VMware Workstation 3.2

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You can save the current state of your virtual machine by suspending it. Then you can resume the virtual machine to pick up work quickly, right where you stopped - with all documents you were working on open and all applications in the same state as they were at the time you suspended the virtual machine.

The speed of the suspend and resume operations depends on how much data has changed while the virtual machine has been running. In general, the first suspend operation takes a bit longer than later suspend operations do.

When you suspend a virtual machine, a file with a .vmss extension is created. This file contains the entire state of the virtual machine. When you resume the virtual machine, its state is restored from the .vmss file. If you have not modified the virtual machine's configuration, the .vmss file is then removed.

This behavior ensures that a .vmss file is used only once to resume a virtual machine - which is the safest behavior. Note that a virtual machine you have suspended and resumed may be suspended again, creating a new .vmss file.

To suspend a virtual machine:

1. If your virtual machine is running in full-screen mode, return to window mode by pressing the Ctrl-Alt key combination.

2. Click Suspend on the VMware Workstation toolbar.

   

   VMware Workstation on a Windows host with a suspended virtual machine

   

   VMware Workstation on a Linux host with a suspended virtual machine

3. When VMware Workstation has completed the suspend operation, you see a screen similar to one of those above, depending on your host operating system. It is safe to exit VMware Workstation.

   File > Exit

To resume a virtual machine that you have suspended:

1. Start VMware Workstation and choose a virtual machine you have suspended. The process is the same as that described in Starting a Virtual Machine, above.

2. Click Resume on the VMware Workstation toolbar.

   Note that any applications you were running at the time you suspended the virtual machine are running and the content is the same as it was when you suspended the virtual machine.