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Verifying the health of an operating system

Symptoms

A guest or host operating system:

Has stopped responding and displayed a blue screen with a stop code
Has experienced a core dump
Has experienced a kernel panic
Has stopped responding
Keeps rebooting for no apparent reason
Has performance problems
Is slow
Has an application that is not working properly
Is experiencing network problems

access-guest-os application-not-working boot-guest-os core-dump guest-os hardware-issue insufficient-memory-cpu-disk kernel-panic network-issues not-responding random-reboot slow-performance software-issue third-party-software use-application virus-scan

Purpose

This article guides you through the process of determining if problems encountered on a virtual machine's guest operating system or on a host computer where a VMware product is installed, are related to VMware. The steps outlined here eliminate the possibility that the problem is related to the operating system itself, to another application installed to the operating system, or to the physical hardware of the host computer.

Note: While this article addresses problems related to the guest operating system of a virtual machine running on an ESX Server host, it does not address problems related to the ESX Server host itself. For more information about ESX Server issues, see Verifying the health of an ESX Server operating system (1004019).

Resolution

A VMware product may behave unexpectedly if the operating system on which it is installed is experiencing problems. Follow the section that matches your operating system.

Note: If you perform a corrective action in any of the following steps, determine if the problems initially encountered are still being experienced.

Common Windows Problems

Verify there are no problems with the filesystem by performing a disk check on your hard drives. For more information, see Performing a disk check (1004003).
Check if there are sufficient resources in the following areas:
- Memory
  For more information, see Investigating operating system memory usage (1004014).
- Disk
  For more information, see Investigating operating system disk space (1004007).
- CPU
  For more information, see Investigating operating system CPU usage (1004016).
Note: If your operating system is installed to a virtual machine, and you have determined that there are insufficient resources, you need to increase the resource that is lacking:
- Memory
  For more information, see Increasing the amount of memory assigned to a virtual machine (1004059).
- Disk
  For more information, see Increasing the size of a virtual disk (1004047).
- CPU
  If this is a virtual machine running under an ESX Server host, see Increasing the amount of CPU assigned to a virtual machine (1004060).
  
  Note: If this is a virtual machine running under any other product, there is no direct way of increasing the amount of assigned CPU. If your host has multiple CPUs or CPU cores, it is possible to set processor affinity among virtual machines so that one or more CPUs are not used by any other virtual machine. For more information, see Associating a Virtual Machine With a Particular Host Processor (110). Alternatively, the host hardware must be upgraded or the virtual machine moved to a different host.
If a virtual machine with multiple CPUs is performing poorly, see Determining if multiple virtual CPUs are causing performance issues (1005362).
Confirm that there is no virus compromising the operating system. For more information, see Detecting viruses (1004008).
Confirm that there is no spyware interfering with the operating system. For more information, see Detecting spyware (1004009).
Use the Windows System Configuration (msconfig) utility to eliminate software and processes as possible causes. For more information, see Using the Windows System Configuration utility (1004010).

Note: Depending on your problem, following this procedure may remove a software environment that is required to test the health of your operating system.
Boot into Safe Mode to eliminate software and processes as possible causes. For more information, see Booting a Windows Guest Operating System into Safe Mode (1004011).

Note: Safe Mode eliminates more software and processes than the System Configuration utility, but it also further reduces operating system functionality. Depending on your problem, following this procedure may remove a software environment that is required to test the health of your operating system.
Confirm that the problem is not linked to your username by logging in as a different user. Additionally, verify that the problem is not linked to your username having or lacking administrator rights by logging in as a user whose rights are the opposite.
Verify that the memory on the host computer is healthy. For more information, see Validating host memory (1004012).
Verify that the hardware devices on the host computer are healthy and supported. For more information, see Performing hardware diagnostics (1004013).
If the operating system having the problem has been installed to a virtual machine, power on the virtual machine from a different host. If the problem continues, the issue is with the virtual machine itself. Continue to step 12. If the problem disappears, the issue is with the original host. Repeat steps 1-12 for the host operating system.
If none of the above steps resolved the problem, it is recommended that the operating system be reinstalled to confirm if there is something about the particular installation that is causing the problem.

Common Linux Problems

Verify there are no problems with the filesystem by performing a disk check on your hard drives. For further information, see Performing a disk check (1004003).
Check if there are sufficient resources in the following areas:
- Memory
  For more information, see Investigating operating system memory usage (1004014).
- Disk
  For more information, see Investigating operating system disk space (1004007).
- CPU
  For more information, see Investigating operating system CPU usage (1004016).
Note: If your operating system is installed to a virtual machine, and you have determined that there are insufficient resources, you need to increase the resource that is lacking:
- Memory
  For more information, see Increasing the amount of memory assigned to a virtual machine (1004059).
- Disk
  For more information, see Increasing the size of a virtual disk (1004047).
- CPU
  If this is a virtual machine running under an ESX Server host, see Increasing the amount of CPU assigned to a virtual machine (1004060).
  
  Note: If this is a virtual machine running under any other product, there is no direct way of increasing the amount of assigned CPU. If your host has multiple CPUs or CPU cores, it is possible to set processor affinity among virtual machines so that one or more CPUs are not used by any other virtual machine. For more information, see Associating a Virtual Machine With a Particular Host Processor (110). Alternatively, the host hardware must be upgraded or the virtual machine moved to a different host.
If a virtual machine with multiple CPUs is performing poorly, see Determining if multiple virtual CPUs are causing performance issues (1005362).
Confirm that there is no virus compromising the operating system. For more information, see Detecting viruses (1004008).
Confirm that there is no spyware interfering with the operating system. For more information, see Detecting spyware (1004009).
Switch to run level 3 to eliminate software and processes as possible causes. For more information, see Changing Linux run levels (1004015).

Note: Depending on your problem, following this procedure may remove a software environment that is required to test the health of your operating system.
Switch to Single User Mode to eliminate software and processes as possible causes. For more information, see Changing Linux run levels (1004015).

Note: Single User Mode eliminates more software and processes than run level 3 does, but it also further reduces operating system functionality. Depending on your problem, following this procedure may remove a software environment that is required to test the health of your operating system.
Confirm that the problem is not linked to your username by logging in as a different user. Additionally, verify that the problem is not linked to your username having or lacking root privileges by logging in as a user whose rights are the opposite.
Verify that the memory on the host computer is healthy. For more information, see Validating host memory (1004012).
Verify that the hardware devices on the host computer are healthy and supported. For more information, see Performing hardware diagnostics (1004013).
If the operating system having the problem has been installed to a virtual machine, power on the virtual machine from a different host. If the problem continues, the issue is with the virtual machine itself. Continue to step 11. If the problem disappears, the issue is with the original host. Repeat steps 1-11 for the host operating system.
If none of the above steps resolved the problem, reinstall the operating system to confirm if there is something about the particular installation that is causing the problem.

Common Mac OS Problems

Verify there are no problems with the filesystem by performing a disk check on your hard drives. For more information, see Performing a disk check (1004003).
Check if there are sufficient resources in the following areas:
- Memory
  For more information, see Investigating operating system memory usage (1004014).
- Disk
  For more information, see Investigating operating system disk space (1004007).
- CPU
  For more information, see Investigating operating system CPU usage (1004016).
Note: If your operating system is installed to a virtual machine, and you have determined that there are insufficient resources, you need to increase the resource that is lacking:
- Memory
  For more information, see Increasing the amount of memory assigned to a virtual machine (1004059).
- Disk
  For more information, see Increasing the size of a virtual disk (1004047).
- CPU
  If this is a virtual machine running under an ESX Server host, see Increasing the amount of CPU assigned to a virtual machine (1004060).
  
  Note: If this is a virtual machine running under any other product, there is no direct way of increasing the amount of assigned CPU. If your host has multiple CPUs or CPU cores, it is possible to set processor affinity among virtual machines so that one or more CPUs are not used by any other virtual machine. For more information, see Associating a Virtual Machine With a Particular Host Processor (110). Alternatively, the host hardware must be upgraded or the virtual machine moved to a different host.
If a virtual machine with multiple CPUs is performing poorly, see Determining if multiple virtual CPUs are causing performance issues (1005362).
Confirm that there is no virus compromising the operating system. For more information, see Detecting viruses (1004008).
Confirm that there is no spyware interfering with the operating system. For more information, see Detecting spyware (1004009).
Use Safe Boot to eliminate software and processes as possible causes. For more information, see Using Safe Boot (1004017).

Note: Depending on your problem, following this procedure may remove a software environment that is required to test the health of your operating system.
Switch to Single User Mode to eliminate software and processes as possible causes. For more information see, Switching Mac OS to Single User Mode (1004018).

Note: Single User Mode significantly limits the functionality of the operating system. You do not have access to any portion of the normal Mac OS graphical interface. Only use Single User Mode if you have experience with the operating system and already know how to use this Mac OS feature.
Confirm that the problem is not linked to your username by logging in as a different user. Additionally, verify that the problem is not linked to your username having or lacking root privileges by logging in as a user whose rights are the opposite.
Verify that the memory on the host computer is healthy. For more information, see Validating host memory (1004012).
Verify that the hardware devices on the host computer are healthy and supported. For more information, see Performing hardware diagnostics (1004013).
If the operating system having the problem has been installed to a virtual machine, power on the virtual machine from a different host. If the problem continues, the issue is with the virtual machine itself. Continue to step 11. If the problem disappears, the issue is with the original host. Repeat steps 1-11 for the host operating system.
If none of the above steps resolved the problem, reinstall the operating system to confirm if there is something about the particular installation that is causing the problem.

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