Fix: Module VPMC Power on failed for Virtual Machine VM

While powering on a Virtual Machine, I encountered Module VPMC Power on failed error. In this article, I will show you how to fix Module ‘VPMC’ Power on failed for VMware Virtual Machine.

Normally, a Virtual Machine in VMware fails to Power on if there is no enough memory available on the system or if there is an issue with VM itself.

Whenever a VM fails to start, the error details presented are important in troubleshooting why the Virtual Machine failed to power on.

In my case, the VM configuration was not edited or modified in any way however I still couldn’t power on my virtual machine in VMware Workstation.

Module VPMC Power on failed for Virtual Machine

First, let’s look at the error message that you see when you attempt to power on the virtual machine.

Virtualized performance counters require at least one available functioning counter. Module ‘VPMC’ power on failed. Failed to start the virtual machine.

Reviewing the vmware.log file located within the VM’s folder revealed the following errors:

2022-05-05T16:45:28.316Z In(05) vmx Win32U_GetFileAttributes: GetFileAttributesExW("D:\BS\BLUESTACKS.vmpl", …) failed, error: 2
2022-05-05T16:45:28.316Z In(05) vmx Win32U_GetFileAttributes: GetFileAttributesExW("D:\BS\BLUESTACKS.vmpl", …) failed, error: 2

After spending a lot of time researching on this issue, it seems like the solution to fix Module VPMC Power on failed for Virtual Machine is to disable the CPU performance counters for VM.

CPU Performance Monitoring Counters (PMCs) provide a way for software to monitor and measure processor performance. These counters are commonly used by tools such as software profilers.

There are two ways to disable the CPU performance counters for a VM:

• Edit the Virtual Machine settings and uncheck the CPU performance counters from Processor settings.
• Edit the VM configuration file .vmx file and set VPMC=False.

The easiest way is to edit the VM settings and make the changes. Power off the VM and click Edit virtual machine settings.

On the Virtual Machine settings window, click the Hardware tab. Select Processors and under Virtualization engine, uncheck the option “Virtualize CPU performance counters“. Click OK to save the changes you made.

Now power on the VM and you shouldn’t see Module VPMC Power on failed error. The VM boots up like before, and you can continue with your work.