Verifying the health of an operating system

Products

VMware Desktop Hypervisor VMware vCenter Server VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article is meant to provide guidance for determining if problems encountered in a virtual machine's guest operating system, or on a host computer where a VMware product is installed, are related to VMware. The steps outlined here isolate if the problem is related to the operating system itself, to another application installed to the operating system, or to the physical hardware of the host computer.

This article can be used as a starting point when a guest operating system:

Has stopped responding and displayed a blue screen with a stop code
Has experienced a core dump or kernel panic
Has stopped responding
Keeps rebooting for no apparent reason
Experiences performance degradiation
Has an application that is not working properly
Is experiencing network problems

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi
VMware ESX
VMware Workstation Pro
VMware Fusion

Resolution

A VMware product may behave unexpectedly if the operating system on which it is installed is experiencing problems. Follow the section that matches the operating system (OS) type.

Note: After performing a corrective action in any of the following steps, determine if the problems initially encountered are still being experienced.

Click the link below to get to the section related to the specific Operating System type:

Windows Operating Systems
Linux Operating Systems
Apple MacOS

Common Windows Problems
1. Verify there are no problems with the file system by performing a disk check on your hard drives. For more information, see Performing a disk check.
2. Check if there are sufficient resources available:
  - Memory - see Investigating operating system memory usage.
  - Disk space - see Investigating operating system disk space.
  - CPU - see Investigating operating system CPU usage.
  If necessary increase the specific resource. See Increasing the disk size on a Virtual Machine and Increasing the amount of CPU assigned to a virtual machine for more information.
  
  Note: On ESX/ESXi hosts it is possible to set processor affinity among virtual machines so that one or more physical CPUs are not used by any other virtual machine. For more information, see Assign a Virtual Machine to a Specific Processor. Alternatively, consider upgrading the hosts hardware or moving the the virtual machine to a different host.
3. If a virtual machine with multiple CPUs is performing poorly, see Determining if multiple virtual CPUs are causing performance issues.
4. Confirm that there is no virus or malware or spyware compromising the operating system.
5. Use the Windows System Configuration (msconfig) utility to eliminate software and processes as possible causes. For more information, see Using the Windows System Configuration utility.
6. Boot into Safe Mode to eliminate software and processes as possible causes. For more information, see How to Boot into Safe Mode in a Windows Guest Operating System.
  
  Note: Safe Mode eliminates more software and processes than the System Configuration utility, but it also further reduces operating system functionality. Depending on the problem, following this procedure may remove a software environment that is required to test the health of your operating system.
7. Confirm that the problem is not linked to the specific user by logging in as a different user. Additionally, verify that the problem is not linked to the user having or lacking administrator rights by logging in as a user whose rights are the opposite.
8. Verify that the memory on the host computer is healthy. For more information, see Validating host memory.
9. Power on the virtual machine on a different host.
  - If the problem continues, the issue is with the virtual machine operating system or application itself. Involve the guest OS vendor or consider reinstalling the VM.
  - If the disappears when the VM runs on a different host, the issue is with the original host. Review the host operating system and if necessary, contact Broadcom support.
Common Linux Problems
1. Verify there are no problems with the file system by performing a disk check on the hard drives. For further information, see Performing a disk check.
2. Check if there are sufficient resources available:
  - Memory - see Investigating operating system memory usage.
  - Disk space - see Investigating operating system disk space.
  - CPU - see Investigating operating system CPU usage.
  If necessary increase the specific resource. See Increasing the disk size on a Virtual Machine and Increasing the amount of CPU assigned to a virtual machine for more information.
  
  Note: On ESX/ESXi hosts it is possible to set processor affinity among virtual machines so that one or more physical CPUs are not used by any other virtual machine. For more information, see Assign a Virtual Machine to a Specific Processor. Alternatively, consider upgrading the hosts hardware or moving the the virtual machine to a different host.
3. If a virtual machine with multiple CPUs is performing poorly, see Determining if multiple virtual CPUs are causing performance issues.
4. Confirm that there is no virus or malware or spyware compromising the operating system.
5. Switch to run level 3 to eliminate software and processes as possible causes. For more information, see Changing Linux run levels.
  
  Note: Depending on the problem, following this procedure may remove a software environment that is required to test the health of the operating system.
6. Switch to Single User Mode to eliminate software and processes as possible causes. For more information, see Changing Linux run levels.
  
  Note: Single User Mode eliminates more software and processes than run level 3 does, but it also further reduces operating system functionality. Depending on the problem, following this procedure may remove a software environment that is required to test the health of the operating system.
7. Confirm that the problem is not linked to the specific user by logging in as a different user. Additionally, verify that the problem is not linked to the user having or lacking administrator rights by logging in as a user whose rights are the opposite.
8. Verify that the memory on the host computer is healthy. For more information, see Validating host memory.
9. Power on the virtual machine on a different host.
  - If the problem continues, the issue is with the virtual machine operating system or application itself. Involve the guest OS vendor or consider reinstalling the VM.
  - If the disappears when the VM runs on a different host, the issue is with the original host. Review the host operating system and if necessary, contact Broadcom support.
Common Mac OS Problems
1. Verify there are no problems with the file system by performing a disk check on your hard drives. For more information, see Performing a disk check.
2. Check if there are sufficient resources available:
  - Memory - see Investigating operating system memory usage.
  - Disk space - see Investigating operating system disk space.
  - CPU - see Investigating operating system CPU usage.
  If necessary increase the specific resource. See Increasing the disk size on a Virtual Machine and Increasing the amount of CPU assigned to a virtual machine for more information.
  
  Note: On ESX/ESXi hosts it is possible to set processor affinity among virtual machines so that one or more physical CPUs are not used by any other virtual machine. For more information, see Assign a Virtual Machine to a Specific Processor. Alternatively, consider upgrading the hosts hardware or moving the the virtual machine to a different host.
3. If a virtual machine with multiple CPUs is performing poorly, see Determining if multiple virtual CPUs are causing performance issues.
4. Confirm that there is no virus or malware or spyware compromising the operating system.
5. Use Safe Boot to eliminate software and processes as possible causes. For more information, see Using Safe Boot.
  
  Note: Depending on the problem, following this procedure may remove a software environment that is required to test the health of the operating system.
6. Switch to Single User Mode to eliminate software and processes as possible causes. For more information see, Switching Mac OS to Single User Mode.
  
  Note: ingle User Mode significantly limits the functionality of the operating system. There won't be access to any portion of the normal Mac OS graphical interface. Single User Mode should only be used by user experienced with the operating system, who already know how to use this Mac OS feature.
7. Confirm that the problem is not linked to the specific user by logging in as a different user. Additionally, verify that the problem is not linked to the user having or lacking administrator rights by logging in as a user whose rights are the opposite.
8. Verify that the memory on the host computer is healthy. For more information, see Validating host memory.
9. Power on the virtual machine on a different host.
  - If the problem continues, the issue is with the virtual machine operating system or application itself. Involve the guest OS vendor or consider reinstalling the VM.
  - If the disappears when the VM runs on a different host, the issue is with the original host. Review the host operating system and if necessary, contact Broadcom support.