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thelamb
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Guest unresponsive after snapshot resume

Hello all,

I run a win7 x64 guest and host OS in Workstation 7.1.

I create a snapshot, but when I resume to this snapshot, the guest OS is unresponsive for 0 to 3 minutes (yes that's right.. 0, sometimes it responds immediately).

The OS doesn't seem to completely freeze though, the Windows clock updates and I can see the cursor in a Console Application blinking.

However I can not move the mouse, click anywhere or perform any other user input.

Relevant details:

- Kernel debugging is enabled in the guest

- I create a serial port, forwarded to a named pipe (
.\pipe\com_1) and attach WinDbg to this pipe from my host

- WinDbg is not attached when I create the snapshot

- Also created a snapshot without the kernel debugger enabled and it seems to respond faster...

vmware.log is attached (this is from a resume where the kernel debugging is enabled, and it was unresponsive for a long time).

Thanks

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jessepool
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Hi thelamb. Can you try a config option for me? Suspend your guest and add this line to your .vmx file:

mainMem.lockOnRestore = "96"

After applying this setting, can you let me know what your restore experience was like, and upload the vmware.log?

Thanks!

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PnwGuy
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I've had this happen as well with the same Win 7 x64 host and a variety of guests. For me, it only started happening after I upgraded to Workstation 7.1 and its been completely random as far as I can tell. Were you running 7.0 previously? Did this only start happening with 7.1?

There seem to be a variety of people having rather serious/fatal problems with 7.1. If these generally did not happen in 7.0 I think VMware has gone backwards with their newest release and should own up to more of the problems.

Also, one thing I've noticed under 7.1 that was never a problem under 7.0, are some USB device issues when resuming VMs. If a USB device that was connected previously is now disconnected (connected to the host or the hardware is literally unplugged) VMware seems to fall on its face trying to do the resume.

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thelamb
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Thank you for your reply PwnGuy, however in my case the problems existed on 7.0 as well (I was hoping upgrading to 7.1 would provide a fix, but no luck).

I have the feeling that it is worse on 7.1 though, but it's an ungrounded feeling as the snapshot I am using now is not the same as I was using with 7.0.

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PnwGuy
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Ok, I edited my reply above to include a USB issue I've noticed. I've found, to be safe, it's best to disconnect any "temporary" USB devices from the guest before you make a snapshot and/or suspend it. That way if the devices are missing when you try to resume, VMware doesn't get stuck. I never had to do that under 7.0 but I've learned the hard way to do it with 7.1.

Are you using a real serial port or a USB to serial adapter? If it's the latter, that could be part or all of your problem?

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admin
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Do you have a better experience if you disable background snapshots? (Under Preferences > Priority.)

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thelamb
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Taking/Resuming snapshots in the background is already disabled (Tried it once but had bad experience with it Smiley Wink)

I don't know if it's worth nothing.. but resuming the snapshot seems to take longer when the guest is unresponsive. So when it resumes faster, it's usually responding immediately.

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admin
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According to the log file that you posted, only taking snapshots in the background is disabled, and it is performing a background resume:

Aug 12 19:41:41.775: vmx| Lazy Restore with prefetch of 1024 MB

Aug 12 19:41:41.805: vmx| Progress 0% (none)

Aug 12 19:41:41.983: vmx| Progress 1% (none)

Aug 12 19:41:42.867: vmx| Progress 2% (none)

...

Taking/Resuming snapshots in the background is already disabled (Tried it once but had bad experience with it Smiley Wink)

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thelamb
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Screenshot of the priorities tab. Also.. when resuming I see the progressbar (which I guess I wouldn't see if resuming in background really was enabled). But I guess we could be on to something... Should I try re-installing the workstation?

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admin
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That's weird. Can you try checking the "Restore snapshots in the background" checkbox, clicking OK, reopening the Preferences dialog, and then unchecking it?

thelamb
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I have, but no luck.

Also.. I installed the 7.1.1 update but no change.

I also tried to enable background restoring, I got the 'warning' message that if performance is slow I should disable it. But there was no change, so I disabled it again.

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jessepool
VMware Employee
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Hi thelamb. Can you try a config option for me? Suspend your guest and add this line to your .vmx file:

mainMem.lockOnRestore = "96"

After applying this setting, can you let me know what your restore experience was like, and upload the vmware.log?

Thanks!

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thelamb
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Hmm impressive, so far the guest has always resumed immediately (although I am cautious to say it is fixed Smiley Wink).

vmware.log is included again.

I will mark the thread as solved if there aren't any 'hangups' during the rest of the day.

Thanks!

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