8.04 Upgrade-Vmware Stopped Working

**Daddyo-613** · April 25th, 2008

I upgraded from 7.10 to 8.04 Hardy Heron and my vmware player stopped working. The o/s seems to be working fine. No problems on the conversion. I have Windows 2000 running inside a vmware player. It was working before the upgrade but now it won't load. I checked and the directory and files are still there and tried to run the .vmx file directly from its resident directory but all I get is a message on the task bar "opening *.vmx" and the wait symbol. It times out and nothing happens.

Any suggestions?

**colorcol** · April 25th, 2008

the suggestion is: do not update a version to another directly!!!
had you updated from 6.06 to 7.10? it could not work too!

**Daddyo-613** · April 25th, 2008

I'm not sure what the previous post was trying to tell me but in my search for solutions I found this "how to" at:

http://linhost.info/index.php/archives/166

It sounds good and I'd like to try it but I don't want to loose the data and the programs that I've been running in the old version of VMware Player.

Can anyone tell if I run the risk of losing the existing partitions and files in my old VMware Player if I install the latest VMware Player 2.03-80004.i386 and then try to configure it?

**WrathofthePenguin** · April 25th, 2008

Originally Posted by Daddyo-613

I'm not sure what the previous post was trying to tell me but in my search for solutions I found this "how to" at:

http://linhost.info/index.php/archives/166

It sounds good and I'd like to try it but I don't want to loose the data and the programs that I've been running in the old version of VMware Player.

Can anyone tell if I run the risk of losing the existing partitions and files in my old VMware Player if I install the latest VMware Player 2.03-80004.i386 and then try to configure it?

The virtual machines you had are each separate from the VMware player program itself. Usually they are located in the "/home/myusername/VMware Virtual Machines" directory unless you moved them (note - "myusername" should be changed to the username you log in with). They should not be lost, as the installation of VMware player doesn't go in and delete them. If you are really paranoid about it, you can copy them elsewhere.

A good analogy is that you don't lose all your Microsoft Word <Shudders> documents when you install a new version of Word in XP <Shudders and wails>.

**Daddyo-613** · April 25th, 2008

Thanks to WrathofthePenguin. I was able to locate the directory that contained my critical files in VMware format and backed them up. I then followed the instructions on the web page above:

http://linhost.info/index.php/archives/166

and everything worked fine. My files inside VM were intact and life is good. I didn't have to resort to my backups. You were right, but even "paranoids have real enemies"

To all others who may read this...always backup first!

Thanks again.