Forcing a virtual machine to power off in VMware Fusion

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

This article provides the steps to force a virtual machine to shut down.

Symptoms:

• A virtual machine is not responding during the shut down process.
• You cannot power off a virtual machine while it is running.
• A virtual machine stops responding.

Environment

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

Resolution

Warning: When you perform a hard power off, this has the same effect as switching off the power switch on a physical computer. Perform this if it is necessary as it may cause data loss or file system corruption.

To force a virtual machine to power off:

1. From the Fusion menu bar, click Virtual Machine.
2. Press and hold down the Option (Alt) key. The menu option for Shut Down changes to Force Shut Down/Power Off.
3. Click Force Shut Down/Power Off.

Additional Information

In Fusion 5.x and below, you cannot shut down / power off virtual machines that are suspended. Virtual machines must first be turned on, and then shut down. For more information, see Working with power options in VMware Fusion (1018242).

 

In Fusion 6.x and above, you can force shutdown a suspended virtual machine by pressing the Option Key on the keyboard and selecting Force Shutdown in power options.

 

In Fusion 4.x and later, you can also click Virtual Machine > Shut Down in the menu bar and a pop up will reveal the options to shut down normally or to force shut down.