Powering on a virtual machine in Workstation fails with the error: VMWare Workstation unrecoverable error: (vmx)

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot resume a suspended virtual machine in VMware Workstation
• Cannot power on a virtual machine in Workstation after a power failure
• Powering on a virtual machine fails
• You see these errors:
   
  • VMWare Workstation unrecoverable error: (vmx)
    Exception 0xc0000006 (disk error while paging) has occurred.
  • This virtual machine appears to be in use.
    If this virtual machine is not in use, press the "Take Ownership" button to obtain ownership of it. Otherwise press the "Cancel" button to avoid damaging it.

Environment

VMware Workstation Pro 14.x (for Linux)
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Linux)
VMware Workstation 8.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Windows)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 15.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 8.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 7.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 10.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation Pro 15.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 14.x (for Windows)
VMware Workstation 10.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 7.x (Windows)

Cause

This issue occurs if the virtual machine suspended state file is corrupted.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must remove the suspended state file.

Notes:

• Removing the suspended state file is similar to turning off the power. Any unsaved changes are lost.
• Ensure to take a backup of the virtual machine before proceeding.
  
  For more information, see Best practices when backing up a VMware Workstation virtual machine (2006202).

To remove the suspended state file:

1. Navigate to the folder where the virtual machine files are stored.
2. Delete all files and folders that end with:
    
   • .lck
   • .vmss
      
3. Edit the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file. For more information, see Tips for editing a .vmx file (1714).
4. Locate the entry that begins with checkpoint.vmState.
5. Remove everything between the quotation marks. For example, the entry should appear similar to:
   
   checkpoint.vmState = ""
    
6. Save and close the .vmx file.

Note: Ensure that changes made to the file are appropriate and correct. Improper configuration of the .vmx file may result in a virtual machine failure.

Additional Information

Tips for editing a .vmx file
Best practices when backing up a VMware Workstation virtual machine
在 Workstation 中打开虚拟机电源失败并出现错误：VMWare Workstation 不可恢复错误: (vmx)
Workstation での仮想マシンのパワーオンに次のエラーで失敗する： VMWare Workstation のリカバリ不能なエラー: (vmx)