Issue access VMs - "The virtual machine appears to be in use"??

[sjkoehler]

Hi -

I just installed VMWare Workstation on a Win 8 laptop, and created bare Win XP and Win 7 VMs. They worked fine, but after a Win 8 crash this morning I'm no longer able to access them. When I click on the virtual machine, it sits for a few seconds then I get a popup:

'This virtual machine appears to be in use.

If this virtual machine is not in use, press the "Take Ownership" button to obtain ownership of it. Otherwise press the "Cancel" button to avoid damaging it.

Configuration file C:\VMs\MyWin7VM\MyWin7VM.vmx.'

Trying to take ownership fails with the following message:

'Could not open virtual machine: C:\VMs\MyWin7VM\MyWin7VM.vmx

Taking ownership of this virtual machine failed.

The virtual machine is in use by an application on your host computer.

Configuration file: C:\VMs\MyWin7VM\MyWin7VM.vmx'

Did I destroy my virtual machines when my laptop crashed, or is there something I can do?

Thanks in advance for any advice...

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

That's hard to say without more details. Please close VMware Workstation and check the VM's folders to see whether they contain any .lck files or folders and if so, delete them. Also check the NTFS permissions.

André

[sjkoehler]

Thank you! I there was a .lck folder in both VM folders, plus the VM folders were set as read only for some reason so I unchecked that. The VMs now work.

[continuum]

thats a new feature of WS 9

earlier versions could remove stale lock directories  - now with WS 9 we have to do that manually

[ksio89]

Hero, your solution worked like a charm, thanks!

[kirubha143]

Your solution fixed my issue. Thanks indeed kirubasankar selvaraj