Packer: Error starting VM: VMware error:

[j0hnsmith]

When packer is starting the vm I'm getting VMware error, but it doesn't say what it is so I can't debug it.

==> vmware-iso: Pausing after run of step 'StepOutputDir'. Press any key to continue. 
==> vmware-iso: Pausing after run of step 'StepCreateFloppy'. Press any key to continue. 
==> vmware-iso: Pausing after run of step 'stepRemoteUpload'. Press any key to continue. 
==> vmware-iso: Creating virtual machine disk
==> vmware-iso: Pausing after run of step 'stepCreateDisk'. Press any key to continue. 
==> vmware-iso: Building and writing VMX file
==> vmware-iso: Pausing after run of step 'stepCreateVMX'. Press any key to continue. 
==> vmware-iso: Pausing after run of step 'StepConfigureVMX'. Press any key to continue. 
==> vmware-iso: Pausing after run of step 'StepSuppressMessages'. Press any key to continue. 
==> vmware-iso: Starting HTTP server on port 8474
==> vmware-iso: Pausing after run of step 'stepHTTPServer'. Press any key to continue. 
==> vmware-iso: Pausing after run of step 'stepConfigureVNC'. Press any key to continue. 
==> vmware-iso: Pausing after run of step 'StepRegister'. Press any key to continue. 
==> vmware-iso: Starting virtual machine...
==> vmware-iso: Error starting VM: VMware error:

[rasa]

Try rerunning with PACKER_LOG=1, and posting the log as a gist, OK?

[j0hnsmith]

https://gist.github.com/j0hnsmith/53117f63b5b5edb083b8

I'd like to be able to run /usr/bin/vmrun -T player start ubuntu64_basebox_vmware/packer-vmware-iso.vmx gui myself but packer cleans up the environment. Is there a way I can stop that from happening?

[rasa]

@j0hnsmith we are working on adding this ability (see #1036).

And IMHO, Error: Unknown error errors are the worst kind of errors to debug.

[mitchellh]

Yeah, this is really terrible and we can't actually figure this out from the log. Its an environmental (the way VMware is running/installed) error though. It COULD be something Packer can fix but we can't debug this given this information unfortunately.

[tssgery]

I just started playing with packer, using the vmware-iso builder, and ran into this.

I got past the issue by ensuring that the "guest_os_type" was correctly set. In my case, I needed "ubuntu-64"

[olly]

Just wanted to add that @tssgery's comment about setting the "guest_os_type" to ubuntu-64 fixed the error for me. I'd previously had it set to Ubuntu_64 from playing around with virtualbox-iso builder.

[MichaelBaydoun]

Just ran into this, was using a trial version of vmware workstation which was causing the unknown error. Had to switch to a purchased version to resolve

[muhammad-asif]

I had the same issue, had to change guest_os_type from RedHat_64 to Centos-64.

[the-noob]

Had the same problem with freezing VB window, stopping Actual Multiple Monitors solved it.
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/13686

[TheNotary]

Had the same problem. Relying primarily on Virtual box for dev boxes solved the problem and building on a remote ESXi server via these docks is what I do for production: https://nickcharlton.net/posts/using-packer-esxi-6.html

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