I don’t know what changed on my laptop, but I started getting this error on my Win 8 consumer preview machine and my Virtual Machines couldn’t be restored.

[Window Title]
Virtual Machine Connection

[Main Instruction]
The application encountered an error while attempting to change the state of 'MachineName'.

[Content]
’MachineName’ failed to restore virtual machine state.

Failed to lock virtual machine's configuration.

[Expanded Information]
’MachineName’ failed to restore virtual machine state. (Virtual machine ID B6357FDE-EC5D-4C9E-9D2D-C1214278A1BD)

Failed to lock virtual machine's configuration 'C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\Virtual Machines\B6357FDE-EC5D-4C9E-9D2D-C1214278A1BD.xml': 'Unspecified error'('0x80004005').

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Thankfully, the fix was simple [I am not sure if that is the actual fix though.] I went to the Folder and changed the property of the shortcut to ensure it is not ReadOnly. Tried starting the VM again and it worked. I will update this section if I am able to find the root cause.

Hope this helps!
Rahul