VMWARE BSOD with WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR

[-Codyalan]

Hi, I am constantly getting BSOD with WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR in my windows VMware player, and have tried to see what is causing it without success, mostly I read that it is caused by hardware failure, which i do not understand as I do not get any such errors on my host, how do I find out what the issue is?

[KenNZ]

I see I am not the only one! I installed VMWare Player a day or two ago and have been battling this exact error. I've tried googling to see if others are having the issue but wasn't finding anything helpful.

For reference, I'm running Win 11 Pro on an Intel i5-13600KF with 32GB RAM, running from an NVMe SSD. System is stable and has not presented any issues thus far in general use. It's a pretty fresh install too.

I've recently created a Win 11 Pro VM and then tried a Win 10 Pro VM. Both installs came from official iso's from Microsoft. Initially I was running with Hyper-V enabled (VMWare Player made me install the Hypervisor support to make this possible) and then with it disabled. Initially with side channel mitigations enabled, then disabled. Same results.

I almost couldn't install the Win 11 VM as it would always crash early in the install process (Towards the end of 'Getting files ready for installation'). After nearly half a dozen attempts one finally decided to work. I've then had it crash copying files between host and vm, unzipping files, and even sitting idle.

I then installed a Win 10 VM to see if the problem was limited to Win 11, but I've experienced it multiple times with the Win 10 VM as well...

Mine is also only displaying this crash/error in the VM. Never on the host system, which seems to be the more common error I come across when googling for a solution.

I'd also love to know if there is some way of stopping this from occurring.

[scott28tt]

As your post needs moving to the area for Workstation Player, I have reported it to the moderators.

[-Codyalan]

Moved to worked station player pro

[scott28tt]

OK, so now I shall report this post for a second time, this time for deletion since you've now created a duplicate anyway.

[-Codyalan]

wow, if this is the attitude on this forum, I want no part of it, you said I must post it correct place, so I did, what a nasty individual you are, hope your petty attitude makes you feel good. I was trying out the pro player before buying it, so glad I got to know what kind of small, minded people are on the forum first!!!

[scott28tt]

No, I said I had reported your post to the moderators as it needed moving.

Rather than wait for it to be moved, you created a duplicate post.

The moderators are volunteers, the more admin they have to do the more of their own time they use.

[munrobasher]

I get same error on VMware Workstation 15 Pro. I'm unable to upgrade because I still run one virtual machine as a shared VM. It only appears to occur with Windows 11 Pro. I run Windows Server 2019 and Windows 10 on the same host without problems. Host runs Windows 11 as well.

It's pretty rare though - I use the W11 VM for testing. It can often be up and running for a day without issue.

[JLogan2016]

I am getting the same issue on Workstation 17 Pro (17.0.1 build 21139696). On start up, all of my VMs (independent) BSOD with this error. Then, upon reboot, they are fine. I can reboot a dozen more times, and they are still fine. It is only when I close and reopen Workstation that I encounter an issue. So it is NOT just Player that is affected, and the VMWare employee with the stick up his keister should have left it where it was long enough to see if this was affecting multiple platforms rather than rushing to a condescending back and forth with the OP.

Back to the actual issue. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Workstation several times, on different hardware, and using different VMs (Win10, Win11, Server 2k16) and the problem persists. This is very obviously an issue with Workstation and Player and how they are handling the virtual hardware.

[munrobasher]

I've got the same problem? What host are you running on? This is my set-up:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
Version 10.0.22621 Build 22621
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core Processor, 3600 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
BaseBoard Manufacturer Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.
BaseBoard Product B450M PRO-VDH PLUS (MS-7A38)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 64.0 GB

I've had a few stability problems with W11 on this motherboard although it's settled down recently.

[-Codyalan]

Save yourself a lot of frustration and zero help from this community and change to virtual box and you will have no problems, that's what I did!!!!!

[munrobasher]

I've been doing a trial of Virtual Box and I've hit several problems already. Not that impressed. First one is that Windows 11 randomly reboot (sounds familiar) unless you use the old graphics card virtualisation and also transparency doesn't work. I might carry on the trial some day.

[-Codyalan]

Apologies', I went back to Windows 10 on virtual Box, I could not get windows 11 to work on any platform.

[munrobasher]

Ahh yes, well Windows 10 used to be stable on VMware Workstation as well. I suspect it's something in Windows 11.

[JLogan2016]

As an update, I completely blew away Workstation and reinstalled. I then created Windows 10 (Home and Pro) and Windows 11 (Home and Pro) VMs along with Server 2019. All of them BSOD after running for a variable amount of time (some time minutes, sometimes hours). So, this is very obviously an issue with Workstation's virtualization of the Intel processor.

@scott28tt I am guessing there is zero chance of actually getting VMWare to do something about this, right?

[scott28tt]

@JLogan2016

No idea, you'll need to see if @Mikero can offer any insight.

[JLogan2016]

Apologies, earlier in the thread I saw you comment and thought you were trying to help. Just re-read and saw you were just reporting it

[munrobasher]

Part of my problem is that Windows 11 on my host PC isn't as stable as Windows 10. I get occasional blue screens on that as well (like one a week). BSOD in VMs is much more common though. I've been investigating the cause of that which has taken me down the route of looking at memory timings. The root cause is four sticks of RAM in a B450 motherboard. This chipset has varying support for the later Ryzen CPUs. Anyway, after a lot of reading, I've tweaked the voltage on the RAM up a bit and the system is a lot more stable, inc. VMware. 

This could be a total red herring for the original post but thought I'd mention it. Could be that virtualisation stresses a borderline memory controller too far.

[munrobasher]

>Workstation's virtualization of the Intel processor.

I'm getting the same issues on an AMD Ryzen 5 so it's not limited to Intel CPUs.