command line: "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vmx" "-E" "en" "-D" "d5J0TsOm2qalhgEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=" "-s" "vmx.stdio.keep=TRUE" "-#" "product=128;name=VMware Fusion;version=4.1.4;buildnumber=900582;licensename=VMware Fusion for Mac OS;licenseversion=4.0+;" "-@" "pipe=/var/folders/_f/mth7tq5x4f3dpjkqs1z2y6mm0000gn/T//vmware-user/vmx4bceb975935bb243;readyEvent=42" "/Users/user/VMs/Clone of XP Professional (Sandbox)/Clone of XP Professional (Sandbox).vmx"

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_SetLocaleEx: HostLocale=UTF-8 UserLocale=en

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:10.671-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/messages/en/vmware.vmsg": No such file or directory.

...

2013-09-10T12:32:37.787-07:00| vmx| I120: TOOLS received request in VMX to set option 'enableDnD' -> '0'

2013-09-10T12:32:37.787-07:00| vmx| I120: GuestRpc: Attempt to send TCLO msg for 'toolbox' while GuestRpc is powering off.

2013-09-10T12:32:37.787-07:00| vmx| I120: GuestRpc: Attempt to send TCLO msg for 'toolbox-dnd' while GuestRpc is powering off.

2013-09-10T12:32:37.787-07:00| vmx| I120: TOOLS received request in VMX to set option 'copypaste' -> '0'

2013-09-10T12:32:37.787-07:00| vmx| I120: GuestRpc: Attempt to send TCLO msg for 'toolbox' while GuestRpc is powering off.

2013-09-10T12:32:37.787-07:00| vmx| I120: GuestRpc: Attempt to send TCLO msg for 'toolbox-dnd' while GuestRpc is powering off.

2013-09-10T12:32:37.788-07:00| vmx| I120: VMXVmdb_SetToolsVersionState: status value set to 'ok'

2013-09-10T12:32:37.789-07:00| vmx| I120: USB: Disconnecting device 0x10e0f0002

2013-09-10T12:32:37.789-07:00| vmx| I120: USB: Disconnecting device 0x400000030e0f0003

2013-09-10T12:32:37.794-07:00| vmx| I120: MKS-SWB: Number of MKSWindows changed: 0 rendering MKSWindow(s) of total 0.

2013-09-10T12:32:37.794-07:00| vmx| I120: MKS local poweroff

2013-09-10T12:32:37.795-07:00| vmx| I120: ide0:0: numIOs = 1078 numMergedIOs = 78 numSplitIOs = 6 ( 7.1%)

2013-09-10T12:32:37.795-07:00| vmx| I120: Closing disk ide0:0

2013-09-10T12:32:37.916-07:00| vmx| I120: WORKER: asyncOps=2249 maxActiveOps=3 maxPending=3 maxCompleted=2

2013-09-10T12:32:38.129-07:00| vmx| I120: Vix: [140735240984928 mainDispatch.c:4067]: VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished: statevar=1, newAppState=1873, success=1 additionalError=0

2013-09-10T12:32:38.129-07:00| vmx| I120: Vix: [140735240984928 mainDispatch.c:4086]: VMAutomation: Ignoring ReportPowerOpFinished because the VMX is shutting down.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.129-07:00| vmx| I120: VMMon_UnlockPage: Failed addr 1011DC000 errno 22

2013-09-10T12:32:38.160-07:00| vmx| I120: Vix: [140735240984928 mainDispatch.c:4067]: VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished: statevar=0, newAppState=1870, success=1 additionalError=0

2013-09-10T12:32:38.160-07:00| vmx| I120: Vix: [140735240984928 mainDispatch.c:4086]: VMAutomation: Ignoring ReportPowerOpFinished because the VMX is shutting down.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.168-07:00| vmx| I120: Reverting to snapshot UID: 7

2013-09-10T12:32:38.169-07:00| vmx| I120: SNAPSHOT: Snapshot_Revert: 'Clone of XP Professional (Sandbox).vmx' : 7

2013-09-10T12:32:38.177-07:00| vmx| I120: DUMPER: Restoring checkpoint version 8.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.179-07:00| vmx| I120: SNAPSHOT: SnapshotExtract: Failed to set the mode for the new config file: 2

2013-09-10T12:32:38.188-07:00| vmx| I120: DISKLIB-LIB   : CREATE CHILD: "/Users/user/VMs/Clone of XP Professional (Sandbox)/Windows XP Professional-cl2-000004.vmdk" -- monolithicSparse grainSize=128

2013-09-10T12:32:38.193-07:00| vmx| I120: DISKLIB-DSCPTR: "/Users/user/VMs/Clone of XP Professional (Sandbox)/Windows XP Professional-cl2-000004.vmdk" : creation successful.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.256-07:00| vmx| I120: SNAPSHOT: SnapshotDeleteDisks '/Users/user/VMs/Clone of XP Professional (Sandbox)/Windows XP Professional-cl2-000001.vmdk'.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.310-07:00| vmx| I120: Transitioned vmx/execState/val to poweredOff

2013-09-10T12:32:38.310-07:00| vmx| I120: VMX idle exit

2013-09-10T12:32:38.310-07:00| vmx| I120: VMIOP: Exit

2013-09-10T12:32:38.311-07:00| vmx| I120: Services_Exit: Closed the services.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.313-07:00| vmx| I120: Vix: [140735240984928 mainDispatch.c:869]: VMAutomation_LateShutdown()

2013-09-10T12:32:38.313-07:00| vmx| I120: Vix: [140735240984928 mainDispatch.c:819]: VMAutomationCloseListenerSocket. Closing listener socket.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.315-07:00| vmx| I120: Flushing VMX VMDB connections

2013-09-10T12:32:38.317-07:00| vmx| I120: VmdbDbRemoveCnx: Removing Cnx from Db for '/db/connection/#1/'

2013-09-10T12:32:38.317-07:00| vmx| I120: VmdbCnxDisconnect: Disconnect: closed pipe for pub cnx '/db/connection/#1/' (0)

2013-09-10T12:32:38.326-07:00| vmx| I120: MainMem: Begin pagefile discard.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.327-07:00| vmx| I120: MainMem: End pagefile discard.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: ConfigDB: Failed to load /Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/config": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: ConfigDB: Failed to load /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/config

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/settings": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: ConfigDB: Failed to load /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/settings

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Reset:

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Users/user/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config": No such file or directory.

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: ConfigDB: Failed to load ~/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: VMX exit (0).

2013-09-10T12:32:38.387-07:00| vmx| I120: AIOMGR-S : stat o=36 r=268 w=2 i=0 br=9529344 bw=1024

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WoodyZ
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Give the following a try... While the Virtual Machine is shutdown, manually edit the .vmx configuration file placing a # in front of: snapshot.action = "autoRevert"

This is a setting that's available from the VMware Workstation UI but not the VMware Fusion UI and I believe this may be at the root of the issue.

HidalgoLLC
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OMG Woody, you are the master! That worked like the proverbial charm. Now how did you know that line was in there? You got that from the log files? Where is stuff like this documented? Is there possibly some script that can convert between platforms? Thanks so much for this fix. It saves me a lot of trouble.

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WoodyZ
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Now how did you know that line was in there? You got that from the log files?

Yes, the information was in the vmware.log file.  I extracted the .vmx configuration file information from the vmware.log file using a script that creates a .vmx configuration file.  While I could have just looked in the vmware.log file I used my scrip instead because it's faster and easier to review the information as a .vmx file then having to scroll through the .log file and obscure the extraneous information not pertaining to the specific issue.

Where is stuff like this documented?

VMware is somewhat secretive about this information and typically only provides information when it's problematic to many users, like information in a KB Article and once in a while providing it in the forums but in spite of many repeated requests has not and will not publish a complete set made available to the public.  A larger collection can be found at VMX Documentation FAQ.  Personally I've developed my own list by having run utilities that record changes to files as I walked through the UI toggling settings and additional tools to extract information from program executables and dynamic link libraries and then adding to that what's been available in the other sources.

Is there possibly some script that can convert between platforms?

In the context of moving Virtual Machines between VMware Fusion/Player/Workstation I haven't seen a published individual script although there is VMware vCenter Converter Standalone that could be used although its intended purpose is much broader then that.  However even using Converter it probably would not have changed the setting I had you comment out and there are other settings that would not have been modified/removed too.  So it's really easier to just manually make the necessary changes that aren't addressable via the UI.  Or use one's own custom scripts and or templates.

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HidalgoLLC
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Holy cow, so you have to go to those lengths to get vital information that should be documented and freely available. I can't comprehend why they would be so secretive about something that could only help their users to diagnose a problem. Obviously their competitors can write scripts like you did to find that information so why hide it from their customers? I find, in general, that the product documentation is woefully inadequate. They give one-liners about settings that require one paragraph or one page. I end up spending hours and days searching for solutions to relatively minor problems and oftentimes end up having to post a question like this in the forums. And more often than not I end up having to come up with my own solution and then answer my own question. :smileyconfused: BTW very interesting that that FAQ you linked to is by a third party.

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