Windows 10: Guest OSs In VMWare Workstation 12 Crash or Freeze

In latest Insider builds Hyper-V enhanced mode supports dynamic scaling. Just drag the VM window to any size you like. As this is already built-in in Insider builds, it will of course also be fully implemented in Windows 10 Creators Update version 1703 which will be released on April 11th.

 

Hi there

I've used VMWARE for years with relatively few problems both with Windows and Linux Hosts.

Check of course in your BIOS that VT is enabled (for 64 bit guest OS'es) and that you enable sufficient RAM for the Guest

Download the latest version (I think currently 12.5.5) and ensure for Windows Guests -install vmware tools and for Linux Hosts - open-vmware tools package is installed (easier generally than compiling vmware tools in Linux and works 100% of the time).

W10 guest running on Linux Centos 7 Host -- absolutely ZERO problems.






Also XP Guest on Centos 7 - zero problems as well.






Version of VMWARE Workstation being used





Windows HOSTS also work just fine.

Cheers
jimbo

 

Update:

I did a repair install on VMWare Workstation and now it seems to be working much better. I dont know what happened with the initial installation that was causing the issues, but something got botched. Ill work with it a bit more to see if it fouls up and post my results.

 

Glad you have it working. I have been with Vmware for a long time. It's usually stable as a rock.

 

Please forgive me for "hijacking" this thread but I honestly think my question is not worth of its own thread.

@pparks1, how do I boot a Windows guest on VM in VMware Player (not paid for Workstation version) from install media (ISO / USB / DVD) instead of VHD / VMDK? I seem to be totally unable to find that option.

Short: how to change boot order?

 

You go into settings, and in the options will be a "boot to bios" option. You need to enable that, and then boot into BIOS and set your boot order to DVD before HDD.

You may be able to also right click the host and choose "power on to BIOS".

Sorry I don't have the exact wording, I am on a bus without a computer.

 

I know. Ive also been using the free VMWare Player for years just so I could play around with various distros of Linux and Windows Server. This is the first issue Ive ever had with it. THe real confusing thing was these problems started showing up just after installing Player on this computer so I didnt think a reinstall or repair install would be needed. Apparantly something got botched in the inital install.

 

Im running VMWare on Windows and have a CentOS guest within it. So far CentOS seems pretty nice, though I wish it had the KDE interface to start with. Im gonna look into how to install the KDE desktop onto it. Im sure it can be done.

 

Hi there

@Kari

@pparks1

For VMWARE Player (V12 / 12.5) do the two following things

1) Change the boot delay to something like 2 / 3 secs so you can get at the F2 key when the initial Vmware boot screen appears -- F2 is needed to get into the BIOS menu of the VM. If you don't set the delay it will be far too quick for most machines. The xxxx value is in Millisecs. Also good for VMWARE WORKSTATION.

bios.bootDelay = "3000"

2) a bit of a nuisance but you need to add a line in the VM config file (.vmx) which boots ONE TIME into the firmware .

Note this is for VMWARE PLAYER options -- Vmware Workstation which is what I normally use doesn't have these problems of course as you have Boot into firmware in the power on menu.

bios.forceSetupOnce = "TRUE"

You'll need to add nr 2) again if you need to boot into the BIOS as it disappears after the boot. I.e each time you want to get into the Bios you have to re-insert the line.

Note - this isn't necessary of course for VMWARE WORKSTATION.






@ArazelEternal

When doing CENTOS 7 install choose KDE Plasma Workspace from the software install options to install KDE.

Install also NTFS-3g for NTFS access and SAMBA for sharing. Add the Repos too of course so YUM will update things properly.

Cheers
jimbo