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nordinsr
Contributor
Contributor

VMware Fusion has paused this virtual machine because the disk on which the virtual machine is stored is almost full.?

VMware Fusion has paused this virtual machine because the disk on which the virtual machine is stored is almost full.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

What's the question? You're almost out of disk space, you need to free some up.

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nordinsr
Contributor
Contributor

How can I get into windows to free up disk space if I can't get past this message?

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RDPetruska
Leadership
Leadership

You don't need to get into your guest... it's your Mac HOST which is running out of disk space! Free up some space before acknowledging the error message.

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

How can I get into windows to free up disk space if I can't get past this message?

Robert already told you what to do but I just what to point out that if you reread the message "VMware Fusion has paused this virtual machine because the disk on which the virtual machine is stored is almost full." it's telling you "because the disk on which the virtual machine is stored is almost full" and that disk is your OS X disk not the Virtual Machine's hard drive.

Just curious, how do you think that message could be worded to make it more obvious then it is? VMware might take a suggestion if it good enough. Smiley Happy

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fburkitt
Contributor
Contributor

It should say that the "Host Machine disk is almost full and you must create more space on the host disk before the guest machine can be restarted."

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

The problem with your suggestion is while the Host is OS X and and while the VMware Fusion Application must reside on the Host's System Volume the Guest or Virtual Machine does not even need to be on the physical computer and as such it would not have be the "Host Machine disk" as you've worded it that would be full at that moment and why the "disk on which the virtual machine is stored" is why the current wording is inclusive of the various locations the Virtual Machine could be stored it is also direct and to the point.

"VMware Fusion has paused this virtual machine because the disk on which the virtual machine is stored is almost full."

It's direct and to the point and the wording doesn't need to be changed one bit. Users need to pay more attention to what they're doing and have a better understanding of how to use a computer and the applications they're using.

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fronc
Contributor
Contributor

I created this account just to tell you that you are wrong. It IS in fact misleading to the end-user because for some, a separate partition is created for the Boot Camp OS. Therefore, the Boot Camp OS is running off a different partition, which appears as a drive. Host Drive and Boot Camp drives are no longer the same, and when an error message comes up that says "Disk on which the virtual machine is stored" is full, it leads one to believe the Boot Camp Partition is full.

So I therefore suggest to you, that critics need to pay more attention to the potential variables in a user's problem and have a better understanding of how to troubleshoot different configurations before they shoot down a user's suggestion to clarify an error message. Anyone with project management and debugging experience knows that error messages that end-users can understand most effectively are the most critical part to a user's trouble-free experience with an application.

To address OP's question, despite the error message being a bit misleading and not problem-specific, try clearing space from your Mac HD (Host) and see if that gets you past the error.

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lbosneac
Contributor
Contributor

i have the same problem but i have deleted space and still cant get in, now i have an error ".vmx is not a valid virtual machine"

so i'm totally lost

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

I created this account just to tell you that you are wrong.

Well since you have replied directly to my post I'll assume you're talking to me although I have to say since you created this account just to tell me that I'm wrong and you created the account on Nov 18, 2008 then this doesn't seem to make any sense.

>It IS in fact misleading to the end-user because for some, a separate partition is created for the Boot Camp OS. Therefore, the Boot Camp OS is running off a different partition, which appears as a drive. Host Drive and Boot Camp drives are no longer the same, and when an error message comes up that says "Disk on which the virtual machine is stored" is full, it leads one to believe the Boot Camp Partition is full.

First of all the Boot Camp partition install of Windows as a separate partition then the OS X Host partition has absolutely nothing to do with this and for the record if one chooses to vitualize the Boot Camp partition by running it as a Virtual Machine then the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine is located on the Host Disk in the User's Home Folder Structure (/Users/$/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Boot Camp/../Boot Camp partition.vmwarevm) and assuming one hasn't added a normal file based virtual hard drive to the default Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine and further assuming one isn't running 2.0.0 with a Snapshot due to a bug in 2.0.0 and the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine is currently running then none of the changes to the Physical Boot Camp partition as it's being run as a Virtual Machine will cause the "VMware Fusion has paused this virtual machine because the disk on which the virtual machine is stored is almost full." message to appear. Now as the Host's Physical Partition runs out of space then this message will occur but again this has nothing to do with the space in the Physical Boot Camp partition while it is being run as a Virtual Machine.

If one runs a Virtual Machine from an external FireWire Drive as an example and the amount of free space decreases to a critical point on the FireWire Drive for whatever the reasons may be then this message will occur and trying to free up space in the Virtual Machine's Virtual Hard Drive will not enable one to click the Continue button since once again it is as the message clearly. concisely and plainly states "VMware Fusion has paused this virtual machine because the disk on which the virtual machine is stored is almost full' which can only mean that the physical disk partition on which the virtual machine resides is the one that is out of space and it is being done so the Host doesn't crash because all of a sudden the Host doesn't have adequate free space to operate. It doesn't matter if the physical partition is running out of space because of something that is happing inside of the virtual machine that is causing the sparse virtual disks to growing on the Host or other non-Fusion related File I/O on the physical disk by the Host OS or any other source it still comes down to freeing up space on the physical disk on which the Virtual Machine resides in order to successfully press the Continue button.

I'll also say for the record that while Fusion has many unresolved issues I have to give credit to VMware for coding Fusion to pause the Virtual Machine instead of letting it crash itself and the Host and if it didn't pause the Virtual Machine and was allowed to continue unchecked it most certainly would crash the system and has potential to corrupt the filesystem as well. Frankly it is the absolute best feature of Fusion!

So I therefore suggest to you, that critics need to pay more attention to the potential variables in a user's problem and have a better understanding of how to troubleshoot different configurations before they shoot down a user's suggestion to clarify an error message. Anyone with project management and debugging experience knows that error messages that end-users can understand most effectively are the most critical part to a user's trouble-free experience with an application.

I've been in this Industry to long however if there is one thing I've observed over the years is watching highly intelligent people being brought to their knees because as brilliant as they may be in their area of expertise they just refuse to learn how to properly use a computer and read the documentation and have a understanding of what is actually happening on the computer as it's being used and while that is fine and is certainly ones prerogative not to do, it is not a valid excuse in my book. So if one is not going to learn how to properly use a computer then pay someone to take care of ones issues/problems when they arise.

This message "VMware Fusion has paused this virtual machine because the disk on which the virtual machine is stored is almost full." needs no clarification!

To address OP's question, despite the error message being a bit misleading and not problem-specific, try clearing space from your Mac HD (Host) and see if that gets you past the error.

There is absolutely nothing misleading about the message and aside from the fact that this thread is over a month old and was already answered by 3 professionals I have to assume that since nordinsr did not reply further that this issue was resolved so I'm not sure having another person say what three of us have already said is going to help resolve this anymore then it already has.

==========

WoodyZ - VMware vEXPERT 2009

5441_5441.jpg

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fronc
Contributor
Contributor

First of all the Boot Camp partition install of Windows as a separate partition then the OS X Host partition has absolutely nothing to do with this and for the record if one chooses to vitualize the Boot Camp partition by running it as a Virtual Machine then the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine is located on the Host Disk in the User's Home Folder Structure (/Users/$/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Boot Camp/../Boot Camp partition.vmwarevm) and assuming one hasn't added a normal file based virtual hard drive to the default Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine and further assuming one isn't running 2.0.0 with a Snapshot due to a bug in 2.0.0 and the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine is currently running then none of the changes to the Physical Boot Camp partition as it's being run as a Virtual Machine will cause the "VMware Fusion has paused this virtual machine because the disk on which the virtual machine is stored is almost full." message to appear. Now as the Host's Physical Partition runs out of space then this message will occur but again this has nothing to do with the space in the Physical Boot Camp partition while it is being run as a Virtual Machine.

If one runs a Virtual Machine from an external FireWire Drive as an example and the amount of free space decreases to a critical point on the FireWire Drive for whatever the reasons may be then this message will occur and trying to free up space in the Virtual Machine's Virtual Hard Drive will not enable one to click the Continue button since once again it is as the message clearly. concisely and plainly states "VMware Fusion has paused this virtual machine because the disk on which the virtual machine is stored is almost full' which can only mean that the physical disk partition on which the virtual machine resides is the one that is out of space and it is being done so the Host doesn't crash because all of a sudden the Host doesn't have adequate free space to operate. It doesn't matter if the physical partition is running out of space because of something that is happing inside of the virtual machine that is causing the sparse virtual disks to growing on the Host or other non-Fusion related File I/O on the physical disk by the Host OS or any other source it still comes down to freeing up space on the physical disk on which the Virtual Machine resides in order to successfully press the Continue button.

All of this, this entire explanation of how VMware works, the partition and such.. This is what a typical end-user does not care about. They install boot camp, they run a VM from the Boot Camp partition, and they play in their VM's until something bad happens. When this error pops up and says the disk on which the VM is stored is full, a typical end-user is befuddled, because as far as they know, their VM was installed and stored on the Boot Camp Partition.

Your explanation is correct. However, nobody cares. The end-user just wants to use the program he/she paid for, and an error message that does not clearly define the problem a user is facing is frustrating to said user.

I've been in this Industry to long however if there is one thing I've observed over the years is watching highly intelligent people being brought to their knees because as brilliant as they may be in their area of expertise they just refuse to learn how to properly use a computer and read the documentation and have a understanding of what is actually happening on the computer as it's being used and while that is fine and is certainly ones prerogative not to do, it is not a valid excuse in my book. So if one is not going to learn how to properly use a computer then pay someone to take care of ones issues/problems when they arise.

Reading the documentation in detail to find out how the VMware "stores" the virtual machine technically (especially when partitions intentionally MASK this by appearing as a separate disk) is not something a software designer should assume an end-user will do. To continue to deny that a more specific error message would be helpful to the typical user is ignorant of the needs of the target audience (Mac users). The OS X takes pride in its simplicity and ease of use for end-users, and VMware should modify its error message to continue this tradition.

Suggested revision: "VMware Fusion has paused this virtual machine because the volume on which the virtual machine is stored ("Macintosh HD") is almost full."

I'm not here to argue. I'm here to help. And from the looks of your vExpert badge, you should be, too.

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RDPetruska
Leadership
Leadership

>Your explanation is correct. However, nobody cares. The end-user just wants to use the program he/she paid for, and an error message that does not clearly define the problem a user is facing is frustrating to said user.

Yes, and this is one of the main problems with Apple software and Macs in general... they have dumbed-down their OS so much to cater to users who don't want to take the time to learn/understand how a computer works and how to fix problems when they occur!

If you are going to use a tool, ANY tool, take the time to LEARN how to use it! And before asking for help, take the time to READ any documentation about it.

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ChipMcK
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I think you have the wrong attitude. In my experience with Fusion, my initial reaction to any error message has been "What are they talking about? Host or Guest?" None of the messages have ever stated obvious: Who/What is reporting/presenting the error, host or guest?

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

The only message relevant to this thread is "VMware Fusion has paused this virtual machine because the disk on which the virtual machine is stored is almost full." and I fail to see how this can be misinterpreted as there is nothing ambitious about it and it is direct and to the point and the irony of all of this is the real problem in all of this is the User in that they should be more cognizant of the overall state of their computer in the fact that the physical computers hard drive is almost full and shouldn't even let the computer get to a point that an application has to take a precautionary measure such as this in the first place.

I'm not directing this next statement toward anyone specifically and is meant only as commentary... Computer Users should either learn how to properly use one or just unplug them and go back to using a #2 pencil and ruled paper! Smiley Happy

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fronc
Contributor
Contributor

The only message relevant to this thread is "VMware Fusion has paused this virtual machine because the disk on which the virtual machine is stored is almost full." and I fail to see how this can be misinterpreted as there is nothing ambitious about it and it is direct and to the point and the irony of all of this is the real problem in all of this is the User in that they should be more cognizant of the overall state of their computer in the fact that the physical computers hard drive is almost full and shouldn't even let the computer get to a point that an application has to take a precautionary measure such as this in the first place.

I have a 64gb Solid State drive. And I'm running 2 OS's, hence the need for VMware. Couple that with a 32gb ipod touch's database of music, and then ask yourself if coming close to 64gb is so odd.

Computer Users should either learn how to properly use one or just unplug them and go back to using a #2 pencil and ruled paper! Smiley Happy

By your logic, people should just design their own software, too. If they research enough to fully understand all the technical details of what software does, why couldn't they implement it themselves?

While I totally agree that users SHOULD have more knowledge about how their devices work, this is an unrealistic utopian dream. I still have to take calls from my mother asking me how to use the TV remote. If she sees this error message, do you think there is a realistic chance she is going to investigate how hard disk virtualization, partitioning, mounting, host disks, and VM Install paths work, or is she more likely to see an error message indicating that she needs to "Free up some space on ("Macintosh HD") to proceed," and delete a few TV episodes?

The mere fact that this thread existed in the first place, in conjunction with the fact that since I reopened it, I have already received a concurrence that the message is ambiguous, indicates to me that the error message has not led users down a clear path to troubleshooting their problems.

The problem I see on this message board is pretty universal on software support boards. Everybody claims to be here to help, but when a "n00b" user enters with a legitimate question, the "experts" pop in to say that it is the user's fault for not understanding the problem, rather than explain and make suggestions to the developers to avoid the problem in the future.

I don't see how it would be difficult to implement a different error message which is more exact in which drive needs to be freed. But I'm also not saying that people should be excused for ignorant use of computers. What I am saying is that this is not one such example.

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fburkitt
Contributor
Contributor

I must agree.  VMWare support documentation and admin screens have to be THE WORST in the industry.  Whoever wrote the text did not have the end user in mind.  A user has to be a lawyer to pull apart each word of each sentence to try and understand what is being said.  On the other hand maybe they are doing me a service.  I have almost completely stopped using the WIndows software and I have given up on trying to configure the VMWare Disk size. So the net results is that it is accelerating my departure from Windows and VMWare.  Thank you VMware your product is so bad that I no longer feel the need to buy it!

I also have an issue with people who LECTURE end users who are obviously struggling to understand a technical topic.  That kind of help is NO help at all.

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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

This is a three year old thread.

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fburkitt
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you but the issue is still the same. Poor documentation and poor admin controls. Changing the size of the disk space allocated to VMware remains Extremely confusing. A call to customer support only gets a rep who can't explain how to do it. It amazes me that after 3 yrs nothing has changed.

Sent from my iPhone

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

fburkitt wrote:  Thank you but the issue is still the same. Poor documentation and poor admin controls.  Changing the size of the disk space allocated to VMware remains Extremely confusing.

This thread has nothing to do with "Changing the size of the disk space allocated to VMware" and since all three of the posts you made since Jan 31, 2008 don't ask for help in doing that it doesn't give much credence to you or what you're saying!  If you're having an issue resizing a virtual hard disk then start you're on thread of find an already existing thread on that subject but in the interim have a look at the following:

If with VMware Fusion, have a look at: Resizing Virtual Disks With Step by Step Instructions

Otherwise, also have a look at: Increasing the size of a virtual disk & Increasing the size of a disk partition

A call to customer support only gets a rep who can't explain how to do it.  It amazes me that after 3 yrs nothing has changed.

No offense intended however without some proof, that might as well just be hearsay and is meaningless! Smiley Wink

Not sent from iPhone.

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ChipMcK
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

The problem is that the facts are presented backwards: the error (disk full) is presented as an afterthought in the text. It should be the first item that the user reads, then what VMfusion is doing about the error

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