What do you do when Windows (XP) freezes?

[Curious2009]

My Windows client has frozen and does not respond to anything. On a PC, if nothing helps, I just push the power button for a while and then reboot. But on a virtual machine, it suspends the guest and wakes it up in the same frozen state over and over. Is there any way to really kill the client and make it reboot?

I have tried the menu item "Virtual machine/shut down guest" but it does not work.

I know I can open a new client, but then I have to install all software again. Right?

I am running VMware Fusion 2.0.1 on a MAC OS X 10.5.6 on a Macbook.

Thanks!

[borisdusek · Accepted solution]

My Windows client has frozen and does not respond to anything. On a PC, if nothing helps, I just push the power button for a while and then reboot. But on a virtual machine, it suspends the guest and wakes it up in the same frozen state over and over. Is there any way to really kill the client and make it reboot?

I have tried the menu item "Virtual machine/shut down guest" but it does not work.

I know I can open a new client, but then I have to install all software again. Right?

Try the same menu item, just press "Alt (option)" key before clicking "shut down guest", it will turn to "power off", which is equivalent to pressing the power button on a real computer for a few seconds (or for unplugging the power cord, if you wish).

[Curious2009]

That did the work. Thanks!

[cathyhv]

Thank you! We were apoplectic until we found your solution. Boris, you're great!