VMware Workstation Start & Stop VMs from Command Line

In the folder

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation

or:

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware Workstation

You’ll find vmrun.

Command format: vmrun [AUTHENTICATION-FLAGS] COMMAND [PARAMETERS]

1. To start a virtual machine:

"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmrun" -T ws start "C:\VMs\Linux.vmx"

2. To Shut down a VM:

"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmrun" -T ws stop "C:\VMs\Linux.vmx"

3. To reboot:

"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmrun" -T ws reset "C:\VMs\Linux.vmx"

You can use these commands in the Option tab of BackupChain to start and stop VMs before and after backups, if you don’t want a live backup but a cold backup instead.

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