macOS VM won’t start, Stuck in a boot loop

Recently, I upgraded VMware Workstation Pro from version 17.0 to 17.5. After the update, my macOS virtual machines stopped functioning properly. Whenever I started the macOS VMs, they would enter an automatic restart loop. Interestingly, my Windows-based VMs powered on without any issues. I resolved the Issues using below steps.

Step 1: Check VMWARE.log file

vmware.log file is stored in the same folder as the other virtual machine files. To locate the virtual machine’s folder:

  1. Open the VMware Workstation console and right-click on your virtual machine.
  2. Select Settings from the context menu.
  3. Under the Hardware tab, select Hard Disk.
  4. On the right-hand side, look for Disk File. This shows the location where your virtual machine is stored.

Go to this folder, and you will find a file named vmware.log. Open this file to review the logs and identify any possible issues.

You may find below errors in the log file

2023-10-20T16:54:42.194Z In(05) vcpu-5 SMC_Open: Unable to open MacHALDriver: 0x00000002.
2023-10-20T16:54:42.199Z In(05) vcpu-5 Chipset: The guest has requested that the virtual machine be hard reset.
2023-10-20T16:54:42.202Z In(05) vcpu-0 DEVICE: Resetting device 'ALL'.

2023-10-20T16:53:10.574Z In(05) vmx FeatureCompat: No EVC masks.
Unable to open MacHALDriver: 0x00000002
2023-10-20T16:57:29.038Z In(05) vmx GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out.
2023-10-20T16:57:37.922Z In(05) vcpu-2 Chipset: The guest has requested that the virtual machine be hard reset.
2023-10-20T16:57:37.988Z In(05) vcpu-0 DEVICE: Resetting device 'ALL'.
GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox-dnd timed out

Step 2: Update Unlocker for VMWARE Workstation

Download Unlocker for macOS VM
  • Right-click on this file and select Extract All.
  • Ensure that all VMs are powered off, and VMware Workstation is closed.
  • Right-click on the Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
  • Change the folder location to the extracted folder location in the command prompt.
  • Execute the Win-install.cmd script to resolve this issue.
  • Launch the macOS VM again; this time, it should boot up without any issues.
Execute win-install.cmd file

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