VMware Workstation Pro v15.5.1 - Windows 10 BSOD

[Tech87]

Hey guys, my vmware recently installed a windows update, and will no longer boot up.

Upon startup, I'm immediately getting a bsod with an error 'critical process died'.

I entered the Windows recovery screen and have tried the following;

-Restore point - none present

-Uninstall windows updates  - neither worked

-Startup repair - won't boot into safe mode, and automatic repair does nothing

-Enter cmd and run sfc /scannow - locked out and/or access denied

bootrec /fixmbr - didn't help

tried the discm /online command to repair the disc image - /online not recognized

Also, I don't have any snapshots for the machine, as I had trouble with those earlier on with a separate issue.

I then proceeded to create a windows 10 boot disk using my USB flash drive, and I can't for the life of me, get VMware to recognize and boot it.

I tried using the Windows creation media tool and Rufus, but neither work. I confirmed removable media was the top selection in the bios boot menu, but the system continued to 'diagnose pc' and 'automatic repair'. The USB drive would not boot.

I confirmed the USB drive was connected to the guest, and not the host. Although, this does need to be changed each time the VM is shut down and started up again.

I tried changing the firmware type between UEFI and BIOS to get the flash drive to boot - nothing worked.

How can I get VMware to boot from my usb flash drive so I can run a windows repair?

[louyo]

I think there may be better ways now, but back in the day when I needed to, I used plop boot manager. Yes, that is its name.

[Tech87]

I did come across that program, and tried it as well. I still can't get my USB flash drive to boot.

Is there a special setting in VMware that needs to be enabled in order for VMware to recognize a usb boot drive?

[Tech87]

The closest I've been able to get so far is change the VMware settings to use UEFI firmware, right click the VM and choose power on to firmware, and I'm now able to see the boot disc in the EFI menu, but selecting it just opens the directory showing files/folders.

I'm not sure which file I'm supposed to select to boot the disk.

Note - I checked the UEFI for secure boot, and also checked my host system for secure boot, and it wasn't present in either system.

[hotvooboy]

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Community.

can your bootable usb  device boot a physics machine successful?  I created a bootable USB flash drive by rufus and booted my win10 vm from this usb device.

I used UEFI firmware and right click the VM and choose power on to firmware(attached usb device),then select Enter setup item in the UEFI menu,then enter boot from a file,

you can find the boot file(bootx64.efi) from usb device.

Hope this helps,

Thanks.

[Tech87]

My USB flash drive was created using the windows media creation tool, and I just confirmed it's bootable via my laptop.

From my VM, I powered on to firmware, entered setup, boot from file, selected the bootx64.efi, and was taken back to the Boot Maintenance Manager.

[Tech87]

Do you happen to recall what config options you used when making your boot disk in Rufus?