VMware Fusion has encountered an error and has shut down windows

[Jonathan Zighelboim]

Hello, 

For the last couple of weeks I have been getting the following error:  "VMware Fusion has encountered an error and has shut down windows"

That I know of, I have not made any mayor changes, any ideas why this is happening?

Any help is apreciated.

Logs are attached to this message

Thanks

Attachment(s)

Archive.zip   79 KB 1 version

[Technogeezer]

The error that's being found in the logs that appears to be causing this is:

2025-05-30T13:59:12.617Z Wa(03) vcpu-1 Unable to decode instruction at PC 0xfffff80047ab10b4. Instruction bytes: 0xad400420

What is the build of Windows 11 ARM that is currently running in this VM?

What is the version of VMware Tools installed in this VM? One of the logs seems to indicate that you may not be running the tools version that's released with Fusion 13.6.3.

Did you recently apply a Windows update (for example the monthly "Patch Tuesday" update?

Are you running any third party anti-virus software, and if so is it configured to scan the folder containing the virtual machine?

------------------------------
- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
------------------------------

[Jonathan Zighelboim]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your answer, here are my answers to your questions:

• Win version 26100.4061
• I have no idea which version of fusion tools were installed, but I updated them just in case.
• I normally update Windows, so it must have all recent updates.
• I don't have any antivirus at the Mac level, but I do have Norton installed in windows.

If the shut down happens again, I will update you.

Thanks for your help!

[Technogeezer]

I believe Windows 26100.4061 is the 24H2 May 2024 monthly "patch tuesday" update. 

You can check the version of VMware Tools by signing into the VM, opening Settings, choosing "Apps" from the sidebar, and then clicking on "Installed Apps". There should be an entry for VMware Tools that will give you the version of Tools that are installed. 

Using Norton raises a yellow flag for me. I'm not a big fan of Norton to be honest. I've seen it introduce problems as they auto-install their updates. In addition, although they say they're compatible with Windows 11 ARM, I've not found where they say that they're totally ARM native code. Which would mean that some components of it would be relying on Microsoft's Prism Intel code translator. As an experiment, if you keep encountering this, you might want to uninstall Norton and run with the out-of-the-box Microsoft security settings. anti-virus and firewalls. Many users find those to be good enough. 

------------------------------
- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
------------------------------

[Jonathan Zighelboim]

Perfect, thanks.

Actually I think my problems started after I installed Norton.  I will wait to see if I get the shut down error again, and then I will uninstall Norton and see what happens.

Thanks again

[Jonathan Zighelboim]

Hi Paul, just an update.

It was Norton antivirus for windows that was causing the problem.

Thanks for your help!

[atj777]

I just started getting this error, too, but only when I run a certain app.

It only started happening after Windows performed an update. i.e. next time I used the VM and this particular app it started happening.

Player Version 13.5.2 (23775688)
VMware Tools 12.3.5.22544099 - how do I upgrade to 13.5.2?
Windows 11 Version 24H2 (OS Build 26100.4061)

No Anti-virus

[Technogeezer]

Newer versions of VMware Tools can be found on the free downloads section of the Broadcom support portal - the same place where you download Fusion from. I would upgrade to 12.5.2 and see if symptoms change. (There looks to be a new 13.0.0 release that just appeared, but I haven't had a chance to look at it so I am hesitant to recommend it).

is this Windows ARM? And what is the app that's exhibiting the problem?

------------------------------
- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
------------------------------

[atj777]

I don't think I can download anything because my username includes a hyphen.  When I hover over the download icon I get a circle with a line and "Screening required".

Yes, I'm using Windows ARM.

The app is a very old Citizen program that I use to download dive logs from my 25 year old Citizen watch.

This has been working very well for around a year and why I am very much in the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" camp.

[Technogeezer]

If you continue to get the "screening required" response, give Broadcom support a phone call  and indicate you're having web site access issues. You'll need to get that user profile fixed to download anything from Broadcom.

It is possible that the old program could be a culprit. If it's old, it's likely compiled for Windows Intel only, and runs on Windows ARM using Microsoft's Prism Intel translator. If Fusion didn't change, VMware Tools didn't change, and Windows did, then in my mind Windows did something to break the program. 

You might want to take a snapshot of that VM, install the latest Windows updates (26100.4061 is the May 2025 "patch Tuesday" monthly update. The current build is  26100.4351 - june 2025 update + an out-of-band update impacting gamers) , and see if that makes any difference. If not, you can always revert back to the snapshot. 

Unfortunately these days "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" is not necessarily the best strategy. Every new update seems to patch some high priority security vulnerability in old code. I remember someone once saying that a working program is one that has bugs that haven't been found yet. At least Fusion's snapshots can protect you against problems introduced by an update - take a snapshot, apply the update, see if things work. If they don't, roll back to the working snapshot and report the issue.

------------------------------
- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
------------------------------

[atj777]

Weirdly, the problem has gone away without me changing anything, other than restarting the host. 

I didn't bother "fixing" my Broadcom profile and just created a new one with a different email address.  I was able to download VMware Tools 12.5.2 but haven't installed it yet.  I will take a snapshot before installing.

I get the need for keeping up-to-date because of potential security vulnerabilities but the quality of code coming out of software houses is pretty poor these days. There is a constant stream of fixes to fix the bugs that were introduced with the last bug fixes. If I don't need to fix security issues, I won't upgrade.

Note that I worked in IT from the early 80s through to 2015 and seen quality in software development go from near bulletproof to "let's chuck it out the door and fix ay bugs that get found in production", mostly in the name of cutting costs and maximising profits.