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Table Of Contents
The vmrun Power Commands and Parameters
Option Parameters Description
start
path to .vmx file
[ gui | nogui ]
Starts a virtual machine. The default gui option starts the machine interactively, which is required to
display the Fusion interface. The nogui option suppresses the Fusion interface, including the
startup dialog box, to allow noninteractive scripting.
Note To start encrypted virtual machines, use the nogui flag. The vmrun utility does not support
GUI mode with encrypted virtual machines.
stop
path to .vmx file
[ hard | soft ]
Stops a virtual machine. Use the soft option to power off the guest after running shutdown scripts.
Use the hard option to power off the guest without running scripts, as if you pressed the power
button. The default is to use the powerType value specified in the .vmx file, if present.
reset
path to .vmx file
[ hard | soft ]
Resets a virtual machine. Use the soft option to run shutdown scripts before rebooting the guest.
Use the hard option to reboot the guest without running scripts, as if you pressed the reset button.
The default is to use the powerType value specified in the .vmx file, if present.
suspend
path to .vmx file
[ hard | soft ]
Suspends a virtual machine without shutting down the virtual machine, so local work can resume
later. The soft option suspends the guest after running system scripts. On Windows guests, these
scripts release the IP address. On Linux guests, the scripts suspend networking. The hard option
suspends the guest without running the scripts. The default is to use the powerType value specified
in the .vmx file, if present.
To resume virtual machine operations after the suspend command finishes, use the start
command. On Windows, the IP address is retrieved. On Linux, networking is restarted.
pause
path to .vmx file
Pauses a virtual machine.
unpause
path to .vmx file
Resumes operations of a virtual machine from where you paused normal operations.
The vmrun Snapshot Commands and Parameters
Option Parameters Description
listSnapshots
path to .vmx file
[ showtree ]
Lists all snapshots in a virtual machine. The showtree option displays
snapshots in tree format, with children indented under their parent.
snapshot
path to .vmx file
snapshot name
Creates a snapshot of a virtual machine. Because Fusion supports multiple
snapshots, you must provide the snapshot name.
Because the forward slash defines path names, do not use the slash character
in a snapshot name. Otherwise, specifying the snapshot path later becomes
difficult.
Using VMware Fusion
VMware, Inc. 187