Tx Ulli for your time,

I had my virus scanner turned off but I now have added an exception for the directory where the vmdk gives.  Good idea to do that anyway.

I admit I have not run chkdsk on C: at all.   It is a fairly new machine and I thought I was safe (famous last words).   Perhaps there is a bad spot on the disk so I will run chkdsk.

One simple test that I did just try was to copy the vmdk on which I am seeing this error to a external USB and run it from there.  It is running ok from the USB.  That is consistent with a problem on the host disk, though other explanations are possible.

I will try to run as admin as my next test.  

I will post what I find. 

tx Greg