A Boot Camp virtual machine fails to power on with a disk error

Products

VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

A Boot Camp virtual machine fails to start.
A disk error is generated.
You cannot start a virtual machine.
You see one of these errors:
- Cannot open the disk '/Users/User_Name/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Boot Camp/dev/disk0s3/Boot Camp partition.vmwarevm/Boot Camp partition.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.
- Virtual machine kernel stack fault (hardware reset) *** The virtual machine just suffered a stack fault in kernel mode. On a real computer, this would amount to a reset of the processor. It can be caused by an incorrect configuration of the virtual machine, a bug in the operating system, or a problem in the VMware Fusion software. Press OK to reboot virtual machine or Cancel to shut it down.
- Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause..." File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe Status: 0xc000000e
- Cannot open the disk '..../Boot Camp partition.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.
- The partition table on the physical disk has changed since the disk was created. Remove the physical disk from the virtual machine, then add it again.
- Cannot open the disk: The partition table on the physical disk has changed since the last time Fusion was powered on, please remove and re-add the physical disk
- Your Boot Camp installation has been modified since you last accessed it. Move the Boot Camp virtual machine to the trash then select "Run Boot Camp" to recreate it. This will not affect the Windows applications or data on your Boot Camp partition
- Your Boot Camp installation has been modified since you last accessed it.

Environment

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

Resolution

These issues can arise from inconsistencies in the Boot Camp virtual machine metadata or stub, the files Fusion creates to enable it to work with the Boot Camp partition.

To correct this issue, you must delete the Boot Camp virtual machine stub and allow Fusion to rebuild it.

Fusion 3.x and above

Follow both sets of steps in Preventing Boot Camp from appearing in Fusion's Virtual Machine Library (1014806). If those steps do not resolve the issue:

Power off the virtual machine.
Quit VMware Fusion.
Browse to Macintosh HD/Users/your_username/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines.

Note: In Lion or later, the Library folder inside your user directory is hidden by default. To access your Library folder:
1. Click the Finder icon.
2. While holding the Option key, click the Go menu. This reveals your Library folder.
Delete the Boot Camp folder.
Start VMware Fusion. Fusion rebuilds the Boot Camp virtual machine automatically.

Fusion 1.x and 2.x

To delete the Boot Camp virtual machine stub:

Power off the virtual machine.
Quit VMware Fusion.
Browse to Macintosh HD/Users/your_username/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines.
Delete the Boot Camp folder.
Browse to Macintosh HD/Users/your_username/Library/Preferences.
Delete the VMware Fusion folder.
Delete the com.vmware.fusion.plist file.
Restart the Mac.
Start VMware Fusion. Fusion rebuilds the Boot Camp virtual machine automatically.

If you have never powered on your virtual machine successfully, you may need to delete and recreate your Boot Camp partition. For more information, see Unable to create and start a Boot Camp partition in VMware Fusion due to the error: resource busy (1030663).

If you have encountered this issue after upgrading to Mac OS X Lion (10.7), see VMware Fusion 3 support for Mac OS X Lion (10.7) (2003715).

Additional Information

For translated versions of this article, see: