Powering on a virtual machine fails with the error: A fault has occurred causing a virtual CPU to enter the shutdown state
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Powering on a virtual machine fails with the error: A fault has occurred causing a virtual CPU to enter the shutdown state

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Article ID: 319453

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Updated On:

Products

VMware

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
  • Powering on a virtual machine fails.​
  • You may receive a similar error:
Click OK to restart the virtual machine or Cancel to power off the virtual machine.
A fault has occurred causing a virtual CPU to enter the shutdown state. If this fault had occurred outside of a virtual machine, it would have caused the physical machine to restart.
The shutdown state can be reached by incorrectly configuring the virtual machine, a bug in the guest operating system, or a problem in VMware ESX.


Cause

This issue occurs if the virtual machine's CPU executed a code that led to a triple fault. When this fault occurs, the virtual machine is automatically powered off.

For more information on the triple fault, see  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_fault
Note: The preceding link was correct as of August 26, 2013. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

Resolution

If you experience this issue while installing or booting a virtual machine using an ISO image from a CD-ROM or a file, ensure that the ISO image is not corrupted.
 
 
If you experience this issue while booting a virtual machine from a virtual disk, ensure that the virtual machine is booted from the correct virtual disk and that the data on the virtual disk is not corrupted. For more information, see Performing a disk check (1004003).
 
 
If the issue persists:
  1. Collect the VMware Support information.
  2. If possible, collect the virtual machine's suspend state ( .vmss) file.

    To collect the suspend state ( .vmss) file:
    1. Enable the Record Debugging Information feature for the virtual machine. For more information, see the Configure Virtual Machine Debugging and Statistics in the vSphere Web Client section in the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration guide.
    2. Set the monitor.suspend_on_triplefault parameter in the virtual machine's configuration file ( .vmx) to TRUE. For more information, see Tips for editing a .vmx file (1714).

      To modify the monitor.suspend_on_triplefault parameter using the vSphere Client:
       
      1. Power off the virtual machine.
      2. Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
      3. Click the Options tab.
      4. In the Advanced options section, click General.
      5. Click Configuration Parameters.
      6. Click Add Row.
      7. Add monitor.suspend_on_triplefault in the Name column.
      8. Enter the value true in the Value column.
         
    3. Power on the virtual machine. When the triple fault occurs, a suspend state file of the virtual machine ( .vmss) is created in the virtual machine directory on the ESXi host.
       
  3. File a support request with VMware Support. For more information, see Filing a Support Request in Customer Connect (2006985).


Additional Information

Performing a disk check
Tips for editing a .vmx file
How to file a Support Request in Customer Connect
打开虚拟机电源失败，并出现以下错误：出现错误，导致虚拟 CPU 进入关闭状况 (A fault has occurred causing a virtual CPU to enter the shutdown state)

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