VMWare Workstation 15: Chrome Crashing and Freezes VM

Sometimes the chrome browser on my ubuntu 18.04 box will have the UI crash, and then the VM becomes completely unresponsive.

I have to restart the VM entirely to bring it back up.

This has been happening several times and I am losing my unsaved work every time this happens. Is there a way to find out what is causing this and fix it?

For the time being, I am avoiding Chrome, but I'm not sure if this issue is limited to just the browser (So far Firefox has been fine).

Ben C Wang

Posted 2019-01-15T06:38:49.693

Reputation: 161

Workaround, for the record: ALT-F4 the unresponsive Chrome, even if no effect is visually noticeable due to the corrupted screen that actually works (for me, anyway). Then CTRL-ALT-ENTER (or whatever your key combination is) to switch VMWare from full screen to window mode - and then again to switch back immediately. My screen now is usable again, this reset the graphics. – Mörre – 2019-05-06T06:41:29.743

Answers

Chrome also hangs physical systems due to high memory consumption and sometimes face issues when using the GPU. You might have some luck using the tips from this AskUbuntu thread, among which are disabling hardware acceleration in the Chrome settings and disabling GPU Rasterization.

As these problems are sometimes fixed by better/newer GPU drivers, this might go away if VMWare releases some newer drivers later on.

oligofren

Posted 2019-01-15T06:38:49.693

Reputation: 842

I have the same issue with my Ubuntu 18.04 running in vmware. Chrome hangs, followed by a complete freeze of the VM. After a forced reboot the system logs show those lines:

Aug 20 11:41:09 ubuntu kernel: [58480.901168] [drm:vmw_cmdbuf_work_func [vmwgfx]] ERROR Command "SVGA_3D_CMD_DX_DESTROY_SHADERRESOURCE_VIEW" causing device error.
Aug 20 11:41:09 ubuntu kernel: [58480.901175] [drm:vmw_cmdbuf_work_func [vmwgfx]] ERROR Command buffer offset is 0
Aug 20 11:41:09 ubuntu kernel: [58480.901180] [drm:vmw_cmdbuf_work_func [vmwgfx]] ERROR Command size is 12

I think it is this unresolved bug.

Étienne

Posted 2019-01-15T06:38:49.693

Reputation: 107

Disable hardware acceleration! The performance gets a little hit, but it's not that bad after all.

Chrome settings → Advanced → System → Disable Use hardware acceleration when available!

Kassab Mkum

Posted 2019-01-15T06:38:49.693

Reputation: 1