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Arcanan
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VMware Workstation 16.2.1 with Nonpersistent HDD - all data lost after guest restart!

In latest VMware Workstation 16.2.1 (started with version 16.2.0) is a big bug,

after I installed some programs in VM a do restart all newly installed programs and data are lost. It never happend in previous WS 16.x.

 

OS host: Windows 10 Pro 21H1

OS guest: Windows 10 Pro 21H1 with Hardisk (C:\) set to nonpersistent

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scott28tt
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@ChrisKS 

What I said was correct, and I really do not appreciate your response at all.

Some VMware employees might use the Communities in some kind of official capacity, based on their role - I do not, as I state in my signature.

I was a member of the Communities long before I started working for VMware, I used to work as an instructor for a training partner, and initially came here to help those with training and certification questions, as well as accessing private areas for instructors only and the public areas for the products I used to train people on.

I've also been a volunteer moderator of the Communities in the past.

All in my own time.

 

@Jann1s 

You should also read my comments above.

I wish all of our products had no bugs, that goes without saying.

I don't know of a way of reporting bugs without a support contract, you might wish to read this: https://www.vmware.com/support/policies/defect.html

The product manager for Workstation has been tagged in this thread, I don't know of anyone else who would be able to help.


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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RDPetruska
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So I guess I am failing to comprehend exactly what this supposed bug is...  Read the name of the feature, folks - NONPERSISTENT Hard Disk.  Look up the definition of nonpersistent - it means temporary, non-permanent, etc.  As in, when the guest is restarted, any changes made to the nonpersistent hard disk will be wiped out!  Is this not expected behavior, based on the name of it???

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Photubias
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@RDPetruska 

Hi,

Then the definition of "a bug" is different. The behaviour has changed since VMware Workstation 16.2.0 without any mentions of it in the changelog.
And this kind of change in behaviour would classify as a bug, not?

Please check the attachment, the definition of "nonpersistent" as stated in the software is no longer correct, in my opinion.
-> When reading that definition, I expect to not loose any data by simply rebooting the VM. Which is the aforementioned bug. 

Kind Regards,

Tijl Deneut

ChrisKS
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@RDPetruska 

Nonpersistent means changes are discarded when the VM is powered off. As long as the VM is powered on the changes should not discarded. So changes should survive a guest reboot!
That's the behaviour before VMware Workstation 16.2.0 and also on VMware vSphere 8.0 (and below).

So in other words there is a bug in 16.2.0+.

ChrisKS
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see also official documentation:

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/16.0/com.vmware.ws.using.doc/GUID-FB6F0D1B-6517-4F...

Changes to disks in nonpersistent mode are discarded when you power off or reset the virtual machine. With nonpersistent mode, you always restart the virtual machine with a virtual disk in the same state. Changes to the disk are written to and read from a redo log file that is deleted when you power off or reset the virtual machine.

Please note: Reset is not the same as Guest Restart.

Power off / Reset = changes to disks are discarded

Guest Restart = changes must be retained

RDPetruska
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Ahh, OK I understand. 

Well, that isn't the first thing they broke with 16.2.x.  I'm personally sticking with 16.1.2 for the forseeable future.  Absolutely no reason or need to upgrade any further.

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ChrisKS
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@RDPetruska 

There are moderate security fixes and Vulkan Renderer Support in 16.2.x.
And as long as the bug is not listed as "Known Issues" in the release notes, it can be assumed that the bug will also exist in the upcoming version VMware Workstation 17.

So someone with a support contract or an VMware employee or the VMware Workstation product manager should really log this bug to the support team, since it exists since 1 year. Not upgrading is not a solution.

I am currently evaluation VMware Workstation for my company and as long as the bug is not fixed, we are not able to buy licences and currently also evaluating VirtualBox because of this bug.

RDPetruska
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"Not upgrading is not a solution."

Well, for me the only reason to upgrade is for Win11 hosts... and I'm staying far away from Win11... just like WinMe, Vista, and Win 8 - all half-baked unfinished beta OS's.

And, the Workstation product manager has already admitted that the disk mounting, which worked perfectly fine from versions 5.x through 16.1.2 but has been broken since, will NOT be part of the product moving forward.  And that is a critical function for me and my work.

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Jann1s
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@RDPetruska 

Can I read this statement from the product manager somewhere?

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Jann1s
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I was very shocked when you didn't understand what Nonpersistent means, when it comes to a guest restart.
That was a rather embarrassing posting... especially when you said "Read the name of the feature, folks - NONPERSISTENT Hard Disk" ....

...but posting this link was very useful. Thank you @RDPetruska  👍👍

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Photubias
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Good news, it seems that the latest Tech Preview (VMware-workstation-full-e.x.p-20486661.exe) has this bug finally fixed.
(https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/List-of-VMware-Workstation-Beta-Builds/td-p...)

It is still based on VMware Workstation 16 (license key works), so it seems to be a valuable upgrade. 

(No other bugs detected so far)

Regards

ChrisKS
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My evaluation showed that VMware Workstation is the best product. However, since VirtualBox also supports all the required functions, I recommended the customer not to procure VMware Workstation for the required ~350 computers, but rather Oracle VirtualBox.
This bug and also the non-existent possibility to report bugs without a support contract led to this decision.
Thank you for your support and take care.

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Photubias
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Hi,

This bug also NOT present in the newest VMware Workstation 17.0.0.

Regards

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Arcanan
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Yes, I noted it today (in version 17.0.2) after restart VM that thing are kept.

So things are fine now.

Thanks VMware Team!

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