Why are my vm universe VMware jobs failing and being put on hold? -Strange behavior has been noted when HTCondor tries to run a vm universe VMware job using a path to a VMX that contains a symbolic link. An example of an error message that may appear in such a job’s user log: +Strange behavior has been noted when HTCondor tries to run a vm universe VMware job using a path to a VMX that contains a symbolic link. An example of an error message that may appear in such a job's user log: {code} -Error from starter on master_vmuniverse_strtd@nostos.cs.wisc.edu: register(/scratch/gquinn/condor/git/CONDOR_SRC/src/condor_tests/31426/31426vmuniverse/execute/dir_31534/vmN3hylp_condor.vmx) = 1/Error: Command failed: A file was not found/(ERROR) +Error from starter on master_vmuniverse_strtd@nostos.cs.wisc.edu: +register(/scratch/gquinn/condor/git/CONDOR_SRC/src/condor_tests/31426 +/31426vmuniverse/execute/dir_31534/vmN3hylp_condor.vmx) = 1/Error: +Command failed: A file was not found/(ERROR) -Can't create snapshot for vm(/scratch/gquinn/condor/git/CONDOR_SRC/src/condor_tests/31426/31426vmuniverse/execute/dir_31534/vmN3hylp_condor.vmx) +Can't create snapshot for vm(/scratch/gquinn/condor/git/CONDOR_SRC +/src/condor_tests/31426/31426vmuniverse/execute/dir_31534/vmN3hylp_condor.vmx) {endcode} -To work around this problem: +This problem may exist when using file transfer, +which is when the submit description file contains +=vmware_should_transfer_files = true=. +Work around the problem by modifying configuration variable =EXECUTE= +on all execute machines, +such that they do _not_ contain symbolic link path components. -If using file transfer (the submit description file contains vmware_should_transfer_files = -true), then modify any configuration variable EXECUTE values on all execute machines, -such that they do not contain symbolic link path components. - -If using a shared file system, ensure that the submit description file command vmware_dirdoes not use symbolic link path name components. +If using a shared file system, ensure that the submit description file command =vmware_dir= does not use symbolic link path name components.