How to Configure Virtual Machines to Start With the Host PC in VMware Workstation 17

VMware has brought back the ability to have virtual machines auto start with the Workstation host in version 17 without needing to do any behind the scenes tweaks. There are some steps you will need to take in order to get this feature to work on your host computer. And it doesn't appear to work with encrypted virtual machines. BUT you can remove the TPM and encryption from the VM after Windows is installed and the VMs should still work fine.

You will need to change the startup type of the VMware Autostart Service to automatic as well as change the login to your account, or at least that is what I had to do in my situation.

OR

"Failed to get an exclusive lock on the configuration file. Another VMware process might be running using this configuration file."

Then if you get a blank screen after the VM starts, try to suspend and then resume the guest to get the login screen to appear.

Here is a writeup of the process on our website.

Check out our book (VMware Workstation Made Easy) that is designed to take your virtualization skills to the next level!

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[corychurch]

Thanks! Looks like in VMware Workstation 17 Pro, the only path is to the xml is "C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Workstation".

[Invader_Glitch]

Great video and great presentation. Also, Thanks to Lan Tis for clearing up VM's needing to be in the root and not a sub folder.

Really, I hope that they clean up the majority of these bugs and caveats. In some cases it is much more efficient to install the API ( currently VMware VIX API 1.14 ) and use a scheduled task or script in your startup folder using "vmrun" to start machines if not calling Workstation directly to launch the vmx. Still very far from ESXi host like functionality that some of us had hoped for.

[michaelyannotti]

Great video. I gave Everyone Read/Write/Execute to the C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmautostart.xml file and that worked perfectly. You also have to get the service working correctly as noted in the video. Thanks again

[lantis]

1st. If a VM is under a folder, if will not show up at all in Auto Start list for selection. The VM must be under the tree root, but even that, no all VMs under tree root will show up for selection. 2nd. There is no C:\ProgramData\VMware\hostd folder at all on my machine 3. Go to 3:00 and you need to start the service with login account. 4. As the video mentioned at 4:12, you have to suspend the VM and restart the VM to be able to see the screen!

[TomexOu]

I am still facing the error message of "Failed to get an exclusive lock on the configuration file. Another VMware process might be running using this configuration file." when controlling the auto-start VM in VMware 17 UI. I can't suspend the running auto-satrt VM in background. Anyone can help?

[NetzKanal]

Thanks for these instructions. Unfortunately I still get the same error after making these changes. This really sucks. Also after I upgraded from 17 to 17.5 it's still the same. Very poor from VMWare that they can't get this fixed. This auto-startup feature was the reason I upgraded from 15 to 17 and now it's still all the exact same.

[pavlosm]

Nice presentation. Thank you very much.
I can make this work only if the user account I am logged in with is given administrator privileges, which I obviously would not prefer.
Does somebody have a workaround?
I already tried running the VMware autostart service as Administrator or as NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM (LocalSystem) to no avail.

[AngusMcLaud]

It would be sweet if you could configure a delay between vms startup.

[itinich]

About your tip as for black screen after the VM autostart from rebooted host.
"Then if you get a blank screen after the VM starts...."
If i suspend it, and then resume, yes it works, but if i logout from the host the VM is going to suspend mode((
May be you know how it can be repaired?

[zgdifkt]

New virtual machine and open new window in file menu is disabled in vmware workstation 17, any suggestions, ?

[reltecsol]

"C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmrun" -T ws start "C:\VMs\Windows 10.vmx"

Type the above in notepad and save it as .bat or .cmd file and paste this file in your startup

win+r type shell:startup

[brianinbox]

Did it start the vm when the host is booted up or after you log in as you? Does it close the vm after you log out?

[dmanix]

Thanks for the Video! Does it Pause (Suspend) VMs before shutting down or rebooting the Host?

[ggmyulb]

Спасибо! У меня не запускались автоматически виртуальные машины. Помогло изменение пользователя, от имени которого запускается служба VmWare Autostart.По умолчанию там была система, я прописал своего пользователя.

[roycelithgo]

If only there was a feature to autostop autostart VMs then it would be useful. Autostart VMs are killed when the host reboots / shutsdown.