VMWare Workstation 16 Pro + Ubuntu 22.04.1 - VM unresponsive with high CPU

[ki81]

Hi All,

I've recently installed VMWare and Ubuntu on a new Windows 10 laptop and I'm finding that after a period of time the VM consistently becomes unresponsive and CPU usage spikes to 100%. If I suspend and awaken the VM it works for a period before the problem reoccurs.

How do I go about solving this?

[GMi_]

Hi,

Same behavior:

Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9980HK CPU @ 2.40GHz

Windows 10 Entreprise 21H2 (19044.2364)

Hyper-V enabled

One trick to fix this: launch the VM after a cold start of my computer.

[mboekhold]

---

@GMi_ wrote:

One trick to fix this: launch the VM after a cold start of my computer.

---

I've noticed this as well. The issue only seems to appear after I suspend/resume my laptop. Immediately after a fresh reboot the VM runs fine for the rest of the day.

[gordo32]

@mboekholdHas it remained stabled with Hyper-V enabled since 16.2.5 update?

[GMi_]

Didn't try because I did upgrade to Workstation 17 Pro, but bug still present with this version.

[RRMartin2022]

Unfortunately this issue still appears after  Windows 10 update to: Windows 10 Pro
version 21H2
compilation 19044.2486 (tested on Workstation 17 Pro and Player 17)

BUT as @mboekhold says "The issue only seems to appear after I suspend/resume my laptop. Immediately after a fresh reboot the VM runs fine"

Any news from VMWARE? Have they confirmed this issue? This is really blocker. 

[aetasoul]

Hi,

same problem here on Worstation Pro 17 Windows 10 Pro 21H2.

Reported it in November to the support, they don't know how to solve this and just close the case after some times..

Docker and WSL enabled, because my job require all of them, so I can't disable. The problem is that I normally use two Ubuntu 18.04 VM to debug the web application like in production, now it's impossible.

Also on windows VM there are many problems, there is one software that I use to develop PLC program, it is called GXWorks 3 from Mitsubishi. This software randomly close, after some time I found that the issue happend the same time as Ubuntu, so the cause is the same for me. On Ubuntu the message is CPU stuck etc...

On windows VM in the event logs there is an error about dwm.exe that crash.

I don't know what to do, working with the VMs is now impossible, also using VirtualBox. All the days I lose near 3 hours just to restart the VM! 

I also considered to install all the programs from my VMs to the host machine, the only problem is that I have 35VMs to migrate on my host, and programs installed from 2006 since today!

[RRMartin2022]

Unfortunately Windows 10 update - 22H2 version has not fixed anything. @aetasoul - to your point - "Reported it in November to the support, they don't know how to solve this and just close the case after some times.." - have you been trying to re-open your ticket? Can you send any reference # any feedback they had shared?

This is really a blocking issue! Hard to understand why vmware does nothing.

[cb831]

Fully agree !! 

Even if I'm missing some nice VMWare features like dynamic window sizing and host-device redirection, I'm today really happy that I converted my VMWare VM to a Hyper-V ditto back in September (after struggling for a month). 

Sad that MS/VMWare do not fix this. I have payed for two Workstation 16, that are kind of useless at the moment.

Claus

[boomshankerx]

I haven't been able to find any evidence that VMWare has even acknowledged the issue. I find it surprising that they don't have reps lurking in these forums to provide feedback. It is likely that M$ made a braking change that VMWare is unable to work around. They are likely covering their bottom line by not admitting anything. 

[cb831]

That's my impression too. 

MS made some change to the OS and/or Hyper-V and because they are the operating system they just think everyone should adapt downstream. However it may be that VMWare cannot adapt and MS doesn't notice or care. I'm sure if they meet up they may be able to fix whatever they fixed back then in an other way that would allow compatibility.

[RRMartin2022]

@boomshankerx  - wrote " I haven't been able to find any evidence that VMWare has even acknowledged the issue." surprising 

Is there any way to increase visibility of this issue? 

[3ler]

I have the same issue. Since I moved from Kubuntu 20.04 to 22.04 and Workstation 16.2.5. I need to restart my whole computer after 4 to 5 days.

Windows 10 has 16Gbyte of RAM and assign 4 cores. Still slow. Specially working with Excel Sheets is very very slow.

I take the VMware from my previous system it was like above described and then I install Windows 10 completely new and still the same issue. 

I have quite the opposite installation. I have Kubuntu and VMware on Linux and Windows 10 as guest. 

This issue I have now since Sept. 2022. No improvement since then. 

[cb831]

I tried to raise attention to the problem back when it started in Microsoft forum as well

VMWare Workstation VMs unresponsive after a period of time and CPU usage spikes - Microsoft Q&A

[aetasoul]

Hi @RRMartin2022 
Now my paid support has ended at the start of the year, I can't reopen the case, anyway I'll take a look for the case number (if the reference you spoke about is the reference number).

The steps we made are (For linux):
1. Create a brand new VM

2. Assign less memory and less cpu

3. Disable mitigation channel and 3D accelleration

4. After all they said the problem is related (for sure) to the VMWare tools because for the linux distibutions are not developed by VMWare directly but by the community. Uninstall the tools doesn't solve the issue, do I suppose (for sure) the problem is not here.

The steps for windows:
1. Create a brand new VM

2. Assign less memory and less cpu

3. Disable mitigation channel and 3D accelleration

4. Upgrade the tools to the latest version (send by the support man by email)

Nothing solved the issue.

I'll try on a Windows 11 installation if this solve the problem.
On windows 10 I tried to disable all related to Hyper-V, uninstall docker and other virtualization stuffs, nothing solved.

Tried with the player on another laptop, with a fresh windows 10 installation (Just installed VMWare player latest), here something happend, during the installation:

Installing with and without this checkbox did't solve the issue.

[anders_o]

I've been having the same lockup problems that are described here with different versions of Ubuntu freezing after between 15-60 minutes of usage. Host OS is Windows 10 with the monthly patches regularly being installed.

The thing is that I'm also running vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) as a Workstation VM, and it doesn't lock up. So I posted my question in the vExpert community and someone suggested I compare my .vmx files between the VCSA and my Ubuntu machines.

So I made a backup copy of my Ubuntu .vmx file and made some drastic changes to make it look more like the VCSA .vmx and now my Ubuntu has been running for 4-5 hours without locking up.

However, I won't pop the champagne just yet, since this might just be a fluke. Can you perhaps try to do the same experiment as I did and comment out, change or remove the superfluous lines in a Linux VM .vmx to more or less match my VCSA .vmx and see if it helps you as well?

Hopefully we can "divide and conquer" this down to the one or more settings that might be the culprit of the lockups.

(Another "small" problem is that I've managed to break the networking in my test Ubuntu, but that's probably fixable)

Below is my VCSA .vmx. Note that it's running off a snapshot, so don't change any of the scsi disk settings in your VMs, just focus on the extra config rows that you might have in your Linux .vmx.

.encoding = "UTF-8"
displayname = "vCenter Server 8.0"
annotation = "VMware vCenter Server Appliance"
guestos = "other3xlinux-64"
virtualhw.version = "10"
config.version = "8"
numvcpus = "2"
cpuid.coresPerSocket = "1"
memsize = "14336"
pciBridge0.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge4.functions = "8"
pciBridge5.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge5.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge5.functions = "8"
pciBridge6.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge6.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge6.functions = "8"
pciBridge7.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge7.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge7.functions = "8"
vmci0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.clientDevice = "FALSE"
ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.deviceType = "atapi-cdrom"
ide0:0.autodetect = "TRUE"
ide0:0.startConnected = "FALSE"
ide0:0.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "true"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:0.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk1-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:0.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:0.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:1.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:1.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:1.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk2-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:1.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:1.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:2.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:2.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:2.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk3-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:2.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:2.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:3.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:3.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:3.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk4-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:3.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:3.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:4.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:4.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:4.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk5-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:4.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:4.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:5.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:5.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:5.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk6-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:5.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:5.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:6.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:6.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:6.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk7-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:6.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:6.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:8.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:8.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:8.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk8-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:8.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:8.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:9.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:9.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:9.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk9-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:9.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:9.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:10.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:10.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:10.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk10-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:10.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:10.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:11.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:11.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:11.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk11-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:11.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:11.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:12.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:12.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:12.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk12-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:12.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:12.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:13.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:13.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:13.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk13-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:13.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:13.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:14.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:14.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:14.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk14-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:14.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:14.mode = "persistent"
scsi0:15.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:15.deviceType = "disk"
scsi0:15.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk15-000002.vmdk"
scsi0:15.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi0:15.mode = "persistent"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
scsi1:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi1:0.deviceType = "disk"
scsi1:0.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk16-000002.vmdk"
scsi1:0.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi1:0.mode = "persistent"
scsi1:1.present = "TRUE"
scsi1:1.deviceType = "disk"
scsi1:1.fileName = "vCenter Server 8.0-disk17-000002.vmdk"
scsi1:1.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "false"
scsi1:1.mode = "persistent"
scsi1.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
scsi1.present = "TRUE"
scsi2.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
scsi2.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.virtualDev = "vmxnet3"
ethernet0.connectionType = "custom"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.wakeonpcktrcv = "true"
ethernet0.allowguestconnectioncontrol = "true"
vcpu.hotadd = "true"
vcpu.hotremove = "true"
mem.hotadd = "true"
toolscripts.afterpoweron = "true"
toolscripts.afterresume = "true"
toolscripts.beforepoweroff = "true"
toolscripts.beforesuspend = "true"
extendedConfigFile = "vCenter Server 8.0.vmxf"
virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
floppy0.present = "FALSE"
tools.upgrade.policy = "useGlobal"
uuid.bios = "56 4d f3 08 c6 d6 5c 1c-b3 91 19 d2 9a 18 0f a0"
uuid.location = "56 4d f3 08 c6 d6 5c 1c-b3 91 19 d2 9a 18 0f a0"
scsi0:13.redo = ""
scsi0:12.redo = ""
scsi0:9.redo = ""
scsi0:11.redo = ""
scsi0:15.redo = ""
scsi0:4.redo = ""
scsi1:0.redo = ""
scsi0:2.redo = ""
scsi0:5.redo = ""
scsi0:6.redo = ""
scsi1:1.redo = ""
scsi0:8.redo = ""
scsi0:3.redo = ""
scsi0:10.redo = ""
scsi0:14.redo = ""
scsi0:1.redo = ""
scsi0:0.redo = ""
pciBridge0.pciSlotNumber = "17"
pciBridge4.pciSlotNumber = "21"
pciBridge5.pciSlotNumber = "22"
pciBridge6.pciSlotNumber = "23"
pciBridge7.pciSlotNumber = "24"
scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "16"
scsi1.pciSlotNumber = "32"
scsi2.pciSlotNumber = "33"
ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "160"
svga.vramSize = "134217728"
vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "134217728"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0C:29:18:0F:A0"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
vmci0.id = "-1709699168"
monitor.phys_bits_used = "40"
cleanShutdown = "FALSE"
softPowerOff = "FALSE"
tools.syncTime = "TRUE"
ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet10"
ethernet0.displayName = "VMnet10"
guestInfo.detailed.data = "architecture='X86' bitness='64' distroName='VMware Photon OS' distroVersion='3.0' familyName='Linux' kernelVersion='4.19.232-4.ph3' prettyName='VMware Photon OS/Linux'"
checkpoint.vmState = ""
vmxstats.filename = "vCenter Server 8.0.scoreboard"

[anders_o]

(duplicate post, since the first one initially got flagged as spam)

[anders_o]

Here's the .vmx file for the working Ubuntu VM. I made a clone of it to be able to compare the original and the "fixed" version, and so far the fixed one hasn't hung a single time, but unfortunately I've managed to break the vNIC, so it doesn't have a working network connection.

The original VM was named "Ubuntu 22.10 Base" and the new clone is named "fixed-Ubuntu 22.10 Base".

What I've done is basically to comment out (using the # character) the lines that existed in my Ubuntu vmx but did not exist in the VCSA vmx file (posted in my previous reply above). I've also changed the virtualHW.version to "10" from "20".

.encoding = "windows-1252"
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "10"
# mks.enable3d = "TRUE"
pciBridge0.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge4.functions = "8"
pciBridge5.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge5.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge5.functions = "8"
pciBridge6.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge6.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge6.functions = "8"
pciBridge7.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge7.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge7.functions = "8"
vmci0.present = "TRUE"
# hpet0.present = "TRUE"
# nvram = "Ubuntu 22.10 Base.nvram"
virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
# powerType.powerOff = "soft"
# powerType.powerOn = "soft"
# powerType.suspend = "soft"
# powerType.reset = "soft"
displayName = "fixed-Ubuntu 22.10 Base"
# usb.vbluetooth.startConnected = "TRUE"
guestOS = "ubuntu-64"
tools.syncTime = "TRUE"
# sound.autoDetect = "TRUE"
# sound.fileName = "-1"
# sound.present = "TRUE"
numvcpus = "2"
cpuid.coresPerSocket = "1"
vcpu.hotadd = "TRUE"
memsize = "4096"
mem.hotadd = "TRUE"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
# sata0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "Ubuntu 22.10 Base-cl1.vmdk"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
# sata0:1.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
# sata0:1.fileName = "C:\Users\[my username]\Downloads\ubuntu-22.10-live-server-amd64.iso"
# sata0:1.present = "TRUE"
# usb.present = "TRUE"
# ehci.present = "TRUE"
# svga.graphicsMemoryKB = "8388608"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
# serial0.fileType = "thinprint"
# serial0.fileName = "thinprint"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
# serial0.present = "TRUE"
extendedConfigFile = "fixed-Ubuntu 22.10 Base.vmxf"
floppy0.present = "FALSE"
tools.upgrade.policy = "useGlobal"
vmxstats.filename = "Ubuntu 22.10 Base.scoreboard"
uuid.bios = "56 4d f4 5c 07 3a 45 65-12 40 da 24 58 07 ea 03"
uuid.location = "56 4d f4 5c 07 3a 45 65-12 40 da 24 58 07 ea 03"
pciBridge0.pciSlotNumber = "17"
pciBridge4.pciSlotNumber = "21"
pciBridge5.pciSlotNumber = "22"
pciBridge6.pciSlotNumber = "23"
pciBridge7.pciSlotNumber = "24"
scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "16"
# usb.pciSlotNumber = "32"
ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "32"
# sound.pciSlotNumber = "34"
# ehci.pciSlotNumber = "35"
# sata0.pciSlotNumber = "36"
scsi0:0.redo = ""
svga.vramSize = "134217728"
vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "134217728"
# vmotion.checkpointSVGAPrimarySize = "268435456"
# vmotion.svga.mobMaxSize = "1073741824"
# vmotion.svga.graphicsMemoryKB = "8388608"
# vmotion.svga.supports3D = "1"
# vmotion.svga.baseCapsLevel = "9"
# vmotion.svga.maxPointSize = "1"
# vmotion.svga.maxTextureSize = "16384"
# vmotion.svga.maxVolumeExtent = "2048"
# vmotion.svga.maxTextureAnisotropy = "16"
# vmotion.svga.lineStipple = "0"
# vmotion.svga.dxMaxConstantBuffers = "15"
# vmotion.svga.dxProvokingVertex = "0"
# vmotion.svga.sm41 = "1"
# vmotion.svga.multisample2x = "1"
# vmotion.svga.multisample4x = "1"
# vmotion.svga.msFullQuality = "1"
# vmotion.svga.logicOps = "1"
# vmotion.svga.bc67 = "9"
# vmotion.svga.sm5 = "1"
# vmotion.svga.multisample8x = "1"
# vmotion.svga.logicBlendOps = "0"
# vmotion.svga.maxForcedSampleCount = "16"
# vmotion.svga.gl43 = "1"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:07:ea:03"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
vmci0.id = "-892196212"
monitor.phys_bits_used = "40"
cleanShutdown = "FALSE"
softPowerOff = "FALSE"
# usb:1.speed = "2"
# usb:1.present = "TRUE"
# usb:1.deviceType = "hub"
# usb:1.port = "1"
# usb:1.parent = "-1"
# svga.guestBackedPrimaryAware = "TRUE"
guestInfo.detailed.data = "architecture='X86' bitness='64' distroName='Ubuntu 22.10' distroVersion='22.10' familyName='Linux' kernelVersion='5.19.0-29-generic' prettyName='Ubuntu 22.10'"
# sata0:1.startConnected = "FALSE"
# tools.remindInstall = "TRUE"
# usb:0.present = "TRUE"
# usb:0.deviceType = "hid"
# usb:0.port = "0"
# usb:0.parent = "-1"
ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"
nvram = "fixed-Ubuntu 22.10 Base.nvram"
vc.uuid = ""
policy.vm.mvmtid = ""

[anders_o]

At the moment it seems I just need to edit the following value to "10" to prevent my Ubuntu VM from hanging:

virtualHW.version = "10"

Has anyone else tried this?

[cb831]

After latest Workstation Pro upgrade to 16.2.5.build-20904516 3-4 weeks ago, I have had an Ubuntu 22.04 VM running constantly without seeing the issue.

Host: Windows 10 22H2 19045.2486

My virtualHW.version = "19"

[anders_o]

Oh, that's interesting. I was testing on 17.0, but I can now see that 16.2.5 was actually released after 17.0. Just upgraded to 17.0.1 and will try to bump one of my test VMs back up to vHW 20 and see if it still freezes.

(EDIT): Yes, it still freezes. I'll keep working my way down from vHW 20 to 10 to see where the problems stop. 🙂