VMWare Player. Failed to lock the file error. ( error loading VMware system )

While testing Windows Server 2012 in our IT test lab – we shut down a virtual machine forcefully using VMware Player.

After we shut the Virtual Machine down, we tried to start it up again – which we received the following error message: “VMware player cannot open disk … Failed to lock the file” error message.

We checked the directory where the Virtual Machine was stored and noticed, along with the VMX and VMDK files, there were several LCK files – these are lock files used by VMware to lock the virtual disks.

We removed each of the folders ( each containing one 1kb LCK file ) and started the Virtual Machine again – this time the Virtual Machine loaded up fine.

If you’re experiencing issues with your VMware or Virtual Environment and the above does not resolve your issue – feel free to contact us now on 01 485 2222.

VMWare Player Error message: “The MSI failed”

One of our test beds was experiencing an issue upgrading the VMWare Player from version 3 to version 5.

Each time we tried to install version 5, the installer would try to uninstall version 3 and fail with the following message:

The MSI Failed” or The MSI Fails”

 

Trying to uninstall Version 3 through add/remove programs provided the same error.

The “Program Install and Uninstall troubleshooter” from Microsoft didn’t fix the issue either.

 

The solution was to launch the vmware install file from a command line with the following /z “action”=”install”

ie VMware-player-5.0.0-812388.exe /z “action”=”install”

 

This provided the fix and allowed VMWare Player to upgrade successfully.

If the above solution does not resolve your problem, please feel free to contact us on 014852222.