VMware Workstation Pro 15 is working badly after i updated it a few days ago.

[ADVRipper4Ever]

I'm using Windows 10 (64 bits) and i am emulating Windows XP (32 bits) with Service Pack 3. It was working perfectly fine a few days ago. I went online and opened VMware, then a message appeared talking about an update. I downloaded and restarted my computer. After that, the virtual machine started working horrible. Poor quality in sound effects and musics. Windows XP is working slower now. I noticed bugs in programs that were working fine before the update. An DVD player software is not showing images, only sound now.

I mean, come on guys!

Updates are supposed to make things better, not worse. I heard that a good solution is to downgrade to version 15.5.2. I got this version but it won't allow to downgrade. I really hope i don't have to reinstall Windows XP in the virtual machine again.

Let me know if you guys need more information.

Thanks a lot for your time and for your help.

[RDPetruska]

1. There are many threads in the recent couple of days addressing most of your issues.  Several temporary workarounds have been presented.

2. The installer will not downgrade - you can manually uninstall the newer version, then run the older setup program to reinstall an older version.

2a - Your virtual machines *should* remain unaffected (unless you upgraded things while they ran on the newer version of Workstation).  To your host, they are merely documents.  No reason to reinstall XP from scratch.  However, it is always a good idea to maintain a backup of your VMs (I myself merely zip up the particular VM folder whenever I've made any major changes, and add the date to the zip filename).

[ADVRipper4Ever]

RDPetruska,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, i was thinking about uninstall the current version and reinstalling an older version. I don't even know what version i had before this last update. Probably 15.5.1 or 15.5.2 i think. I can't find a way to uninstall version 15.5.5. Do you think you can help me? You know what? Good idea. For now on, i always going to make a backup of the current version before installing any updates. VMware is installed in the directory "Program Files (x86)/VMware". Virtual machines are installed in the Documents folder inside the directory "Virtual Machines".

Man, i will tell you this, i got really mad with this last update. The VMware was working fine, and now it is completely useless. This is a disaster!

Anyway, i will let you guys know if i find a way to make the VMware work fine again.

Thanks again for all your help.

[ADVRipper4Ever]

Problem solved.

I couldn't find a way to uninstall VMware 15.5.5, so i downloaded the installation program for this version. I runned the program and choose the option to remove VMware. Then i installed version 15.5.2 and solved all my problems. Windows XP is working fine again now. It's really fast and the sound effects and the musics are crystal clear. The DVD program that i was using is playing videos again. I'm still having some other problems and issues with VMware, but i prefer to find a solution in another topic, one more appropriate to talk about them.

[RDPetruska]

Mouse/keyboard and a few other issues resolved with version 15.5.6, just released.

[Mits2020]

I think that the recently released version 15.5.6 fixed some audio problems. However, the principle #1 is "don't mess with a working production machine if there's nothing wrong with it", so unless you feel you absolutely need the new features, staying with 15.5.2 is perfectly sane.

Regarding your XP guest, I'm afraid you will soon experience a problem that started just this week (not VMware's fault) and your guest won't shut down. I saw this on 3 different physical PCs today. Just power down the guest from the Menu and be prepared to see chkdsk on the next reboot. Also, for good measure, make a backup of the guest (just copy the VM directory somewhere else).

[ADVRipper4Ever]

RDPetruska,

Thanks. Yeah, i noticed a new topic in the forum talking about version 15.5.6. I'm gonna test it later and if i see any problems, i will let you know.

Mits2020,

I will keep a backup of my Windows XP virtual machine. Don't worry. Thanks.