Working with power options in VMware Fusion

Products

VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

The virtual machine is frozen at the Windows is shutting down screen.
Virtual machine stops responding.
Windows is locked up or does not respond.
Cannot reboot or restart the virtual machine.
The virtual machine displays only a black screen.
You want to cold boot the virtual machine.

Environment

VMware Fusion Pro 8.x
VMware Fusion 1.x
VMware Fusion 5.x
VMware Fusion 2.x
VMware Fusion 10.x
VMware Fusion 4.x
VMware Fusion 6.x
VMware Fusion 8.x
VMware Fusion 3.x
VMware Fusion 11.x
VMware Fusion Pro 11.x
VMware Fusion 7.x
VMware Fusion Pro 10.x

Resolution

If the virtual machine is frozen and you cannot shut down your virtual machine:

Hold down the Option (Alt) key.
From the Apple menu bar, select Virtual Machine > Force Shut Down (or Force Restart, if you want to start using the virtual machine again).

This works like turning off a physical power switch on a computer and powers off (and restarts, if Force Restart is selected) the virtual machine. For more information, continue to read this article.

Fusion offers multiple commands to change the power status of your virtual machine. These include: turning the computer on, turning the computer off, restarting the computer, suspending the state of the virtual machine (similar to Sleep or Hibernate), pausing the virtual machine, and resuming the virtual machine (waking it up).

The current power status is displayed at top of the Virtual Machine menu. The power status looks like:

Windows is running
Linux is suspended
Virtual machine is shutting down

If your virtual machine is shutting down, and it appears to freeze or stop responding, you may wish to force it to shut down. To do so, hold the Option (Alt) key and select Force Shut down (Fusion 3.x and later) or Power Off (Fusion 2.x). The way the Fusion power commands work depends on the way your virtual machine is configured. If the virtual machine was created in Fusion, the power commands default to soft options. These commands take effect on the guest operating system, like commands issued from the Apple menu or the Start menu. Virtual machines created in other VMware products might default to hard power options. These commands act on the virtual machine the way the external power and reset buttons work on a physical computer.

The soft power options are preferable because they work with the operating system and allow it to start up / shut down in the manner to which it's accustomed. When your operating system is frozen or not responding -- and the soft power options have no effect -- you need to use the hard power options to successfully restart or shut down your virtual machine.

To toggle between the default and alternative power options (the soft and hard options), press and hold the Option (Alt) key on your keyboard before choosing the option from the Virtual Machine menu at the top of the screen. Each of the options are detailed below, in the order in which they appear in the Virtual Machine menu.

Fusion 2.x	Fusion 3.x	Fusion 4.x and above	Result
Suspend Guest (soft option)	Suspend (soft option)	Suspend (soft option)	This option suspends the virtual machine. It also triggers a suspend script to run, if such a script is configured.
Force Suspend Guest (hard option)	Force Suspend (hard option)	Force Suspend (hard option)	This option suspends the virtual machine.
Resume Guest (soft option)	Resume (soft option)	Resume (soft option)	This option resumes the virtual machine from a suspended state. It also triggers a resume script to run, if such a script is configured.
Resume (hard option)	Force Resume (hard option)	Force Resume (hard option)	This option resumes the virtual machine from a suspended state.
Restart Guest (soft option)	Restart (soft option)	Restart (soft option)	This option sends a restart signal to the guest operating system. An operating system that recognizes this signal shuts down gracefully and restarts. It also triggers the shut down script and power-on scripts to run, if such scripts are configured.* (Not all guest operating systems respond to a restart signal from this button. If your operating system does not respond, restart from the operating system, as you would with a physical machine.)
Reset (hard option)	Force Restart (hard option)	Force Restart (hard option)	This option works like a reset switch. The virtual machine is abruptly powered off and back on, with no consideration for work or system updates in progress. (This action can result in data loss. When possible, shut down the virtual machine's operating system. Use the reset option only as a last resort when the virtual machine's operating system is unresponsive.)
Start Up Guest (soft option)	Start Up (soft option)	Start Up (soft option)	This option powers on a powered-off virtual machine. It also triggers a power-on script to run, if such a script is configured.
Power On (hard option)	Force Start Up (hard option)	Force Start Up (hard option)	This option powers on a powered-off virtual machine.
Shut Down Guest (soft option)	Shut Down (soft option)	Shut Down (soft option)	This option sends a shut down signal to the guest operating system. It also triggers a shut down script to run, if such a script is configured. An operating system that recognizes this signal shuts down gracefully. (Not all guest operating systems respond to a shut down signal from this button. If your operating system does not respond, shut down from the operating system, as you would with a physical machine.)
Power Off (hard option)	Force Shut Down (hard option)	Force Shut Down (hard option)	This option works like a power switch. The virtual machine is abruptly powered off, with no consideration for work or system updates in progress. (This action can result in data loss. When possible, shut down the virtual machine's operating system before you power off the virtual machine.)
		Pause	Stops all running operations and pauses a running virtual machine

Note: The Suspend/Resume/Start Up/Shut Down/Pause options are configured using the Scripts tab of the VMware Tools Properties utility. To launch this utility, double-click the VMware Tools icon in the Windows Control Panels. (This VMware Tools function is not available in Fusion 5 and later)

Additional Information

Note: If your virtual machine appears to be locked up or is not responding, and you are not shutting down / restarting, then this could be due to high activity on the Mac or in the virtual machine. Check the Activity Monitor on the Mac and the Task Manager (in Windows) or the process list (in Linux). It could also be due to AutoProtect taking a scheduled snapshot. For more information, see:

Understanding snapshots and AutoProtect in VMware Fusion
Common Linux-based operating system operations
Common Mac OS operations that may be needed with VMware Fusion
VMware Fusion での電源オプションの使用