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Shlachetka
Contributor
Contributor

Unable to boot most VMs I create.

I'm at a bit of a loss here. I use VMWare Workstation 15 Pro on my Acer Predator Helios 300 (i7-8750H, GTX 1060 6GB, 16GB RAM).

The problem I've been facing on this device is that most VMs I create end up going to a black screen during the first boot or after a reboot, I can use the same settings on another computer and it will work just fine. When these VMs go to a black screen I am unable to shut them down, they stop responding, and the process cannot be killed in Task Manager. Rebooting the system and then powering on a VM *sometimes* works, but most times I just power back on to a black screen. Is my hardware not suitable for virtualization?

6 Replies
Aluminum13
Contributor
Contributor

Most fascinating. I too have this exact problem, but I'm running workstation on a model G3-571.

Shlachetka
Contributor
Contributor

Oh, I see! So we're very similar. I have not nailed down the cause as of yet. My only non-true fix was to use ESXi and create VMs there, I run it in Workstation and performance is still very reliable, but this does not solve the real problem.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

First thing to try would be to disable 3D on the virtual hardware of the VM and see if you still end up with a black screen.

If that doesn't help, check how much RAM the virtual graphics card has assigned, use the default recommended amount.

If that still does not help re-install VMware Tools.

Do not try a repair install from within the Guest OS as it likely will not fix this, unfortunately the "Reinstall VMware Tools" from the drop down menu also falls in that same category.

You really need the guest OS to reboot inbetween uninstall and install to make sure that all the files from VMware Tools are in the correct locations and of the correct version.

In short follow these steps:

  • Uninstall VMware Tools
  • Reboot guest OS
  • Install VMware Tools
  • Reboot guest OS.

A bit of a longer description is:

  • In the guest Windows operating system, go to Control Panel -> Programs & Features -> Select VMware Tools -> Uninstall
  • Follow the steps from the installer to completely uninstall VMware Tools
  • Reboot the guest OS.
  • Then from the Virtual Machine menu select "Install VMware Tools"

If no installer appears, go to the DVD-rom within windows and click "setup" (for 32 bits windows) or "setup64" (for 64 bits windows)

Once you see an installer, click "Next" until Finish, keep the defaults.

  • Reboot the guest when done installing (it will ask by itself to reboot)

hope this helps,

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
bluefirestorm
Champion
Champion

You may also want to disable the virtualisation scanning of certain antivirus software. Avast, AVG have options to disable the "hardware virtualisation".

Aside from antivirus, there have been reports of black screen with VMware VMs when certain VPN software is active/connected on the host machine.

You can look at this post

Re: workstation pro 14 upgrade from ver 12 produces blank screen when running existing VM's

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xishengzhang
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hello, Guys

Thanks for raising your problems here. Could you please kindly let us know your host OS information? like is it a win10 with latest insider program? or others? Thanks.

Shlachetka
Contributor
Contributor

I was actually on the Insider Program, good catch. I reinstalled Windows 10 without it and so far it's fine, I'll see if the issue persists before marking as the solution.*

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