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Gracefully Shutting Down a Windows Guest When the Virtual Machine Powers Off

Details

How do I ensure that a Windows guest operating system automatically and gracefully shuts down when the virtual machine powers off?

Solution

When a virtual machine attempts to power off, it by default signals the guest operating system to shut down. If the guest operating system doesn't halt, the virtual machine eventually powers off anyway. To allow a Windows guest to shut down gracefully:
  1. Install the latest version of VMware Tools in the guest. The virtual machine uses VMware Tools to signal the guest operating system to shut down.
  2. If you're using VirtualCenter, verify that the power controls for the virtual machine are set to shut down the guest when you power off the virtual machine. See Changing Power State Options at http://www.vmware.com/support/vc13/doc/c14chgpoweropts30.html.
  3. Ensure that the guest operating system responds to requests to shut down.
    1. Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 do not shut down properly if you lock the console of the guest operating system (by issuing Ctrl-Alt-Del) or if a login dialog box is present. These operating systems fail to shut down in this situation when they run on physical hardware as well. Microsoft has documented these issues in the following knowledge base articles:
    2. If the operating system running in a virtual machine (or on physical hardware) is still in the process of booting, you cannot initiate a graceful shutdown until the boot process finishes.
  4. Ensure that the correct HAL is installed in the guest. If the guest operating system reboots instead of powering off, please see knowledge base article 1812 at http://www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1812.
  5. Configure the system (ESX Server or GSX Server) options to power down the virtual machines instead of terminating them when the system comes down. The following knowledge base articles provide steps for configuring virtual machines to perform automatic power operations:

Keywords

1744; shutdown; powerdown; halt; logon; OS

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