Looking for a fix to the VMware Workstation 16+ Vista guest DWM RAM leak
Posted: 27 May 2025, 09:34
When using Windows Vista in VMware Workstation 16+ or 16+ compatibility mode, dwm.exe starts leaking RAM until it eats up all the system RAM and crashes and the OS reverts to the basic theme.
Setting the VM to 15 compatibility or lower fixes the issue, however this means DirectX 11 can't be used inside Vista guests which makes testing programs that make use of DirectX 11 on Vista harder, requiring real hardware to test them.
What I'd like is some sort of fix for the RAM leak that still lets me use DirectX 11 on a Vista guest.
Setting the VM to 15 compatibility or lower fixes the issue, however this means DirectX 11 can't be used inside Vista guests which makes testing programs that make use of DirectX 11 on Vista harder, requiring real hardware to test them.
What I'd like is some sort of fix for the RAM leak that still lets me use DirectX 11 on a Vista guest.