Vmware workstation takes too much time to shut down

Question

Each time I shuting down my virtual machine - it takes like 30 minutes for VM Ware to complete the process. The shut down is done, but it shows a black screen and doesn't respond to any command. I can't do a Power > Power OFF or Power > Suspend. When I click it - nothing changes.

When trying to close - it says "still busy". This happens only when using a Virtual Machine stored on an external hard drive. When Virtual Machine files are stored on a local drive - everything is OK. Hard drive is working good.

Any suggestions how can I investigate the issue?

Answer 1

Maybe this might work for you, for me it worked.

VM Takes Long Time to Shutdown Fix

1. Shut down the VM before you do anything; if something like a Production server, you should either backup the entire directory that holds the VM files or take a snapshot (depends on your product).
2. In the VM's folder, locate the .VMX file
3. Make a copy (backup) of the file (this is important!)

4. Edit the file using notepad (don't use anything like Word) - locate the following entries in file - if you DO NOT find them, add them to the bottom of the file:

   prefvmx.minVmMemPct = "100"
   mainMem.useNamedFile = "FALSE"
   mainMem.partialLazySave = "FALSE"
   mainMem.partialLazyRestore = "FALSE"
   

5. Save the file and exit notepad
6. Start the VM - let it completely start, log in, then choose normal shutdown - should now shutdown in a matter of seconds.

I've had no adverse effects with these settings but use at your own risk.

^{Source: http://davidmsterling.blogspot.com.br/2012/08/vmware-virtual-machine-takes-long-time.html}

Answer 2

In case you use external hard drive try disabling write caching on the device It helped me.

Answer 3

After I installed the vmware tools in the VM, the problem went away!

Answer 4

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/099565e7-fd3f-41da-9595-5f17637298ea/pagefile-clearpagefileatshutdown?forum=w7itprogeneral

Modify this setting within the registry to speed up the process. Please first read the article(s) on topic from Microsoft.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000000

Answer 5

Periodically I have the same problem. This may be a coincidence but takes 2 seconds and worth trying. In the bottom right of the window there is an icon that looks like a yellow page with the right bottom corner curled. The icon is used for displaying vmware messages. I clicked it and it displayed a message totally unrelated to the problem. Yet soon as I closed the message the virtual machine immediately finished suspending.