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a2
Contributor
Contributor

Unable To Reserve Memory; Failed To Lock Shared Memory

My system has the following specs:

3.2 GHz Intel Core i3 (2010 27" iMac)

12 GB RAM

Mac OS X 10.7.2

I am using VMware Fusion 4.1.1.

After a fresh reboot, I am able to run a couple of VMs with different OSes (Linux, FreeBSD, etc.).  I then shut them down and close VMware Fusion.  When I attempt to run a VM again, Fusion complains that "The virtual machine is unable to reserve memory".  Selecting "Retry" only leads to the message "Failed to lock shared memory".

I currently have 9.47 GB free memory according to Activity Monitor.

In the Console, the logs show these:

12/29/11 1:47:32.000 AM kernel: vmmon: Warning: Cannot map in grab map: 4.
12/29/11 1:47:33.000 AM kernel: vmmon: Warning: Cannot map in grab map: 4.
12/29/11 1:47:34.000 AM kernel: vmmon: Warning: Cannot map in grab map: 4.
12/29/11 1:47:35.000 AM kernel: vmmon: Warning: Cannot map in grab map: 4.
12/29/11 1:47:36.000 AM kernel: vmmon: Warning: Cannot map in grab map: 4.
12/29/11 1:47:37.000 AM kernel: vmmon: Warning: Cannot map in grab map: 4.

I am able to reproduce this problem every time after a fresh reboot.

Is there a fix for this already?  What can I do to avoid having to reboot the computer everytime I want to run VMs under VMware Fusion?

Regards,

Albert              

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tracywang
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Expert

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a2
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks.  However, the suggestions in the kb didn't work either.  I also followed the link to the VMware Fusion kb:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=101495...

which even suggested changing the memory but that didn't work either.  Even running just one VM failed.

Adding more physical memory isn't an option (my slots are full).  I already have 12 GB RAM with 9 GB free according to the activity monitor.  The VMs were configured to use only 768 MB RAM.

Once again, I had to reboot the machine.

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nstan
Contributor
Contributor

I've been having this same exact problem for months now... well I didn't have it with VmFusion 3, So ever since I upgraded... and I have a MBP upgraded to 8Gbs but it's non-Apple RAM, I wonder if that is the issue...

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a2
Contributor
Contributor

I just got in touch with VMware Tech Support today.  They are aware of the problem and are going to release a fix in the next update of VMware Fusion.

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nstan
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for the heads-up, that's great news! can't wait...

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coheteloco
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, thanks a 2.

Any word on the timing of the to-be-released update?

Did they say what caused the problem to start happening? Maybe an Apple update?

I've got 4 GB free and I'm getting the same error.  Having to reboot your mac so you can run a WINVM is just plain wrong. :-S

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