Troubleshooting Third-Party Applications

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VMware Workstation 3.2 Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting

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Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0

When I try to start Acrobat Reader 5.0 inside a Windows virtual machine, I get an error message and must restart the guest operating system.

This problem is resolved in Acrobat Reader 5.0.5. You can download the current version at no charge from the Adobe Web site - www.adobe.com.

Firewall Software

Certain firewall products may interact poorly with VMware Workstation.

For example, ZoneAlarm stops working after you install VMware Workstation. To work around this problem, reinstall ZoneAlarm after you install VMware Workstation.

Microsoft SQL Server 7 Service Pack 2 or 3

When I install Microsoft SQL Server 7 Service Pack 2 or 3 in my Windows NT (Server or Workstation) virtual machine, the guest operating system freezes in the middle of the installation for about 30 minutes, then the guest blue screens.

This happens if you try to install with the VMware SVGA video driver running. The guest operating system appears to hang (although VMware Workstation is responsive) and consumes 100% of the host CPU.

If your Windows NT guest operating system hangs during the installation of the SQL Server service pack, do the following:

Reboot your guest operating system. Click Reset on the VMware Workstation toolbar.
The BIOS screen appears, and the guest operating system begins to boot. At the boot screen, make sure you select VGA mode.
Begin installing the service pack. When the installation successfully completes, you can reboot in SVGA mode.

Note: You do not need to uninstall VMware Tools. You only need to boot the guest operating system in VGA mode.

Windows Remote Desktop and Windows Terminal Services

When I run VMware Workstation using Remote Desktop or Terminal Services, mouse movement inside a virtual machine is jumpy.

Support for Remote Desktop and Terminal Services is experimental in this release. There are several steps you can take that may improve performance of VMware Workstation in a remote client.

Be sure you are using the most recent version of the client software. You can download the client from www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/rdclientdl.asp.
Increase the sampling rate of the mouse on the computer where you are running the client software to improve cursor accuracy in the virtual machine. In Windows 2000, for example, take the following steps to increase the mouse sampling rate:
1. Open Control Panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel).
2. Open Mouse.
3. Click the Hardware tab
4. Click Properties.
5. Click the Advanced Settings tab.
6. Turn the Sample Rate dial up as high as it will go (100).
7. Click OK.
8. Click OK.
  You do not need to reboot.
  Note: Tweak the sampling rate of the mouse on the computer where you are running the client, not on the server machine.
Restart VMware Workstation from the server desktop or the remote client if you need to move from one desktop to another. We have seen problems when Workstation is launched on the server, then used through a remote client, or vice versa.
If you started working with a virtual machine on the server and want to move to a remote computer, you may want to suspend the virtual machine to preserve its state, then close Workstation.
From the remote machine, use the Remote Desktop client to connect to the server, start Workstation, then resume the virtual machine.
If the steps outlined above do not resolve your problems, you can experiment with a setting in the configuration file for the virtual machine that overrides the method Workstation normally uses to adapt to the version of Direct Input installed on the server.
Open the configuration file (.vmx) in Notepad or a similar text editor and add the following line:
mks.correctRemoteDesktopDirectInputScale = TRUE
If this does not improve performance, change the line to the following:
mks.correctRemoteDesktopDirectInputScale = FALSE
If neither of these configuration settings improves performance, remove the line from the configuration file to resume using the default method for adapting to the server's version of Direct Input.

Various Programs

Every time I try to start a particular program in a virtual machine, VMware Workstation seems to hang.

We have seen this problem with a few programs. They include the installer for the Japanese version of Trend Micro Virus Buster, the FoxPro database, the NetWare client in Windows 98, The Sims and Civilization III. Generally, the problem occurs early in the program's execution. In many cases, you can get past the problem by temporarily using a special setting included in VMware Workstation beginning with version 3.2. To use this setting, follow these steps:

Start VMware Workstation and power on the virtual machine.
Before running the program that was encountering problems, disable acceleration.
On a Windows host, go to Settings > Configuration Editor > Advanced and click the check box beside Disable acceleration. Click OK to save the change and close the Configuration Editor.
On a Linux host, go to Settings > Configuration Editor > Misc and click the check box beside Disable acceleration. Click OK to save the change and close the Configuration Editor.
Start the program.
After you pass the point where the program was encountering problems, try returning to the Configuration Editor and removing the check beside Disable acceleration. You may be able to run the program with acceleration after it is started.
Note: Disabling acceleration can help you get past the execution problem, but it causes the virtual machine to run slowly. If the problem occurs only at startup, you can improve performance by resuming accelerated operation after the program that was encountering problems is running.

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