How to Fix "This Program Can Not be Run Under VMware"

[jenrrys]

Hello, some programs cannot be run under VMware, they somehow detect that the os is running in a virtual machine and display the error message "This Program Can Not be Run Under VMware".

Being unable to run a program under VMware makes it totally unuseful, is there a solution to this problem?

[scott28tt]

There are some things you can try, the rate of success depends on the guest OS and application

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/Can-you-hide-virtual-machine-from-a-program...

[continuum]

  "This Program Can Not be Run Under VMware" appears to be a normal error-message that is displayed when the application XY detects an issue with the environment it runs in.

First time we noticed this problem was in 2004 or 2005.
At that time this issue could be treated like a bug or flaw in Workstation.
When a new vmx-parameter was found that could trick the AntiPiracy detection of app XY
the vendors would do their homework and in the next release the race would start again.
The next 10 years we "fixed" this problem with various vmx-file parameters
- look at my site: http://sanbarrow.com/vmx/vmx-advanced.html#isolationtools

In hindsight I believe the vendors were glad that the user-scenes tried to attack the issue like a Workstation flaw.
A user-scene that confronts the vendor with the valid question:
We want to use Game XY from inside a VM - why do you treat us like criminals ?
could eventually force the vendors to change their approach in the long run.

At the moment defending the use of aggressive AntiPiracy and Am-I-inside-a-VM checks is easy for Game-vendors.
"Our regular customers run our game on regular PCs. They feel cheated if some "bad guys" use pirated software and
have massive farms with 30 VMs when they go into an online battle."

We have seen those guys here in the forums ...
Nowadays the message "This Program Can Not be Run Under VMware"  very very likely should be translated to:
Product management of application XY has come to the conclusion that a significant amount of users running app XY inside a VM has a negative impact on Sales or reputation. Thats why Antipiracy prevention is acceptable to lock-out VMware,

I assume you dont have Piracy or Abuse of a Software XY in mind.
Then the best approach would be to contact your vendor and explain you need to use a VM.

As far as I know a modern and uptodate software development team should be able to detect if their app is used inside a VM.
If you want to cheat detection by an older software - you may really still find the correct combination of vmx-parameters.

But if that is your plan - then your approach is flawed. If you post your app + vmx-parameter cheat here then next update will lock you out again.
Keep a low profile instead - "enemy" is listening ....

Ulli

[jenrrys]

The message is displayed by software I legitimately bought (phone repair software) which I do not want/trust to use on my host os.

Doing a research I found out that much other software doesn't run under vmware or virtual machine in general (car repair software, games, much phone repair software), this makes vm software (vmware in this case) useless if it doesn't provide a workaround. I think maybe a workaround should be easy to give to the vmware users by its developers.

[continuum]

> I think maybe a workaround should be easy to give to the vmware users by its developers.
So you still think that this is a fixable issue ?

Only fix that I can think of is to add some notes to the Workstation release notes and documentation:
Software that comes with "Am I running inside a VM" checks will not work inside a VM.

The fact that detection attempts could be cheated for a long time only means that 3rd party software vendors spend little effort into their checks.