Virtual Machine config file is invalid

I got this error when trying to run a Virtual Machine on VMWare Server 1.0.5 under Windows 2003 Server.

The error started after a reboot of the host which  coincided with the drive hosting the Virtual Machine running out of disk space. After clearing up some disk space and trying to start the VM again this error was persistent.

To fix this I deleted the files with .vmem and .vmem.lck file extensions (in this case one of each file).

When I tried to delete the .vmem.lck file the error “Cannot delete file because it’s being used by another person or program”. Even after stopping all the services titled VMWare within the services console I had to End Task a service starting with VMware from within Task Manager (not sure which one but there was only one task with all the services stopped). With the task killed and services stopped Windows allowed the deletion.

I started all the services again and the Virtual Machine started automatically.

Automatic Startup of Virtual Machines in VMWare ESX

To start up your virtual machines automatically when a VMWave ESX server powers up you will need to log into your VMWare Infrastructure Client and then: Select the VMWare ESX server -> Configuration -> Virtual Machine Startup/Shutdown as circled below.

Then click on Properties towards the top right of the window.

Tick the “Allow virtual machines to start and stop automatically with the system”. All your VM’s should be set to Manual startup initially, you will need to select them one by one and click the “Move Up” button. I like to order my VM’s with a statup delay to allow time for the Domain Controllers to finish starting up before the Exchange and File & Print servers.