System hangs or hung_task panic due 'vmtoolsd' unlink of /tmp/vmware-root/vixScript0 while /tmp is frozen
Issue
- hung_task or system hang on a VMware guest system using vmtoolsd
- Looking at the backtrace of vmtoolsd, it is trying to remove (unlink) a file and gets stuck in
__sb_start_write
PID: 37991 TASK: ffff880434b57500 CPU: 2 COMMAND: "vmtoolsd"
#0 [ffff8804373bdcd8] schedule at ffffffff81529990
#1 [ffff8804373bddb0] __sb_start_write at ffffffff811900ec
#2 [ffff8804373bde40] mnt_want_write at ffffffff811b0b54
#3 [ffff8804373bde70] do_unlinkat at ffffffff8119fc0b
#4 [ffff8804373bdf70] sys_unlink at ffffffff8119fde6
Environment
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- seen on kernel 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6
- seen on kernel 2.6.32-431.11.2.el6
- VMware guest with vmtoolsd installed
Subscriber exclusive content
A Red Hat subscription provides unlimited access to our knowledgebase, tools, and much more.