my vm is performing a windows 7 update but never c...

coolpontiac · ‎08-06-2015

I just started using fusion on my mac (os 10.8)

my win7 vm was working fine.

then it went into windows update. it is 'stuck on "stage 3 of 3" preparing to configure windows"

Question:. every time i come back to my laptop... the vm has suspended itself. I dont know if that is from inactivity from the windows update or not?

how can i debug this problem?

thx

vmxmr · ‎06-01-2016

I am seeing a similar problem. I have a newly installed Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit that was installed from a verified Microsoft .iso disk image. Windows 7 activates correctly. Windows Update installs a newer Windows Update, but that's all.

After that, Windows Update stays in the Checking for Updates state with the right to left moving progress bar, but never completes, even after several hours of waiting.

Other Windows virtual machines (Windows XP Pro, Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 2008 R2 64-bit) all complete their normal Windows Updates as expected. Note that all of the "successful" virtual machines were created years ago under much older versions of VMware Fusion and OS X.

It does not seem to matter whether VMware Tools is installed or not.

Mac Configuration:

mid-2011 iMac quad Core i7 with 32 Gbytes RAM and lots of free disk space.

VMware Fusion 8.1.1

Virtual Machine configuration:

Two cores

8192 Gbytes RAM

60 Gbyte drive

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, newly installed and activated.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

jwvowles · ‎06-02-2016

It actually has nothing to do with VMWare or any hardware you are running. This is a known issue with Windows 7 x64 that started not long after the roll out to Windows 10 (quite a few believe that the update is getting stuck on the download for 10 which can happen if you have your updates set to download automatically sometimes the only thing to do is to let the update sit for hours on end. Mine took 4 at one point post SP1.). There are tons of "solutions" out there and not all of them work but the vast majority of them want you to stop the wuauserv (windows update service) along with several others, run Microsoft Fixit tools and install certain updates.

You can give this a shot:

Stop the Windows Update Service (open a command prompt as Administrator and type in: net stop wuauserv).

Download and install KB3050265

reboot

Download and install KB3102810

Reboot and check for updates again.

If that doesn't work, it is suggested that you try the Fixit tools found at the link below and failing that try the "Aggressive" manual fix.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971058

Good Luck,

- Jacob

vmxmr · ‎06-02-2016

Thanks for the hints. My problem seems to have resolved itself overnight, but I can't explain why. Here are some of the things that I tried that did not appear to work, at least not initially:

* Changing the network from Shared with my Mac to Bridged, autodetect (the iMac uses Ethernet).

* Ran the Microsoft Fixit tool from the Microsoft website, but it did not seem to be doing anything.

* I changed a variety of settings in Windows Update without success.

* Finally, I decided to install Microsoft Security Essentials, to make sure that I had not started out with an infected .iso. Security Essentials seemed to be hung on "Searching" for its updates. At that point, I went to bed.

This morning, I found that Security Essentials had updated itself, and there was a long list of Important and Optional Windows Updates ready to be chosen and installed. I ran a Full Scan with Security Essentials, and it reports that all is well. My next step is to update Windows 7 to the latest patch level.

Still - Windows Update and Microsoft Security Essentials updates seem very slow, while ordinary internet operations (Internet Explorer, pings from the command window) seem to work as expected.

Let us also remember that coolpontiac's question remains unresolved, too.

jwvowles · ‎06-02-2016

If the computer is running on battery power the virtual machine running Windows is suspended every 5 minutes of inactivity whenever the host is running on battery power.

This occurs because the virtual machine is capable of detecting that the host is running on battery power, and therefore activates more aggressive power saving settings.

To avoid this, perform one of the following:

Disable power management and screen savers in the guest operating system
Note: This is a best practise.
For Workstation, deselect the Report battery information to guest setting in the Options tab in the virtual machine settings.
For Fusion, deselect the Pass power status to VM setting in the Advanced pane in the virtual machine settings.
Adjust the power management settings in the guest operating system to be less aggressive when the computer is running on battery power.

Shutdown the virtual machine.
Locate the virtual machine bundle. For more information, see Locating the virtual machine bundle in VMware Fusion (1007599).
Press Ctrl and click the virtual machine bundle, then click Show Package Contents.
Open the .vmx file for editing in a text editor. For more information, see Editing the .vmx file for your VMware Fusion virtual machine (1014782).
Add this line to the .vmx file:

suspend.disabled = "TRUE"
Save and close the .vmx file.
Restart the virtual machine.

To disable the suspend feature for a virtual machine in VMware Workstation:

Shutdown the virtual machine.
Locate the virtual machine folder. For more information, see Locating a hosted virtual machine's files (1003880).
Open the .vmx file for editing in a text editor. For more information, see Editing the .vmx file of a VMware Workstation and VMware Player virtual machine (2057902).
Add this line to the .vmx file:

suspend.disabled = "TRUE"
Save and close the .vmx file.
Restart the virtual machine.

Good luck,

-Jacob

vmxmr · ‎06-03-2016

Thanks for the hints.

My iMac is connected to the standard US 110v outlet (mains); there is no battery. I already disabled power management and screen savers in Windows (standard practice for my virtual machines). I don't want to disable the suspend feature - I use it frequently.

Regardless, the virtual machine is working correctly for me. Windows Update runs at normal speeds, and everything seems to be working as expected. I did have a close call yesterday where it tried to upgrade itself to Windows 10 without my approval, but was I was able to stop it before it started. Everything is working well on that Windows 7 virtual machine at this point.

I assume that the problem has something to do with Windows initial installation and startup processes that take time and eventually work themselves out. Maybe it was downloading Windows Updates, but I can't explain why because I change the Windows Update settings to manual as soon as I can. Perhaps it ignores user settings once it starts the initial downloads. Who knows?

Again - thanks to @jwvowles for the help.

Let us hope that someone can help @coolpontiac to solve their separate issue. Sorry for hijacking the thread, but it did seem related.

jwvowles · ‎06-03-2016

Actually, my second reply was directed at the original poster coolpontiac because his question stated:

"every time i come back to my laptop... the vm has suspended itself. I dont know if that is from inactivity from the windows update or not?

how can i debug this problem?"

This is why I assumed he might be having the battery power / suspend issues.

vmxmr I am glad to hear that your windows update issue has resolved itself for whatever reason and since it shared similarities concerning a hanging windows update I wouldn't really say you hijacked the thread.

Anyways, I'll leave things at that in hopes that my second reply is seen by coolpontiac‌

-J

coolpontiac · ‎06-03-2016

Hello

I cannot say that I solved the win7 constant suspend mode problem. I have since switched to a win10 Vm . I am running Fusion 8.8.1. I am no longer having any problems with the VM going to sleep . I may try to reload a fresh win7 vm, if I do I will let you know. hope that helps