A virtual machine is frequently suspended when the host is running on battery power

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This articles provides an explanation of virtual machines power saving settings and options to prevent the settings from suspending a virtual machine.

• The virtual machine is suspended
• The guest operating system is in sleep, standby, or suspend power states
• The virtual machine running Windows is suspended every 5 minutes of inactivity whenever the host is running on battery power

Resolution

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.
• 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.