An error occurred while attempting to start the selected virtual machine

This article provides a solution to an error that occurs while you try to start the selected virtual machine.

Applies to:   Windows Server 2012 R2
Original KB number:   2000800

Symptoms

When trying to set the DVD drive for a Guest Machine running on Hyper-V Server to physical CD/ DVD drive, the following error is displayed after clicking Apply:

Hyper-V Manager
An error occurred while attempting to start the selected virtual machine(s).
<Guest Virtual Machine Name> failed to start.
Microsoft Emulated IDE Controller (Instance ID
{XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}): Failed to power on with Error 'The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.'
Failed to open attachment '<Disk Drive> :'. Error 'The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.'

Cause

The physical CD/DVD drive has already been mapped to another Guest Machine on the Hyper-V server.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, we must remove physical CD/DVD drive from an existing Guest Machine by changing the DVD setting to None or point to an ISO file To accomplish this task perform the following steps:

1. Locate another Guest machine that is configured to use the Physical CD/DVD.
2. From Hyper-V manager, select settings, click on the DVD drive option under Hardware
3. In the right-hand pane, under the Media option, choose either NONE or to an Image File as per user needs
   Or
   Open the Guest Machine, click on Media under media select DVD drive in the submenu select Uncapture <Drive letter for DVD drive>.