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jackmaster2000
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VMware Workstation 12 Pro Maximum number of standard virtual Macines error

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I get this error when I open many virtual machine clones of WIn 2K12R2 . now I have open a new workstation instance to

run new VM clones . I did not have this problem in Workstation 11.0.2

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dariusd
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There's a limitation in Windows which will sometimes be hit when an instance of VMware Workstation tries to manage lots of VMs simultaneously.  If the Workstation UI hits that architectural limit (which can happen at around 28 VMs), the UI will crash.

Earlier versions of Workstation had a check in place to prevent this from happening, but that check was mistakenly omitted from recent versions, allowing you to possibly open a few more VMs, but introducing the risk of a crash.  Workstation 12 reinstates the check.  In some future version Workstation will hopefully end up being restructured to avoid the underlying limitation altogether, but we're not there yet.

This particular limitation does not relate to the total number of VMs which are running on the host, so (as the message suggests) you should be able to just open a second instance of VMware Workstation and run more VMs in that second instance.  If I remember correctly, I think we have a hard limit of 64 concurrently running VMs on Windows hosts.

Hope this helps!

--

Darius

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dariusd
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There's a limitation in Windows which will sometimes be hit when an instance of VMware Workstation tries to manage lots of VMs simultaneously.  If the Workstation UI hits that architectural limit (which can happen at around 28 VMs), the UI will crash.

Earlier versions of Workstation had a check in place to prevent this from happening, but that check was mistakenly omitted from recent versions, allowing you to possibly open a few more VMs, but introducing the risk of a crash.  Workstation 12 reinstates the check.  In some future version Workstation will hopefully end up being restructured to avoid the underlying limitation altogether, but we're not there yet.

This particular limitation does not relate to the total number of VMs which are running on the host, so (as the message suggests) you should be able to just open a second instance of VMware Workstation and run more VMs in that second instance.  If I remember correctly, I think we have a hard limit of 64 concurrently running VMs on Windows hosts.

Hope this helps!

--

Darius

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tt1967
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Can you tell us more on the underlying Windows limitation?

Is there any tuning possibility?

VMware Workstation 10 let me open more than 60 VMs without any problem.

I can understand that "running" many VMs simultaneously will hit some resource limitation, but here the error pops up when selecting the VM in the library (just clicking on the VM in the left pane).

Thanks,

Thierry.

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bonnie201110141
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The limitation is enforce by Windows API WaitForMultipleObjects. The workaround is to open another instance of Workstation.

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Bob_a567w
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Greetings I'm seeing the same error with VM Workstation 15.0.2

I have 33 VMs setup, but get the error when as few as five or six VMs are  actually running.

Have been able to run 25 concurrent VMs but latest Version (15.0.2) seems to have some issues..

Any fixes planned for 15.0.3 ?

Cheers

Mark

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bonnie201110141
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According to Davius 's comments, the limitation does not relate to the number of VMs running on the host, but the number of VMs that are opened (i.e., a tab of the VM is opened). Please close VMs that are not being used. Or run another instance of VMware Workstation.

artiste1
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Hi bonnie201110141,

Your answer worked for me, regarding this posts error.

What I did was to close the open tabs above the Virtual Machine display window of VMWare Workstation Pro 15.0.2

I was then able to open the Virtual Machines with red X on them, without removing, as suggested by the error window.

A very simple Fix, when you know how.

Thank you,

couveland
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Very simple indeed, thank you for the hint !

I had to tick the Menu>View>Customize>Tabs option in order to make the tabs visible - and then I had to close each one. Never did have a clue that all these were "open" in some way. Then it was possible to click on the new VM (my 29th) and the red x just went away.

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Stealer0
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In case someone needs more than 30 machines in a single UI.

VMWare Workstation keeps its configs separated for each Windows user.

So I've created a second user account and now can launch second VMW window as another user (Shift+RMB>launch as another user).

I've also found it useful for VMWares that I've installed on external SSD. I'll keep them now on a different user profile so they don't mess up with the list when SSD disconnected.

I also added .lnk file to the desktop

Create>New shortcut>Runas /savecred /user:USERNAME "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmware.exe"

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