Vmware Failed To Start Virtual Machine

[Niobe Hennigan]

Virtualmachines enable you to try out multiple operating systems without removing your main operating system. VMware is one such popular third-party hypervisor that supports multiple operating systems. However, some users face the 'Failed to start the virtual machine' error when they power on any virtual machine in VMware.

Every virtualization program including VMware needs hardware virtualization to work on a Windows PC. So, if you have turned off virtualization from BIOS, you must re-enable it. Repeat the following steps:

Memory Integrity is a feature listed under the Core Isolation setting in the Windows Security app. It protects high-security processes from malware and requires hardware virtualization. Since hardware virtualization can only be used by one program at a time, VMware can encounter errors when you power on a virtual machine.

Virtualization-based security can interfere with third-party hypervisors, so you must disable it. Check out how to disable VBS to increase performance in Windows 11 for more information. After disabling VBS, launch VMware and run a virtual machine to check if the 'Failed to Start the Virtual Machine' error persists.

If the existing installation of VMware is corrupt or crucial files are missing from the installation folder, you must reinstall the app. It will remove all the installation files and install a new copy of the app on your PC.

Could not create anonymous paging file for 2568MB: The paging file is too small for this operation to complete. Failed to allocate main memory. Module MainMem power on failed. Failed to start virtual machine.

Greetings... Recently I experienced a power failure at my office when I was running two different virtual machines. Upon restarting, I am unable to connect to the machines as VMWare tells me "This virutal machine appears to be in use." If I press the "Take Ownership" button, it immediantely returns with a dialog box indicating "Taking ownership of this virtual machine failed." How do I unlock these machines?

If you need further convincing the fix is that simple, see also my short video that demonstrates the fix. It'd seem that VMware would address this issue with a better recovery technique, given it's an error I've seen occasionally for many years myself. But hey, at least the fix is well documented!

After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop selling them in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. So far, Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh looking a little better for 2024. More cores, but still just PCIe Gen4 and DDR4. Looking ahead, I'm glad it's Pat Gelsinger at Intel's helm. I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when Pat was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing. Easily update VMware ESXi at TinkerTry.com/easy-update-to-latest-esxi

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A VMware vSAN 2-node cluster is a specific configuration implemented in environments where a minimal hardware footprint is a key requirement. It is designed to minimize the cost and complexity of computing and storage infrastructure at edge locations such as retail stores, branch offices, manufacturing plants, distribution warehouses, etc. In addition to edge deployments, the 2-node configurations can be used for small isolated instances, one-off projects, and small DR solutions. The 2-node configuration has numerous uses that can supplement core infrastructure, it is not limited to just edge solutions.

vSAN documentation provides step-by-step guidance on deploying and configuring vSAN, including 2-node clusters. This guide provides additional information for designing, configuring, and operating a vSAN 2-node cluster.

A vSAN 2-node cluster includes deploying a vSAN witness host virtual appliance from an OVA template. The two physical hosts running workloads are commonly deployed at an edge or remote office location. These two hosts are connected using a network switch for North-South traffic in the same location. One of the unique capabilities of a 2-node vSAN is connecting the vSAN network directly between the two hosts without a switch for East-West traffic between nodes. This enables customers to deploy all-flash vSAN in both an vSAN Original Storage Architecture (OSA) or the new vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) without the need for 10 Gb or higher switches. All the vSAN data traffic can be directed across the direct network connections between the hosts while regular VM traffic can utilize a slower standard network switch. This reduces the overall cost for a small vSAN cluster while maintaining the high performance of an all-flash config. Note, that you do not have to use an all-flash config with the 2-node, both hybrid and all-flash deployments are supported.

A vSAN witness host provides a quorum for the two nodes in the cluster as it is located at a different location, such as a primary data center. The connection between the physical hosts and the vSAN witness host requires minimal bandwidth,

Each 2-node deployment before vSAN 7 Update 1 required a dedicated witness appliance. vSAN 7 Update 1 introduced a shared witness host that supports multiple 2-node clusters. Up to 64 2-node clusters can share a witness host. This enhancement simplifies design and eases management and operations. With the release of vSAN ESA, there are now two witness host types, OSA and ESA. vSAN OSA and ESA architectures cannot share the same witness. You must only use the respective witness for that specific architecture. Both are available for download in your customer connect portal.

By default, virtual machines deployed to a vSAN 2-node cluster synchronously mirror (RPO=0, FTT1) the virtual machine data on both hosts for redundancy. Virtual machine data is not stored on the vSAN witness host. Only metadata is stored in the witness host to establish a quorum and ensure data integrity if one of the physical nodes is offline. If a physical node fails, the mirrored copy of the virtual machine data remains accessible on the other physical host. vSAN works with vSphere HA to restart virtual machines previously running on the failed host. This integration between vSphere HA and vSAN automates recovery and minimizes downtime due to hardware failures.

The vSAN Witness Host is a virtual appliance running ESXi. It contains vSAN metadata to ensure data integrity and establish a quorum in case of a physical host failure so that vSAN data remains accessible. The vSAN Witness Host must have connectivity to both vSAN physical nodes in the cluster.

The vSAN Witness Appliance can easily be maintained/patched using vSphere Lifecycle Manager like physical vSphere hosts. Deploying a new vSAN Witness Appliance is not required when updating or patching vSAN hosts. Normal upgrade mechanisms are supported on the vSAN Witness Appliance. The vSAN witness host should be upgraded first to maintain backward compatibility.

This is not significant to consider in All-Flash configurations but should be considered in Hybrid vSAN configurations. To understand why, it is important to know how read and write operations behave in 2-node Virtual SAN configurations.

By default, reads do not traverse to the other node. This behavior is the default in 2-node configurations, as they are mechanically similar to Stretched Cluster configurations. This behavior is preferred when the latency between sites is at the upper end of the supported boundary of 5ms round-trip-time (RTT).

The process of invoking a vMotion could be from various DRS events, such as putting a host in maintenance mode or balancing workloads. The default Stretched Cluster recommendation, is to keep virtual machines on one site or another, unless there is a failure event.

Since only a capacity device failed, and there are others still contributing to the capacity, reads will also traverse the network, as data is rewritten to one of the surviving capacity devices on Node 1 if there is sufficient capacity.

Forcing the cache to be read across Stretched Cluster sites is not recommended because additional read latency can be introduced.

vSAN 2-node configurations are typically in a single location, directly connected or connected to the same switch, just as a traditional vSAN deployment.

Not only does this help in the event of a virtual machine moving across hosts, which would require the cache to be rewarmed, but it also allows reads to occur across both mirrors, distributing the load more evenly across both hosts.

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