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klinquist
Contributor
Contributor

"Failed to power on"

I've got two Macs. On one of them, VMWare Fusion works great - I had v10, 11, 11.5, and now 12.  

 

On my other Mac, I haven't been able to power on a VM since... Fusion 11?  I just get "Failed to power on (path)" on ANY VM when I hit the start/play button.

 

I upgraded to Big Sur and installed VMWare Player 12 (I own VMWare 11.x, trying Player before I pay for the upgrade to the full version of 12) and am experiencing the same issues.

 

I've tried the following:

Uninstalled, including removing all Library files & even kexts, reinstalling.

"Allowed" the kernel extension

Disabling SIP in combination with the above.

Making sure VMWare has all permissions in the Privacy tab of System Preferences. Removing and re-adding it to all permissions.

Trying new VMs.

Making sure all other hypervisors are completely removed (namely Docker).

 

Must be some conflict with something that was installed on this mac at one time!   I've been unable to find any relevant log files to give me more information.    I think I've tried everything found in other search results here in this forum!

 

Any ideas?

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48 Replies
ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

Long shot - but have you tried a safe boot?  hold down the left shift key during startup?

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klinquist
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks @ColoradoMarmot, just tried.... Same issue under safe boot!

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Are there any logs in the VM's bundles?
If so, can you attach one of a VM that failed to power on?

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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klinquist
Contributor
Contributor

When I view package contents on the VM, the only file updated today is a lock (.lck) file.

 

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MeRealGun
Contributor
Contributor

Same issue here. It shows only "Failed to power on 'xxx/xxx/xxx.vmx' for any vm even on a clean virtual machine. No log file was found in application bundle.

I am using Big Sur, too. Already upgraded to the latest Fusion version (12.1.0)

Waiting for advises. Thanks.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Does deleting the .lck file help?

If that still doesn't help, can you attach the support bundle?
(VMware Fusion menu "help" -> "Collect Support Information")

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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klinquist
Contributor
Contributor

Deleting the lck does nothing.

 

The problem report is over 400mb(!!!).  The forum only allows 38MB

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

That's probably not a bad thing that it doesn't allow one to upload a 400Mb support bundle.

Probably one of the system logs from your mac that it includes in the zip is very big. Delete the biggest log file and try uploading it then, it is not likely to be relevant for diagnosing the issue. (also tell us the name of the file you deleted, just in case)

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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klinquist
Contributor
Contributor

There was a system.log that was over 4GB that I deleted.  I also deleted the list of my installed applications :).

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

I see a weird error in your vmware-vmfusion.log about the application menu / startMenuApp crashing.
Not quite getting how that would prevent a VM from starting, but it is possible that it does.

In VMware Fusion menu -> Preferences, can you set the application menu to "never" and see if that helps?
(not sure if you have to restart Fusion)

eg.

wila_0-1606869118446.png

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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klinquist
Contributor
Contributor

Did that and restarted, no dice.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Right.

Btw, the ubuntu vm you are trying to start has no data (it's empty, the disk has nothing), I take it that that's expected?

What is the output of the following command in a terminal?

ps -ax | grep -i vm

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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klinquist
Contributor
Contributor

Yep - that was me testing a brand new VM.  Pointed it to an ubuntu iso and hit play... and got the same error as any other VM 😞

 

  854 ??         0:04.66 /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/amsrv -D -p 8698
  858 ??         0:17.10 /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/amsrv -D -p 8698
65712 ??         0:02.22 /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/MacOS/VMware Fusion
65793 ??         0:00.08 /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/VMware Fusion Start Menu.app/Contents/MacOS/VMware Fusion Start Menu
65806 ??         0:00.01 /Library/Application Support/VMware/VMware Fusion/Services/Contents/Library/services/VMware Fusion Services 3 4
65875 ??         0:00.02 /Library/Application Support/VMware/VMware Fusion/Services/Contents/Library/vmnet-bridge
65882 ??         0:00.01 /Library/Application Support/VMware/VMware Fusion/Services/Contents/Library/vmnet-natd -s 6 -m /Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/vmnet8/nat.mac -c /Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/vmnet8/nat.conf
65884 ??         0:00.09 /Library/Application Support/VMware/VMware Fusion/Services/Contents/Library/vmware-usbarbitrator
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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

That's with the application menu set to off? 🤔

Asking as the amsrv process is AFAIK responsible for the application menu, so seeing it appear after turning it off is weird.

For the rest it looks pretty normal to me.

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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klinquist
Contributor
Contributor

That's with the application menu set to off? 🤔

 

Yep.

 

Yeah, it's bizarre.  It's not like it 'thinks' for awhile then gives me the error.  It's immediate.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Tried to reboot the host?

FWIW the amsrv processes should not be there, the moment I turn the application menu off down here, they are gone.
Them showing up after turning the feature off is fishy.

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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klinquist
Contributor
Contributor

After a reboot,

that process went away..

 

 1145 ??         0:00.87 /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/MacOS/VMware Fusion
 1204 ??         0:00.01 /Library/Application Support/VMware/VMware Fusion/Services/Contents/Library/services/VMware Fusion Services 3 4
 1236 ??         0:00.07 /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/VMware Fusion Start Menu.app/Contents/MacOS/VMware Fusion Start Menu
 1285 ??         0:00.02 /Library/Application Support/VMware/VMware Fusion/Services/Contents/Library/vmnet-bridge
 1293 ??         0:00.01 /Library/Application Support/VMware/VMware Fusion/Services/Contents/Library/vmnet-natd -s 6 -m /Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/vmnet8/nat.mac -c /Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/vmnet8/nat.conf
 1295 ??         0:00.01 /Library/Application Support/VMware/VMware Fusion/Services/Contents/Library/vmware-usbarbitrator

 

 

but the issue remains :(. 

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

You removed the list of installed applications...

Do you have something installed that does things like blocking network connections or named pipes etc..

Eg. LuLu, Block Block, antivirus apps, anti malware..

If so try disabling it and try again?

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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klinquist
Contributor
Contributor

I do not... no antivirus, no firewall..

I have Little Snitch installed on my other computer where Fusion works fine, but not this one!

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