VMware VMEM Files – How to disable .vmem files

Date April 7, 2006 Author By kadmin Category VMware

If you are a VMware user, you have undoubtedly tried to backup a virtual server while it is running.  Until recently, you could.  However, the newer versions of VMware use .vmem files which are created when the virtual machines are running.  There is really no documentation as to why they exist but they are locked and can’t be copied while the machine is running.  A tedious search through the message boards yielded this solution.

Create a file called settings.ini

Put this code in it:

# Disable VMEM files
# ——————
mainMem.useNamedFile = FALSE

Save it here:

C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication DataVMwareVMware Serversettings.ini

or if you are running Workstation save it here:

C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication DataVMwareVMware Workstationsettings.ini

Restart your virtual machines.