Could not open virtual machine - No permission to access this virtual machine

[damerow]

I have Workstation 6 and installed it successful onto Vista Premium 32bit. It worked for some weeks.

Now I get the following error while trying to open or create a virtual machine:

Could not open virtual machine: E:\vmware\XP\Windows.vmx

No permission to access the virtual machine.

Configuration file: E:\vmware\XP\Windows.vmx

I tried to reinstall Workstation but nothing changed.

When I try to create a team I get an exception error:

VMware Workstation unrecoverable error: (vmui)

Exception 0xc0000005 (access violation) has occurred.

I have all rights to access the files. My log says Permission denied.

Feb 18 14:51:55.671: vmui| Read lock on virtual machine list file C:\Users\tdamerow.000\AppData\Roaming\VMware\favorites.vmls failed: Permission denied

Feb 18 14:51:55.679: vmui| FILE: ScanDirectory discarding file 'C:\Users\tdamerow.000\AppData\Roaming\VMware\favorites.vmls.lck\E61854.LCK'; invalid file name.

Feb 18 14:51:55.680: vmui| FILE: RemoveLockingFile of 'C:\Users\tdamerow.000\AppData\Roaming\VMware\favorites.vmls.lck\E61854.LCK' failed: Permission denied

Any idea whats going wrong?

Thanks

Thomas

[Liz]

try right clicking and "run as administrator" - if that is in another persons profile, or a copy of your profile etc.

[damerow]

I tried it but without any success.

I created a new profile and reinstalled the software but the errors are complete the same.

[Liz]

Try moving the files to a more sensible place like c:\vm

[damerow]

I am sorry, but it is the same.

I am wondering about the error in log: Access denied.

Even with Run as Administrator its the same.

I do not know when the error started because in December everything worked fine.

Maybe a service pack for Vista?

I tried to install SP1 for Vista but I get the same errors.

[Liz]

Then the only thing I can think of is the files are read only

[damerow]

It has really to do something with rights. But I do not find the problem.

VMware is still not able to write in preferences.ini and config.ini (both in Roaming\vmware). They are writeable to everyone and not readonly.

I can edit both files. VMware does not save any preferences to this file (eg. disabling hints).

I tried now everything I could imagine. Its broring not to find the problem.

[Peter_vm]

Stick to the suggestions given in "known Issues" in "Release Notes":

http://www.vmware.com/support/ws6/doc/releasenotes_ws6.html

[damerow]

Thanks for your solutions.

It was a driver named alphafm.sys. It produced an Buffer Overflow while vmware tried to access the files.

Sysinternals ProcessMonitor did a good job finding the problem.

I am glad to see thats not a problem with vista or vmware.

Thomas

[Jagadeep]

Thomas,

Can u let me know what you did to overcome this error, as i am also facing the same problem

Kindly help

Thanks

Jagadeep HG

[damerow]

I can't tell you more.

After uninstalling the driver aphafm.sys and reinstalling VMWare it run perfekt without any problems.

Thomas

[Bjelvert]

Hi Thomas.

I have the same problem. I try to use Process Monitor to find my error ( I don't have aphafm.sys) But I can't find it.

Could you please describe how you use Process Monitor to troubleshoot vmware, and find the error file... that gives me "no permission to access this virtual machine"

What to look for, which menys to use, quite a lot of options in Process Monitor.

Please Advice

/Peter Bjelvert

[kimmer]

This is the second time I have installed the VM Workstation 6 trialware. This time after installation and about a week of use, I get the "permissions" message as described in all the other replies herein. The top of this page states the issue is "answered" and there is one correct reply. That is NOT true. There is no right answer listed here and the issue is not resolved. Logged in as Administrator generates the same result - nothing.

VM Ware undoubtedly doesn't want potential sales to be jeopardized. This is a major issue, as there is no fix and VMWare has provided no support here. BEWARE what you store on a virtual machine created by VM Ware. No warning, just that rediculous message.

[ai9bar]

go into the directory where the virtual machine saved(excample e:\my virtual machine) ,and find the directory named *.lck (example redhat.lck).Tthen delete it . then ,that'll be ok. the virtual machine can be open whithout any tips .

[DuopuTek]

I solved this problem by renaming/deleting the folder with ".lck" to whatever, then open vmx file again, it works and it automatically creates new ".lck" folders.

I think this error occurs because I had changed some settings/windows services in my physical Windows system.