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zdundore144
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VMWare Workstation Unrecoverable Error Access Violation

I have a brand new Windows 11 laptop that I am trying to build a Windows 10 VM in Workstation Pro 15.5. Every time I power on the VM I get the attached error. I have tried various VM configuration changes, I have deleted and recreated the VM, I imported my old VM from VMWare Workstation 15.5, and I have also reinstalled VMWare Workstation. I cannot get any VMs to run on my laptop. I have also attached the log file for the VM. Any help would be appreciated.

Laptop Specs:

Lenovo Legion 7 Slim/AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX/32GB RAM/2TB SSD/RTX 3060/Windows 11 Home 21H2

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bluefirestorm
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Did you also do the

“bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off” step in the KB?

That step seems to be quite common to be missed out.

You can also check if the Memory integrity is off. If it is "on", the ULM will also be used.

Windows Security -> Device Security -> Core Isolation details

Apart from these things, it is hard to say. Couple of weeks back, another poster with a Lenovo Thinkpad just did a clean install of Windows 11. After the KB followed, Memory integrity off, no antivirus (some antivirus use virtualisation features as well) and it still was using ULM and eventually he did a clean install of Windows 11 on the Thinkpad.

It might be Lenovo enabled other stuff.

You can download Windows 11 to USB using the Windows 11 Media Creator and do a clean/fresh install. At least this way you have some control of the Windows 11 host image.

 

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bluefirestorm
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From the log, it looks like the Windows 11 host has Hyper-V enabled.

2021-11-04T12:48:09.587-05:00| vmx| I005: IOPL_Init: Hyper-V detected by CPUID
2021-11-04T12:48:09.654-05:00| vmx| I005: Monitor Mode: ULM

Remove services that rely on Hyper-V and Hyper-V itself.

Follow the guide here https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2146361

Hyper-V removed the Monitor Mode in the vmware.log should show CPL0 instead of ULM.

 

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T00dl3s_2k
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Sorry, but what kind of Solution is this ????

I have to use WSL in Windows 11 as well as VMWare Workstation, so just deactivating anything related to Hyper-V isn't the Solution for everyone as you might guess. Is there also a Solution for those Users ?

bluefirestorm
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I don't work for VMware.

Anyway, what solution/workaround do you suggest for someone having a brand new laptop that cannot run VMware Workstation Pro/Player 16.2 with a Windows 11 host?

 

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zdundore144
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I don't have Hyper-V installed on my laptop. I'm unsure why that is coming up in the log. There is nothing for me to disable based on that KB article you sent me. Any other ideas?

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bluefirestorm
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Did you also do the

“bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off” step in the KB?

That step seems to be quite common to be missed out.

You can also check if the Memory integrity is off. If it is "on", the ULM will also be used.

Windows Security -> Device Security -> Core Isolation details

Apart from these things, it is hard to say. Couple of weeks back, another poster with a Lenovo Thinkpad just did a clean install of Windows 11. After the KB followed, Memory integrity off, no antivirus (some antivirus use virtualisation features as well) and it still was using ULM and eventually he did a clean install of Windows 11 on the Thinkpad.

It might be Lenovo enabled other stuff.

You can download Windows 11 to USB using the Windows 11 Media Creator and do a clean/fresh install. At least this way you have some control of the Windows 11 host image.

 

T00dl3s_2k
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Since this is a general Problem the only Solution is that VMWare get's their **bleep** together. I can't believe that there is not even a single Response from VMWare itself on this Issue. And with no Update on the Horizon my 250 € (actually 350€ after I already Upgraded my License from Workstation Pro 15 to 16) Software is just something for the Trash Bin right now. And Yes, I'm pretty pissed about this right now since all my Work related VM's don't work right now.

What we need is a Fix, not a Workaround that disables some other Features that are important for some Users.

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zdundore144
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Turning off Memory Integrity fixed it. My VM boots now. Thank you very much!

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BennyBoy
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What impact on security does this have using the "bcdedit" steps, or going into the Windows Security "Device Security, Core Isolation details" and switching off the "Memory Integrity" which "Prevents attacks from inserting malicious code into high-security processes".

Why is security having to be compromised?

I had Windows 11 on a Lenovo P52 32GB running vmWare 15.5.7 and I was able to use my Linux VM with "Virtualize Intel VT" and "Virtualize IOMMU" enabled on the VM. I migrated to a Lenovo P15, and now get the problem mentioned here. I don't know how or why it still worked on the older kit, but maybe this is something for the developers to look more closely into. We may just get told "you need to move to the next release of vmWare, starting with version 16.x.x"

Stuff mentioned here is more of a workaround than an actual fix. I would not recommend this for any corporate based machines., but of course on your own kit, you can do things at your own risk.

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bluefirestorm
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I had Windows 11 on a Lenovo P52 32GB running vmWare 15.5.7 and I was able to use my Linux VM with "Virtualize Intel VT" and "Virtualize IOMMU" enabled on the VM.


If you have Hyper-V enabled on a Windows 10/11 host, you won't be able to enabled "Virtualize Intel VT-x" (and VPMC as well, not so sure with Virtualize IOMMU) as the hypervisor will use Windows Hypervisor API instead of native Intel VT-x calls.

So if you need virtualised VT-x in a VM (such as to run another VM inside the VM, or use Docker, etc), you don't have much choice but to disable Hyper-V on the host.

 

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shift7
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I received this error when I copied a Win10 guest (suspended)
from: Workstation 15. on Win8.1 Pro
to: Workstation 16.0 on Win11 Home

These suggested solutions did not make any difference:
bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off
Windows Security -> Device Security -> Core Isolation details

Upgrading to Workstation 17.5 fixed it. (so far)
Thanks

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