Workstation 17.6.2 VMs will not start (Account is NOT administrator).

[DannyB07]

Hi all,

Can anybody please help me solve this issue. I can configure Virtual machines but can't run them. This problem happened after a clean installing of 17.6.2. On another machine (Windows 10 host, WMWare Workstation 16.2.5), I can start VMs as a non-Adminstrator user.

Operating System

Edition    Windows 11 Pro N for Workstations
Version    23H2
Installed on    ‎01/‎01/‎2025
OS build    22631.4890
Experience    Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22700.1067.0

Hardware System

HP ZBook Studio x360 G5
Processor    Intel(R) Xeon(R) E-2186M  CPU @ 2.90GHz   2.90 GHz
Installed RAM    64.0 GB (63.8 GB usable)

I installed VMWare Workstation 17.6.2 onto Windows 11 (23H2) host. I created a VM without any issue both as an administrator user. However, when I tried to start the Virtual Machine, there was a long pause and eventually a message came back (also screenshot attached):

"VMware Workstation cannot connect to the virtual machine. Make sure you have rights to run the program, access all directories the program uses, and access all directories for temporary files.

Failed to connect pipe to virtual machine: The system cannot find the file specified."

First I attempted to repair the installation as a user that is a member of the Administrators Group. The installer failed to run claiming my user does not have Administrative privileges so I uninstalled version 17.6.2.  Worryingly, when I rebooted the machine, my keyboard would not work at the Bitlocker prompt so I had to power off the machine (long press on power button) and power on the machine again.

I then installed version 16.2.5 because I have this working perfectly fine on my Windows 10 machine and it was purchased from VMWare before the Broadcom takeover.  Unfortunately, the same problem happened with 16.2.5 - I was able to create a virtual machine but not run it and I got the same message as above. However, I think 17.6.2 did not uninstall completely because when I opened 16.2.5 for the first time, the library listed a VM that I had removed before I uninstalled 17.6.2.

I tried to repair the 16.2.5 version but when I rebooted, I had the same problem with the keyboard and had to power off and power on the machine again. After the repair, I continue to be able to create a VM but not run it even as a user that is a member of the Administrators Group.

I have checked the Windows Application Event Logs and found no errors but the following Information entries:

Event ID    Source      General

1000         vmauthd    Username associated with named pipe: dannyb07

1000         vmauthd    CnxWin32_FindSocket: Looking up PID at \\.\pipe\D:\Development\MSWD11P01\MSWD11P01.vmx

1000         vmauthd    Username associated with named pipe: dannyb07

1000         vmauthd    CnxWin32_FindSocket: Looking up PID at \\.\pipe\D:\Development\MSWD11P01\MSWD11P01.vmx

1000         vmauthd    Username associated with named pipe: dannyb07

1000         vmauthd    Allocating a new session

1000         vmauthd    CreateLogonSession: spawn with username: dannyb07

1000         vmauthd      (Account is NOT administrator)

1000         vmauthd    Process '-s vmx.stdio.keep=TRUE -# "product=1;name=VMware Workstation;version=16.2.5;buildnumber=20904516;licensename=VMware Workstation;licenseversion=16.0+;" -@ pipe=\\.\pipe\vmx560bc1a9bace9614;msgs=ui D:\Development\MSWD11P01\MSWD11P01.vmx' created with pid 1012

Would really appreciate any expert advice - including how to completely remove WMWare Workstation from my machine.

Thanks,

DannyB07

[RaSystemlord]

Don't know exactly, but there was guidance for a complete removal of VMware in this Forum. Search for it maybe?

You do not need a version 16, version 17.5.2. works just fine and the behavior that you described is not normal. I mean for default Windows Pro it isn't. I don't know about group policies and all the 3rd Party anti-what-ever software what they are able to do.

[DannyB07]

Thanks for your reply @RaSystemlord.

I followed the guidance I could find for the complete removal of VMWare Workstation and then tried 17.5.2 but I still have the same problem. It is true that Group Policies could be at play but - where they're different - I have set them to the same as my Windows 10 machine on which 16.2.5 works. for now I don't want to try updating the Windows 10 machine to 17.5.2 as the VMs are currently being used.

DannyB07

[RaSystemlord]

With "group policies" I was referring to corporate domain group policies, which are beyond your control. I don't mean your own administrative efforts. With 3rd party software - the same. Sometimes people are not even allowed to know what their computer has.

As for folder and file permissions - that's standard Windows Admin. You have already another anwer about that.

[gbohn]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but have you checked to see if the problem is with the 'access permissions' for the Guest virtual machines data files (rather than Workstation itself)?

Such as the 'owner' and access permissions under the Guest directory and files (.vmdk, etc. under properties/security)?

I think you can also launch Workstation as Administrator to see if that makes a difference.

[DannyB07]

Thanks to all who tried to help but I've figured this one out.

Having installed version 17.5.2, I got the same error so I had a look at the Windows Local Users and Groups to see if needed to be a member of a Group (Hyper-V has a Hyper-V Administrators Group). I added myself to the __vmware__ group and tried to start the VM again. It still wouldn't start but the error was different (see below and attached screenshot): 

"The code execution cannot proceed because ResampleDmo.DLL was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem"

A bit of a search led me this article: https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsHelp/comments/qk4ot7/rtkngui64exe_system_error_resampledmodll_was_not/?rdt=46158

My N version of Windows 11 Pro is missing the Windows Media Features pack. I added the missing pack using this command in  Powershell:

DISM /Online /Add-Capability /CapabilityName:Media.MediaFeaturePack~~~~0.0.1.0

After restarting (and removing myself from the __vmware__ group) I am able to start the VMs.

I'm not sure whether the Media Pack is the only place to source the ResampleDmo.DLL file but it makes sense with my version of Windows 11 Pro N for Workstations.

However, I think there is room for improvement for the exception handling here. It should report the missing file immediately rather than assume that not finding the file is a permissions issue. Also, unless I missed it, the ResampleDmo.DLL file (along with any other potentially missing files) should be mentioned as a prerequisite to installing VMWare Workstation on the Windows platform because the Media Pack is optional. 

I have searched the documentation and I tried searching ResampleDmo.DLL within the support pages and got no results.

DannyB07