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Immortal
Immortal

Please report issues with physical disk feature in WS 8

I get the impression that the code in WS 8 that handles the usage of physical disks with a VM is a regression of what we had with earlier versions.

So far I noticed:

  • "disk is in use" message in scenarios that were no problem with earllier versions - for me just trying to start the VM a few times helps.
    For other users this seems to be the end of the story ...

  • Horrible performance. factory new physical disks show write delays similar to very very fragmented and old snapshot trees


    2011-09-30T06:44:56.859+02:00| vmx| I120: scsi0:0: Command WRITE(10) took 2.871 seconds (ok)
    2011-09-30T06:44:56.875+02:00| vmx| I120: scsi0:0: Command WRITE(10) took 2.873 seconds (ok)
    2011-09-30T06:44:56.890+02:00| vmx| I120: scsi0:0: Command WRITE(10) took 2.874 seconds (ok)
    2011-09-30T06:44:56.984+02:00| vmx| I120: scsi0:0: Command WRITE(10) took 6.216 seconds (ok)
    2011-09-30T06:44:57.328+02:00| vmx| I120: scsi0:0: Command WRITE(10) took 3.009 seconds (ok)
    2011-09-30T06:44:57.328+02:00| vmx| I120: scsi0:0: Command WRITE(10) took 3.030 seconds (ok)
    2011-09-30T06:44:57.421+02:00| vmx| I120: scsi0:0: Command WRITE(10) took 3.139 seconds (ok)
    2011-09-30T06:44:57.421+02:00| vmx| I120: scsi0:0: Command WRITE(10) took 2.044 seconds (ok)

If you experience similar issues please post here.
I do not want to discuss details here - justy collect a list of the new problems with WS 8

Please also include a link to your original post - if there is one.

Thanks Ulli


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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37 Replies
izacus
Contributor
Contributor

I'm experiencing identical Physical Disk in Use message after upgrading from Workstation 7 while trying to run Linux OS from the same disk my Windows (with Workstation 😎 is installed on. This is a regression from WS7 for me.

I can't say anything for performance, since I couldn't get it to work even after several VM restarts.

I hope this helps,

Jernej

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NameAlreadyInUs
Contributor
Contributor

Identical situation for me.

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VA00
Contributor
Contributor

After upgrade to VMware Player 4.0 I'm unable to run virtual machine (Kubuntu 64bit) with access to two physical partitions. Error displayed:

Cannot open the disk 'G:\Virtual Machines\KUbuntu 64-bit\KUbuntu 64-bit-12.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.
Reason: The physical disk is already in use.

Nothing has helped to solve the problem so far.  My host OS: Win7 64 Pro.

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comer
Contributor
Contributor

I have just solved mine - installed previous version :smileyangry:

Player 4 (based on WS 😎 - does not work. Player 3 (based on WS 7) - works just fine on XP. Same system, same OSs, same disks.

At the same time, Player4/WS8 works fine on Windows 7 (I have 3 physical disks - XP, W7 and Linux - I attach Linux disk as physical to VM) - go figure.

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NetSpider
Contributor
Contributor

Try to add user __vmware__ with Full Access rights to file "filename.vmdk". This works in my case.

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VA00
Contributor
Contributor

Unfortunately, this did not work for me. Could you post more details?

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NetSpider
Contributor
Contributor

Check Access rights (see screenshot) and check the drive name, is it correct? You can see it in "Computer management -> Disk Management", Disk 0, Disk 1 etc.

And show vmware.log.

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quiettime
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

If I remember correctly there is/was an issue with physical disks in earlier versions of Workstation on a Windows host. Whether it still exists in WS8 I don't know. I only have noticed this problem on Vista hosts or later. To access a physical disk without any problems it sometimes must be taken offline in the host. For example for me to access a vista guest that resides on a physical disk I must take that disk offline. Vista and Win7 etc do something weird, accessing partitions and holding locks on them even if they aren't actually assigned driver letters. Most people don't know about that but I remember you heavily active in vms for a long time-- I remember your BSD VM article from a long time ago-- so maybe you do.

Compound that with most people don't know how to take a disk offline. You usually have to use the command line from what I remember (diskpart). VMWare could do a much better job of explaining this issue.

The fragmentation issue I have no idea. One thing I noticed immediately since switching to WS8 is it told me for some of my VMs that they were fragmented. None of them were direct access though.

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VA00
Contributor
Contributor

Permissions look OK, exactly like in your screenshot.

See the log.

I have 5 partitions on PhysicalDrive1, three of them are for Linux, two are being used on Windows (so I can't simply go offline with this disk).

In vmware I'm using two last Linux  partitions.

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NetSpider
Contributor
Contributor

Strange.. "Successfully locked volume", "Successfully dismounted volume"... and then "IOCTL_VOLUME_GET_VOLUME_DISK_EXTENTS failed on volume". Did you tried to run VMware Player as Administrator?

P.S.

I'm using VMware Workstation 8.

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NetSpider
Contributor
Contributor

Oh, wait, did you checked "Use entire disk" OR "Use individual partitions"?

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VA00
Contributor
Contributor

NetSpider wrote:

Oh, wait, did you checked "Use entire disk" OR "Use individual partitions"?

Use individual partitions. Two of them are actually used.

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NetSpider
Contributor
Contributor

2011-11-17T18:38:32.280+01:00| vmx| I120: W32Util_DismountVolumes: IOCTL_VOLUME_GET_VOLUME_DISK_EXTENTS failed on volume \\?\Volume{6b560058-d546-11e0-a467-005056c00008}: 87

2011-11-17T18:38:32.280+01:00| vmx| I120: W32Util_CloseDismountHandle: Unlocking and closing handles for 1 volumes on PhysicalDrive1...
2011-11-17T18:38:32.280+01:00| vmx| I120: W32Util_CloseDismountHandle: Successfully unlocked volume \\?\Volume{d937e320-d49c-11e0-a360-806e6f6e6963} on PhysicalDrive1.
2011-11-17T18:38:32.280+01:00| vmx| W110: DISKLIB-FLAT  : Open: Failed to dismount physical drive 1. Perhaps its volumes have open files on them?

\\?\Volume{6b560058-d546-11e0-a467-005056c00008 - looks like this volume is in use.

Run from command prompt:

mountvol

This command will show you the list of mounted volumes e.g.

   \\?\Volume{e6d459d5-7840-11e0-af4d-806e6f6e6963}\

       C:\

   \\?\Volume{e6d459d6-7840-11e0-af4d-806e6f6e6963}\

       D:\

Find in this list volume with ID: \\?\Volume{6b560058-d546-11e0-a467-005056c00008 and hope you will get the answer.

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VA00
Contributor
Contributor

Volume with this ID \\?\Volume{6b560058-d546-11e0-a467-005056c00008} is one of three partitions not being used by VM. Two physical disks are in RAID1 managed via Windows dynamic disks, and have three partitions. One of them is causing problems. These disks have nothing to do with other physical disk used by vmware, but ... I disabled RAID1 on them and virtual machine started without problem!

So problem has been solved. Thank you!

I'll try to re-enable mirroring tomorrow, hope the problem is not directly related to presence of RAID1 in the system.

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NetSpider
Contributor
Contributor

I think you cannot use this volume in Virtual machine and in Windows at the same time. Windows cannot free this Volume for you because it is always used by its software RAID in exclusive mode.

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VA00
Contributor
Contributor

NetSpider wrote:

I think you cannot use this volume in Virtual machine and in Windows at the same time. Windows cannot free this Volume for you because it is always used by its software RAID in exclusive mode.

But it worked in previous version! Anyway, volume which caused problems is not used in Virtual machine at all.

Edit: with mirroring enabled, the problem returned. I'm forced to downgrade again, or forget Windows-based RAID1.

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bnod
Contributor
Contributor

Continuum,

Here http://communities.vmware.com/thread/337285?tstart=0 is the link to my findings on the first issue.

bnod

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NetSpider
Contributor
Contributor

Another strange problem with VMWare.

I have 4 disks:

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status      Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  ----------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online       373 GB   484 KB   *
  Disk 1    Online       373 GB   216 GB   *
  Disk 2    Online       466 GB      0 B
  Disk 3    Online      1863 GB      0 B

First two of them are Dynamic, so I've created mirrored partition C:\ (156 GB)

After mirror was built I can't boot OS in VMWare and get the following error:

vmx| I120: DISK: OPEN ide0:0 'D:\VM\back\HDD2.vmdk' persistent R[]

vmx| I120: W32Util_DismountVolumes: Locking and dismounting volumes backed by a particular disk area (offset 0 size 500107862016) on PhysicalDrive2...

vmx| I120: W32Util_DismountVolumes: IOCTL_VOLUME_GET_VOLUME_DISK_EXTENTS failed on volume \\?\Volume{e6d459d5-7840-11e0-af4d-806e6f6e6963}: 234

vmx| I120: W32Util_CloseDismountHandle: Unlocking and closing handles for 0 volumes on PhysicalDrive2...

vmx| W110: DISKLIB-FLAT  : Open: Failed to dismount physical drive 2. Perhaps its volumes have open files on them?

vmx| I120: DISKLIB-FLAT  : "\\.\PhysicalDrive2" : failed to open (73): .

vmx| I120: DISKLIB-LINK  : "D:\VM\back\HDD2.vmdk" : failed to open (The physical disk is already in use). 

vmx| I120: DISKLIB-CHAIN : "D:\VM\back\HDD2.vmdk" : failed to open (The physical disk is already in use).

vmx| I120: DISKLIB-LIB   : Failed to open 'D:\VM\back\HDD2.vmdk' with flags 0xa The physical disk is already in use (73).

vmx| I120: DISK: Cannot open disk "D:\VM\back\HDD2.vmdk": The physical disk is already in use (73).

vmx| I120: Msg_Post: Error

vmx| I120: [msg.disk.noBackEnd] Cannot open the disk 'D:\VM\back\HDD2.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.

vmx| I120: [msg.disk.configureDiskError] Reason: The physical disk is already in use.

When I've deleted software mirror - VMWare start works just fine:

vmx| I120: DISK: OPEN ide0:0 'D:\VM\back\HDD2.vmdk' persistent R[]
vmx| I120: W32Util_DismountVolumes: Locking and dismounting volumes backed by a particular disk area (offset 0 size 500107862016) on PhysicalDrive2...
vmx| I120: DISKLIB-DEVCRW: Facts: Cap=976773168 Phys C/H/S=1024/255/63 BIOS C/H/S=1024/255/63 Adap=IDE
vmx| I120: DISKLIB-DSCPTR: Opened [0]: "\\.\PhysicalDrive2" 0 partitionUUID \\?\ide#diskmaxtor_stm3500630as___________________3.aae___#4&238d425&0&0.2.0#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b} (0xa)
vmx| I120: DISKLIB-LINK  : Opened 'D:\VM\back\HDD2.vmdk' (0xa): fullDevice, 976773168 sectors / 465.8 GB.
vmx| I120: DISKLIB-LIB   : Opened "D:\VM\back\HDD2.vmdk" (flags 0xa, type fullDevice).
vmx| I120: DISK: Disk 'D:\VM\back\HDD2.vmdk' has UUID '60 00 c2 99 5d 47 df 21-ac c3 c1 c2 34 0b 24 73'
vmx| I120: DISK: OPEN 'D:\VM\back\HDD2.vmdk' Geo (16383/16/63) BIOS Geo (1024/255/63)

Is this bug of MS Windows or VMWare? :smileyconfused:

P.S.

\\?\Volume{e6d459d5-7840-11e0-af4d-806e6f6e6963} - is the UUID (UNC) of C:\ (Disk 0) :smileyshocked:

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Jurasix
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

I have found the same error-situation concerning access to PhysicalDisk (VMware-Player v. 3.1.6 and v.4.0.0).

Testing both verions of VMwPlayer we are using the same hardware and the same host-OS (Win 7 Professional x64bit).

Log-part for VMwPlayer 3.1.6:

Oct 20 13:11:35.005: vmx| DISK: OPEN scsi0:0 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Test\Test-0.vmdk' persistent R[]

Oct 20 13:11:35.021: vmx| DISKLIB-DEVCRW: Facts: Cap=117231408 Phys C/H/S=1024/224/19 BIOS C/H/S=1024/224/19 Adap=IDE
Oct 20 13:11:35.021: vmx| DISKLIB-DSCPTR: Opened [0]: "\\.\PhysicalDrive0" 0 (0xa)
Oct 20 13:11:35.021: vmx| DISKLIB-LINK  : Opened 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Test\Test-0.vmdk' (0xa): fullDevice, 117231408 sectors / 55.9 GB.
Oct 20 13:11:35.021: vmx| DISKLIB-LIB   : Opened "C:\Program Files (x86)\Test\Test-0.vmdk" (flags 0xa).
Oct 20 13:11:35.021: vmx| DiskGetGeometry: Reading of disk partition table
Oct 20 13:11:35.037: vmx| DISK: OPEN 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Test\Test-0.vmdk' Geo (27544/224/19) BIOS Geo (7297/255/63)
Log-Part for VMwPlayer 4.0.0:
2012-10-20T09:52:08.950+02:00| vmx| I120+ ---------------------------------------
2012-10-20T09:52:08.997+02:00| vmx| I120: DISK: OPEN scsi0:0 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Test\Test-0.vmdk' persistent R[]
2012-10-20T09:52:09.059+02:00| vmx| I120: W32Util_DismountVolumes: Locking and dismounting volumes backed by a particular disk area (offset 0 size 60022480896) on PhysicalDrive0...
2012-10-20T09:52:09.200+02:00| vmx| I120: W32Util_DismountVolumes: FSTCL_LOCK_VOLUME failed on volume \\?\Volume{10c8a2b7-d168-11df-9ac8-806e6f6e6963}: 5
2012-10-20T09:52:09.200+02:00| vmx| I120: W32Util_CloseDismountHandle: Unlocking and closing handles for 1 volumes on PhysicalDrive0...
2012-10-20T09:52:09.200+02:00| vmx| W110: DISKLIB-FLAT  : Open: Failed to dismount physical drive 0. Perhaps its volumes have open files on them?
2012-10-20T09:52:09.215+02:00| vmx| I120: DISKLIB-FLAT  : "\\.\PhysicalDrive0" : failed to open (73): .
2012-10-20T09:52:09.215+02:00| vmx| I120: DISKLIB-LINK  : "C:\Program Files (x86)\Test\Test-0.vmdk" : failed to open (The physical disk is already in use). 
2012-10-20T09:52:09.215+02:00| vmx| I120: DISKLIB-CHAIN : "C:\Program Files (x86)\Test\Test-0.vmdk" : failed to open (The physical disk is already in use).
2012-10-20T09:52:09.215+02:00| vmx| I120: DISKLIB-LIB   : Failed to open 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Test\Test-0.vmdk' with flags 0xa The physical disk is already in use (73).
2012-10-20T09:52:09.215+02:00| vmx| I120: DISK: Cannot open disk "C:\Program Files (x86)\Test\Test-0.vmdk": The physical disk is already in use (73).
2012-10-20T09:52:09.215+02:00| vmx| I120: Msg_Post: Error
2012-10-20T09:52:09.215+02:00| vmx| I120: [msg.disk.noBackEnd] Cannot open the disk 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Test\Test-0.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.
2012-10-20T09:52:09.215+02:00| vmx| I120: [msg.disk.configureDiskError] Reason: The physical disk is already in use.
2012-10-20T09:52:09.215+02:00| vmx| I120: ----------------------------------------

It is clear now, that beginning with version 4.0.0, a completely new method of accessing the physical drives is implemented. The question is, is it an intention to completely close the access to physical drives or it is only a temporary state of development? Are there some configuration options which could allow us to ignore the new method of access to physical drives?

Thanks for reply,

Jurasix

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