Hello All:
I've been having an issue with VMWare Workstation (Free Version) since updating Windows 10 about 5 months ago. I tried troubleshooting then but was unsuccessful so ended running up VirtualBox. Though it did the job, I wasn't pleased with the interface and wanted to re-visit VMWare.
Some background: VMWare Workstation Player was running fine to install and use a CentOS 8 VM. I had used it for several months without an issue until I updated Windows. Since then, VMWare Workstation launches then hangs. If I don't do anything, it hangs with a "Not responding" error after a few seconds until I kill it via Task Manager or Force Close. During this, the laptop fans start up and Task Manager shows it pegging CPUs. If I re-launch then quickly double-click the CentOS 8 VM, it will launch and actually get to the login screen before it hangs. In any case, it takes about 5 seconds before it hangs. I tried waiting it out but after 15 minutes or more it never recovers.
I recently updated to the latest version of VMWare Workstation 16 with same issue. To troubleshoot I have tried:
1. Uninstall and reinstall (removing saved settings)
2. Turning off anti-virus software (both temporary disable and disable requiring reboot)
3. Disabling Credential Guard via registry edit.
4. Uninstalling Ubuntu LTS from Windows Store (not a viable long term option though)
5. Uninstalling VirtualBox
6. Deleting the CentOS vm (saw suggestions that a suspened VM image was causing the issue)
It's not a life or death thing, but I really do prefer VMWare to VirtualBox so if anyone has suggestions it will be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Kwan
