Q: Why does VMware Fusion suspend frequently and after short periods of time?

• Why does VMware Fusion suspend frequently and after short periods of time?
• Why does VMware suspend my virtual machine after I stop using it for only a few minutes?

Context

• VMware Fusion version 4 and later

Answer

VMware Fusion will suspend the virtual machine if the guest operating system goes into sleep or standby mode. To avoid this it is best to turn off display sleep and power-management functions in the guest operating system. If your guest operating system is Windows 7 these settings can be found in Control Panel > System and Security > Power Options > Change when the computer sleeps.

The guest operating system is the operating system running inside your virtual machine. The host operating system is the operating system running on your actual computer, on which VMware Fusion is installed. You will want to keep the sleep and power-management settings on your host operating system unchanged. When your actual computer goes to sleep, it will also suspend VMware Fusion and its running VMs.