"You may not power on a virtual machine in a virtual machine" Error!!!

[cheche12]

Hi all,

Scenario: Running Vi3 (2 Esx servers, Virtual Centre server, License server) on workstation 6. Running on Dell Vostro 200 (core duo 2 VT E6420, 4GB RAM)

I get this error when i try to power on a VM. Every other thing in terms of configuration seems to work fine for now but the VMs will not power on.

Any ideas would be appreciated

Cheers

[rsa911]

have a look at the following thread, it should answer your questions

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=67254&start=40&tstart=0

[cheche12]

Hi rsa911,

Thanks for the quick response. The mentions it but no resolution.

[RDPetruska]

Did you add ALL of the vmx parameters in your vmx file? There are a couple of very important ones which you need in order to power on a guest within a guest.

[rsa911]

if you read the entire thread (I know it's very looooong) you'll see a couple of users find a way to bypass the error message

I did not tried it myself yet but considering the various gurus that answered that particular thread it should contain your solution...

be patient and read it carefully

[cheche12]

Hi RDPetruska,

Thanks for your input. This is a copy of my vmx file. To you knowledge is anything missing. Many thanks in advance.

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "4"

numvcpus = "2"

scsi0.present = "TRUE"

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

memsize = "512"

scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"

scsi0:0.fileName = "ESX02.vmdk"

ide1:0.present = "TRUE"

ide1:0.fileName = "F:"

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

floppy0.autodetect = "TRUE"

svga.autodetect = "TRUE"

mks.keyboardFilter = "allow"

displayName = "ESX02"

guestOS = "redhat"

nvram = "Red Hat Linux.nvram"

deploymentPlatform = "windows"

virtualHW.productCompatibility = "esx"

tools.upgrade.policy = "useGlobal"

monitor_control.restrict_backdoor = TRUe

monitor_control.vt32 = TRUE

ide1:0.autodetect = "FALSE"

floppy0.fileName = "A:"

ethernet0.present = "TRUE"

ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

ethernet0.connectionType = "custom"

ethernet0.vnet = "VMNet2"

ethernet0.addressType ="generated"

ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"

ethernet1.present = "TRUE"

ethernet1.virtualDev = "e1000"

ethernet1.connectionType = "custom"

ethernet1.vnet = "VMNet2"

ethernet1.addressType = "generated"

ethernet1.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"

ethernet2.present = "TRUE"

ethernet2.virtualDev = "e1000"

ethernet2.connectionType = "custom"

ethernet2.vnet = "VMNet2"

ethernet2.addressType = "generated"

ethernet2.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"

isolation.tools.hgfs.disable = "TRUE"

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:c5:b9:98"

ethernet1.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:c5:b9:a2"

ethernet2.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:c5:b9:ac"

uuid.location = "56 4d de 56 71 5f 2a 8a-02 40 39 f9 f2 c5 b9 98"

uuid.bios = "56 4d de 56 71 5f 2a 8a-02 40 39 f9 f2 c5 b9 98"

scsi0:0.redo = ""

ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

ethernet1.generatedAddressOffset = "10"

ethernet2.generatedAddressOffset = "20"

tools.remindInstall = "TRUE"

[cheche12]

Hi rsa911,

Thanks again. I am on it and will let you know

[RDPetruska · Accepted solution]

I think that the virtual hardware version really needs to be version 6 for all of this to work... not sure why/where you got the version 4 number.

In that thread, DaveP has posted his EXACT vmx file a few times. Just copy and paste it into notepad and power away.

[cheche12]

A Big thanks to rsa911 and especially RDPetruska.

Resolution;

First of all the virtual hardware version was part of the standard vmx file creation following all the How to docs for running ESx on Wks 6. So that was a bit weird.

I tried just shutting down the the esx server (close, removing from favs and shutting down wkst 6) and then editing the vmx file but no joy.

So instead I rebuilt the VM from scratch and did all my VMX editing prior to loading ESX. (changed the version no: to 6 at this time. Everything else i left as was)

Once again thanks to all.