diff --git a/builder/vmware/step_shutdown.go b/builder/vmware/step_shutdown.go
index 97b8efbee..4355a047f 100644
--- a/builder/vmware/step_shutdown.go
+++ b/builder/vmware/step_shutdown.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/mitchellh/packer/packer"
 	"log"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -120,6 +121,13 @@ LockWaitLoop:
 		}
 	}
 
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		// Windows takes a while to yield control of the files when the
+		// process is exiting. We just sleep here. In the future, it'd be
+		// nice to find a better solution to this.
+		time.Sleep(5 * time.Second)
+	}
+
 	log.Println("VM shut down.")
 	return multistep.ActionContinue
 }