Windows 2003 vm won't start. I'm running vmware fusion 1.1.3 (94249) on Mac OS X 10.5.5

[miguelaperez]

I'm running vmware fusion on my MacBook Pro. I created a Windows 2003 server image and things had been working fine until recently. Now, when I try to start the windows 2003 vm from the vmware fusion console, the "Restoring Virtual Machine State..." progress indicator seems to get stuck at about 20%. I have left it running over night and the progress does not change. I am not sure exacty what is going on or how to fix this. Btw, I tried creating a new VM with a different OS and during that process I saw some messages that indicated that vmware fusion recognized that another vmware image was already running. I think that this other vmware image may in fact be the windows 2003 image that is having troubles starting up. Please, send suggestions on where to look for the problem and how to fix.

Thanks,

Miguel

[admin]

Hi Miguel,

Welcome to the Fusion Forums!

First, I highly recommend creating a backup of your virtual machine before attempting any troubleshooting steps.

Try shutting down the virtual machine via the Virtual Machine menu and choosing Power Off. This will act like you are hitting the power button on a physical computer.

Let me know if that helps,

Eric

[miguelaperez]

Thanks, for the welcome, Eric

I don'thave the option of shutting down the virtual machine, because when it gets stuck during startup, the power off menu item is grayed out.

Thanks,

Miguel

[admin]

Hi Miguel,

There are 3 files I'll get you to delete that are linked to keeping the virtual machine in a suspend state. By deleting these files, it'll be like just powering off the virtual machine. Please, remember to back up prior to using these steps.

Now, the 3 files will have the extensions, .vmem, .vmsd, .vmss. The files you want will be, ie. Windows XP Professional.vmem, Windows XP Professional.vmsd, Windows XP Professional.vmss. There may be other files with these extensions. Do NOT delete those as they may be linked to any snapshots you have. Only delete the 3 files that have the name of the vmx file in it.

Let me know if that helps,

Eric

[miguelaperez]

Eric,

Hi, that did it ! vmware fusion now recognized that my vm is shutdown and is not trying to unsuspend it, but rather trying to start it back up. Btw, I also deleted the *.lck directories as well. Now, I am good. Thanks, for the quick responses.

Miguel

[admin]

Hi Miguel,

Great to hear! I'm glad you are up and running now.

Eric