This is a read-only archive of malwareremoval.com. No new posts or registrations. Privacy Page
General Computer Support

Syntax error VMware Workstation

6 min read

This thread's last reply is from April 28, 2009, 5:17 PM UTC. Software, malware, and removal-tool advice below may be out of date — treat specific steps and download links with caution.

hey
when i load Win Xp on VMware workstation i get a syntax error with a :

Could not open virtual machine: C:\Users\Nipuna\Documents\Virtual Machines\Windows XP Professional\Windows XP Professional.vmx.



File "C:\Users\Nipuna\Documents\Virtual Machines\Windows XP Professional\Windows XP Professional.vmx" line 1: Syntax error.

Please Help
I'm not an expert on VMware, but when I find myself in such situations with VirtualBox, I always just delete the virtual machine, delete the configuration files, and recreate it.
If you want us to check it, open it in Notepad or WordPad and copy and paste the contents of that file here.

Everything in that file should look like this:
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"
ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"


where you have a value name(attached to an object with a period) then an equals sign and a value in between quotes after the equals sign. A syntax error means that there is probably a line that doesn't follow this syntax.
Êúÿ J C : \ W i n d o w s \ s y s t e m 3 2 \ C a t R o o t \ { 1 2 7 D 0 A 1 D - 4 E F 2 - 1 1 D 1 - 8 6 0 8 - 0 0 C 0 4 F C 2 9 5 E E } \ k l 1 . c a t æB+BlÂÉ è
<ëÈ B®¡º P ¦À× K C : \ W i n d o w s \ s y s t e m 3 2 \ C a t R o o t \ { 1 2 7 D 0 A 1 D - 4 E F 2 - 1 1 D 1 - 8 6 0 8 - 0 0 C 0 4 F C 2 9 5 E E } \ k l b g . c a t ÆñClÂÉ
]µHbÈ /F£H( Iž±Aw K C : \ W i n d o w s \ s y s t e m 3 2 \ C a t R o o t \ { 1 2 7 D 0 A 1 D - 4 E F 2 - 1 1 D 1 - 8 6 0 8 - 0 0 C 0 4 F C 2 9 5 E E } \ k l i f . c a t ¶ü5lÂÉæ;›3lÂÉ Ùv/¼ jŠåoÛ L C : \ W i n d o w s \ s y s t e m 3 2 \ C a t R o o t \ { 1 2 7 D 0 A 1 D - 4 E F 2 - 1 1 D 1 - 8 6 0 8 - 0 0 C 0 4 F C 2 9 5 E E } \ k l i m 6 . c a t 6°QElÂÉ ºö“ÒæÈ 0Ó»ø¦ Úd‘K¯ U C : \ W i n d o w s \ s y s t e m 3 2 \ C a t R o o t \ { F 7 5 0 E 6 C 3 - 3 8 E E - 1 1 D 1 - 8 5 E 5 - 0 0 C 0 4 F C 2 9 5 E E } \ G E A R A s p i W D M x 8 6 . c a t nÎ p—É &Õ铬É ]=i0 |ûQÍù Ò9߉V v C : \ W i n d o w s \ s y s t e m 3 2 \ C a t R o o t \ { F 7 5 0 E 6 C 3 - 3 8 E E - 1 1 D 1 - 8 5 E 5 - 0 0 C 0 4 F C 2 9 5 E E } \ K B 9 3 6 3 3 0 ~ 3 1 b f 3 8 5 6 a d 3 6 4 e 3 5 ~ x 8 6 ~ e n - U S ~ 6 . 0 . 1 . 1 8 0 0 0 . c a t ´¾À(€ŠÉ ԝSîYÈ Îk¢\+ ã|d7M q C : \ W i n d o w s \ s y s t e m 3 2 \ C a t R o o t \ { F 7 5 0 E 6 C 3 - 3 8 E E - 1 1 D 1 - 8 5 E 5 - 0 0 C 0 4 F C 2 9 5 E E } \ K B 9 3 6 3 3 0 ~ 3 1 b f 3 8 5 6 a d 3 6 4 e 3 5 ~ x 8 6 ~ ~ 6 . 0 . 1 . 1 8 0 0 0 . c a t dY"€ŠÉ *ž‘~È Ùè6+ d¹13M v C : \ W i n d o w s \ s y s t e m 3 2 \ C a t R o o t \ { F 7 5 0 E 6 C 3 - 3 8 E E - 1 1 D 1 - 8 5 E 5 - 0 0 C 0 4 F C 2 9 5 E E } \ K B 9 3 7 2 8 6 ~ 3 1 b f 3 8 5 6 a d 3 6 4 e 3 5 ~ x 8 6 ~ e n - U S ~ 6 . 0 . 1 . 1 8 0 0 0 . c a t *,[éܱÉ 4³…öYÈ 1åO°+ ½ÚuƒM ¦ C : \ W i n d o w s \ s y s t e m 3 2 \ C a t R o o t \ { F 7 5 0 E 6 C 3 - 3 8 E E - 1 1 D 1 - 8 5 E 5 - 0 0 C 0 4 F C 2 9 5 E E } \ M i c r o s o f t - W i n d o w s - A n y t i m e - U p g r a d e - H o m e P r e m i u m - P a c k a g e ~ 3 1 b f 3 8 5 6 a d 3 6 4 e 3 5 ~ x 8 6 ~ e n - U S ~ 6 . 0 . 6 0 0 0 . 1 6 3 8 6 . c a t 3üP|þÆ wÒvnþÆ v@d}— ’áÜU ÇaHw éy™ ¡ C : \ W i n d o w s \ s y s t e m 3 2 \ C a t R o o t \ { F 7 5 0 E 6 C 3 - 3 8 E E - 1 1 D 1 - 8 5 E 5 - 0 0 C 0 4 F C 2 9 5 E E } \ M i c r o s o f t -


thats what i got but that doesnt seem right.
try opening the same file in notepad instead, or wordpad if you used notepad. But yeah, that could be your problem right there ;) Why not start over?
Ok, but i hate installing it again.
If thats the last resort ill delete it and reinstall it.
I don't know how VMware works, but on VirtualBox it's possible to delete just the machine and keep the hard disk(s) attached to it.
If that can be done in VMware, just delete the machine (because that's what's broken), but keep the hard disk. Then create a new VM and use your previous VM's hard disk as its hard disk.

Not sure how that would go with snapshots, though.
I like virtualbox too :)