Collecting diagnostic information for VMware Workstation

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

VMware Technical Support routinely requests diagnostic information or a support bundle when a support request is handled. This diagnostic information contains logs and configuration files for your host, for Workstation, and for your virtual machine(s).

 

This article provides the procedures for obtaining this diagnostic information.

 

The diagnostic information collected can then be uploaded to VMware Technical Support. To uniquely identify your information, use the Support Request (SR) number you received when you opened your Support Request.

• For more information on instructions for opening a support request, see How to File a Support Request.
• For more information on instructions for uploading your support files, see Uploading diagnostic information to VMware.
• For more instructions on obtaining diagnostic information for other VMware products, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware products.

Resolution

Use these procedure to collect diagnostic information for VMware Workstation:

• Workstation 7.x and earlier
   
  1. Open VMware Workstation.
  2. Go to Help > Collect Support Data.
  3. Select the affected virtual machines that you would like to collect the data from.
  4. Click Collect.
  5. When the process completes, you are presented with a message informing you that a file was created in a folder called vmware-support in your host's %TEMP% folder. The compressed support bundle name begins with vmsupport and includes a date stamp for month, day, and year.
  6. After collecting your support data, upload it as an attachment to your Support Request (SR). For more information, see Uploading diagnostic information to VMware.

• Workstation 8.x and later
  1. Open VMware Workstation.
  2. Go to Help > Support > Collect Support Data.
  3. Select the affected virtual machines that you would like to collect the data from.
  4. Select Collect.
  5. When the process completes, the vmware-support folder in your host's %TEMP% folder opens automatically. The compressed support bundle name begins with vmsupport and includes a date stamp for month, day, and year.
     
     Note: VMware Workstation 12.x gives you an option to select the save location for the support bundle. Choose a save location when prompted.
      
  6. After collecting your support data, upload it as an attachment to your Support Request (SR). For more information, see Uploading diagnostic information to VMware.

• WSX server Logs for Workstation 12.x, 11.x, 10.x and 9.x. The log file names are similar to vmware-wsx-server-####.log. It can be located as given below:
   
  • Windows : %TEMP%\VMware-%USERNAME%\
  • Linux: /var/log/vmware/
  • Note: The logs files have to be manually sent to VMware Support. The vmware-support diagnostic bundle do not collect the WSX server logs automatically.

Note: If Workstation fails to load or you have issues using the Workstation UI:

• Windows

1. 1. Navigate to the VMware Workstation folder in Program Files.
   2. Double-click vm-support.vbs support script.
   3. When the process completes, you are presented with a message informing you that a file was created in a folder called vmware-support in your host's %TEMP% folder. The compressed support bundle name begins with vmsupport and includes a date stamp for month, day, and year.
   4. After collecting your support data, upload it as an attachment to your Support Request (SR). For more information, see Uploading diagnostic information to VMware.

• Linux

1. 1. Open a Terminal window. For more information, see Opening a command or shell prompt.
   2. Run the command:
      
      VMware Workstation 11.x and earlier versions:
      
      sudo vm-support
      
      VMware Workstation 12.x and later versions:
      
      sudo vmware-collect-host-support-info
       
   3. When the process completes, you are presented with a message informing you that a file was created in your host's home folder. The compressed support bundle name begins with vmsupport and includes a date stamp for month, day, and year.
   4. After collecting your support data, upload it as an attachment to your Support Request (SR). For more information, see Uploading diagnostic information to VMware.

Note: The log location for Linux machine is located at /home/userfolder.