Disabling the Workstation log file or storing the log file in a different location

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

The Log File for my virtual machine or for Workstation overall is getting rather large. I'd like to stop Workstation from logging altogether, or move the log file to a location with more hard drive space. How do I do this?

Environment

VMware Workstation Pro 14.x (for Windows)
VMware Player 7.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 5.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 14.x (Windows)
VMware Player Pro 7.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 10.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 6.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation Player 14.x (Linux)
VMware Player 5.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 5.x (Windows)
VMware Player 6.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 14.x (for Linux)
VMware Player 5.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 3.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Linux)
VMware Player Pro 7.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 7.x (Windows)
VMware Player 7.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 4.x (Linux)
VMware Player 6.x (Windows)
VMware Player 3.x (Windows )
VMware Workstation 8.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Windows)
VMware Workstation Player 12.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 3.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation Pro 12.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 10.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 6.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 7.x (Linux)
VMware Player 4.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Linux)
VMware Player 3.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 12.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 8.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 12.x (Windows)
VMware Player 4.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 4.x (Windows)

Resolution

Disabling Virtual Machine Logging

To disable logging for a single virtual machine, add the following entry to your virtual machine configuration file (.vmx):
logging = FALSE

The virtual machine will start up from then on without a log file. Keep in mind that if you require support from VMware at some later time, we will often ask for that log file for examination, so this setting may need to be removed.

Changing the Log File Location for Linux Hosts

For Linux host machines, add the following line to your virtual machine configuration file (.vmx):
log.filename = "/tmp/vm1.log"

In the above line, the log file for this virtual machine would be written to /tmp, and would be named vm1.log.

Warning: Do not use "/dev/null" as the log file name. The log.filename option does not interact well with /dev/null and will damage the /dev/null node if you configure your virtual machine this way.

Changing the Log File Location on Windows Hosts

For Windows host machines, add the following line to your virtual machine configuration file (.vmx):
log.filename="c:\tmp\vm1.log"

In the above line, the log file would be written into the C:\tmp directory, and the log file would be named vm1.log.