VMWare Fusion — Locked File after Power Cut

After a power cut VMWare Fusion (under Mac OS X 10.5.7) shows that a CentOS 5 .vmx is locked.

Clicking on the "padlock" brings up a dialogue with this message.

This virtual machine appears to be in use.

If this virtual machine is already in use, press the "Cancel" button to avoid damaging it. If this virtual machine is not in use, press the "Take Ownership" button to obtain ownership of it.

Configuration file: /Users/rjstelling/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/CentOS 5 64-bit - Development.vmwarevm/CentOS 5 64-bit.vmx

Clicking on "Take Ownership" fails, showing this message:

The virtual machine is in use by an application on your host computer.

Configuration file: /Users/rjstelling/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/CentOS 5 64-bit - Development.vmwarevm/CentOS 5 64-bit.vmx

I have no other VM software running. How can "unlock" this file and restart the VM?

Solution 1:

This is step by step for a Mac:

1. Quit VMWare Fusion
2. Locate the VM file and right-click (or ctrl-click), select "Show Package Contents"
3. Move all the files and folders ending in .lck to the desktop
4. Restart VMWare Fusion
5. Restart the VM

(6. If all goes well you can delete the .lck files and folders)