VMWare Workstation crashing on Windows 11/10

VMware Workstation is one of the most popular virtualization software that allows users to run multiple operating systems on a single host machine, like Linux, and Windows 11. However, many users have complained that VMWare Workstation keeps crashing on their computers when they boot up a VM. In this post, we will see what you can do if you are facing the same issue.

Why does VMware keep crashing Windows 11?

There are various factors that can force VMWare to crash. More often than not, it’s the built-in virtualization services such as Hyper-V that conflict with the actual services of VMWare and close the app down. However, it’s not the only reason, you may also notice this peculiarity if the VM doesn’t have enough system resources or if you are trying to boot up a Windows 11 machine without having TPM enabled.

Fix VMWare Workstation crashing on Windows 11/10

If the VMWare Workstation is crashing on your computer, follow the solutions mentioned below to resolve the issue

Restart VMware
Check if VMWare update is available
Configure VM Settings to add more resources
Turn off Hyper-V and Other Virtualization Features
Encrypt Access Control
Edit VMX File
Check if your system supports Intel Vx-T
Check Windows Update
Troubleshoot in Clean Boot

Let us talk about them in detail.

1] Restart VMware

Instead of using any given solution below, it would be better to restart Vmware once. Sometimes, this problem goes away by restarting.

2] Check if VMWare update is available

If you have an outdated version of the VMware workstation on your computer then due to compatibility issues, it will most likely crash. Therefore, you must upgrade this software to use any fixes that the developers have made for newly discovered bugs.

Start VMware on your computer.
Go to the top left of the screen and click on the Player button
Now, go to Help> Software Updates
Click on the Check for Updates button. Wait for a while because it will take some time to search for the latest available updates.
Click on the Download and Install button.
After downloading the updates, follow the on-screen instructions to install the updates.

Start the VMware workstation and hopefully, your issue will be resolved now.

3] Configure VM Settings to add more resources

Insufficient computer resources, such as RAM, CPU, or disk space, can cause VMware Workstation to crash due to the virtual machines exceeding the available capacity. Due to the performance and stability issues caused by this, it is unable to meet the resource requirements of multiple virtual machines running at once.

Start VMware on your computer.
Select any of the virtual machines in the list and select the Edit virtual machine settings.
Under the Hardware tab, click the Memory option and set the recommended memory size here.
Now go to the processor tab option and expand the Number of processor dropdown lists.
Select as per your requirement, my suggestion is for you to select 4 and click on the OK button.
Also, select Allow most virtual machine memory to be swapped in the Additional Memory section.

Now, power on the virtual machine and run this for some time and hope you do not face any issues again.

4] Disable Hyper-V and Other Virtualization Features

VMware Workstation on your Windows 11 computer will not work properly if third-party hypervisors are running, along with virtualization features like Hyper-V, Windows Hypervisor Platform, and Virtual Machine Platform. It is required to disable certain features before to ensure the correct operation of this software.

Press the Windows + R key to open the Run dialog box.
Type appwiz.cpl and hit the Enter button.
Once the Programs and Features window opens. Click on the Turn Windows features on or off option.
Now scroll down and uncheck the Hyper-V, Windows Hypervisor Platform, Virtual Machine Platform, and Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Finally, restart your computer and check if the issue is resolved.

5] Encrypt Access Control

Windows 11 requires TPM to be enabled, in case, it’s not enabled, we need to do it manually. To do the same, follow the steps mentioned below.

Open VMWare.
Right-click on the VM and select Settings.
Go to Options > Access Control.
If it’s set to Not Encrypted, click on Encrypt. If not, move to the next solution.
Finally, click on Ok.

Hopefully, this will do the job for you.

6] Edit VMX File

We need to edit the VMX File of the Virtual Machine to add the Virtual Trusted Platform Module as if it is disabled, VMWare will continue to crash. To do the same, follow the steps mentioned below.

Open VMWare Workstation, right-click on the virtual machine and select Settings.
Now, go to the Options tab.
Navigate to the Working directory section and copy the path mentioned there.
Exit Settings and make sure that the VM is not running.
Open File Explorer and navigate to the path mentioned there.
Search for the file with the .vmx extension. In case you can’t see extensions, go to View > Show > File Name Extension.
You need to open the file with Notepad.
Finally, append managedVM.autoAddVTPM = “software” and save the document.

This should do the job for you.

Read: VMware causes Blue Screen on Windows?

7] Check if your system supports Intel Vx-T

In case your system supports Intel Vx-T, you must enable it; otherwise, your system will crash when you power a host in VMWare. So, find if your computer supports Intel VT-X. If it does, enable the feature and check if the issue persists.

If you do not update your Windows 11 computer, you may miss out on important security patches, bug fixes, and feature enhancements. In case VMWare is crashing due to a bug, you must check for updates to resolve the issue.

Read: VMware Workstation Pro can’t run on Windows computer

9] Troubleshoot in Clean Boot

We need to ensure that VMWare or VM is not crashing due to conflicting third-party applications. To do the same, perform Clean Boot as it will disable all third-party apps; however, make sure to not disable any services related to VMWare. Now, enable them manually to find out what’s causing the problem. Once you know the culprit, check if the issue is resolved.

That’s it!

Read: How to create Shared folder in VMware for installed Windows OS?

Is Windows 11 compatible with VMware?

Yes, VMWare Workstation is compatible with Windows 11. Earlier, there were issues with regard to TPM. But now you can pretty easily install Windows 11 on VMware Workstation.