VMware Workstation has stopped working new issues

[Gray1a]

Can anyone point out a way to get VMware running?

VMware Workstation 8.0.1 (paid version) ran fine for ~ a month.  Now I get only a window.

The window says:

"VMware Workstation has stopped working

A  problem caused the program to stop working correctly.  Windows will  close the program and notify you if a solution is available."

With a button that says 'Close Program'.

System Info:

Vista Home Premium SP2

AMD Phenom II 3.00 GHz

4GB Ram

32 Bit Operating system

What I have done:

2x used fix system with VMware install exe

Uninstalled (verified the directory was empty and restarted pc) and reinstalled

Tried to run as Administrator

Tried to run player only

Tried to run workstation as an XP SP2 program

Tried to run workstation from the command line

Tried to run with vmrun -T ws start "<dir>\<vm>.vmx"

Looked for favorites.xml but couldn't find file (http://communities.vmware.com/thread/283546)

Went  to C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\VMware and renamed  preferences.ini and inventory.vmls (separately and together) (kinda  sorta from this page: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/283546)

But I always get the "VMware Workstation has stopped working"

I've looked for logs, but I can't find any with *.log search (the logs I find are vmware from 12/12/2011).

This all points to files outside the VMware directory (as the problem persists past a reinstall on an empty directory).

Can anyone point out a way to get VMware running?

Please see also:

VMware Communities: Windows Unusual Out-of-Band Security... <http://communities.vmware.com/thread/341556>

[Felix-The-Cat]

Hello Gray1a !

Thanks for posting and sorry to hear you have a problem with WS 8.

1.Could you please look for Workstation related entries in the Windows Event Viewer and paste here?

2. Try change settingof  3 parameters in config.ini to:

installerDefaults.autoSoftwareUpdateEnabled = "no"

installerDefaults.componentDownloadEnabled = "no"

installerDefaults.dataCollectionEnabled = "no"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

config.ini located @:

XP , 2000 and 2003 hosts:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Workstation

Vista and Windows 7

C:\programdata\vmware\vmware workstation

Linux

/etc/vmware

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************

Cheers

[Gray1a]

Thanks for letting me know where the config.ini was.  I have to admit that I'm not a 'guru' on Vista yet.

Changed the config.ini.  The data collection was already disabled, but I turned off the other two as well.  Still got an error.  Here it is from Event Viewer | Windows Logs | Application:

Log Name:      Application

Source:        Application Error
Date:          1/6/2012 11:13:31 PM
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      [snip]
Description:
Faulting application vmware.exe, version 8.0.1.27038, time stamp 0x4ec0c0e1, faulting module libcurl.dll, version 0.0.0.0, time stamp 0x4abd1a53, exception code 0xc0000409, fault offset 0x00034fc7, process id 0x1408, application start time 0x01ccccfb16289ee0.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Error" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>100</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-01-07T05:13:31.000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>27019</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>[snip]</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>vmware.exe</Data>
    <Data>8.0.1.27038</Data>
    <Data>4ec0c0e1</Data>
    <Data>libcurl.dll</Data>
    <Data>0.0.0.0</Data>
    <Data>4abd1a53</Data>
    <Data>c0000409</Data>
    <Data>00034fc7</Data>
    <Data>1408</Data>
    <Data>01ccccfb16289ee0</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

[Gray1a]

I'm a programmer, and one gets used to ones tools.  I'm used to my editor auto saving when I leave focus.  Notepad doesn't do that (sigh).  When I actually saved the config.ini, the system got further.  I clicked on agreeing to the license and then the main window came up.  Then, before my elation could overwhelm me (grin), up came the same VMware Workstation has stopped working dialog.

Below is the second error (which looks much the same as the first to my eye).

Just to make sure, I tried it one more time, and the same as above happened with accepting the license agreement and then the main window with the VMware Workstation has stopped working dialog.

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          1/6/2012 11:23:45 PM
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      [snip]
Description:
Faulting application vmware.exe, version 8.0.1.27038, time stamp 0x4ec0c0e1, faulting module libcurl.dll, version 0.0.0.0, time stamp 0x4abd1a53, exception code 0xc0000409, fault offset 0x00034fc7, process id 0x15ec, application start time 0x01ccccfc835a4e40.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Error" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>100</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-01-07T05:23:45.000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>27020</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>[snip]</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>vmware.exe</Data>
    <Data>8.0.1.27038</Data>
    <Data>4ec0c0e1</Data>
    <Data>libcurl.dll</Data>
    <Data>0.0.0.0</Data>
    <Data>4abd1a53</Data>
    <Data>c0000409</Data>
    <Data>00034fc7</Data>
    <Data>15ec</Data>
    <Data>01ccccfc835a4e40</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

[Gray1a]

Ok, I did a bit more digging on the vmware.com site and found that xiongguoy's post has the same symptoms as mine.  (reference: http://communities.vmware.com/message/1503143)  My system also has DNS / IP / everything else having to do with the internet hard set.  NO DHCP.  My system MUST remain this way.  Is there anyway to fix VMware knowing this?  Others asked on the the same post and didn't receive any comments.

[Gray1a]

Any further ideas?

[Felix-The-Cat]

Hi Gray1a,

I'm already contact our Development engineers regarding your issue, and they will look it up shortly!

-------------------

.Cheers

[Gray1a]

Ok, a week has gone by.  Any news?

[jgkayser]

I also have the same issue, I have paid a vmWare Workstation license and cannot use it !!!!

We need a solution or workaround NOW !!

[continuum]

without any details such as log files. system specs and WS version nobody other than the VMware engineers will be able to help

[Felix-The-Cat]

Ulli Hankeln wrote:

without any details such as log files. system specs and WS version nobody other than the VMware engineers will be able to help

Thanks Ulli,

For sure

without any details such as log files. system specs and WS version

even  VMware engineers will NOT be able to help

--------------

jgkayser,

Please provide more info, such as log files. system specs and WS version.

*************************

Cheers

FTC

[jgkayser]

Right Felix, here come my System Settings:

Windows 7 Professional SP1

Intel Core i7 - 2760QM 2.40GHz x2

16 GB RAM

64 bit OS

I also attach a screenshot of the error and of the vmWare About.

[continuum]

this screenshot only show what you already mentioned.
Please provide vmware.logs - from inside the directories where you stored each VM

[jgkayser]

Hold on, the error shows just opening the program, it is not related to any virtual machine power on.

Anyway I found this attached log file

[continuum]

I just see one issue in that VM: zou try to create a snapshot but WS refuses to create one - fix:
change virtual hardware to a newer version

[jgkayser]

Thanks for your response Ulli, I have never ever tried to create a snapshot on this vm (as far as I remeber) but nevertheless, I believe that the problem is related to the software (I have tried to reinstall it twice and enabled the BIOS virtualization) as it used to fail always when I tried just to open the program, not even starting any virtual machine, so I expect that someone from vmWare helps me (I have opened a Support Request already).

[jgkayser]

By the way, I tried opening another virtual machines with the Workstation 8.0.4 and got the same error, tried with vmWare Player 5.0.0 and got the same issue, then uninstalled vmWare Workstation 9.0 (for which I do not have license key purchased) and then everything went fine. So the problem seems to be related to the vmWare Workstation 8.0.4 installer or core libraries/files.