VMs Locked after Powering On and closing VMware Workstation Pro 12.1.1

[MikeRundle]

Hello,

I have a very stubborn problem here with Workstation 12.1.1 build-3770994 on Windows Server 2008 R2 host

I have these options selected:

- Keep VMs running after Workstation closes

- Remember opened tabs between sessions

Now when I Power On any VM and keep it running in the background / closing workstation window instance then I open workstation again from the tray icon I find the Powered On VM tab missing and the Library sidebar wont even show the Powered On state icon on the VM and if I click it to open it again I get nothing and then maybe sometimes you get the usual "Take Ownership Window" which tells you that it's failed to take ownership

I also tried deleting .lck folders and files and it did nothing and completely uninstalled and cleaned all vmware files and registry keys and installed again and still facing the same problem

The only thing that that I could do to get back to the VM is Powering Off VM thru SSH then open workstation window again and I find all tabs working and nothing locked

Thanks

[MikeRundle]

Let me make this clear, when I Power On a VM and close VMware workstation and send running VM to background then open VMware workstaion again

I get a blank page I see the previously opened tabs Home and other VM except the running VM tab it's not there

Now I keep this workstation window open and I open an ssh session for the VM and the second I hit the "poweroff" command I find the VM magically restored in place of the blank page in workstation window!!

[huxiang]

Hello,

Welcome to Workstation Community!

I just tried with Workstation 12.1.1 build on Windows Server 2008 R2 host. Unfortunately, I cannot reproduce your problem.

I have two questions about your steps:

1. How did you re-open the Workstation from the tray icon? Did you right click the tray icon and then select "Open VMware Workstation"?

2. Could you please check the running processes when the problem happens? You can paste the output of "tasklist" command here.

Regards,

Shawn

[MikeRundle]

Both right clicking and selecting "Open VMware Workstation" and double clicking the same no diffrence

Here is Tasklist output:

Image Name                     PID Session Name        Session#    Mem Usage

========================= ======== ================ =========== ============

System Idle Process              0 Services                   0         24 K

System                           4 Services                   0        304 K

smss.exe                       312 Services                   0      1,456 K

csrss.exe                      456 Services                   0      5,032 K

wininit.exe                    516 Services                   0      5,152 K

csrss.exe                      528 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      6,592 K

winlogon.exe                   572 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      7,340 K

services.exe                   604 Services                   0     10,476 K

lsass.exe                      628 Services                   0     17,000 K

lsm.exe                        636 Services                   0      7,196 K

svchost.exe                    740 Services                   0     10,872 K

nvvsvc.exe                     800 Services                   0      8,684 K

svchost.exe                    836 Services                   0      8,612 K

svchost.exe                    928 Services                   0     15,884 K

svchost.exe                    968 Services                   0     38,548 K

svchost.exe                    164 Services                   0     11,956 K

svchost.exe                    400 Services                   0     14,100 K

svchost.exe                    464 Services                   0     18,240 K

svchost.exe                    460 Services                   0     16,236 K

taskeng.exe                   1044 Services                   0      6,076 K

spoolsv.exe                   1196 Services                   0     12,416 K

agent.exe                     1260 Services                   0     11,556 K

nvxdsync.exe                  1276 RDP-Tcp#0                  1     25,824 K

taskhost.exe                  1424 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      8,684 K

taskeng.exe                   1444 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      7,708 K

dwm.exe                       1612 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      6,772 K

explorer.exe                  1620 RDP-Tcp#0                  1     64,292 K

schedul2.exe                  1740 Services                   0      7,216 K

schedhlp.exe                  1824 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      4,432 K

WVSScheduler.exe              1836 Services                   0     17,580 K

armsvc.exe                    1900 Services                   0      4,264 K

arsm.exe                      1296 Services                   0     27,796 K

sqlservr.exe                  2160 Services                   0    233,440 K

putty.exe                     2236 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      9,024 K

Plex Media Server.exe         2268 RDP-Tcp#0                  1     42,624 K

ASCMonitor.exe                2324 RDP-Tcp#0                  1     47,872 K

jusched.exe                   2384 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      4,952 K

vmware-tray.exe               2392 RDP-Tcp#0                  1     13,236 K

svchost.exe                   2500 Services                   0      3,436 K

vpnclient_x64.exe             2528 Services                   0     45,488 K

sqlbrowser.exe                2548 Services                   0      6,044 K

sqlwriter.exe                 2632 Services                   0      7,200 K

vmnat.exe                     2680 Services                   0      6,572 K

vmnetdhcp.exe                 2776 Services                   0     10,828 K

mms.exe                       3064 Services                   0     99,464 K

vmware-authd.exe              2096 Services                   0     10,848 K

vmware-usbarbitrator64.ex     1848 Services                   0      8,864 K

WIScheduler.exe               3084 Services                   0     44,392 K

WmiPrvSE.exe                  3236 Services                   0     16,400 K

WmiPrvSE.exe                  3348 Services                   0      7,324 K

PlexScriptHost.exe            3492 RDP-Tcp#0                  1     37,704 K

conhost.exe                   3500 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      3,660 K

svchost.exe                   4052 Services                   0      9,232 K

svchost.exe                   1484 Services                   0      6,584 K

svchost.exe                   2660 Services                   0     72,052 K

Plex DLNA Server.exe          2488 RDP-Tcp#0                  1     14,940 K

csrss.exe                     4488 Console                    3     12,676 K

winlogon.exe                  4512 Console                    3      5,096 K

LogonUI.exe                   4572 Console                    3     21,128 K

nvxdsync.exe                  4764 Console                    3     22,400 K

rdpclip.exe                   4820 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      6,016 K

TrustedInstaller.exe          3680 Services                   0    226,780 K

dllhost.exe                   4896 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      9,848 K

vmware-vmx.exe                4304 RDP-Tcp#0                  1    417,756 K

WmiPrvSE.exe                  4000 Services                   0      6,640 K

WmiPrvSE.exe                  2068 Services                   0      7,116 K

WmiPrvSE.exe                  4536 Services                   0      9,028 K

OSPPSVC.EXE                   4288 Services                   0     15,140 K

DropboxUpdate.exe              720 Services                   0      6,584 K

msdtc.exe                     5024 Services                   0      8,492 K

sppsvc.exe                    4204 Services                   0     14,640 K

putty.exe                     4760 RDP-Tcp#0                  1     11,772 K

vmware.exe                    5952 RDP-Tcp#0                  1     41,020 K

cmd.exe                       5244 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      3,404 K

conhost.exe                   5320 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      4,400 K

tasklist.exe                  5296 RDP-Tcp#0                  1      6,708 K

[MikeRundle]

So, not a clue huh?

[huxiang]

Sorry for the late reply. My community account is linking to my company mailbox and I didn't come to the company at last weekend.

Your tasklist output looks normal. I noticed you are accessing your Win2008r2 via RDP, I didn't use RDP last time. So I just tried accessing Win2008r2 desktop via RDP, but I still cannot reproduce your problem...

Whether Workstation UI can open a VM or not is decided by "<VM_name>.vmx.lck" folder. If the "<VM_name>.vmx.lck" folder does NOT EXIST, Workstation UI can open the VM, otherwise, Workstation UI cannot open the VM.

So you can simply remove the "<VM_name>.vmx.lck" folder and then try to open the VM in Workstation UI. I can even open the same VM in independent Workstation UI instances:

If you cannot remove the "<VM_name>.vmx.lck" folder, you can check the *.lck file inside this folder is being used by which process via the Process Explorer tool:

(This screenshot is just an example, you should check the <VM_name>.vmx.lck\*.lck file)

Hope it helps,

Regards,

Shawn

[MikeRundle]

I can't find any process that is holding any *.lck files and just one process that is holding VM.vmx file which is vmware-vmx.exe

I also tried not using RDP and using the console and it's the same behavior

This problem just came out of nowhere nothing is changed on this server