VMware Communities : All Content - VMware Fusion® (for Mac)

VMware - FIX FUSION 3 - NOW!!!!!!

charlie98 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:10:20 GMT

I am one of those who is looking at VirtualBox. I have a win 7 64 bit virtual machine running there and it is fast. My requirements are minor so my experience would not be typical; I need Windows for Quicken and QuickTax otherwise I wouldn't bother.

I was running 2.0.6 and based on this thread I'm glad I didn't attempt 3.0.

VM Fusion 3

WoodyZ — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:59:20 GMT

golferdude wrote: I cannot not find any thing in the help file that will assist me with this problem in. If you can direct me in another way, I would appreciate it.

I already gave you the information when I said "...or by sending Ctrl+Alt+Delete to the target Virtual Machine from the VMware Fusion Virtual Machine menu or forcing a restart if necessary by holding the the Option key and selecting the appropriate command from the Virtual Machine menu." however find attached a QuickTime Move to give you addition clues.

File Attached: VMware_Fusion_Help_Restart..zip

How do I downgrade to Fusion 2.0?

citationpoint — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:57:57 GMT

I followed these instructions, and I'm back to Fusion 2.0 ... THANK YOU!!!

I have my computer back. Upgrading to Fusion 3.0 has been one of the biggest fiascos I have ever experienced. I cannot believe that vmware put this software out. They should do something significant to compensate their loyal customers that upgraded. How about a free 4.0 upgrade? Just do me a favor, and test 4.0 before releasing it.

I will sure try Parallels the next time an upgrade comes along.

Sound not working on Ubuntu 9.10 (VMware Fusion 3.0.0 on an iMac)

mykmelez — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:33:41 GMT

img47 wrote:
Frankly saying I much more prefer "Ubuntu", than "Ubuntu Linux 9.04, 8.10, 8.04.3, 7.10, 6.10, 5.10".

IMHO, the latter is preferable, because it's clear what it means: that VMware supports those specific versions of the Ubuntu OS.

Parallels' declaration that it supports "Ubuntu", on the other hand, is unclear. Does it claim to support all released versions of Ubuntu, from the oldest to the most recent? Or only certain versions? More to the point, does it support the specific version of Ubuntu you want to run on it? Given that a Google search for "parallels ubuntu 9.10" finds a number of forum posts from people having trouble installing Parallels tools on Ubuntu 9.10, I don't think the answer to that question is the one you seem to think it is.

FWIW, I too would love to see Fusion support for Ubuntu 9.10, and more generally, I'd like to see VMware roll out compatibility updates for new versions of Ubuntu more quickly, since testing versions of Ubuntu releases are available months in advance of their release, and there's no reason VMware couldn't update their tools well in advance of a release.

I also disagree that we shouldn't complain about this issue. Complaining about issues is one of the primary reasons for this forum! How else would VMware learn about the issues their customers are facing and which they might want to address?

However, I do think that it's important to be respectful when complaining and not assume incompetence or malevolence.

Networking to use Homeworks Illumination

WoodyZ — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:17:19 GMT

ljpell wrote: Just to let you know, I finally managed to connect using my Airport Extreme device. In a way, you helped me understand what I needed to do but it would have been nice of you to tell me you could not do anything more for me rather that simply ignoring me and letting me wait for a reply.

Just who the hell do you think you are you little ingrate!? I gave you several good pieces of information in an effort to try to help you with your situation however it is not my fault you are ignorant of how properly networked devices together! Over the last five years I've given thousands of hours to helping individuals in this and other forums free of charge out of kindness of my own heart and I can tell you every time I run into someone that makes a comment like you have it just makes me want to give less and less!

Allocate more CPU to Guest...

djchrissocal — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:03:47 GMT

I've got more or less the same issue...no matter how hard my virtual machine is working (Windows Task Manager pegged at 100% CPU usage), the most my computer's CPU is used is around 20%. I have the CPU settings at the max (4 cores). Hope I can figure out a solution to this - Rendering video on this is about the same speed as on Pentium 4 I'm replacing...with a much faster comptuer.

Chris

Fusion 3: Windows 7 Upgrade from XP Pro - No Drives Found

runningfish — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:27:51 GMT

Hey, I had the same problem, I am going the route of a "trail install" to an upgrade, is installing now. With any luck the product key will work after i upgrade this time

VMWare 3 and Windows 7 terribly slow?

PracticalMining — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:44:02 GMT

I have to agree with all regarding this thread - my system is almost unusable running Windows 7 as VM (not bootcamp - not sure if this would be a better option but not really game to try it).
Ive got 3G of 4 allocated to VM, have tried 1 or 2 processors (same slowness!!!), not sure if running Snow Leopard as 32bit would help (currently running 64bit - will advise if I can remember how to change back)
Aside from the s p e e d (or lack thereof), also other issues
first login to Win7 gives incorrect password then accepts the same sequence (password) next attempt.
screen resolution defaults to smaller area every time it logged in - very frustrating to reset every time.
printing from VM gives black and white only from part way thru document - starts off fine - driver issue to be resolved (Canon MP600)
network icon says no internet connection but works anyway (only use for windows system update files - microsoft patches and virus etc)
cant drag to resize window from bootup - must change resolution from desktop first then can resize from the corner to correct size.
'gadget' randomly reposition themselves

Frustrated!

ONLY FIRST PAGE OF MULTI PAGE DOCUMENT PRINTING

dysartj — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:26:54 GMT

Hi,

This is a reprint of an earlier post.

I have XP running in Fusion 2 on a new IMAC with 4GB RAM and MacOS 10.5.8. When I try to print a document from an application in XP, I only get the first page.

It is as if there is a setting to print 1 of
1 somewhere inside the Fusion setup.

Printing is normal on Mac side. XP prints through Mac.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Can you upgrade XP to 7 with the Student Upgrade in VMware? I can't get it to work...

rcardona2k — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:04:16 GMT

Overlaying Win 7 over an installation of XP is not a good idea. You're better off wiping out your Boot Camp partition and installing a clean copy of 7, same goes for a new Fusion virtual machine. Keep in mind Apple has not released Boot Camp drivers for Win 7 yet, but the plan to by the end of the year.

For installing from an upgrade disc, you can do this by not entering your product key on installation and following Paul Thurrot's article on Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media If you only own an upgrade disc you should discontinue using your XP machine per the upgrade license.

If you want to import your XP settings, bookmarks, background, desktop icons, etc checkout this download from Microsoft: Windows Easy Transfer for transferring from Windows XP (32 bit) to Windows 7.

Windows 7 unable to connect to the internet

rcardona2k — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:16:37 GMT

Sorry, to clarify when you removed and added the network adapter is your guest OS set to either Win7 or Win7-x64 in Virtual Machine > Settings? Which bit level are you running?

If you're not sure any VM has working networking then reboot your Mac or run in a Terminal window run: sudo "/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/boot.sh --restart"

Upgrade to 3.0 'broke' a programme

Neil744 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:31:34 GMT

I tried this again - uninstalled all copies of fusion and VM tools. Re Installed Fusion 3 and VM tools. I'm still getting the same error whether with my bootcamp partition or a virtual machine - no issues when I use Fusion 2, boot straight into Bootcamp or on my PC.

Could somebody at VM take a look at this please as Fusion 3 is useless for me with this problem

data cannot be read or written / vmdk failed

rcardona2k — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:29:47 GMT

You should look into updating the firmware on your Seagate drives, if possible. I've had 2 500 GB 7200 rpm Seagate SATA drives fail that were less than 6 months old. I expect a recall of these drives.

Can Fusion do x64 Windows on a late 2009 Mac Mini?

dirkce — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:53:51 GMT

Thanks. I assume it will work then. I see on further reading that the Mac Mini firmware limitation is only that can't boot OS X with the 64-bit kernel. That shouldn't impact a guest OS running in Fusion.

Keyboard Sensitivity

saru88 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:38:41 GMT

Thank you for the suggestion that cleared most of the problems I have been having with characters being repeated ad infinitum. I will be able to tell you more as I use Word more for documents that need to be prepared for next week. However, I did notice that the return key did give me more returns than I expected but that is small nuisance compared to the previous condition.

Thank you again,
koji

No mic input with Fusion 3.0 and Windows 7

Seidner — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:27:55 GMT

I use Fusion 3 with Snow Leopard and Windows 7. The microphone in my MacBook Pro is not working in Windows but works in Mac. I use Skype and similar programs. In the device manager in Windows, the isight camera has a yellow mark next to it but the camera is working. Speakers work fine. Help please!

Interested in virtualization, lots of questions.

omnicow — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:13:19 GMT

Why is it that you would not expect Adobe apps to perform well in a VM? Would it be because of the video card saturation? That's probably the biggest thing that I'm worried about. I'm still using CS3, which I don't think has much video card acceleration, so I'm crossing my fingers for similar performance to what I'm seeing now, but on two computers.

Oooh... I had to look up the license agreement. I thought the changes to the Mac OS X 10.5 Server license allowed you to install the same copy of the OS multiple times on one system, but that's not correct. Anyway, I rarely buy anything new, so I'd look to pick up two copies for cheap on eBay. That does make it very difficult though to decide if it's worth it to go the virtualization route.

Do you know if it's possible to disable USB or other connection ports in a particular VM instance? I think this could easily be done in the OS in Windows, but I can't find it in OS X. If this was possible, I'd like to disable all keyboards and monitors other than the one at the access point.

This sort of stuff is done every day with ESX using Windows and Linux, etc. I'd say virtualization sadly has to be one area where Apple is behind the competition.

Fusion 3.0 - Unable to use 2560x1440 resolution - 27-inch iMac - Windows 7

Scott Francis — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:35:03 GMT

2560x1440 isn't listed in the Resolution menu, and it's not listed as a mode in Advanced.

I tried updating the driver and Windows 7 indicates I'm using the latest.

Any ideas?

My fusion is not working. Restored state is stuck

tom howarth — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:32:20 GMT

Sorry that you think that moving a post out of a forum that is seldom read by the people that understand VMware Fusion the that which is dedicated to VMware Fusion is offensive.

And my signature is a stand that is appended to all posts. Just of you I have removed it

Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: www.planetvm.net
Contributing author on "VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment”. Currently available on roughcuts

Weird noises from my USB headset after upgrade to Snow Leopard

IcedSpud — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:18:28 GMT

Ok, just did my first VoIP call with my Mac in 64 bit mode using Cisco Ip Communicator in a Windows XP VM. No or very little latency. Except for the popping noises (which I could only hear) the phone call was good. So, it is useable compared to doing the same in 32 bit mode. But, not perfect like it was under Leopard 10.5.x. I still need Apple to fix this... Come on update 10.6.3

"Logging in to your PC and gathering information." goes FOREVER, in migration assistant

4chrisheuer — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:02:16 GMT

OK. Further information and yes, I did finally get my win XP migrated!!!! w00t

It did crash on me during the migration process and I noticed I was still out 100gb of hard drive space, but after I restarted the move, it seemed to clean itself up and give me back the space. After it crashed (and I screamed) late last night, I just restarted it and let it go. Woke up this am to see SUCCESS

Then ran into the win xp activation problem, and per other posters, if you are migrating a win xp from an oem license, you can still use it in the VM - but you need to get the license off the side of the pc you are migrating from and re-enter it, activate but do not register over the internet and voila...

you have a slow running version of win xp! now I can join the chorus of people complaining about performance, instead of lack thereof

There is hope!

multiple render targets in Fusion 3.0

fasthazard — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:46:47 GMT

Has anyone had luck with applications that use multiple render targets? I upgraded from Fusion 2.0 to 3.0 hoping to find better GPU virtualization, but this feature is still missing. Any clarification from VMware staff would be appreciated.

matt

Ubuntu 9.10 + VMWare Fusion 3.0.0 -- BROKEN AUDIO -- VMWare? Are you there?

WoodyZ — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:00:12 GMT

img47 wrote: Of course - there is also no guarantee, that 3.0.1 will ever be released.

If VMware follows their past then there will be some maintenance releases of Fusion 3, ie 3.0.1, 3.0.2 and I'd be very surprised if they did follow suite as they typically do with all of their products however not all maintenance releases introduce new functionality or support for previously unsupported OSes although in all likelihood they will eventually support Ubuntu 9.10.

I haven't pay them any money for developing this product any further than 3.0.0.

Maintenance releases are free and a required upgrade payment typically does not happen till a .5 as in 3.5.0 or full point release as in 4.0.0 in the case of Fusion. I forget which version of Workstation but IIRC there was a .5 release that required a paid upgrade.

VM Fusion 3 runs extremely slow with XP HOME vs VM Fusion 2.06 with XP PRO

LordandMaster — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:39:20 GMT

I am running VM Fusion 2.06 with XP Pro on a 2.4 Ghz with 4MB RAM Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard 10.6.2. From a restart of the computer, It takes 13 seconds to resume and 6 seconds to save the virtual machine state. This machine has 30 MB of Hard Disc space allocated to VM Fusion and 1 CPU and 1956 MB of Ram.

On a second newer Macbook Pro I am running VM Fusion 3.0 with XP Home on a 2.53 Ghz with 4MB RAM Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard 10.6.2. From a restart of the computer takes 3 minutes to resume and 13 seconds to save the virtual machine state. Without restarting the computer it takes 21 seconds to resume and 13 seconds to save the virtual machine state. This machine has 40 MB of Hard Disc space allocated to VM Fusion and 1 CPU and 1992 MB of Ram.

In all cases, no other applications are running either on the Mac or the Virtual machine. Why does VM Fusion 3 run so slowly on my newer machine? How do fix this?

Sound when the VM window is not active

Tkosh — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:38:57 GMT

In Fusion 2 the sound always worked even if the window is not in the foreground. I don't think that's the case in 3.0. Is there a switch somewhere I am missing?

Can't install windows xp home with VW 2.05

WoodyZ — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:34:45 GMT

If you're having an issue with the physical optical media I'd try making an ISO Image of it and use the ISO Image to install from. After making the ISO Image you can assign it as the CD/DVD under the Virtual Machine's CD/DVD settings

Notes: Creating an ISO Image of the CD/DVD Disc

When using Disk Utility in order to have a bootable ISO Image you should select CD/DVD Master with no encryption in which case by default it will have a .cdr file extension and in version 1.1 of Fusion and later does not need to be changed to .iso although one can if one chooses to. A default .dmg image is compressed and is not bootable although an uncompressed .dmg will boot if changed to .iso and of course the source CD/DVD must be bootable in the first place.

To create an ISO Image using Disk Utility...

1. Insert the CD or DVD disc in your computer's optical drive.
2. Open Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility).
3. Select the CD or DVD disc in the list of disks and volumes.
4. Choose File > New > "Disk Image from (Name of Disc)."
5. Type a name for the disc image.
6. Choose "DVD/CD master" from the Image Format pop-up menu.
7. Choose "none" from the Encryption pop-up menu.
8. Click Save.

###

network down after shutting down VM

midnight1187 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:16:27 GMT

I am running Fusion 2.0.6 and have a Win XP Pro vm and a Redhat Linux vm. When I shut down either vm, the Mac network stops working... any help is appreciated.

Cannot conect to Win XP VM using Remote Desktop

bmgoldstein — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:34:25 GMT

rcardona2k,

Thank you for the suggestions. However Windows settings to allow for RDC connecting are all set like you mentioned, I will disable settings and enable again as well as turn off forewall completely and try again.

If there you or anyone else has any other possible solutions or suggestions please let me know.

Thank you,
Bruce

fix network card on copied VM image

tongueroo — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:11:46 GMT

resolved.

Memory Freeze Up

XUSN — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:09:30 GMT

I've seen posts of different variations of the same theme, but they haven't worked for me. I use VM to support XP on my Mac. It recently froze because I was out of memory. I discovered that I have ~ 60Gb of segmented files:

Windows XP Professional - s001.vmdk
Windows XP Professional - s002.vmdk
Etc. up to 034

How do I delete the dupes or other data embedded in these separate files to clean up memory. I know it is VM Fushion related and not underlying XP data. Thanks.

VM not freeing up space from Windows 7 deleted files (windows.old)

jmcrtp — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:44:57 GMT

Thanks WoodyZ, that worked like a charm.

Is there a reason that the delete function doesn't seem to clear the data? Also I notice from within programs when opening or saving files I can't seem to use the shared folders on the mac. Is this an initial limitation or is this feature not going to work the same as in fusion 2.0? Even when I make a shortcut from my documents in the windows 7 folder inside the VM to a shared folder on the mac and try to go through the shortcut it fails. Windows says it is unavailable, but I can see it at the same time in windows explorer. Is this a vmware issue or a problem with my setup of windows 7?

Fusion 3/Windows 7 Ultimate/multiple displays

plaintiger — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:34:14 GMT

<empty>

Better Performance with XP or Windows 7? SUGGESTIONS PLZ!!!

iplaydc87 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:25:27 GMT

do you think I would notice a big difference in the performance of my mac from using the 512mb RAM with XP compared to 1 GB for windows 7?

Fusion 3, Win7 64bit super sluggish

jmstacey — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:09:15 GMT

Here are a couple short screen captures of the sluggishness I'm encountering:

VMW3 Desktop Dragging Demo
Notice the severe delay of the selection box as I'm resizing it on the desktop. CPU usage in both host and guest are not maxed out.

VMW3 Visual Studio 2010 Beta Demo
This video demonstrates sluggishness in the latest beta of Visual Studio.

Both videos are rather low quality and reduced framerate and do not fully capture the truly poor experience.

Vista Business much faster under Fusion 3.0.0, but also blurry and full of artifacts

jmstacey — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:00:56 GMT

I've also noticed the blurry issue. Visual Studio 2010 Beta is particularly bad, and it's not just the title bar--everything is horribly unclear.

Here's a screenshot: http://jonsview.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/VMW3-VS-Blurry-Demo.png
Notice the tabs towards the bottom. It's not a bad screenshot, it's actually that bad.

Edit: I've got an Nvidia card: 256mb 8600M GT (MBP mid-2007).

Unable to access internet after upgrading to 3.0 and Windows 7

terra72 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:08:32 GMT

I've gone through the complete upgrade of VM Fusion (to 3.0) and Windows (from XP to 7) and while it wasn't without issues (mainly memory), I finally got it to work. And it works extremely well, much faster than VMF2/XP, with one important exception: I cannot connect to the internet over my wifi network.

I've tried all the different network settings in VMware Fusion, and it consistently tells me that I am connected (Virtual Machine // Network Adaptors // Settings). However, when I try to actually access the net, it can't find the network and none of the 'troubleshooting' tools help me.

I'm a little frustrated as Windows 7 actually works really well in VMware Fusion 3.0 with the exception noted above.

Any ideas?

Thx

How do I save a VM so I can run VMware player in otherplatform

echi111 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:32:50 GMT

This works. And I can copy to Windows 7. Thanks very much.

Recent Applications

rianquinn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:14:23 GMT

Is there a "defaults" terminal command for turning off the Recent Applications that are shown in VMWare Fusion 3's Windows menu. If not why? That seems like a pretty standard thing to turn off.

Windows 7 Media Center performance?

henrik7 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:05:41 GMT

I have a MacBook Pro (latest) 2.5Ghz with 4GB and under Windows 7 (Fusion 3.0, 1cpu, 1GB), the Media Center or Media Payer works but performance for HD videos recorded on a Media Center TV is choppy. I am curios if others have gotten the Media Center to display recorded TV smoothly or if this is simple a limitation of Fusion 3.0. Anyone?

- Henrik

How to detach Command key from Windows menu?

Snorkledorf — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:22:16 GMT

Customer support said:

I've gone through the same steps to try and disable that and have come up with the same problem. I've filed a bug report to see if perhaps there's bug with the software or if we're doing it wrong. I'll let you know what I find out.

and

They're saying that they will be improving the functionality of this to make it easier to understand and do in a future release of Fusion. They say that currently you'd have to map the windows key to something else as it cannot be unmapped. It just has to be attached to something.

...so they're aware of the problem. I tried mapping the Windows menu to some random keystrokes to get it out of the way like the second message implies could be done, but it still came up with the Command key So I'm not entirely convinced about their second explanation (which I mentioned to them in reply).

In the meantime, futzing with the registry did stop it, though that's a very non-optimal solution for people with many VMs.

Vm crashed - line 63 syntax error

rsehgal — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:50:36 GMT

Thanks. I have used this script successfully on a couple of VMs. Most recently had to use an older copy of the log file as the most recent one was actually corrupt too.

Fusion 3- VM needs to be running for Disk Cleanup???

beckettb — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:21:15 GMT

Yes, but I had already removed them (and all snapshots) from the snapshot window. It's not really the number of vmdk files I find odd but specifically what I had to do to get Cleanup to run (turn on the VM)...

Virtual windows stuck while trying to shut down after an automatic windows update

rcardona2k — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:52:10 GMT

Try holding the option key down while clicking on the Virtual Machine menu, the Restart and Shutdown option will turn into Force Reset and Shutdown which will forceably reset or power off the machine.

OpenGL 2 program crashes with Fusion v3 - anyone get OpenGL 2 to work?

mjferrari — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:56:51 GMT

Well, I guess I'm really stuck now. I can't send in a technical support request, since I'm not listed for Fusion v3 (or any other version of Fusion, for that matter). Since a Fusion employee hasn't responded to my question, I'm guessing nobody really knows why I'm having this problem. Unfortunately, there seems to be no other way, besides these forums, to request technical assistance on a trial product. That means I'm stuck figuring this out on my own.

I hate to do this, but I might as well try Parallels v5 and see if my program works there. The upgrade cost for Fusion v3 and Parallels v5 are the same for me. I'd like to buy both, but I can't afford to right now.

In any case, I've attached the crash message to this post. Any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks for reading.

Mike

Windows won't close

ffusa — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:40:05 GMT

I have the same problem; windows is shutting down but will not shut down. I tried "shutting down the Guest" with no luck; still shows powered on. I tried sending alt,ctrl,delete with no luck. It is stuck. Any ideas?

Thank you.

Dan

Fusion 3 - Windows 7 Dual Monitor Fullscreen Mode breaks when a UAC prompt is triggered

reemas — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:36:14 GMT

i have the same issue. when i load up vmware it opens as a clone on my two displays using windows 7. i have to exit full screen and relaunch it to get it working correctly. didn't have this issue with windows xp. any help?

Success installing drivers for iSight from a Snow Leopard DVD in Fusion 3.0.0 XP VM?

avanpelt — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:05:48 GMT

Well, my iSight seems to be working OK without the drivers being properly installed. It's showing up in Device Manager under "Other Devices" with an exclamation point next to "Built-in iSight", but it is being recognized by the livestream.com app and seems to initialize and capture video fine, so I guess I'm set even though the driver doesn't appear to be installed.

Virtual Machine does not start up

sixtus — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:08:55 GMT

rcardona2k,
thank you very much.
I'm downloading the 2.0.6 version now.
I will inform You about results.

thanks again

Enable Hardware-assisted virtualization (HAV) in BIOS in a VMWare Fusion 3 VM

jmattson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:19:21 GMT

This path is somewhat kludgey, running Player to play the XP mode VM requiring RAM for XP and Win 7, in a Boot Camp parition, ick.

It's true that you cannot use the same integration features if you use Workstation/Player to run the XP Compatibility mode VM under Windows 7. There is the additional drawback that you cannot run VMware Tools in the outer (Windows 7) VM if you want to run them in the inner (Windows XP) VM. See Running Nested VMs for details.

IMO, you're much better off building a new XP machine to run side-by-side with 7. In the same way WS/Player can run the XP mode virtual hard disk (.vhd), so can Fusion but the licensing does not transfer as you're not technically hosting it on Win 7. Building another XP requires another license but if you need to do anything else behinds run IE as molasses (and there always is), you'll have much better success with a first class XP Fusion VM.

I have to agree with this. Moreover, if you have been running Windows XP in your Boot Camp partition in the past, you probably already have the necessary Windows XP license.

How can I check the status of my upgrade serial number?

bmwdk — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:02:25 GMT

I ordered Fusion 2 (with free upgrade to Fusion 3) from Amazon on October 7, 2009. I mailed in the requied forms to get a Fusion 3 serial number on Oct 31,2009. I have not heard anything back, and when I check the serial number page with the Fusion 2 serial number, I get the following messgae:

The serial number you entered is not yet processed.
Please allow 2 weeks to update our systems if you mailed in your form.
If you have not mailed your upgrade eligibilty form, Please follow the
instructions below.

I has been 3 weeks since I sent in the the forms and my trial serial number has 4 days left, so I am getting desperate. I tried to open a support ticket on the web a week ago, but did not hear anything back, not even a ticket number as promised on the web site.

So back to my original question, does anybody have an idea of how I can find out the status?

Keyspan serial to usb adaptors configuration question.

tdhcsc — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:59:12 GMT

I'm currently using Parallels( older version ) and am thinking of switching to 'Fusion'.

We use our Macintosh on our cruising sailboat as a navigation computer. Most of the navigation programs are PC based.

We are trying to configure two Keyspan serial to usb adaptors for sending and receiving high frequency email over the ham radio. I'm really having trouble configuring both Keyspan adaptors to work at the same time. ( one has to go from the computer to a digital translator (Pactor modem) connected to the hf radio and a second cable goes directly from the computer to the HF radio to control the radio frequency settings. I've been working on getting this to work for about 6 hours and have started to wonder if switching to Fusion will solve the problem. (don't like hitting my head against a wall)

So, the question is,, Is it easy to configure 2 Keyspan serial to usb adaptors to work with Fusion? I have the working on the Macintosh side but setting it up with Parallels and then XP is driving me crazy.

If Fusion is an easier way to go and I could set it up reasonably easily I'll put my money down and switch in a heartbeat.

thanks.

VM Fusion Using Twice As Much Disk Space As Allocated Drives?

emarsh — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:28:57 GMT

No I don't but I will do some reading and see what it is and see if I can find it.

Newbie question regarding Fusion 3 - Windows 7 (upgrade) and virtual disk

rcardona2k — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:52:50 GMT

Installing Windows without a product key is a convenience for having more options to activate Windows later. Rest assured Windows will "ask" you activate in the near future, but if you are ready to "true up" then go to properties of the Computer icon and at the bottom you'll see the activation status and you can change/enter your product key.

vmware fusion upgrade from v3

guyny — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:09:07 GMT

I think it was the companies failing attempt to keep pace with Parallels EXCELLENT release that corresponded with Windows 7 release.

menu application fusion don't appear

domnath888 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:35:23 GMT

hi
i have juste installed fusion for mac and i dont view application menu ????

Installing VMWare Tools in Fedora

woodmeister — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:38:09 GMT

Duh, your right! Was early in the morning and hadn't
had my full dose of caffeine yet.

Mouse pointer in VM gets stuck displaying hand cursor, sometimes disappears altogether

jkallen — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:40:28 GMT

Worked for me too today. Great tip!

VMWare Fusion 3 Windows 7 bootcamp partition blue screen on startup (error 0x0000007b)

Arkangil — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:22:22 GMT

Bump.

Anyone know if there is a way to recover my ability to log in to bootcamp?

If not, here is my thought, Blow away the bootcamp partition and Fusion.

Install Windows 7 to bootcamp, install Snow Leopard drivers and MS updates and all that. Register Windows from bootcamp.

Only then should I attach Fusion to the partition.

Will this work, if recovery is not possible?

Mouse motion speed changes with Fusion 3 and MS Mouse

drcul — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:07:41 GMT

I also have this issue.

Two possible things that you can try - I've had limited success with them, but recently the issue has cropped back up.

1) Disable the third party mouse software for VMWare (you can set MS Mouse software to disable itself when VMWare loads). This works as long as you don't switch back and forth from guest OS to the host.

2) It seems that when VMWare sets up the virtual mouse it bases the acceleration on the OS X Mouse Pref Pane - any third party software then seems to multiply this acceleration. By adjusting the Mouse Pref Pane tracking speed I was able to find something that was workable.

Let me know if either of these work for you.

Juniper VPN and VMware

tomkeator — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:05:32 GMT

I am having no issues however my corporate administrator installed the settings

Clicks with Intuos 3 pen go to "wrong" window

MacNephDoc — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:49:48 GMT

Environment: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit VM running within Mac OS X 10.6.2 (Snow Leopard) on a 2008 dual Quad Core 2.8 GHz Mac Pro.

I'm running (via Citrix Server over the internet) a Java Machine version of a large health care entity's electronic health record. I use a Wacom Intuos 3 graphics tablet for screen navigation. Sometimes when I click the Intous pen on a clickable region of the Java application, the click is sensed not by the clickable region of the foreground window in the VM, but rather by a window in the background (whatever native Mac application lies in the background window. Bringing the VM to foreground focus again and clicking with the Intuos pen in exactly the same spot works as intended.

I've installed the latest (Oct '09) versions of the Mac and Windows Wacom drivers into the Mac OS and Windows OS (VM) respectively. The drivers are said to be Snow Leopard and Windows 7 compatible, respectively.

I've not tried clicking at the same VM window regions with a USB mouse, but I can do that.

I see that there have been discussions about problems with Wacom tablets and VMWare fusion, but I haven't seen discussions that describe problems such as I'm describing. Are these known issues? Is there anything you'd like me to do to clarify my problems to the VMWare community?

Thanks so much,

Cannot read CD on MAC

yaboo1964 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:14:18 GMT

Thanks

Shared Folders vs Virtual Disks to access WinXP files?

Zevi — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:59:25 GMT

Woody,

"I normally use standard OS Based Resource Sharing and have found that with every VMware Shared Folders issues I had that the normal industry standard methods always worked"

I was trying to follow what you say, but I can't figure out how to do it.

When I was using XP with Fusion, the (rather old) Win app was able to open a file on the shared Mac:
\\vmware-host\Shared Folders\targetFolder

After installing Win 7, the app cannot find the target because it looks for
\\vmware-host\Shared\\Folders\targetFolder

Any suggestion would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Zevi
bareket@umich.edu

How do I uninstall VMWare TOOLS??

anystupidassname — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:23:26 GMT

With respect specifically to moving a machine from vmware workstation 6.5.x to another virtualization product or physical hardware.

"If uninstall of vmtools fails you can find out below how to remove vmtools and other vmware software inside your vm.
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1001354 and here http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1308"

The first link is an incomplete manual removal procedure.
The second link is not relevant.

The first link and you can download removal tool here:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/viewAttachment.do?attachID=VMware_Install_Cleaner.zip&documentID=1308
After you have removed previous tools new can be installed.

The tool is useless as far as I'm concerned. I didn't run procmon or anything to figure out what exactly it is supposed to do but, after I ran it twice before and after reboots, my guest still had:
12 Vmware services / apps
Several virtual devices
Surely other things I'm not even aware of and
EVEN the "add/remove programs" entries (let's face it, any doofus can remove those manually but why can't this tool do it for you?!?)

Why did it not take me more then 2 minutes to find these solutions?

We tried it > it didn't work > you're throwing an ID10T error...

Vmware obviously is not interested in facilitating the move away from Vmware which sort of makes business sense...

Cheers!

Cheers indeed...

Ubuntu 9.10 and fusion 3 - no sound

rbnuser — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:41:06 GMT

I've now tried Ubuntu 9.10 with Parallels 5 which is now released. It works fine there, so the problem seems to be with vmware fusion 3.0

I'll switch to Parallels until they (vmware) get their act together. ( I was impressed with the ease of installation on parallels, including the Tools.)

Does 3.0 work with expose in unity mode or still doesn't?

KieranK — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:59:00 GMT

I also won't be upgrading until this Expose issue is fixed. I seem to recall them making comments in other posts about the technical reasons in Windows for why it isn't possible - but it's obviously to do with Fusion's implementation of Expose/Unity, not with Windows - as it works perfectly in Parallels 5 with an XP VM.

I consider this basic functionality that should have been implemented by the third major release.

VMware Tools failed install with Fusion 3.0 (install package error)

chambo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:58:42 GMT

Get "This installation package could not be opened. Contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer package."

It mounts the Tools drive, but fails when launched. I've tried installing directly from the .exe file.

Please advise. Thanks.

VMWare Fusion 3 - Warcraft III Textures all Jacked Up

DerekS — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:40:33 GMT

No it doesn't! It's a native Intel app.

VMware Tools won't stay installed...Fusion V3 Vista Ultimate 19Nov09

continuum — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:38:19 GMT

maybe your Vista VM has nonpersistent disks ?

___________________________________

VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

Multiple instances of Mac OS X Snow Leopard virtual machines

asatoran — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:26:38 GMT

I can run multiple VMs each containing their own instance of Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server. Do I need a Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server license for each VM or would that all be covered under the one license because I'm running them all on the same physical hardware?

Each instance of OSX would need it's own license, according to Apple's EULA. So five OSX Server VMs, would need 5 OSX Server licenses, in addition to the license for whatever the host OS is using.

Are there any additional services running on server that I could disable? Any other tunning guides?

I don't have that much experience with OSX Server, so I couldn't tell you much about tuning. (Just an old G5 iMac running Leopard Server used as a iTunes library and file server.) I suspect you really couldn't get a OSX Server VM to run much below the minimum of 2GB RAM anyway. But that's just a guess. Hopefully, someone else with more knowledge will post.

Can't open files in the Virtual Machine from Mac OS.

surfdust — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:01:40 GMT

I need to be able to use apps on my mac to open files that are in the virtual Machine (win xp pro). I can open files on the Mac from my VM but just not the other way around. I've followed the instructions for choosing to open in host application from within the VM but it didn't work and through an error. Shouldn't there be a way to share the files on the VM so that files can be opened and worked on from within Mac.

Please help if you know how to do this. Thanks.

Can't Run Hyper V on Virtual WIndows 2008 64 bit Server

etung — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:36:17 GMT

No change

Unable to install Windows 7RC on VMware Fusion 2

newbe56 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:45:45 GMT

So, I suppose there are no more clues for this type of problem.

VMware Fusion 3 runs extremely slow...

cwm1949 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:08:09 GMT

I am using a mac book 2.16 Ghz 2 Gb Memory and 10.6.2 OSX (have been for 2 years) I have loved fusion but no more.

As soon as I installed fusion 3 and try to start Windows XP whole machine is so slow that I am back using my Dell windows XP machine.

Argggg

Fusion slows the entire machine down to where it is usless.

I hope someone is fixing it. Does anyone know how to rivert to the prior version of Fusion?

Do not upgrade until this is fixed

vcpu-0| TOOLS call to unity.launchmenu.open failed.

VicL — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:32:48 GMT

Hello Folks;

I am running a MacBook Pro/ OSX 10.5.8/ Fusion 3 with a Win7 guest.

I am having much problem getting the Menu bar application to load my windows application list, or to respond to the keyboard shortcut assigned to it.

The only piece of information I have is this from my VMWare log:

vcpu-0| TOOLS call to unity.launchmenu.open failed.

Any ideas?

Thank you,
vic

why is hard drive constanly working in VM ware 2.0.6

ukchucktown — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:38:24 GMT

This is just a guess but it might be XP indexing. If not indexing then some XP service running in the background. Next time it happens try to open Task Manager and find out what process is hogging the CPU. Try the following in the guest...

1. Open up "My Computer."
2. Right-click on your hard drive (usually "C:") and choose "Properties."
3. Uncheck the box at the bottom that reads "Allow Indexing Service to..."

You will also want to disable the indexing service. The only drawback to disabling indexing is Windows Search is slower but it still works. I never use it in my VMs so I always disable it.

Anyone get a returns on Fusion 3?

tatt2ed — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:41:39 GMT

I just got done removing v3 and reinstalled v2.06

PowerPoint 2007 performance in Fusion 3.0

8Sfitz — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:30:31 GMT

Hi Sailesh,

Thanks for the quick answer, I will make the adjustments you recommended.

Steve

Apple keyboard drivers in 3 with Windows 7 64 bit.

jonoslack — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:44:17 GMT

Hi There
I don't seem to be able to get the proper (UK) keyboard installed in Windows 7 64bit on fusion 3
If I try and install from the boot camp section of the SL installation DVD:
applekeyboardinstaller
I get the message:
You have to run the 64 bit version of DPinst.exe on this machine.

Is there another way of getting my \ etc. in the right place!
thanks in advance

Drag and Drop copying not working in Fusion 3

cargen — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:02:20 GMT

Same problem here. Can no longer drag and drop to XP since upgrading from v2 to v3. I am NOT using a Boot Camp partition. Operating a MacBook Pro 3.06 on 10.6.2. I've tried uninstalling VMware Tools completely and re-installing with NO success. To me drag and drop is one of the most vital features of a virtual PC and without it, the program is so crippled as to be nearly useless. Guess I'll have to downgrade back to v2.

Surprising that VMWare would release v3 with such a major problem.

VMWare, PLEASE FIX THIS!!!!

prolific usb to serial dropping characters with linux

woodmeister — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:37:23 GMT

I had similar issues with various versions of Fedora. I have 2 Prolific
based serial dongles that I had used. Had these issues even in Fusion 2.X.
In some cases, the Prolific device that was several years old would
work at a full 115K with an older Fedora and the newer Prolific device
would max out at 38K before dropping characters. In a newer Fedora,
the newer Prolific device would not work at all and the older one would
max out @19.2K. Also, in the different versions of Fedora, minicom
would work but other terminal programs wouldn't and visa versa.
Even tried reloading drivers to no effect.

I had a similar issue even on a real PC although not as severe. There
must be some weird thing going on with linux drivers and these parts
which get amplified when using a Fusion VM.

Never did find a solution to the issue.

As a side note, both Prolific parts I have work flawlessly and at max speeds
in Win2k and XP VM's in Fusion. So there must be a linux/Fusion interface
issue that seems at fault. Whether it was a Fusion or linux issue or a little
of both was never determined.

Backslash Key

Richard Starling — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:37:38 GMT

Sailesh,

Thanks, but the \ does not appear to be 'under' any key or key combination. I have a partial solution by installing Apple's Bootcamp Drivers V3 (although these are not yet entirely compatible with Windows 7 x64 and have to be knife and forked to be installed). This now gives me the \ where it should be but I have lost the £ key (it's now a #). Apple are due to release an update to Bootcamp drivers before the end of the year to make them fully compatible with Windows 7 and I will see if they completely solve the problem.

Workflow advice needed to get XP bootcamp Parallels to Snow Leopard Win7 Fusion Virtual?

Herojig — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:00:49 GMT

Hi all, first let me say that I love fusion and all my other macs are fusion3 and win7 machines - fantastic! But I have one macbook used by wife that has XP and Parallels. I want to get it to use fusion3 and win7, like her desktop has, but not sure where to begin. The mb is already upgraded to snow leopard. I understand that you have to use some MS gizmo to update her XP to Win7 and preserve her programs, settings, and data, but when you throw Fusion into the mix, I don't know where to begin...do you? thx!!!

Can't get E72 to Connect on USB

tomkeator — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:45:20 GMT

I am using XP Pro on Fusion 3.0 and can't get E72 to connect using USB. In VMF the settings are reading the unit and when I go to repair in Install Hardware the message is there are no drivers installed.

Disconnect/failure to refresh desktop when changing views in Fusion 3.0

AarowB — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:05:49 GMT

While running Windows 7, x64 edition, from a bootcamp partition, I will often change the view from single window to full screen and back. When doing that, icon size is distorted, you lose the windows tool bar, which makes it very difficult to function. The only time it seems to come out of that mode and reset itself is after it's been sitting for about 15-20 minutes. Shouldn't desktop proportionality be based on screen size?

Symptoms and observations:

Problem occurs when changing any aspect of the view while Windows is running.
Unable to directly click on icons (have to fish around around the screen): The UI doesn't refresh when the view is changed
All icons on desktop are still there, including start menu and toolbar, but the UI doesn't show them.
VM starts with desired view, icons, etc properly synched with UI.
VM resets to appropriate view when shutting down or restarting
Resolution and other options in control panel don't change when changing from one view to another

Anyone else having this problem?

My machine and software:
Mac: Mid-Late 2008 MacBook Pro (17"), OSX 10.6.2, 2.5ghz Core2Duo, 4gb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 512mb, 17" screen with 32-bit pixel depth
Windows: BootCamp native running Windows 7 Professional

Upgrade helper service

gordon142 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:36:32 GMT

With VMware tools installed, there is a service and process called "vmupgradehelper.exe" that is running at all times, even when I'm booting directly to my Boot Camp partition (no other VMware services stay running when booted directly). I do not remember it in versions prior to 3.0. Is this normal, or something that should have maybe only been run once and never go removed for whatever reason? In any case, I can't see any reason why it should be running when booted directly into Windows. One of the reasons I like VMware over Parallels is that VMware is pretty good about not loading all its integration extras when booting directly with Boot Camp (Parallels does, and they actually prevent the Boot Camp drivers from working properly, which is infuriating). More info would be appreciated.

Microsoft Office applications crashing when opening Shared files from the Mac - Fusion 3 + Windows 7 Pro

Scubert — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:28:57 GMT

Finding this post was a god send. I am building some major procurement docs and they kept bombing on me. The were actually saving but crashing Word 07 on launch and save, funny thing was auto save was not having a problem. I am using the short file names until the fix is released. Thanks Steve.

Randy B

Using Multiple Monitors with Fusion 3.0

PatAlexander — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:51:31 GMT

etung, thank you so much for the answer. So simple I just couldn't figure it out. So awesome for managing those programs I must do in the virtual PC.

Unity in Fusion 3 runs a bit like a joke for me

Nixta — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:53:56 GMT

I don't know if VMWare are aware of the issue. It's so obviously a problem I can't imagine they're not. They do seem to monitor these forums pretty well, so I'm surprised they haven't pitched in here.

Well, I couldn't take it any more so I switched to Parallels 5 which works really well now that they've fixed their dual display issues. I doubt I'll be coming back to VMWare any time soon. The whole release was a bit of a disaster. I knew something was amiss when I read their tweet congratulating the team on the release and to get some sleep

Shared folder documentation

ukchucktown — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:25:30 GMT

I might of answered my own question. I'm guessing Fusion might be the OS X equivalent of Workstation. There are plenty of docs on Workstation but nothing for Fusion. Is it safe to assume everything in the Workstation docs applies to Fusion?

Fusion 3.0 Migration Assistant - Error - Help Please

stws — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:33:42 GMT

I have successfully migrated a Windows XP Prof from an external PC, a Windows XP Home from my own bootcamp partition (to drop this, never use it as fusion is just as fast), then I ran into the same issue trying to migrate a Windows Vista Home from an external PC. It seemed to hang when trying to log in on the remote. I found that making a new administrator user on the Windows without any <space> in the luser name, then it worked (my lusers on the XPs was already with spaces

So guys, try to drop using your full named account with first and last name separated with space, create a simple 'admin' account of an Administrator type, give it a password and log in with that on the Windoze and launch the PC Migration Assistant, and connect fine from your Mac, afterward sell your old PC HW and live happily... or install .chintosh/Linux/OpenSolaris and make other good use of it.

Hope it helps!

/Steffen

Two major issues with 3.0

sailesh_a — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:09:14 GMT

A conflicting 3rd part mouse driver would have been my guess too.

What's your pointer speed set at? This should be in Control Panel -> Mouse Properties -> Pointer Options.

I've filed bug 496445 about the issues you're having with the mouse in full screen mode. Can you do the following:
- run VMware Fusion
- click Help -> Collect Support Information
- email the resulting file to fusion-feedback@vmware.com
- reference bug 496445 in that email

Thanks,
Sailesh

Send keystroke or mouse event to Unity app?

sailesh_a — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:57:42 GMT

Hi, some users seem to be having partial success using "tell application "System Events" to keystroke aChar". See:
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/189748?tstart=0

Thanks,
Sailesh

Windows Lose Focus

sailesh_a — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:49:01 GMT

Hi, thanks for the feedback. I've filed bug # 496434 about this issue.

Thanks,
Sailesh

block virtual ports

rcardona2k — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:29:49 GMT

Are you blocking them from inbound connections or outgoing? The Windows firewall can block incoming connections pretty easily but you'll have to pick every port you want open. Other firewall products can block outgoing connections more effectively.

I don't quite follow your router comment, if your VMs are bridged they have IPs managable by your router like any physical machine. If they are NAT, they they're probably already blocked except from the OS X host itself.

If you're on linux look at iptables configuration.

VM suspends when Host suspends

nbe — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:24:43 GMT

By suspending the host os I'm thinking of putting the Mac into sleep (wether it is str or str+std). In that regard my vm's have always suspended. Upon waking from sleep the vm's also woke from sleep. I thought the suspend/shutdown feature in the Fusion settings could change this behaviour. Anyway, he is indeed talking about a different situation.

Online Store issue (no response)

eN0ch — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:10:49 GMT

So it's Kevin to the rescue!? Well done, Kev. I'll be on the phone shortly

Regards,
Lance <º))><

MacBook 2.16 OSX 10.5.4
Fusion 1.1.3 WinXP

"stopping job because the scheduler could not execute the backend" printing error

mykmelez — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:23:15 GMT

Make that three different printers, including both USB and networked printers.

Mouse gets slower and slower (fusion 3 / win7 / Autocad 2010)

helavagal — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:13:24 GMT

This is very frustrating! Has anyone heard of a resolution to this? I have noticed that it is only in my autocad (so far i am using only architecture 2010 but i am going to start using revit soon) and i need to resolve this as soon as possible.

VMware 3.0 running w/10.6.2 SL: Using lots of CPU (no activity however)

cfm56d7b — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:40:21 GMT

Quick update:

When this problem began to occur, Mac OS X performance became noticeably sluggish and progressively became even more sluggish as the time went by.

I shut down VM, then VMware. The same, very sluggish performance continued. I restarted Mac OS X, started VMware, and then Win XP Pro SP3 virtual machine. No problems yet after 12+ hours of operation.