so my virtual machine server went down in my office the other day, and the auto startup for a specific machine failed because there was a lock file present from before the power failure (time to replace my ups)
it was easy enough to fix by removing the folder located at:
/var/lib/vmware/Virtual\ Machines/{vm-name}/{vm-disk-file-name}.vmdk.lock/
for me the command was:
# rm -vfr /var/lib/vmware/Virtual\ Machines/nataile/natalie-hardDisk1.vmdk.lock/