preload
Jul 08

I am getting more and more familiar with VMware Player since I use it almost every day in my current project. When I restarted my computer and the image after an unexpected shutdown I got this message: This virtual machine appears to be in use. This post lets you know how to easily get your image up and running again.

virtual machine in use

Above you can see the alert box I got when I tried to start my image in the VMware Player. The configuration file only tells you the path to your image, I added a censor strip since the path revealed my customer name.

  1. Go to the configuration file path (where you have you image)
  2. There you will find some folders with .lck ending (this is the locking file state)
  3. In my case three folders (imagename.vmem.lck, imagename.vmdk.lck and imagename.vmx.lck)
  4. Delete those folders
  5. Restart your image

This did the trick for me :)

Take notice that you might loose unsaved work on your image by doing this.

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22 Comments to “This virtual machine appears to be in use”

  1. Thanks, your tip worked a treat. I changed the CPU speed on my motherboard and everything worked fine – briefly – then after launching Windows 7 and VMware player it all froze completely.
    Had to reboot my machine and got the same “virtual machine in use error”. Trying the “take control” option didn’t work at all and I was tearing my hair out until I found your tip above.
    All perfect now
    Thanks
    Geoffrey

  2. I am glad that I could help :)

  3. Mradios says:

    Many thanks in advance, follow your tip and after VM started fine.

  4. Mradios, thanks for the comment. Good to hear that it worked for you as well.

  5. LittleDanniel says:

    thank you so much for this tips. You saved me.

    My windows host crash when I came back, I got this message.I thought I’ve to lose all my stuff in the VMware.

    You Rock!!!

  6. LittleDanniel, I thought the same when I got this error and was very happy when I solved the problem. I am glad to hear that it helped you :)

  7. Andi says:

    Thanks a lot :)

  8. You’re welcome :)

  9. Gregg says:

    This worked perfectly. Thanks.

  10. I’m glad it worked for you guys as well.

  11. Ana says:

    Thanksssssss

  12. You’re welcome Ana

  13. Stefano says:

    Thankyou very much guy, this page solved my problem :)

  14. mahmoud says:

    thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks

  15. I’m glad you found the post helpful :)

  16. Rory says:

    Hey Per,

    Worked perfectly, thanks very much for that mate!

    Rory.

  17. bansal says:

    works!thanks!

  18. Stefano says:

    Thanks, everything is working smoothly right now. :)

  19. Cool to see that it helps you guys too :)

  20. London Dave says:

    You’re the best – saved me a boat load of time

    Cheers

  21. mary says:

    thank you

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