Use the suspend and resume feature to save the current state of a virtual machine. When you resume the virtual machine, the applications that were running before the suspension will resume their running state with their content unchanged.

How quickly the suspend operation performs depends on the how much data changed after you started the virtual machine. The first suspend operation usually takes longer than subsequent suspend operations. When you suspend a virtual machine, Workstation Pro creates a virtual machine suspended state (.vmss or .vmem) file set in the working directory. How quickly the resume operation performs depends on how active the virtual machine is. The more active the virtual machine is, the longer it will take to resume. It also depends on whether the virtual machine suspended state (.vmss or .vmem) file set is already in the physical memory of the host system. If it is, the virtual machine will resume much faster.

After you resume a virtual machine and do more work, you cannot return to the state that the virtual machine was in when you suspended it. To return to the same state repeatedly, you must take a snapshot.

When virtual machines are in a folder, you can perform batch power operations. See Using Folders to Manage Virtual Machines.

Procedure

  • To select a suspend option when you suspend a virtual machine, select the virtual machine and select VM > Power.
    Option Description
    Suspend

    (Hard option) Workstation Pro suspends the virtual machine and leaves it connected to the network.

    Suspend Guest

    (Soft option) Workstation Pro suspends the virtual machine and disconnects it from the network. VMware Tools runs a script in the guest operating system. On Windows guests, if the virtual machine is configured to use DHCP, the script releases the IP address of the virtual machine. On Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris guests, the script stops networking for the virtual machine.

  • To suspend a virtual machine from the toolbar, select the virtual machine and click the suspend button.
    The suspend power control setting that is configured for the virtual machine determines whether Workstation Pro performs a hard or soft suspend operation. The configured behavior appears in a tooltip when you mouse over the button.
  • To select a resume option when you resume a suspended virtual machine, select the virtual machine and select VM > Power.
    Option Description
    Resume

    (Hard option) Workstation Pro resumes the virtual machine from the suspended state.

    Resume Guest

    (Soft option) Workstation Pro resumes the virtual machine from the suspended state and reconnects it to the network.

  • To resume a virtual machine from the toolbar, select the virtual machine and click the resume button.
    The suspend power control setting that is configured for the virtual machine determines whether Workstation Pro performs a hard or soft resume operation. The configured behavior appears in a tooltip when you mouse over the button.
  • To power off a suspended virtual machine, select the virtual machine and click VM > Power > Power Off.