VMRun not able to start shared slice in Workstation 8

[Chronno]

I am running Server 2008 as a Shared VM in server mode.  I'm trying to setup a script to suspend the guest OS, run another DOS command, then start the guest OS again.  When I test it, the suspend command works, but the start command returns "Failed to resolve host".  These commands are running on the same host as VMware Workstation 8, so it should be able to see "localhost" just fine, but it's acting like the sharing functions turn off when the guest OS does.

I have read the VMRun PDF file and it doesn't give me any extra information.  I have searched here and Google, but have found no one else having simmiler problems.  This is happening on multible workstation installs.

These are the commands I'm using:

vmrun -T ws-server -h Http://localhost:443/sdk -u <username> -p <password> suspend "[standard] <VMName>/<VMFile>"

this command works

vmrun -T ws-server -h Http://localhost:443/sdk -u <username> -p <password> start "[standard] <VMName>/<VMFile>"

this command gives the error (unless the slice is already running, then it gives nothing)

[WoodyZ]

Re: VMRun not able to start shared slice in Workstation 8

(unless the slice is already running, then it gives nothing)

Slice, what is this slice you're talking about, a piece of pizza?

Or are you talking about a Virtual Machine, which is what it's called.

[DrWho42]

I have encountered the same problem using Workstation 10, but it seems to be related to the system being able to connect to a DNS.  It works on a box that has DNS, but not one that is off-network.

I have, however, found a workaround:  Neither localhost nor the hostname work, but if you substitute 127.0.0.1 for localhost, it should work.

I would still like to know why localhost does not work, even when I can ping localhost just fine.  Does the vmrun command always use DNS to resolve hostnames instead of letting Windows handle the name resolution?

Keith