Black screens (two or more loop times) while surfing the internet .. 0x8898009b, Microsoft Basic Dis

[Bi7hazard1]

As the title suggests, when I browse some sites such as Acuvue or eniplenitude the system begins to display black screens, which are repeated even in the order of 4 or 5 blackscreens .. today the error even led me to close the virtual session, repeating myself the windows log-in with the resolution that could no longer be changed until the restart following the closure of the Microsoft Basic Display Driver service ...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dwminit

The Desktop Window Manager process has been closed. (Process Exit Code: 0x8898009b, Restart Count: 9, Primary Display Device ID: Microsoft Basic Display Driver)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Application Error
Name of the application that generated the error: dwm.exe, version: 10.0.19041.746, timestamp: 0x6be51595 Name of the module that generated the error: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.19041.1949, timestamp: 0xcb12e58e Exception code: 0x8898009b Error offset 0x000000000010fb62 Process ID that generated the error: 0x35c Start time of the application that generated the error: 0x01d8d017e1dda751 Path of the application that generated the error: C: \ Windows \ system32 \ dwm.exe Path to the module that generated the error: C: \ Windows \ System32 \ KERNELBASE.dll Report ID: fc507d6f-1261-468f-a16f-995a4ba65bfa Full package name that generated the error: Application ID for the package that generated the error

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dwminit
The Desktop Window Manager process has been closed. (Process Exit Code: 0x8898009b, Restart Count: 8, Primary Display Device ID: VMware SVGA 3D)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How can I solve? I tried to disable the video accelerator too but nothing, the problem is not solved even if I uninstall and reinstall the wmware tools driver

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Thomas Radigewski]

I have the same issue since a few day.

[Bi7hazard1]

I don't think it's for the specs .. it does it on both the 10400f and the ryzen 7 3700x with 32gb of ram and nvidia 1660ti

 

 

[Thomas Radigewski]

Try to update the vmware tools to version 12.1.0

[Bi7hazard1]

Did you solve it with that update?

 

[jmatsujina]

I am experiencing the same phenomenon.

Updating to 12.1.0 did not improve it.

[Thomas Radigewski]

The tools update unfortunately solved the issue only for a certain time. After using the image for an hour today the issue appears again. 

[zandokan]

I think I am experiencing the same problem, although I had not realized that this happened while surfing the internet.  The screen goes black every few minutes and some application - I don't know which one - for a few seconds gets reduced to a title bar. (See attached screenshot). The Application section in event viewer shows the following:

 

The Desktop Window Manager process has exited. (Process exit code: 0x8898009b, Restart count: 2, Primary display device ID: VMware SVGA 3D)

 

I also get the following error:

 

 

Faulting application name: dwm.exe, version: 10.0.19041.746, time stamp: 0x6be51595
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.19041.1949, time stamp: 0xcb12e58e
Exception code: 0x8898009b
Fault offset: 0x000000000010fb62
Faulting process id: 0x14c8
Faulting application start time: 0x01d8d31bc9bab8f7
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\system32\dwm.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\KERNELBASE.dll
Report Id: af596829-c01a-4e10-9aad-3232d5d31a39
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 

 

I went as far as reinstalling both the player and the guest operating system (Windows 10 Pro 21H2), but to no avail. I have also:

1. installed the latest VMWare Windows graphics driver update (I think it's VMware, Inc. - System - 9.8.18.0),
2. disabled  "accelerate 3D graphics",
3. disabled side channel mitigations and
4. repaired the Player install because of a message about Hyper-V. I had to install Windows Hypervisor Platform (WHP) on the host to keep VMWare happy.

Step 1. seemed to help for a bit, but not very long.

Oh, and I almost forgot: another step that was mentioned was to set the Color Theme to either Dark and Light (but not System) in Player's File > Preference...

-------------------

VMWare Player 16.2.4 build-20089737

guest OS: Edition Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H2, OS build 19044.2006

host OS: Edition Windows 11 Enterprise, Version 21H2, OS build 22000.978
graphics card:  NVIDIA GeForce MX250, Driver Version 31.0.15.1654
Dell Latitude 5511

NOT (!) yet installed 2022-09 Cumulative Update Preview for Windows 10 Version 21H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5017380)

update 4-10-2022: By now I have installed KB5017380 - however, still no luck.

update 5-10-2022: I've upgraded to VMWare Tools 12.0.5.19716617 

[Thomas Radigewski]

Same here with the minimized window

[zandokan]

It's much too soon to say anything definitive yet, but since I have installed cumulative quality update KB5017380 (via standalone  installer on https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB5017380) the problem has not yet occurred again. It's only been an hour, but that's the longest period that it has stayed away. 

So I am curious if those of you who experience the issue in this topic have KB5017380 installed?

update: the issue persists, although it did not surface for two hours - which is a record. But this is NOT the solution, alas.

another update: I set the no of CPUs to 1, reading about other issues with graphics related to the number of CPUs. This also didn't help.

 

 

[Virtualmee]

Yes it started with Preview KB5016688 which is the "preview" version of KB5017308, so I'd agree with your logic in that it has something to do with this Microsoft pipeline.

[diediealldie]

I'm suffering from the same problem. I also use Windows 11 Pro Host + Windows 10 Home Guest. KB5017380 is not applied to the Guest.

[Thomas Radigewski]

I check the history of my quest windows event log. The following message (Applictions) starts on September 16

The Desktop Window Manager process has exited. (Process exit code: 0x8898009b, Restart count: 2, Primary display device ID: VMware SVGA 3D)

Prior on the same day KB5017308 was installed on quest and host.
Can someone check and confirm on quest machine?

 

[zandokan]

>>Can someone check and confirm on quest machine?

I can confirm that the issue occurs on my system whether or not Windows update KB5017380 is installed. Installing the update didn't solve anything for me.

I can only hope that the issue is also present in Workstation Pro so that there is a sense of urgency to solve this.

update: You refer to another update, , KB5017308, but as I don't have that one installed I hope someone else can share their experience.

 

[Thomas Radigewski]

 no, issue appears on my side after installing KB5017308

September 13, 2022—KB5017308 (OS Builds 19042.2006, 19043.2006, and 19044.2006) (microsoft.com)

September 20, 2022—KB5017380 (OS Builds 19042.2075, 19043.2075, and 19044.2075) Preview (microsoft.com)

[zandokan]

OK, my bad. I wasn't offered update KB5017308, so I can't say anything sensible about it. Have you tried uninstalling it, to see if it makes any difference?

[zandokan]

It seems that the problem has been resolved for me. As I got a message in the VMWare guest to update the graphics driver, I supposed something similar would happen on the host system (a notification to update the driver). However, when I went to the Dell support page for the particular computer model I'm using I saw that there were a few driver suggestions which were labeled 'urgent'.

One of those was an update for the NVIDIA GeForce MX250. I have updated the driver to version 31.0.15.1654 and the issue has not occurred since. (Almost a full working day now).

This might not help others, but it might be worthwhile to check if there is a new driver for the host OS!

Cheers,

zando

[Bi7hazard1]

I updated the drivers of my 1660ti (first distalling them with DDU) in order to get a clean installation, unfortunately the problems are always present.

PS: the strange thing is that this problem happens on chrome but on three different machines, always with windows 10 pro

 

 

[zandokan]

That's quite a thorough approach, . Too bad it didn't make a difference. I guess we depend on VMWare/Microsoft to solve this. Maybe also NVIDIA?

Do all of you who have these problems have an NVIDIA card? My PC is a Dell Latitude 5511.

[Bi7hazard1]

In my opinion the problem lies in the vmware player, in the next few days I will try to downgrade ... because nothing has changed in my pc.

the problem is ... where are the download links of the previous versions? (not too old)

 

[zandokan]

>>In my opinion the problem lies in the vmware player, in the next few days I will try to downgrade ... because nothing has changed in my pc.

 There certainly is some problem with VMWare, as the problem doesn't surface in the host system. But I didn't have any problems with my virtual machine up until about 10 days ago. AFAIK I didn't update the VMWare executable which ran fine for a few months and then suddenly didn't anymore. However, I did run some Windows updates both on the host and the guest system. It seems to me that there is a relationship between drivers, Windows updates, particular hardware and maybe also the specific VMWare Player executable version. I suppose there are also many users of VMWare without this particular issue.

In the meantime I've upgraded all my drivers and the BIOS of my PC, and the issue has stayed away for more than a day now. Fingers crossed.

[zandokan]

The problem still remains, also after I've updated VMWare Tools to 12.0.5

It is a bit less frequent than before I took the steps I described earlier in this thread, but it's not gone. I hope VMWare will look into this.

[Thomas Radigewski]

same here. Updating the nvidia driver doesn't change anything. But after updating the internal INTEL graphics driver on my notebook the issue happens more less.

One of my windows 10 quest was not updated to 21H2, this image seems to freeze more often than Win 10 21H2 images.

I also try to setup an ubuntu image, but the installation never finished before freezing. The ubuntu images always freeze and kept frozen. After updating the INTEL graphics driver I was able to install and use the image without freezing. I am not sure if this is representative. The error does not always seem to occur for everyone. I also had the situation that I could work with the Windows image for 4 hours and the next day not for 5 minutes.

[jmatsujina]

Two of my computers were also solved by updating the host driver.
The Dell precision3240 was solved by updating only the graphics driver.
The Lenovo L540 was an older model and had no graphics driver, but was solved by updating all other drivers including Lan and BIOS.
I hope this helps others.

[zandokan]

Apparently, I cheered too early again, even after a day without issues. But this morning the problem occurred again. I did notice however that it occurred without having a browser window open.

[DaveC1]

I'm experiencing this issue as well, but only after installing and using Workstation Pro v.16.2 on a new host system where I was advised by during the 'Pro' installer routine to enable 'Windows Hypervisor Platform' feature (old host system does not have this feature enabled).  I tested the suggestion below on one Windows 10 VM guest, and it seems to have helped alleviate that particular exception:

bcdedit /set useplatformclock yes  <followed by reboot>

...but I'm concerned this may not be a proper solution, nor do I know what negative impacts it may cause (if any) in the guest.

Wondering if anyone else has seen/tried this?

Thanks,

DaveC

[zandokan]

 

Where and in which context have you seen this? You speak of 'alleviating' - does that mean that the issue still remains but is less frequent?

I see lots of talk about bcedit and useplatformclock on gaming sites with regard to fps, so I'm a bit hesitant to try this out.

 

 

[DaveC1]

Hi 

One was an older post in a VirtualBox forum:  #13068 (Windows 8.1 DWM crash and black screen (0x8898009b)) – Oracle VM VirtualBox

Another was a reddit post which seemed to be discussing tweaking various params available to an AMD CPU, which is really only related to my issue by the specific exception code:  SOLVED: FX series CPU multiplier changes with AMD Overdrive causes desktop window manager crash to crash, dwm.exe 0x8898009b : overclocking (reddit.com)

I admittedly know very little in the realm of hardware and/or their device drivers, but I thought I would try this approach in two of my Windows 10 guest VMs.  I'm not convinced this is a proper solution because I don't understand nearly enough about what the flag really does, nor what sort of issues it may cause as a side effect.

However, I can confirm I've not seen the DWM fault issue since applying that change and restarting those two guests.  I felt it was a bit early to make that statement the other day when I first posted, sorry for any ambiguity.

My host system does not exhibit the issue at all, but I acknowledge having had at least two major changes since never having experienced this issue:

1. My host hardware changed

2. The 'Windows Hypervisor Platform' feature is enabled on the new host where it was NOT on the old host.  I vaguely recall VMWare Workstation Pro asking me to enable that during its installation on the new host.

-DaveC

 

[DaveC1]

Also see here:

Re: DWM fault in Windows VMs - VMware Technology Network VMTN

[zandokan]

Thanks for clearing that up, . I've also installed/enabled the 'Windows Hypervisor Platform' on my host (and taken some other steps described earlier in this thread) but the issue is still present (though less frequent).

I might try the 'useplatformclock' trick, although the virtualbox forum also mentions that the issue will not occur with setting 1 CPU (which in my case unfortunately isn't true). I don't know much about hardware either and frankly I don't even want to know. My curiosity is endless, but unfortunately my time isn't.

 

[VMware Community Member]

@ zandokan thanks for the tip with the 1 CPU as this is currently the only workaround for my issue (more here: https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/Guest-Video-DWM-Crashing-Black-Screen-Flicker-in-Workstation-17/td-p/3013131)

[evicario]

this fix solved my problem!!!

bcdedit /set useplatformclock true

Thanks!

[Bi7hazard1]

where do you write this command line? Thanks!

 

[Lat_Eralus]

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/bcdedit-command-line-options?view=windows-11 

 

B17hazard1, simple cmd edit.. take you 2 min.

[Bi7hazard1]

It doesn't solve anything.. it just slows down the virtual system...!!!

 

i reset the system speed with the following string of code

bcdedit /deletevalue useplatformclock

Next time, please refrain from leaving recommendations like this... --'

 

[jmatsujina]

The download link for 15.5.7 is 「https://customerconnect.vmware.com/en/downloads/#all_products」.
I previously tried reinstalling to 15.5.7 to no avail.
I could not figure out how to downgrade the minor version.

[izogi]

I've been frequently seeing a frustrating problem that sounds very similar to this in all of my vms, but it seems to be fixed (see below).  I first noticed it on Monday 19th September, which in my case was consistent with KB5017308 and KB5017499 going onto my host laptop late the week before.

The instability has included older snapshots that worked without issue.  It's particularly obvious when apps inside VMs display alert dialogs (and Visual Studio does that a lot when I'm using it day-to-day). Most times the whole screen blacks out for several seconds shortly after the dialog displays, before coming back.  Maybe 1 time in 4, applications would start crashing, and if I checked the Windows event log it'd specifically show the Desktop Window Manager process crashing.

These are both out-of-date and up-to-date Windows 10 VMs running inside VMWare Workstation 16.1.  I tried downloading and installing the latest versions of VMWare Tools 11 and 12, neither of which appeared to change anything.

After finding this thread I would have experimented with my host laptop's video driver, but corporate security bureaucracy got in the way.

The problem appeared to vanish this morning, though, after my host corporate laptop installed KB5018410, which is the October 2022 cumulative update for Windows 10 21H1.  I'll report back if it changes, but suddenly my VMs are much more stable.  Even if I un-pause a vm that was unstable last night, without any kind of restart, it's no longer demonstrating the problem this morning.

Hopefully this helps someone out there.  I'll post back if I find I've been too optimistic.

[zandokan]

Hope springs eternal and I'm particularly interested in your update, , as my PC just offered this update this morning for the first time. I'm installing it now. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Who knows if they have been listening to our complaints while making us none the wiser! 

[jmatsujina]

The problem recurred.
A driver update improved the problem for a week, but it recurred again.
An update of KB5018410 was performed, but there was no improvement.
I am thinking of changing to hyper-v or virtualbox as the work is not progressing.

[Bi7hazard1]

yesterday there were several updates in the local (non-virtual) machine of w10: Kb5012170, KB5016616, KB5017308, KB5018410 and KB5017499 the latter for the net framework

For the moment (hoping not to bring bad luck) there are no problems ..

[Thomas Radigewski]

The error still occurs here, even after installing KB5018410 on win10 guest and win 10 host.

I created a support ticket on September 26. The support has been really good so far, but a solution could not be found yet. I assume this is a general issue of VMWare/Microsoft.

Maybe someone would also like to invest 50 € for a single incident to increase the pressure a bit?
https://store-us.vmware.com/per-incident-support-workstation-pro-5424560200.html

[zandokan]

The same here, , no improvement after installing KB5018410.

Windows updates in the host might probably help,  . My host machine has Windows 11, but I will now install its latest cumulative update KB5018418 (at least I think it's the latest) and see what happens. It's pretty tedious to have to close all your programs on both host and guest and interrupt work, so I am also considering switching to some other product.

[Bi7hazard1]

I've been surfing three virtual machines all day and there hasn't been any problem .. everything seems solved .. the previous days, there were at least 300 black screens every day, up to 3 black screens on heavy web pages

[izogi]

Sorry to read that KB5018410 hasn't made a difference for others.

Since my last comment I've seen the problem recur inside one specific VM, really only once, and I'm not sure of exactly what's going on there.  I'll report back if it increases in frequency.  In every other situation there's definitely been an vast improvement for me, including after lots of use throughout multiple days.  Based on my very contrasting experiences immediately before and immediately after KB5018410, I'm still convinced that in my specific situation it played a role.

For further info, my host laptop is running Windows 10 Enterprise 21H1.  The display adapter is Intel(R) UHD Graphics with a current driver version of 30.0.101.1338 (this hasn't changed through my whole experience).  I notice it's different from the Nvidia drivers some others have referred to.

[izogi]

Sorry to read that KB5018410 hasn't helped others.

Since my previous comment I've seen the screen blanking on one specific occasion within one VM.  I'm unsure what was happening there, but on the whole it's been a vast improvement and it's the only time I've seen any sign of it over multiple days and lots of use.  I'll post an update here if the frequency increases again.  Based on my very different experiences immediately before and immediately after KB5018410, though, I'm still convinced that in my specific case that update has played a role.

For further info, my host laptop is a Dell Latitude 5510 running Windows 10 Enterprise 21H1.  The display adapter/driver in my case is Intel(R) UHD Graphics version 30.0.101.1338, which I notice is different from the Nvidia drivers some others here have referred to.

[Bi7hazard1]

bad news: unfortunately the problem came back .. yesterday, all day did not give any kind of problem

 

[zandokan]

Same here, . Despite all the updates on both host and guest, the problem persists (after initially appearing to be gone).

I didn't succeed to convert my VM to VirtualBox either, unfortunately, encountering AHCI controller errors. Those are pretty well documented, but still I couldn't solve them.

This is unworkable, VMWARE. Are you listening? And this issue doesn't only hit us freeloaders apparently, as users of VMWare Workstation suffer from it as well.

This is getting rather maddening and while I do understand that this is a forum for and by users mainly, the lack of recognition of the problem by VMWARE, the deafening silence in other words, is not giving me a lot of confidence.

 

[RDPetruska]

Realize that the VMware developers are currently working on the Workstation Tech Preview version, and are unlikely to be focusing on v16 issues.

[zandokan]

>>Realize that the VMware developers are currently working on the Workstation Tech Preview version, and are unlikely to be focusing on >>v16 issues.

Thanks for pointing that out, . That explains a lot.

[Virtualmee]

, what is the plan to get this fixed for your existing customers?  

[RDPetruska]

---

 wrote:

, what is the plan to get this fixed for your existing customers?  

---

Don't look at me, I'm just a user/customer like yourself.  The VMware devs have already ruined the product for me by removing one of the main features I require for my job, so I won't be planning on upgrading past v16.1.2 for a long time to come.

All I was doing was pointing out that there is a Tech Preview of the next version of Workstation (and Fusion), so the developers are concentrating on that version rather than older existing ones.

[Virtualmee]

Sorry Sorry Sorry!   You had so much info I thought maybe you worked for them.

Argh, no kidding on ruining it.... I'm already looking to VirtualBox and some other options because I can't trust VMWare to address their defect.

Soooo if anyone out here knows how to actually get some help from VMWare, let us know.

 

[Virtualmee]

This looks like same issue.

Re: W10 VM + Chrome + Youtube video playback crash... - VMware Technology Network VMTN

[Bi7hazard1]

maybe i'm wrong but it's been almost two days that the three virtual machines have been working perfectly .. i hope so ...
the last update I made was locally: KB5005463 on October 25th, yesterday

 

[jczettler]

I suffer from this issue since weeks, and I have followed this thread. I use VMWare Workstation Pro(16.2.4 build-20089737) on Windows 11 with lot of guests, mostly Windows 11, servers (2012, 2019 and 2022). I have experienced this issue at all of them since a cumulative update that arrived on the host a few weeks ago. So I'm sure, the root of this issue comes from the host.

I have applied a new cumulative update (2022-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 for x64-based Systems (KB5018418)) on the host this morning, and the error seems to have disappeared... I've been testing machines for hours and nothing. All of them work fine again without the issue.

I hope it stays that way...

[Virtualmee]

Same problem with wdm.exe crashing a few minutes of booting up Win 10 guest VM.

It started on 9/2 after installing KB5016688 on the Host.  I uninstalled from Host and fixed it, only for problem to reappear after taking KB5017308 2 weeks later.  

The best way to recreate the issue is to just open Edge, go to YouTube and fire off any video.  However, it will eventually fail if I do thinks like adjust the VM Guest window, or wait long enough. 

Faulting application name: dwm.exe, version: 10.0.19041.746, time stamp: 0x6be51595
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.19041.1949, time stamp: 0xcb12e58e
Exception code: 0x8898009b

My VM is totally unstable and can't be used and don't see VMWare doing anything to help fix it.  I can't test the Tech Preview because you can't run it in parallel with another instance of VMWare Workstation. 

[Virtualmee]

VMWare, what else do you need to help us get this resolved?

[tcarnes1]

FWIW, I've just installed KB5018482 (it was auto pulled by windows update) on my Windows 10 host.  I can no longer replicate the DWM

issue in either my Win10 or Win11 VMs.  Hopefully this isn't a herring, but, rather a real fix from MS.  Fingers crossed.

[Virtualmee]

I took those on both Guest/Host and still have issue, besides until VMWare addresses this, it will not get resolved.  This issue is 100% on VMWare to fix since it's not a problem with native Windows (running standalone Windows).

What boggles my mind is why VMWare has done zero to support us customers after nearly 2 months, and where is their plan to address!?!   There are other Virtual Machine options on the market.  

VMWare, what is your plan to address this defect!?

[Bi7hazard1]

surely it is something that they have to solve, because even installing a new machine the problem is not solved ...

 

[izogi]

Hello. Just to report in again with ongoing experiences.  Since the cumulative updates on my host laptop described in my comment about a month ago I've almost never seen these black screens again, but there have been exceptions.

Most notably, the VMs I'm running seem to be vulnerable to it happening soon after I've restarted them.  I don't do that frequently - normally I pause overnight and resume in the morning.  I don't think I've seen the problem occur after I've resumed a VM following a pause.

I don't know if that's of any help, and probably there's still lots of other environmental stuff involved. For people still seeing it a lot, though, it might be a useful experiment to try pausing and resuming the VM and see if you can reproduce it after that.

[james3126]

Hello,

I'm experiencing the same issue in VMWare Workstation Pro since around September - I can confirm I've received this after pauses. However, it seems to come in waves. Sometimes I'll boot the VM Monday morning, pause every evening and get to Friday with maybe 1 flicker/crash.

Other times, like today, I'm getting non-stop crashing back to back until it first locks my resolution down to a 1:1 640x640 resolution, and then drops me back to my logon screen, killing my sessions, and I lose all my work. Logging back in seems to leave everything working for about 30 seconds before it crashes over and over and drops me back out. At no point does the resolution fix itself anymore until after a reboot. However, even after reboots it'll begin crashing again after a couple of hours. I'm on my 3rd reboot of the day currently.

I've heard from some users that accessing via RDP will completely prevent this crash. Unfortunately RDP is blocked on my VM as it's a corporate managed one, so that's a no-go fix for me.

[zandokan]

I didn't manage to convert my VmWare appliance to VirtualBox (got an VBOX_E_FILE_ERROR (0x80BB0004), but fortunately the problem has solved itself since I updated my host to Windows 11, version 22H2 on October 19. The issue hasn't occurred even once since then. Hopefully others will experience the same. 

Cheers,

John

[Bi7hazard1]

Anyone managed to fix this issue with the new version?

 

 

[lakyk]

I have experienced same with workstation 15, 16.2 and 17. Temporary fix that always work until next windows update is to reinstall (repair) vmware workstation. This points on that some dll used by vmware is re-registered during windows update process.

 

[jacardona]

Hi, i create a free account in customerconnect.vmware.com and download the vmware tools 12.1.5

https://customerconnect.vmware.com/downloads/info/slug/datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_tools/12_x

The latest version agent in my case solves the problem.

 

My event Viewer does not show more errors

[jacardona]

The error happened again after 3 hours, updating vmware tools does not solve the error.

[jacardona]

For the moment, work fine with this option disable:

vm->settings->display->3D graphics: Disable

[jacardona]

At the moment, the solution is in the operating system where the vmware workstation is, in my case windows 10 pro, update the video driver through the device manager in the latest version. Because the virtual controller is not communicating correctly with the physical controller on the host computer.

[Lat_Eralus]

Here it is, the end of 2022 and I just had the same issue. My PC is old and I was in Photoshop when my screens started BSOD-ing and all interesting things. Not that it's the same for all but when my machine restarted it was still blinking around. Thought my 1050 TI was finally done. Then I noticed my mouse (MX Master 3) wasn't responding. Bluetooth said it was a driver issue. I uninstalled, reconnected mouse and it's been business as usual going on 4 hours now. And I'm pushing it . So maybe someone will get lucky, check their peripheral's and hopefully have a simple fix. But this page is bookmarked if I need to apply the fix above. 

Just need this workhorse to hold on a month or so more when the GPU pricing stabilizes a little better than the current debacle. And I can build my new over-spec'd PC. Year 12 on this one. and she's starting to show some wear. I7-377ok has served me more than well.

[jacardona]

Hi,

in my case, updating the video card driver solved the problem for the vmware workstation 16.2.5.

today i installed vmware workstation 17 latest version and in windows 11 virtual machine i updated vmware tools and it works much better, i work with Visual Studio 2022.

 

[rebom70]

Are there any news regarding this problem / issue? Now we have end of January 2023.!!

It seems that VMWARE ignores it :-(.

[jacardona]

Hi,

Right now I work fine on my computer, the black screen problem is fixed.

VMware Workstation Pro 17.0.1 | 02 FEB 2023 | Build 21139696

I upgrade my VMWare to last version the february.

I have two virtual machines:
- Windows 10, with the last vmware tools and I updated the virtual machine correctly
- Windows 11, with the last vmware tools. I updated the virtual machine with windows 11 and it was damaged, so I have my windows 11 with windows 10 profile and it works correctly.

I attach a photo.

 

 

[SmartCookie]

For those who are still fighting with this, you could try my (hopefully permanent) solution here and report back:

Guest Video/DWM Crashing, Black Screen Flicker - VMware Technology Network VMTN

[laughingsong]

Hi - Enterprise user here, running ESX 7.0.3 and VMWare tools 11 - we have the same problem with Windows Server 2022 21H2.  Turns out it was the antivirus (in our case, Trend, but at least one other type, Sophos, has been implicated). 

We just discovered that today, so we aren't certain yet what about the AV causes it, but we think it's behavior monitoring of either Desktop Window Manager (DWM.exe) or Remote Desktop (mstsc.exe) since it only happens for us when we RDP into the server.  

When one remotes into the VM guest using RDP, another video driver is loaded, called Microsoft Remote Display Driver.  We are thinking that this loading of a superseding driver is what freaks the AV behavior monitoring out.  

Since we haven't yet rolled out 2022 for production and have many other irons in the fire, i may not be able to give any update for a while.  But I can definitely confirm that removing the Trend AV client fixed the issue.  Of course we can't run without AV so there will be more to do.

Here is where I got the hint:

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Dwminit-error-on-ESXi-7-0-Update-3-HPE/td-p/2947844

[JMonsenICU]

Enterprise user here.  We've been seeing black screens reported off and on over the course of at least a year.  Consistent black screens (open up an app and it blacks out for 10-15 seconds before showing the screen, then blacking out again) only started occurring this week.  These black screens could be consistently triggered by Excel and/or Outlook after the dwm errors.  The dwm errors are:

EventID 0 (Application) - Dwminit - The Desktop Window Manager process has exited. (Process exit code: 0xe0464645, Restart count: 1, Primary display device ID: VMware SVGA 3D)
EventID 9027 (Application) - Desktop Window Manager - The Desktop Window Manager has registered the session port
EventID 26 (System) - Application Popup - Application popup: dwm.exe - System Error: Unknown Hard Error

Our solution has been to disable VMware SVGA 3D in the Device Manager and instead only use the VMware Horizon Indirect Display Driver.  Massive improvement in every way, however you need to be running VMWare Horizon View for this to work.  For Workstation users, if the above recommendations do not work (updating gfx drivers especially), I would recommend reverting back to an earlier version of the VMware Tools, specifically VMware Tools 11.1.1 or earlier.  Troubleshooting for similar problems can be found below: 

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Horizon-Desktops-and-Apps/Outlook-2016-O365-freezes-VM-but-only-on-the-second-screen/td-p/2822368/page/2

The short of it is that similar errors started to occur with SVGA 3D 8.17.x and later drivers.  From other posts I haven't seen a confirmation that newer drivers resolved the issue.