• Windows virtual machine on VMware ESXi 5.5 fails with blue diagnostic screen.
• You see the error:
  
  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (50) Invalid system memory was referenced: vmmemctl.sys

This issue occurs when there is heavy memory allocation and deallocation jobs in the Windows guest. It causes stress for vmmemctl.sys resulting in a blue diagnostic screen.

When the vmmemctl driver is claiming memory to save it to the hypervisor, it attempts to lock pages in the guest. If the lock failure occurs number of times and reaches a limit, it causes an overflow error and a blue diagnostic screen.