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Sardesai62
Contributor
Contributor

Remembering Open Tabs between Sessions

I am using Workstation Pro 12. I find that although it is set to remember the tabs between sessions, it does not do that. Has anyone else faced this problem. What is the resolution?

5 Replies
Sardesai62
Contributor
Contributor

Wondering the relevance of this "community help" since this question has not been answered. I would have expected people from VMWare on this forum answering the question apart from the user community.

bluefirestorm
Champion
Champion

I haven't encountered such problem.

But you might want to refer to this old post

Re: Why does VMWare Workstation 9, not remember my VMs, favorites, or folders that I create to organ...

Even though it refers to VMware Workstation 9, certainly the things regarding inventory.vmls and preferences.ini still looks relevant on VMware Workstation 12.5.4 on Windows 10 x64 host.

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dariusd
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Usually this is a result of a problem with the file permissions on the Workstation configuration/inventory files.  The troubleshooting steps and remedy depend on what your host OS is; The thread linked by bluefirestorm should cover a few options.  For more specific help, you should mention your host OS and if you've performed any troubleshooting steps on your own (i.e. temporarily creating another user account on your system, creating a few VMs there, and seeing if the problem occurs in that user account too).

We greatly appreciate the assistance of our volunteer forum denizens, but they are just that: volunteers.  VMware employees (such as myself) try to pitch in when we have the opportunity, but this is also done largely in our own time and in an unofficial capacity.  For the future: Including more information in your initial post (exact product version, host OS, troubleshooting already attempted) would maximize the likelihood of speedy assistance here in the VMware Communities.

If you require a a more urgent response or attention directly from VMware, you can consider filing a support request.

Cheers,

--

Darius

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ncarthy
Contributor
Contributor

I had this problem too. Reading from the link above I fixed it as follows:

  • Open a VMware.log file for any of your VMsand search for "preferences.ini"
  • Navigate to this location ( Mine was in %appdata%\VMWare\ )
  • Delete both preferences.ini and inventory.vmls
  • Close and ReOpen WorkStation
  • Set your tabs like you want
  • Close and ReOpen WorkStation again
  • Problem Solved!
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netlib
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks for the tip.  However, it still does not completely work for me.  At least not for all tabs.  I deleted the files as you suggested, and restarted VMWare and re-added my VMs (about 12 of them).

However, when restart VMWare again, only about 3/4 of the tabs are still there.  So I keep having to add back the missing VMs.

I am using VMWare Workstation 14.1.5 on Windows 10 Pro x64, so it has still not been fixed as of 14.1.5.

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