Fix VMware Startup and Network Issues After Installing WSA

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Resolve VMware startup errors "VMware Workstation does not support virtualized performance counters on this host" and "Module 'VPMC' power on failed", as well as network connection issues in VMware virtual machines after installing WSA.

VMware Fails to Start

Before installing WSA, the Virtual Machine Platform module must be enabled in Windows Features. This module depends on the Hyper-V kernel and provides certain Hyper-V API support for WSA. However, Hyper-V conflicts with VMware’s virtualization engine, causing virtual machines in VMware to fail to start if the virtualization engine is enabled, resulting in the following error message:

  • Error message

To successfully start virtual machines in VMware, you must disable the virtualization engine in the settings of the affected virtual machine. Specifically, go to: Hardware → Processor → Virtualization Engine, and uncheck all three options.

  • Disable the virtualization engine in the settings of the affected virtual machine

Virtual Machine Network Connection Issue

After successfully starting the virtual machine, you may notice that there is no network connection. Switching between Bridged Mode, NAT Mode, and Host-Only Mode in VMware settings does not restore connectivity. This issue likely occurs due to a conflict between WSA and VMware’s virtual networking components. You can resolve this by reconfiguring VMnet in VMware’s Virtual Network Editor using the following steps:

  1. Click Edit in the VMware top menu and select Virtual Network Editor
  2. Click Change Settings in the bottom-right corner
  3. Add a new virtual network (I added VMnet0)
  4. Set the network mode (I chose Bridged Mode and bridged it directly to the host machine’s Wi-Fi adapter)
  5. Click OK to save the changes
  6. Open the affected virtual machine’s Network Adapter settings
  7. Change the Network Connection mode to Custom: Specific virtual network, then select the network you added in Step 4 (e.g., VMnet0)
  8. Click OK to save the changes

This should restore network connectivity in the VMware virtual machine.

  • Click Edit in the VMware top menu and select Virtual Network Editor
  • Click Change Settings in the bottom-right corner
  • Add a new virtual network
  • Change the Network Connection mode to Custom: Specific virtual network, then select the network you added in Step 4