VMware Communities : Document List - VMware Fusion® (for Mac)

Fusion 3 on snow leopard

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:22:49 GMT

I currently run Fusion 2 on a 2007 MacBook Pro with Intel core 2 duo chip (but pre unibody design). I installed 4Gb RAM immediately and Windows XP home edition works fine.

I am about to buy a new MacBook Pro (2.4 GHz, core 2 duo, 4Gb), which will run Snow Leopard, and I guess I'll need to upgrade to Fusion 3 and run Windows 7. I see that MacBooks now come with 4Gb, when they used to have 2Gb as standard. This makes me wodner whether I'll be able to get by with the 4Gb supplied or will need to upgrade to 8Gb, depending upon the greed of Snow Leopard and Windows 7. Ay advice you may be able to offer would be much appreciated. While the cost of upgrading memory from 2Gb to 4Gb on my current MacBook Pro was quite reasonable (i.e. not via Apple's extortionate pricing regime), Kingston and comparable good quality memory for an upgrade to 8Gb on current models is very expensive, so I'm hoping it may not be necessary.

Cheers

Steve

Application sharing after moving the virtual machine

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:38:34 GMT

Once you moved the virtual machine (the .vmwarevm bundle) from one drive to another and start the machine, Fusion asks if you moved or copied it. It may happen, that the list of machines window still shows the original machine (i.e., when you moved from one volume to another and "forgot" to delete the source).

Even though the helper applications within the vmwarevm-bundle point to the correct virtual machine (there are several threads here where the update procedure is described), Fusion may complain about a missing path (i.e. the previous position of the machine): The application in the guest operating system couldn't be started. BTW: In Fusion 2.x the error dialog was omitted and no error was prompted -- In this sense Fusion 3.x has improved.

The solution: Don't forget to delete the virtual machine from the "list of virtual machines" window that doesn't exist any more. The existence of such an outdated entry captures the proper application association (plist file within the helper app) and misleads Fusion to an error.

Background: I use several different virtual machines on my system and upgraded my physical hard drive configuration. Furthermore, I like to start up the virtual machines with the help of the Finder rather than using the window "list of virtual machines" from within Fusion. Hence, it took me some time to hunt down the error described above; and Fusion 3.0 finally helped me with the error dialog.

Upgrading Virtual Machines from VMware Fusion 2.x to VMware Fusion 3

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:07:04 GMT

For the best experience upgrading from VMware Fusion 2.x to VMware Fusion 3, you will need to upgrade VMware Tools to the latest version shipping with VMware Fusion 3 to enable features we care about including Unity, Aero, and much more.

To update to the latest VMware Tools for Windows

NOTE: If you are upgrading your virtual machines from VMware Fusion 1.x to VMware Fusion 3, we recommend you first read the Updating from VMware Fusion 1.x to 2 upgrade document that has more considerations for you as you move to VMware Fusion 3.

1) Start up your existing VMware Fusion virtual machine
2) Select "Install VMware Tools" or "Update VMware Tools" in the Virtual Machine menu
3) VMware Fusion will display a confirmation dialog with instructions. Click Install
4) Windows should display an Autorun dialog, click Run Setup.exe (published by VMware, Inc.) to start the VMware Tools installer.
5) If you do not see VMware Tools begin installing, open the CD-ROM device in Windows Explorer, open VMware Tools and double-click "setup.exe".
6) Click Next and follow the prompts to install VMware Tools. Once installation is complete, you will be asked to reboot your virtual machine.

Troubleshooting VMware Tools Issues

In case you have problems, we recommend that you Uninstall VMware Tools, restart your virtual machine, and reinstall VMware Tools.

To Uninstall VMware Tools for Windows

1) In Windows, go to Control Panel
2) Select Add/Remove Programs on Windows XP, or Select Uninstall a Program under Programs and Features on Windows Vista/7
3) Select VMware Tools and click Uninstall
4) Follow the prompts and restart your virtual machine when done.

Next, Reinstall VMware Tools for Windows

1) Start up your existing VMware Fusion virtual machine
2) Select "Install VMware Tools" or "Update VMware Tools" in the Virtual Machine menu
3) VMware Fusion will display a confirmation dialog with instructions. Click Install
4) Windows should display an Autorun dialog, click Run Setup.exe (published by VMware, Inc.) to start the VMware Tools installer.
5) If you do not see VMware Tools begin installing, open the CD-ROM device in Windows Explorer, open VMware Tools and double-click "setup.exe".
6) Click Next and follow the prompts to install VMware Tools. Once installation is complete, you will be asked to reboot your virtual machine.

This should resolve any issues with VMware Tools installation

Subscription Service- What does it offer? What if I don't have it?

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:10:22 GMT

VMware Fusion 3 comes with free UPDATES to fix bugs and
the like. So, VMware Fusion 3.0.1, 3.0.2, etc are ALL free UPDATES with any
VMware Fusion 3 full purchase or upgrade. If we were to come out with a VMware
Fusion 3.1, that is an UPDATE that would be free to all VMware Fusion 3
customers.

The Subscription offering provides MAJOR UPGRADE
protection for 12 months. UPGRADES are major new releases with significant
features. So, it will protect you in the event that VMware Fusion 4 is released
in the next 12 months you will get that MAJOR UPGRADE for free with valid
subscription. So, $20 gives you protection that if VMware Fusion 4 comes out in
the next 12 months, you will get it for FREE as part of your valid
subscription.

To summarize:

All VMware Fusion 3 customers will get UPDATES and bug fixes
for free. If you buy the Subscription add-on, you will get MAJOR UPGRADE
protection in the next 12 months.

This document was generated from the following thread: Subscription Service- What does it offer? What if I don't have it?

Having Upgrade Problems - Get Free VMware Fusion 3 30-day Trial Download With License Key Here

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:37:22 GMT

First off, I want to thank our users for the flood of excitement for VMware Fusion 3. Because we’ve seen even more demand than anticipated, the VMware Fusion upgrade portal is having significant problems keeping up with the demand!

I want to reassure you that we are working on this urgently and expect to be back in action soon.

In the mean time, I want to get you up and running with VMware Fusion 3 while we resolve the issues many of you are encountering.

1. Click here to download the VMware Fusion 3 software
2. Use the following 30 trial license key to get you up and running: JN28P-7UJ8M-H8K33-0202P-9EPH4

I hope this helps you get up and running while we get our VMware Fusion upgrade portal back in order.

Stay tuned to the Team Fusion blog and Twitter feed for the latest updates.

Thanks for your patience and ongoing support.

Pat Lee
Director, Personal Desktop Products
VMware

VMware Fusion 3 Now Available. Upgrades are $39.99 USD

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:09:20 GMT

We are pleased to announce that VMware Fusion 3, the best way to run Windows on the Mac, is now available. VMware Fusion 3 makes it easier and faster than ever to run Mac and Windows applications side-by-side without rebooting. VMware Fusion 3 is available in a single, all-inclusive edition that includes everything you need to switch to the Mac for just $79.99.

Buy VMware Fusion 3 NOW!

VMware Fusion 3 is now available at the VMware Online Store, the Apple Online Store® (apple.com), Apple Retail Stores, Amazon.com, and other select US resellers starting today.

I want to upgrade to VMware Fusion 3 NOW…

Upgrades from previous versions of VMware Fusion to VMware Fusion 3 cost only $39.99 and are available exclusively from the VMware Online Store, so you can download and start using VMware Fusion 3 immediately!

When will VMware Fusion 3 be available at online resellers and retail stores in Europe or Asia?

VMware Fusion 3 will be available at authorized retail and online stores in Europe and Asia starting Tuesday, November 4th.

Is there special academic/student pricing for VMware Fusion 3?

For qualified students and teachers, VMware has academic pricing that is available from the VMware Academic Store, so you can download and start using VMware Fusion 3 immediately at an even lower cost!

What if I bought VMware Fusion 2 recently?

Customers who purchase VMware Fusion 2 from October 1, 2009 through end of November qualify for a free downloadable upgrade to VMware Fusion 3.

If you bought VMware Fusion 2 from the VMware Online Store from October 1st through October 26th, there is nothing for you to do and you will receive a free downloadable VMware Fusion 3 upgrade by e-mail in the next week.
If you bought VMware Fusion 2 from a retail or other online store, you need to go to the VMware Fusion Technology Guarantee website, fill out the online form, and mail in or fax your proof of purchase of VMware Fusion 2. Free downloadable VMware Fusion 3 upgrades will take up two weeks to deliver after receiving a valid proof of purchase.

What if I bought VMware Fusion 2 with the 12-month Subscription option?

If you have an active subscription only contract (purchased 12 months ago or less), you will receive a free downloadable VMware Fusion 3 upgrade by e-mail in the next week.

My business bought VMware Fusion 2 with the Site Support?

If you have an active Site Support contract (purchased 12 months ago or less), you will receive a free downloadable VMware Fusion 3 upgrade for your covered licenses by e-mail in the next week.

What’s new in VMware Fusion 3?

VMware Fusion 3 has over 50 new features and enhancements including:

Easiest, Fastest Way To Switch To The Mac. With the new built-in Migration Assistant for Windows, VMware Fusion 3 makes it easy for users to bring their entire PC to their Mac in a few easy steps – wirelessly or with a simple Ethernet or FireWire cable – allowing customers to protect investments in existing Windows software, and to keep using the programs they still need ! More important, VMware Fusion 3 is more than two times faster than other “Switch to Mac” solutions without the 20% price premium of dedicated “Switch to Mac” solutions.

Ultimate Windows 7 Experience. VMware Fusion 3 is the FIRST virtualization product for the Mac to provide the full Windows 7 experience, side-by-side with your Mac, complete with Windows Aero and Flip 3D. Run 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7 -- it is your choice.

Optimized for Snow Leopard. VMware Fusion 3 leverages Mac OS X Snow Leopard’s advanced architecture with a new 64-bit core engine and native support for the 64-bit kernel to deliver an even better Windows on Mac experience.

Best-in-Class 3D Graphics. VMware was the first to provide virtual 3D graphics and is the first to support Windows Aero in a virtual machine on the Mac. VMware Fusion 3 is also first to support DirectX 9 Shader Model 3.0 3D graphics and now adds support for OpenGL 2.1 for Windows virtual machines to enable more Windows applications and games.

Run Windows Apps, The Mac Way. VMware Fusion has been designed from the beginning to make it easy to run Windows apps like Mac apps. VMware Fusion 3 makes it even better with the “Always On” Applications Menu that banishes the Windows Start menu from your Mac and let’s you find and launch Windows apps like Mac apps, even when VMware Fusion is not running. Cycle through open Windows apps with “ command ` ”, quit individual Windows applications with “command q”, and use Dock Exposé with Windows apps.

Maximum Performance. Finely Tuned. Building on the proven reliability and performance of VMware Fusion 2, the new 64-bit native core engine and 4-way multi-core SMP make VMware Fusion 3 perform even better especially on the Nehalem-based Mac Pro and the new iMacs, especially on the new iMac and Mac Pros. In addition, many smaller refinements increase overall performance from better disk and graphics performance on Snow Leopard, improved 2D interactive performance, faster scrolling in Windows applications, faster to enter Unity view, improved application launch times, up to 2X faster resume time for a suspended virtual machine, and much more. VMware Fusion 3 is finely tuned to make Windows run even better than before on the Mac.

We hope you enjoy VMware Fusion 3!

Team Fusion has been working long hours for almost a year to bring you VMware Fusion 3 and we hope you enjoy it!

VMware Fusion Competitive Crossgrade Promo for Business

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:36:38 GMT

VMware Fusion 3: System Requirements

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:50:11 GMT

Minimum System Requirements for VMware Fusion 3

Any Intel® Mac.
Minimum 1GB of RAM (2GB RAM recommended)
700MB free disk space for VMware Fusion and at least 5GB for each virtual machine
Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later; Mac OS X 10.6 or later
Operating system installation media (disk or disk image) for virtual machines

Note: Microsoft Windows Not Included

Recommended graphics hardware for Windows Aero support:
To experience Windows Aero 3D graphics, you will need the following graphics hardware:

ATI Radeon 2600 or better
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M or better

See list of VMware Fusion 3 Supported Operating Systems
See list of VMware Fusion 3 Features

No bootable device was detected

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:41:34 GMT

I have successfully been running Windows XP in VMware Fusion for 6 months. Yesterday durning a reboot I got the message "Can not connect to floppy "/dev/fd/o". I then dismiss this message and I get into what appears to be Windows Command prompt with the message

Client Mac Addr: 00 0C 29 E7 01 4C GUID: 564D1BA7-59ED-2A4E-0863-FF54A5E7014C
PXE-E53: No boot filename received

PXE-N0F: Exiting Intel PXE ROM.
Operating system not found_

Then a VMware Fusion dropdown appears with the message "No bootable device was detected"

I have no idea what to do next. I have looked on the web and in the blogs on the VMware site and have not found anything like this.

I am running a MacBook Pro with Leopard. My version of Fusion is: Version 2.0.6 (196839)

VMware Fusion 3: Supported Operating Systems

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:03:57 GMT

VMware Fusion 3 supports more than 140 Operating Systems.

Supported 32-Bit Guest Operating Systems

VMware Fusion supports the following 32-bit guest operating systems:

Mac OS X Server 10.6 Snow Leopard and 10.5 Leopard
Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise, Professional, Home Premium, and Home Basic Editions
Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, Ultimate, Home Basic, and Home Premium SP2 Editions
Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, Ultimate, Home Basic, and Home Premium SP1 Editions
Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, Ultimate, Home Basic, and Home Premium Editions
Windows XP Professional SP3, Home Edition SP3
Windows XP Professional SP2, Home Edition SP2
Windows 98 SE
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise, Standard, and Datacenter SP2 Editions
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise, Standard, and Datacenter Editions
Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise SP2, and Enterprise R2 Editions
Windows 2000 Server SP4, Advanced Server SP4, Windows 2000 Professional SP4 (experimental)
Windows NT 4.0 Server SP6a, Workstation SP6a
Windows Me, Windows 3.1, Windows 95 SP1, MS-DOS 6.x
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, 10 SP2, 9 SP3
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11, 10 SP2
SUSE Linux 10.1, 9.3
Novell Netware 6.5 SP7
Novell Linux Desktop 9 SP2
Novell Open Enterprise Server SP2
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3, 4.7, 3.9, 2.1-stock 2.4.9-e3 (Advanced Server, Enterprise Server, Workstation)
Red Hat Linux 9.0—stock 2.4.20-8, upgrade 2.4.20-20.9
Red Hat Linux 7.0—stock 2.2.16-22, upgrade 2.2.17-14
Solaris 10 on x86 (Update 7)
Ubuntu Linux 9.04, 8.10, 8.04.3, 7.10, 6.10, 5.10
Mandriva Linux 2009.1, 2008, 2007, 2006
FreeBSD 7.2, 7.1, 6.1, 5.5
Turbolinux Enterprise Server 8
Turbolinux Desktop 10

Supported 64-Bit Guest Operating Systems

VMware Fusion supports the following 64-bit guest operating systems:

Mac OS X Server 10.6 Snow Leopard and 10.5 Leopard
Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise, Professional, Home Premium, and Home Basic Editions
Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, Ultimate, Home Basic, and Home Premium SP2 Editions
Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, Ultimate, Home Basic, and Home Premium SP1 Editions
Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, Ultimate, Home Basic, and Home Premium Editions
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise, Standard, and Datacenter SP2 Editions
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise, Standard, and Datacenter Editions
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise, Enterprise SP2, and Enterprise R2 Editions
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, 10 SP2, 9 SP3
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11, 10 SP2
SUSE Linux 10.1, 9.3
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3, 4.7, 3.9 (Advanced Server, Enterprise Server, Workstation)
Solaris 10 on x86 (Update 7)
Ubuntu Linux 9.04, 8.10, 8.04.3, 7.10, 6.10, 5.10
Mandriva Linux 2009.1, 2008, 2007, 2006
FreeBSD 7.2, 6.1, 5.5
Turbolinux Server 10

VMware Fusion 3: New Features

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:11:17 GMT

What's New in VMware Fusion 3 – (October 27, 2009)
VMware Fusion 3 is packed with more than 50 new features and enhancements

Optimized for Snow Leopard

Support for both 32-bit and 64-bit Snow Leopard kernels
New 64-bit native core engine leverages power of 64-bit Snow Leopard
Leverage K64 kernel performance improvements for reduced overhead
Leverage Snow Leopard changes for optimized disk and graphics performance

Effortless Migration from Windows PCs to Mac

Integrated Migration Assistant helps you move your entire PC to a virtual machine on your Mac in a few simple steps
Connect your PC to your Mac with a simple Ethernet cable – no additional setup required
Automatically discover your Windows PC on the same network as your Mac using Apple’s Bonjour technology
Works just like Apple’s Migration Assistant on the Mac

Ultimate Experience for Windows 7 Guests

Support for Windows Easy Install
First virtualization product to support Windows Aero, including Flip 3D and Aero Peek
Support for DirectX 9.0EX with OpenGL 1.4 with new WDDM graphics driver
Support for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 on Boot Camp partitions

3D Graphics Now Supports More Applications and Games

Support for Windows Aero with WDDM driver for Windows 7 and Windows Vista
DirectX 9.0c with Shader Model 3 support for Windows virtual machines
OpenGL 2.1 support for Windows XP virtual machines

Performance. Finely Tuned.

New 64-bit native core engine maximizes overall performance for all Macs with 64-bit processors. Works on Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard
Full support for 4-way SMP
Virtual SMP is now multi-core aware, providing multi-core CPUs to your virtual machines. This allows Home and Starter versions of Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 to use all enabled virtual processors instead of being limited to two.
Greatly reduced memory usage when using all Windows Vista and Windows 7 virtual machines. (Applies to Windows XP VMs created in VMware Fusion 3)
Improved 2D drawing and interactive performance in Unity, single window, and full screen views
Faster typing in Windows applications within Unity view
Improved responsiveness of remapped keyboard shortcuts
Faster disk and graphics performance on Snow Leopard host
Multiple-display full screen view with much better performance for monitor layouts larger than 4096 pixels wide or 4096 pixels high on most Macs.

Unity More Mac-Like Than Ever

Leave the “Start Menu” behind with the new “Always-on” Applications Menu
Search for Windows apps like Mac apps
Use a hot key to bring up the Applications Menu at any time
Find and launch Windows apps even if Fusion isn’t running and they will launch Fusion automatically for you.
Pin favorite Windows apps to the Application menu in any order you choose
Access recently opened documents by Windows applications
Access Computer, Documents, Control Panel, Run, and Power Commands
Control your virtual machine while in Unity including hardware settings and power states from Applications menu
Windows applications work more like Mac applications
Work with application-specific Exposé and Dock Exposé for a specific Windows app.
Use “command tilde” (`) to switch between multiple open documents in a Windows application
Quit a specific Windows app with “command Q”
Access to Windows taskbar tray items in Unity view in the Mac menu bar.
Run 3D games and play 1080p video in Unity view.
Preview window allows you to monitor your virtual machine desktop and resize the window, even in Unity view.

Virtual Machine Library

Redesigned to make actions more discoverable
Home pane is an easy to use launching point what you need to do:
Install guest operating systems
Migrate physical PCs
Use a Boot Camp partition as a virtual machine
Download a Windows trial virtual machine
Easily find and import virtual machines that were created by Parallels Desktop or Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac.
Live view makes it easy to see what is happening in your VMs and easily switch between all VMs for a quick status
Much faster to open when multiple virtual machines are in the Virtual Machine Library

Full Screen View Improvements

New Full Screen view menu bar gives you full control of your virtual machine, including choosing when the menu bar appears in Full Screen view.
Move the full screen view menu bar to any side of the screen to avoid blocking guest user interface elements such as taskbars in Windows, the desktop menu in Linux, or the menu bar in Mac OS X Server guests.
Smooth animated transition when entering and exiting Full Screen view.

User Interface Refinements

Redesigned menus make commands more logically organized
Integrated status in virtual machine window works better with Spaces
Cancel resume in case you resumed by mistake
Live, smooth resize when resizing a virtual machine window.
Live view in the Virtual Machine settings window gives
Access the Virtual Machine Library from the VMware Fusion Dock icon.

Try Windows for Free

Download and import free Windows trials from Microsoft to try Windows before you buy with VHD Test Drive support.

Automatic Updates

Built-in software updater that automatically checks, downloads, and installs VMware Fusion updates.

Multiple Display Improvements

Multiple-display Full Screen view with better performance for monitor layouts larger than 4096 pixels wide or 4096 pixels high on most Macs.

Shared Folders and Mirrored Folders Improvements

Automatically hide common hidden Windows files in a shared folder, for example, Thumbs.db, $RECYCLE.BIN, and so on.
Open Microsoft Outlook attachments with Mac applications.
Improved compatibility with third-party applications including Windows Live Writer, Office 2007, and more.

Copy and Paste, Drag and Drop Improvements

Copy and paste images between a Windows or Linux virtual machine and the Mac.
Copy and paste formatted text (RTF) between a Linux virtual machine and the Mac.
Drag Microsoft Outlook attachments from a Windows virtual machine to the Mac.
Drag files in a virtual machine directly onto Mac applications in the dock.

Full Support for Mac OS X Leopard Server and Snow Leopard Server as Guests

Mac OS X 10.5 Server Guests now full supported
Support for Mac OS X Server 10.6 Snow Leopard virtual machines running the 64-bit kernel (K64), even on Macs that can’t boot into the K64 kernel
New virtual EFI provides maximum compatibility with Mac OS X Server and provides more Mac like experience.

Keyboard Improvements

Automatically recognizes European keyboards. Sending keys like @, {, }, and others to Windows works just like it does on the Mac.
Improved responsiveness with remapped keyboard shortcuts

Virtual Hard Disk Improvements

Mount a suspended virtual machine's virtual disks as read-only Mac volumes.

Networking Improvements

Select a specific network adapter for bridged networking
Support for IPv6 in bridged networking
Override the Ethernet MAC address of the virtual adapter on the UI

Shared Smart Card

Access supported CAC or PIV smart cards from the Mac and a Windows virtual machine at the same time

Remote Management

Manage your virtual machines remotely without installing software into the virtual machine by leveraging VMware Fusion’s built in VNC server. Manage using the VNC client you choose

Select Startup Device

Like the Mac’s Startup Disk, choose the bootable device for your virtual machine in an easy graphical interface

Free VMware Fusion 2.0.6 now available

davidliu@vmware.com — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:15:25 GMT

VMware Fusion 2.0.6, a free, downloadable update for all VMware Fusion 1 and VMware Fusion 2 customers, is now available.

VMware Fusion 2.0.6 is a maintenance release for VMware Fusion 2 and comes with the following enhancements:

Fixes multiple issues when running VMware Fusion 2.0.x on Mac OS X Snow Leopard (32-bit kernel mode)

Provides improved 3D performance on Macs with NVIDIA graphics cards running Mac OS X 10.6

Contains fixes for more than 20 bugs

For more details, go to:

http://www.vmware.com/support/fusion2/doc/releasenotes_fusion_206.html

If you are updating from a previous version of VMware Fusion to VMware Fusion 2.0.6, we recommend you first shut down your virtual machines, then install VMware Fusion 2.0.6. Once you power on your virtual machines after the 2.0.6 update, VMware Fusion 2 will offer to update to the latest tools. We recommended updating your virtual machines to the latest 2.0.6 included tools.

If you are upgrading from VMware Fusion 1.x to VMware Fusion 2.0.6, we put together a detailed document on how to upgrade your existing VMware Fusion 1.x virtual machines to take advantage of VMware Fusion 2 features including advanced 3D support. Please review the upgrading your VM document to get the most out of VMware Fusion 2 upgrade!

Again, VMware Fusion 2.0.6 is a free downloadable update for all VMware Fusion 1.x and VMware Fusion 2 users. Your existing VMware Fusion serial number will work with VMware Fusion 2.0.6, and all you need to do to upgrade is download and install. Click here to download your free VMware Fusion 2.0.6 update.

David Liu
Product Manager
VMware

VMware Fusion 2.0.6 beta for Snow Leopard now available!

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:13:56 GMT

I am pleased to announce that VMware Fusion 2.0.6 beta 1 is now available and resolves multiple problems when running on Snow Leopard hosts. We are making this beta build available now to let users get the most out of VMware Fusion 2 today while we finalize our Snow Leopard testing.

VMware Fusion 2.0.6 beta 1 fixes the following problems:

Mouse losing focus on Snow Leopard hosts
Driverless printing fails after an upgrade install of Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Snow Leopard Software Update
VMware Fusion 2 claims to be unlicensed after upgrading to Snow Leopard
Fix corrupt Windows application icons in Unity on Snow Leopard hosts
Slow 3D graphics on Macs with NVIDIA graphics cards running Snow Leopard
Installation would fail in some cases due to permissions problems
Sound would stop playing after virtual machine is resumed

Click here to download the VMware Fusion 2.0.6 beta for Snow Leopard!

Cannot start XP anymore Not in Fusion, not in bootcamp - ntoskrnl.exe file is missing or corrupt

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:27:14 GMT

I get this error message when starting XP tru Fusion. When i try to start up bootcamp i get a black screen, nothing happens and have to use on/off buttom

Windows does not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root\system32\ntoskrnl.exe.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

I have no idea what caused it. I think a system crash by Firefox In OS10

Would someone be so kind to look into my problem. i been looking tru lots of posts in this forum and a solution seems very technical and complex. I fear i have to reinstall bootcamp and loose all files. I have a backupsystem for OSX but not for the bootcamp partition.

OSX 10,6,1 iMac9,1 Intel Core 2 Duo
Processorsnelheid: 3,06 GHz
L2-cache: 6 MB
Geheugen: 4 GB
Bussnelheid: 1,07 GHz

windows XP SP2

i believe i use the Boot Camp partition running as a Virtual Machine. I bought this computer some months ago and in the instalation process copied everything automaticaly from and older macbookpro. On the older macbook i initialy started to work with bootcamp, later bought parallels. On this imac i use Fusion since two months without any problem until this morning.

I never use snapshot

bootcamp is on internal drive

Much appreciated

carl

Importing a Parallels or Virtual PC Virtual Machine in Vmware Fusion

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:05:05 GMT

Importing a Parallels or Virtual PC Virtual Machine in VMware Fusion

Vmware install Cleaner utillty

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:33:56 GMT

Free VMware Fusion 2.0.5 now available

davidliu@vmware.com — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:03:49 GMT

VMware Fusion 2.0.5, a free, downloadable update for all VMware Fusion 1 and VMware Fusion 2 customers, is now available.

VMware Fusion 2.0.5 is a maintenance release for VMware Fusion 2 and comes with the following enhancements:

Supports Mac OS X Server guest operating systems on Macs with Intel Xeon 5500 and 3500 Series processors (based on Nehalem micro-architecture)

Provides experimental support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server as a guest operating system (32-bit only)

Provides experimental support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard as a host operating system (32-bit only)

Supports Ubuntu 9.04 as a guest operating system, including features such as VMware Tools pre-built modules and Easy Install

Reduces CPU usage when a virtual machine is idle under VMware Fusion

Contains fixes for more than 80 bugs

For more details, go to:

http://www.vmware.com/support/fusion2/doc/releasenotes_fusion_205.html

If you are updating from a previous version of VMware Fusion to VMware Fusion 2.0.5, we recommend you first shut down your virtual machines, then install VMware Fusion 2.0.5. For update from VMware Fusion 2.0.4 or earlier, once you power on your virtual machines after the 2.0.5 update, VMware Fusion 2 will offer to update to the latest tools. We recommended updating your virtual machines to the latest 2.0.5 included tools.

If you are upgrading from VMware Fusion 1.x to VMware Fusion 2.0.5, we put together a detailed document on how to upgrade your existing VMware Fusion 1.x virtual machines to take advantage of VMware Fusion 2 features including advanced 3D support. Please review the upgrading your VM document to get the most out of VMware Fusion 2 upgrade!

Again, VMware Fusion 2.0.5 is a free downloadable update for all VMware Fusion 1.x and VMware Fusion 2 users. Your existing VMware Fusion serial number will work with VMware Fusion 2.0.5, and all you need to do to upgrade is download and install. Click here to download your free VMware Fusion 2.0.5 update.

David Liu
Product Manager
VMware

Windows XP Professional-000015.vmdk

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:07:02 GMT

Hello,
I am a new MacBook Pro with OS X 10.5.7.
I am running XP Pro using the Vmware Fusion software
2.02. I've been using this software with no
problems for the past 2.6 months.
My intial set-up for the SCSI is 60 GB with one large
file
RAM is 1992 MB
3D is enabled
I am not a computer wizard. My VMware Fusion program
launches with with the desktop screenshot of my
windows environment. It attempts to restore but
stalls near the end of the restore process.
The error code initially reads Windows XP
Professional-000015.vmdk
I have attempted many times to restart VMware Fusion
but the same thing happens over and over.
I have never backed up just this 60 GB drive to an
external drive. However I have backed up my Mac
using Time Machine. I have been told by the Mac
people that this will not back up the PC data on the
60 GB drive partition for VMware. Is this correct?
I hope that I can recover with your assitance the
missing XP file noted above, and relaunch the VMware
fusion. My biggest nightmare will be the loss of
data on my Office Applications.
If I have to uninstall and then reinstall VMware
Fusion, then I assume that I will have to reinstall
Windows XP, and office, and all data will be lost?
Or do the XP files and data on Office applications
still live somewhere on the drive(s) where it can be
recovered?
I really appreciate your help.

Apple mighty mouse Horizontal scroll in Windows operating system

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:36:39 GMT

Please click on the following websit link to view the Apple mighty mouse horizontal scroll feature.

http://www.articlealley.com/article_11855_10.html

How to Configure DHCP in Windows XP

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:26:33 GMT

The following link explains the steps to configure DHCP in Windows Xp

http://support.myfishonline.net/win_xp/lan_dhcp_xp.htm

.vmx settings information

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:45:54 GMT

Free VMware Fusion 2.0.4 now available

davidliu@vmware.com — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:58:57 GMT

VMware Fusion 2.0.4, a free, downloadable update for all VMware Fusion 1 and VMware Fusion 2 customers, is now available.

VMware Fusion 2.0.4 is a security maintenance release for VMware Fusion 2 and fixes a critical security issue:

Host code execution vulnerability from a guest operating system: A critical vulnerability in the virtual machine display function might allow a guest operating system to run code on the host. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2009-1244 to this issue.

For more details, go to:

http://www.vmware.com/support/fusion2/doc/releasenotes_fusion_204.html

If you are updating from a previous version of VMware Fusion to VMware Fusion 2.0.4, we recommend you first shut down your virtual machines, then install VMware Fusion 2.0.4. For update from VMware Fusion 2.0.1 or earlier, once you power on your virtual machines after the 2.0.4 update, VMware Fusion 2 will offer to update to the latest tools. We recommended updating your virtual machines to the latest 2.0.4 included tools.

If you are upgrading from VMware Fusion 1.x to VMware Fusion 2.0.4, we put together a detailed document on how to upgrade your existing VMware Fusion 1.x virtual machines to take advantage of VMware Fusion 2 features including advanced 3D support. Please review the upgrading your VM document to get the most out of VMware Fusion 2 upgrade!

Again, VMware Fusion 2.0.4 is a free downloadable update for all VMware Fusion 1.x and VMware Fusion 2 users. Your existing VMware Fusion serial number will work with VMware Fusion 2.0.4, and all you need to do to upgrade is download and install. Click here to download your free VMware Fusion 2.0.4 update.

David Liu
Product Manager
VMware

Resizing Virtual Hard Disk in Vmware Fusion for Windows Guest

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:56:21 GMT

Free VMware Fusion 2.0.3 now available

davidliu@vmware.com — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:41:34 GMT

VMware Fusion 2.0.3, a free, downloadable update for all VMware Fusion 1 and VMware Fusion 2 customers, is now available.

VMware Fusion 2.0.3 is a quick maintenance release for VMware Fusion 2 and comes the following enhancements and fixes for high-impact issues:

Resolves an issue where driverless printing stops working for users that run Mac OS X 10.5.6, and installed Apple Mac OS X Security Update 2009-001.

Provides experimental support for Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server as a guest operating system. You can now run the latest Snow Leopard Server builds (32-bit kernel) released before April 2009 in a virtual machine.

Resolves an issue with driverless printing, where the Enabled check box on Virtual Machine > Settings > Printers might get deselected automatically.

For more details, go to:

http://www.vmware.com/support/fusion2/doc/releasenotes_fusion_203.html

If you are updating from VMware Fusion 2, 2.0.1 or 2.0.2 to VMware Fusion 2.0.3, we recommend you first shut down your virtual machines, then install VMware Fusion 2.0.3. For update from VMware Fusion 2.0.1 or earlier, once you power on your virtual machines after the 2.0.3 update, VMware Fusion 2 will offer to update to the latest tools. We recommended updating your virtual machines to the latest 2.0.3 included tools.

If you are upgrading from VMware Fusion 1.x to VMware Fusion 2.0.3, we put together a detailed document on how to upgrade your existing VMware Fusion 1.x virtual machines to take advantage of VMware Fusion 2 features including advanced 3D support. Please review the upgrading your VM document to get the most out of VMware Fusion 2 upgrade!

Again, VMware Fusion 2.0.3 is a free downloadable update for all VMware Fusion 1.x and VMware Fusion 2 users. Your existing VMware Fusion serial number will work with VMware Fusion 2.0.3, and all you need to do to upgrade is download and install. Click here to download your free VMware Fusion 2.0.3 update.

We hope you enjoy using VMware Fusion 2.0.3!

David Liu
Product Manager
VMware

Virtual Machine will not start after Time Machine Restore to new Imac

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:37:56 GMT

Our old Imac was replaced with a new Imac when Apple could not fix it. I had the store do a restore from time machine drive. I now cannot open up the virtual machine. Fusion opens but doesn't see a machine. When I navigate in Finder to the machine and try to open it I get a message stating "document cannot be opened". Anybody else ever run into this?

Support for VMware Fusion

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:58:51 GMT

As a new or upgrading VMware Fusion 3 customer, your license entitles you to 18 months of complimentary email support after product registration. If you own VMware Fusion 1 or VMware Fusion 2, your license entitles to only 30 days of complimentary email support after product registration. Further details about Complimentary Support can be found here.

To open a technical support request, you need to have first created a profile and registered your product’s license key(s) with VMware. Here is a HOW TO GUIDE to walk you through the steps.

Then you can contact VMware technical support and File a Technical Support Request . Here is a HOW TO GUIDE to walk you through the steps.

If you really want to talk to a Technical Support Engineer and not just dialog via email, you can purchase Telephone Incident Support.

If you have general inquires about your licenses, order, account or product registration assistance, you can File a Customer Service Request. This service does require that you have created a VMware Account as a login is required.

How To Start: Installing Fusion?

dave393@verizon.net — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:34:37 GMT

I'm still at a loss after looking (maybe too quickly) at some Fusion documentation and videos. How to begin.

Here's what I have: an intel Core Duo iMac, Leopard10.5.6, and a non-partitioned, empty, external HD (about 470 GB). Waiting to be installed are Fusion 2.0.2 and Windows XP.

I gather it's best not to use Boot Camp (though it takes care of partitioning) as the vehicle for installing the necessary software: I prefer to have an expandable disk image rather than one of fixed size.

And so, these questions immediately arise: 1) do I need to partition my external HD (this could be done in the normal way using my LaCie HD's method); 2) would Leopard have to be installed again on this drive on its own partition; and 3) would Fusion and Windows XP each have to have their own partitions?

Any clarifications, tips, and advice would be very much appreciated.

Supported Mavhines

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:00:48 GMT

Installing Vmware tools in Mandriva Linux in Vmware Fusion

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:22:55 GMT

Click on the Link Given below to view the instructions to install Vmware tools in Mandriva Linux in Vmware Fusion

http://www.classhelper.org/articles/install-vmware-tools/mandriva-linux-one-2009.shtml

Is it possible to resize the current BootCamp Partition? I need more space for my Windowns XP SP2. Its running with VM Fusion

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 02:20:05 GMT

Hello,

I created a partition on my MBP and installed Windows XP SP2. The partition is 10GB. I think its too small and windows is already complaining of not enough space.
Is there a way to resize this partition up to 15GB without having to format it, and reinstall everything??

thanks,
c

cferraro wrote: Is there a way to resize this partition up to 15GB without having to format it, and reinstall everything??

This is how I would go about it...

1. Backup all User Data in OS X and Boot Camp partition OS as as separate User Data Backup.

2. Use SuperDuper! to make a Backup Image on the OS X partition. (Can also be done with Disk Utility from booting Leopard DVD.)

3. Use Winclone to create a Backup Image of the Boot Camp partition making sure you choose the correct options for restoring to a different sized partition. (Read the Winclone Documentation)

Obviously if there are no issues with the next step then the first 3 steps are just good insurance and I wouldn't attempt a resize of a volume on a disk without doing it anyway! Even thought I have not had any problems the operative word here is "yet".

4. Boot the Mac with the Mac OS X Leopard Install DVD Disk 1 or Upgrade DVD and use Disk Utility from there as it can do a non-destructive resize when booted from the DVD.

5. After resizing the Boot Camp partition if also running Boot Camp partition as a Virtual Machine (not a converted one) then...

6. Now that the the Boot Camp partition has been resized the difference will still not show in Windows until you resize the Volume and this can be done by booting the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine with GParted ISO Image and resizing the Volume however you will need to first follow the remaining steps.

After you're back to a normal boot of OS X then do the following...

Note: These steps assume you have a Apple Default install of Windows and a Default VMware Fusion Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine and if you have modified the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine to add additional Hard Drives either Virtual or RAW Disk then do not use these directions unless you backup the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine Package first.

1. If Fusion is open then close it.

2. In a Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal) copy and paste the following command and then press Enter and it will remove the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine meta data. Note: This does not effect the Boot Camp partition install of Windows. Also be sure you copy the entire command line below from "rm" at the beginning to the " (quote) after the p in Camp.

rm -dfr "/Users/${USER}/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Boot Camp"

3. Start Fusion (/Applications/VMware Fusion.app) and select Boot Camp partition on the Virtual Machine Library window and then click the Run button.

Notes: Next, an Authenticate dialog box appears. "VMware Fusion requires that you type your password." Enter your Name and Password then click OK. (This is necessary to unmount the Boot Camp partition for Fusion to have direct access to it.)

Next, one should see a Boot Camp partition message stating "VMware Fusion is preparing your Boot Camp partition to run as a virtual machine. This may take a few minutes. This will happen once."

When the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine boots for the first time after this VMware Tools may want to or will install/update and reboot the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine.

Now after you have finished these steps you can boot the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine with the GParted ISO Image and resize the Volume.

Message was edited by: WoodyZ

Updated directions to use GParted to increase the size of the Volume after resizing the Partition.

Hello,

thanks for the detailed info. I will try it!

Regards,
c

This document was generated from the following thread: Is it possible to resize the current BootCamp Partition? I need more space for my Windowns XP SP2. Its running with VM Fusion

Free VMware Fusion 2.0.2 now available

davidliu@vmware.com — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 02:41:52 GMT

VMware Fusion 2.0.2, a free, downloadable update for all VMware Fusion 1 and VMware Fusion 2 customers, is now available.

VMware Fusion 2.0.2 is a maintenance release for VMware Fusion 2 and comes the following enhancements:

Allows importing Windows virtual machines from both Parallels Desktop 4.0 and Parallels Server for Mac.

Supports mounting unencrypted .dmg file format as a CD/DVD disk image, in addition to .iso file format.

Supports Mac OS X 10.5.6 as a host operating system.

Provides experimental support for Mac OS X Server 10.5.6 as a guest operating system.

Supports Ubuntu 8.10 as a guest operating system, including features such as VMware Tools with prebuilt kernel modules, Easy Install, and Unity.

Ships with a 12-month complimentary subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus 2009 antivirus software, with localization support for French, German, Italian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese.

Provides performance improvements when browsing mirrored folders and shared folders in Windows virtual machines.

Supports display of Windows applications in Unity view as 48 pixel x 48 pixel icons.

Resolves issues with "Optimize for Mac OS application performance" preference option for Mac OS X 10.5.5 and later.

In addition to the above enhancements, VMware Fusion 2.0.2 addresses over 100 bugs including the following:

Issues with Mac OS X Server 10.5.6 guest operating system in VMware Fusion 2.0/2.0.1

Mac OS X Server (10.5.5 and earlier) guest operating system cannot be installed on the Fall 2008 MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air

Virtual machine stops responding after upgrading to VMware Fusion 2.0.1

VMware Tools does not work after upgrading to VMware Fusion 2.0.1

Selecting the option "Optimize for Mac OS application performance" has no effect on performance

Copy-paste and drag-and-drop operations do not work reliably in Unity mode

VMware Fusion does not set the correct time zone when installing Windows Vista and later guest operating systems

VMware Fusion installer incorrectly prompts system reboot

USB devices fail to auto connect on Windows Vista virtual machines after restart

ThinPrint software causes reinstall or reconfiguration issues with third-party applications such as Adobe Acrobat

Performance issues after upgrading to Java JRE 1.6 Update 10

For more details, go to:

http://www.vmware.com/support/fusion2/doc/releasenotes_fusion_202.html

If you are updating from VMware Fusion 2 or 2.0.1 to VMware Fusion 2.0.2, we recommend you first shut down your virtual machines, then install VMware Fusion 2.0.2. Once you power on your virtual machines after the 2.0.2 update, VMware Fusion 2 will offer to update to the latest tools. We recommended updating your virtual machines to the latest 2.0.2 included tools.

If you are upgrading from VMware Fusion 1.x to VMware Fusion 2.0.2, we put together a detailed document on how to upgrade your existing VMware Fusion 1.x virtual machines to take advantage of VMware Fusion 2 features including advanced 3D support. Please review the upgrading your VM document to get the most out of VMware Fusion 2 upgrade!

Again, VMware Fusion 2.0.2 is a free downloadable update for all VMware Fusion 1.x and VMware Fusion 2 users. Your existing VMware Fusion serial number will work with VMware Fusion 2.0.2, and all you need to do to upgrade is download and install. Click here to download your free VMware Fusion 2.0.2 update.

We hope you enjoy using VMware Fusion 2.0.2!

David Liu
Product Manager
VMware

Why doesn't the graphic card work while I use VM Fusion 2.0 when using Windows???

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:03:39 GMT

Hello everybody,

I just recently received VMWare Fusion 2.0, and it's pretty nice. I use boot camp right now just to run games because I'm basically just a gamer. Most of my games are from Windows, so I have no way of converting it to Mac. But the point is this; I started up VM Fusion, and once I was going to play a game, a screen popped out and said "Their is no graphics card." I didn't know why it said that until I looked at my control panel. It said nothing of a 9400M Nividia graphic card, but while in boot camp the computer recognized the graphic card. Can VM Fusion recognize the graphic card, or does it have one of it's own because their was something else that said VMware SVGA II, which isn't really good at all! I use a boot camp partition with Windows Vista Ultimate 32 bit.

Please help me out! Thanks for replies.

Adding more vram to graphics card for Windows Vista/7

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:23:41 GMT

Hi,

When I am running Vmare Fusion on my MAC PRO (OS Leopard) with both Windows 7 and windows vista the computer is terribly slow.
When I checked the graphics card on my virtual machine I am NOT getting the full power of my ATI Radeon (512mb of Vram).
Anybody know how to allocate more vram for my virtual machine?
Is this even possible?
Under the settings you can do it for memory, HD, etc. but not much can be done for the video card.
Please advise.

Fusion- bootmgr is missing

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:55:13 GMT

Neebie pulling all his hair out. i am trying to install Windows 7 Beta on Fusion v2.0.1 and I keep getting "Bootmgr is missing" each time I try to load the copied-to-.so-file-dvd. I downloaded the iso from MSDN multiple times, copied\burned the iso using Roxio, MagicISO, etc., tried Serve 2008 and Vista settings in Fusion all with the same results. Can anyone help me out? Thanks.

IE 7 quits unexpectedly on WinXP SP3 VM - Had to downgrade to IE 6

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:21:50 GMT

I did a new install of WinXP sp2 into a new VM in Fusion 2.01. After installing all of the upgrades that the Windows updater said I needed, including IE 7, when I run IE 7, it crashes 100% of the time. I might get to click on a few links before it happens, but usually it quits unexpectedly on the first link click.

I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling IE7 to no avail. My only option to get a functioning internet browser was to downgrade to IE 6.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Bud James
(former Parallels 4.0 user)

Windows XP Pro VM from Boot Camp Partition versus Pure Virtualization

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:28:15 GMT

I'd like to solicit input on my best option(s) for implementing Windows XP Pro (SP2 set-up disk from my deceased Dell Pentium 4 machine -- I was able to copy the contents of its hard drive onto an external USB drive) on my new Mac Pro (OS X Leopard). I want to know what are the advantages or drawbacks with respect to using Windows installed on a Boot Camp partition as a virtual machine under VMWare Fusion (v1.1) versus Widows installed directly on a virtual machine. I know that the Boot Camp implementation also would allow me to boot directly into Windows and use the Mac as a Windows machine. Specifically though, I want to know what happens regarding the following:

(1) How the Unity feature in VMWare would work in each impementation;

(2) How Windows would work with memory and the graphics and on-board sound subsystems in each implementation;

(3) How Windows would work with AirPort, Bluetooth and Ethernet in each implementation;

(4) How Windows would work with peripheral devices (e.g. USB printers, external USB hard drives, wireless Mac keyboard and mouse, Internet via cable modem attached via Ethernet connection, ATA DVD drives, &c.).

Are there any obvious advantages to running Boot Camp/Windows as a virtual machine versus running a pure virtualization of Windows? Additionally, if I choose to use Boot Camp, can Boot Camp be used on more than one hard dive on the same machine (e.g. for virtualization/separate booting of other Linux/Unix implementations)?
I would love to become as "Microsoft-free" as possible and to never have to spend another penny that would go to Microsoft (I'm convinced that Microsoft is in league with al Quaida, lol!)

Some pros/cons are in this thread: Re: Boot Camp or Not?

In addition to Richard's link (this has been discussed a couple times before, also try searching to find more opinions), I'll try to directly answer your questions:

(1) How the Unity feature in VMWare would work in each impementation;

Should be no difference.

(2) How Windows would work with memory and the graphics and on-board sound subsystems in each implementation;

Boot Camp: Windows sees the actual memory, graphics card, and sound system
Fusion: Windows sees the RAM you give it, a VMware graphics card, and an ES1371 sound card

(3) How Windows would work with AirPort, Bluetooth and Ethernet in each implementation;

Boot Camp: Windows sees the wireless/wired ethernet interfaces and Bluetooth adapter
Fusion: Windows will never see a wireless adapter (we only present a wired interface), and will only see the Bluetooth adapter if you give it to the guest (don't do this if you have a Bluetooth mouse/keyboard since the host will no longer be able to use them).

(4) How Windows would work with peripheral devices (e.g. USB printers, external USB hard drives, wireless Mac keyboard and mouse, Internet via cable modem attached via Ethernet connection, ATA DVD drives, &c.).

Should be no difference for the ones you mention.

if I choose to use Boot Camp, can Boot Camp be used on more than one hard dive on the same machine (e.g. for virtualization/separate booting of other Linux/Unix implementations)?

Yes, but Boot Camp is really intended for Windows (since the drivers are for Windows, the rest is just a partitioner) so we check for a valid Windows partition before showing it in the Virtual Machine Library. You may be able to get other raw partitions working, but it's a slightly more involved process.

I would love to become as "Microsoft-free" as possible and to never have to spend another penny that would go to Microsoft

Definitely explore Linux or other OSes (fortunately, this is much easier with Fusion).

(I'm convinced that Microsoft is in league with al Quaida, lol!)

I'm no Microsoft fan and I'm pretty sure you're joking, but come on, that's a pretty ridiculous comparison.

You can rest assured...I was joking. I simply don't like companies that engage in predatory business practices and charge exorbitant prices for substandard, bug-ridden software, and foist said software, whilst making little effort to improve same, on the marketplace in a concerted effort to perpetuate a monopoly. When a company is so paranoid that it seems to move forward with single-minded purpose to penalize good people who have traded their sweat and treasure for its wares in efforts to prevent piracy and license abuse to which itself has given rise, rather than developing products that secure those same good people from malicious elements that take advantage of myriad structural and functional inadequacies and infirmities in those products that it becomes reviled by its user base, I might ask you: is the comparison really that ridiculous?

Meaning no offense, and at the same time offering my humble gratitude for your kind reply and help, I'd just like to say that I would have hoped my comments would have been taken with a sense of humor.

At any rate, I think most of my questions have been answered except maybe for the following: Does a Windows XP virtual machine created with VMware behave or work any differently whether it was created from a Boot Camp partition or if Windows was installed through VMware? Is there any advantage to having a FAT partition dedicated for Windows or does VMware set up a network connection between the VM and Mac so that I can do the same thing with file sharing? Would I be able to access shared files on the Mac when I boot to Windows with Boot Camp?

By the way, thanks for the explanation regarding bluetooth adapter ownership, my wireless keyboard and mouse use bluetooth; I anticipated the problem setting up the virtual machine, but didn't know the native machine and virtual machine couldn't both use those services concurrently.

jlodics wrote:

...I think most of my questions have been answered except maybe for the following: Does a Windows XP virtual machine created with VMware behave or work any differently whether it was created from a Boot Camp partition or if Windows was installed through VMware?

I wouldn't use the word 'behave' as the difference itself. Windows itself 'acts' the same. There is a difference in disk IO performance, with the native Fusion VM, at this point being faster. Also you can not take advantage of suspend/resume and snapshots with Boot Camp partitions running in Fusion. These are the main differences.

Is there any advantage to having a FAT partition dedicated for Windows or does VMware set up a network connection between the VM and Mac so that I can do the same thing with file sharing?

FAT-formatted Boot Camp partitions are read/write accessible in OS X when the virtual machine is not running. But FAT partitions have their limitations most notably no single file can be larger than 4 GB. Note: you can only mount Boot Camp partitions in OS X not Fusion virtual hard disks.

VMware, in all cases, allows you several options for file sharing between the VM and OS X, both their own VMware Shared Folders and standard Windows Sharing (samba) built into OS X.

Would I be able to access shared files on the Mac when I boot to Windows with Boot Camp?

Unlike OS X, Windows doesn't 'understand' the Mac's filesystem (HFS+), so without a third common partition or a common network share, you can't see your OS X files in Boot Camp. There is a third-party product that adds HFS+ support to Windows called MacDrive. Sharing files with OS X in Boot Camp is possible with MacDrive.

I'd like to thank both of you for your input and help. I'm just about
buttoned up and ready to go. The primary usage of my Windows VM will
be to use AutoCAD--I think I'll use Mac for just about everything else
(everything I possibly can, anyway). Since using AutoCAD can
sometimes be pretty graphics intensive, there will probably be times
when I'll want dedicated sessions, so I think I'll be using a Boot
Camp partition. Rather than just blundering ahead though, I want to
make sure I understand what I'm doing.

I have a SATA hard drive that I was going to install on my recently
deceased Dell using a SATA/IDE bridge adapter so that I could
implement Ubuntu/Linux, hopefully with Looking Glass. When I tried to
install that drive, Windows started playing hide and seek with
it...even though Windows plug and play noticed it, I was neither able
to see it in Win Explorer, nor through Start>Run, nor through a DOS
Prompt session, although the Registry had assigned it a logical drive
letter.

When I shut down and tried to boot back into Windows to see
if it would show it to me after memory had been flushed and
reinitialized, Windows stopped acknowledging keyboard input thus
preventing me from entering a password to get into the OS. I tried
using my my original Windows setup disc to repair Windows, but that
disc was XP SP1 and my system was up-to-date so I had to call Dell to
get an SP2 setup disc. That was able to start the process, but
started generating an endless string of error messages. I then
initiated a service call with Dell support. We repeated the process
and encountered the same endless series of error messages. The Dell
service guy was able to correlate those messages to either bad RAM or
a bad System Board. Rather than try to resurrect that machine, I
decided that I had long since had enough of Windows, so I bought a Mac
Pro. Thats how I came to ask for your help. Now, I want to install
Windows XP Pro from that same SP2 setup disc so I can maintain legacy
Windows support on my new Mac.

Now I just have a few more minor points to investigate. I think I'll
install that SATA drive in the new Mac Pro and dedicate it for Windows
and Mac/Win sharing, and use Boot Camp to create a bootable Windows
partition. Then use Fusion to create a virtual machine from the Boot
Camp partition. Can you kindly advise me on the following points:

(1) I should still be able to use the Mac OS X Leopard Disk Utility to
make disk images of the Boot Camp partition and thus the Windows VM
from a Mac session, correct?

(2) I should still be able to use Time Machine to include back-ups of
the Boot Camp partition and thus the Windows VM, correct?

(3) If Time Machine can still back-up the Boot Camp partition, is
there any danger or issue if Time Machine initiates an auto back up
while VMware is running the VM? I remember reading threads on VMware
Community regarding this.

(4) Can you expound a little about the unavailability of suspend/
resume and snapshots with Boot Camp partitions running as VMs in
Fusion? Does that mean I wouldn't be able to suspend and resume a
session with the Windows VM? Do you think this is critical
functionality I'd be missing? If so, what are the alternatives?

(5) If I dedicated the remaining space on the dedicated hard drive for
sharing, what are the pros/cons for formatting as HFS+ or FAT and for
using MacDrive? Do you have any preferences? What about using
journaling and/or case-sensitivity when using HPS+?

(6) Are there any other considerations or issues I should investigate
about such an arrangement?

(7) Am I thinking about this the right way?
Joel

jlodics wrote:

(1) I should still be able to use the Mac OS X Leopard Disk Utility to
make disk images of the Boot Camp partition and thus the Windows VM
from a Mac session, correct?

Disk Utility can probably make a raw .dmg of your physical disk, but you would be better off backing up Boot Camp with a free utility called WinClone.

(2) I should still be able to use Time Machine to include back-ups of
the Boot Camp partition and thus the Windows VM, correct?

As far as I know, Time Machine does not backup Boot Camp partitions

(3) If Time Machine can still back-up the Boot Camp partition, is
there any danger or issue if Time Machine initiates an auto back up
while VMware is running the VM? I remember reading threads on VMware
Community regarding this.

See answer to (2)

(4) Can you expound a little about the unavailability of suspend/
resume and snapshots with Boot Camp partitions running as VMs in
Fusion? Does that mean I wouldn't be able to suspend and resume a
session with the Windows VM? Do you think this is critical
functionality I'd be missing? If so, what are the alternatives?

No suspend and resume means you must shutdown and restart the Boot Camp virtual machine like a normal PC. No snapshots means you can't cleanly rollback to a prior VM state if for instance an installation goes bad. You can however use other recovery methods like System Restore in XP or restore from backups.

(5) If I dedicated the remaining space on the dedicated hard drive for
sharing, what are the pros/cons for formatting as HFS+ or FAT and for
using MacDrive? Do you have any preferences? What about using
journaling and/or case-sensitivity when using HPS+?

HFS+ is the Mac's native format and that's the machine you're on. The downside of HFS+ is having to buy MacDrive for Windows, which I hear is a good program.

FAT32 is "universal" but has limits on large files (4 GB) and doesn't store Mac attributes so well. Your disk will get littered with .DS_Store files and the like.

(6) Are there any other considerations or issues I should investigate about such an arrangement?

Another option is the NTFS filesystem and a Mac utility called Paragon. Paragon is very new so it's track record is unknown, imo. Microsoft does not fully document NTFS so this is somewhat risky for your data. I'm sure that's not what they'll say.

You could start with FAT32 (free), see how that works, or jump right to HFS+ ($ for MacDrive), or migrate to NTFS (requires a re-format)

(7) Am I thinking about this the right way?

It's your solution and setup, only you know the answer to this. Did you forget to ask about the meaning of life?

This document was generated from the following thread: Windows XP Pro VM from Boot Camp Partition versus Pure Virtualization

no bootable device detected-

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:29:54 GMT

I have installed winxp pro in a boot camp partition which boots up fine in boot camp and is fully operational. I then installed VM Fusion 2.0. when fusion brings up the virtual machine library window it shows the boot camp partition .
I then select it and it starts to attempt to boot windows only to stop and give me the message "no bootable device was detected" yet It is there and it is bootable as I have already booted it within boot camp. I have tried everything.
Can anyone please help?

In a Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal) copy and paste the following command then press Enter and type in your password and press Enter.

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

What is the output of the above commend?

I typed the command but it wouldn't let me type a password.

Here is the info I got after pressing enter without a password

Password:
Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 38913/255/63 625142448 sectors
Signature: 0xAA55
Starting Ending
#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec start - size

Sorry but that output is worthless. It needs to look similar to what is shown in the image below.

Last login: Mon Dec 8 13:12:48 on ttys000
DougsMac:~ Doug$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
Password:
Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 38913/255/63 625142448 sectors
Signature: 0xAA55
Starting Ending
#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec start - size

1: EE 0 0 2 - 25 127 14 1 - 409639 <Unknown ID>
2: AF 25 127 15 - 1023 110 25 409640 - 465305600 HFS+
*3: 07 1023 191 27 - 1023 101 45 465977384 - 127277344 HPFS/QNX/AUX
4: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 - 0 unused
DougsMac:~ Doug$

doug1952 wrote: This is the problem > *3: 07 1023 191 27 - 1023 101 45 465977384 - 127277344 HPFS/QNX/AUX

It should be showing as FAT32 or NTFS depending on how the Boot Camp partition is actually formated. Have a look at: Re: Bootcamp on new ß4 installation

BTW If you are not absolutely sure of what you're doing then I'd suggest you not follow the information in the referenced thread and get help from a qualified professional and in any case be sure that your User Data is backed up off of the System before making modifications at the disk level.

Do you understand?

doug1952 wrote:*3: 07 1023 191 27 - 1023 101 45 465977384 - 127277344 HPFS/QNX/AUX

I saw another post that asked if the Paragon NTFS utility was installed and if so to uninstall it and see if that makes a difference.

Is this 2.0 or 2.0.1? What version of Windows? How is the Boot Camp partition formatted (NTFS or FAT)?

It's version 2.0.1 and I am running Win Xp Pro the Partition is supposed to be NTFS disk utility says it is but other programs say it's not.

I do not have the Paragon utility and I tried all the suggested
actions from "Boot camp on new ß4 installation" it did not work
either. It's very frustrating and honestly if I would have known that
Vmware's tech support was a forum I would have never purchased the
product.
But I am stuck so I will try and make the best of it, I am thinking
about totally formating the hard drive and starting over. What do you
think?

What is the output of the following command in a Terminal?

"/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-rawdiskCreator" print /dev/disk0

I ran the command and this is the info it gave me!

Last login: Thu Dec 11 13:06:27 on console

DougsMac:~ Doug$ "/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-
rawdiskCreator" print /dev/disk0

Nr Start Size Type Id Sytem
--

You should follow this

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/184194?tstart=0

thread.

Nr Start Size Type Id System
---

----

1 1 409639 BIOS EE Unknown
2 409640 465305600 BIOS AF HFS+
3 465977384 127277344 BIOS 7 HPFS/NTFS

DougsMac:~ Doug$

I went to the thread you told me to follow. Although it was good to know I am not the only one
with this problem it doesn't appear to have an answer to the problem is that correct?
If it does could you point me in the right direction .
Thanks

i went to the thread you suggested and although it is good to know that I am not the only one with this problem is there an answer?
thanks

This appears to be a real bug and we are waiting for the specialists to indicate a solution.

For anyone reading this thread this was a Fusion 1.x Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine that once upgraded to Fusion 2 would no longer boot and the solution was removing the existing Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine thus allowing Fusion to recreate it. It then booted and upgraded VMware Tools and Windows wanted to be reactivated within 3 days as well.

Thank-you Woody that worked and everything works great! i really appreciate it.

"removing the existing Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine thus allowing Fusion to recreate it. It then booted and upgraded VMware Tools"

This document was generated from the following thread: no bootable device detected-

HOWTO: Use Fusion with a Guest Account for Improved Nonpersistance

etung@vmware.com — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:29:34 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is not official or endorsed by VMware. Feedback and suggestions are welcome.
Note: This is very unsupported (since an important technique it depends on, manual linked cloning, is also very unsupported).

Motivation and Use Case

One use case for Fusion is where untrusted users need temporary access to virtual machines, such as a grade school computer lab. This HOWTO will show how to set up an environment that's relatively safe and appropriate - guest users will not be able to make persistent changes to the virtual machine, but login time will not be adversely affected.

Another use case is if you want to quickly provide a sandbox - for example, I might want to loan my laptop to a friend and allow them to install any software in the guest(s), but leave the host alone.

Difficulty Level and Requirements

Very Advanced: You should be familiar with editing .vmx files and be experienced with creating and using virtual machines, and preferably other VMware products. You will need administrator account because we will be editing system files. You should be familiar with general OS X usage and security, as well as know how to use the command line.

This builds off the technique in HOWTO: Manual Linked Cloning in Fusion. You should read that first, understand the principles of what's going on, and be able to do it.

You must be using Leopard, which introduced Guest accounts. You might be able to script the equivalent in Tiger, but I'm not sure where to begin looking for that.

I assume good host security, i.e. unprivileged users cannot access stuff they're not supposed to.

Background

In an untrusted environment, one user must not be allowed to affect others (e.g. student A should not be able to leave malware around to impact student B). A less paranoid use case would be that you might want to guarantee a fresh working environment. A Guest account in Leopard will get us partway there - changes are discarded when the user logs out. An administrator can modify the default user template, which allows us to put arbitrary files in the Guest account.

The problem with the naive approach of simply dumping a virtual machine in the default user template is that virtual machines are large. Each time a user account is created (which happens each time the Guest logs in), the user account is copied. This isn't a problem for the default set of files, but add in a multi-gigabyte virtual machine (or two, or three...) and login times will be unacceptably long.

We could keep the virtual machine in a shared location as described in A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion, but this would violate the security motivation - if anyone can write to the virtual machine, and the virtual machine is persistent, than they can affect later users. Fusion requires virtual machines to be writable, so you can't clear the write bits and still have the virtual machine run.

We can solve both problems by using a linked clone as described in HOWTO: Manual Linked Cloning in Fusion. A nice property of a linked clone is that it starts off very small - on the order of a few megabytes at most, as opposed to many gigabytes. Due to the small size, the template will still copy quickly. At the same time, a linked clone doesn't care if the parent is writable (and in fact it's better if it's not), so we can keep the base disk read-only and therefore safe.

Limitations and Notes

This is not a method to lock down Fusion or a virtual machine. Users will still be able to create new virtual machines, bring in their own, or copy out the one they're working with (though this last task requires some Fusion knowledge).

While this can be used to make a virtual machine that resets to a known-good configuration, using a nonpersistent disk is a simpler solution for non-malicious users. Note that a malicious user can circumvent a nonpersistent disk if given full access to all the virtual machine files, so a nonpersistent disk by itself is not sufficient for all cases.

These changes will affect not only the guest user, but any newly created user. This might or might not be a problem for you.

Instructions

Create the Virtual Machine

Follow the instructions in the Prepare the Guest section of HOWTO: Manual Linked Cloning in Fusion. If only the guest user will be using this virtual machine, you don't need to sysprep it (if you choose not to, you may have to make sure the MAC address remains constant). I will assume the shared virtual disk is placed in /Users/Shared/. Unlike HOWTO: Manual Linked Cloning in Fusion, let's use absolute paths for this one (not strictly a requirement, but I tend to like relative paths when dealing with my own files and absolute paths when dealing with other users).

Make sure that none of the .vmdk files or the folders containing them (all the way up to /Users/Shared/) are writable. The .vmdk files not being writable is obvious - you don't want a user modifying these files, that would defeat the security point. A slightly less obvious constraint is that the folders must not be writable - if they were, even though users couldn't modify the .vmdk files themselves, they could replace them with other files (thus effectively modifying them).

Create a linked clone as in HOWTO: Manual Linked Cloning in Fusion and make sure it works as expected. Remember to take a snapshot before powering on, and if you did power on, remove any uuid entries from the .vmx file so the guest user isn't prompted about them.

Copy to Default User Template

Once you're happy with the virtual machine, we need to put it in the default user template so that the guest user will see it. On Leopard, the default user templates are located in /System/Library/User Template/. Unfortunately, they're root owned, so even with sudo it's a little bit of a pain to deal with (for example, you can't cd into them). You can enable root access (I wouldn't recommend this) or just live with it for the little while it takes to do this step (which is what I did and will assume for the rest of this document). You might also want to create a backup copy of the default user template.

Open a terminal window and cd to /System/Library/ (I will assume you're there for the rest of this document). We can't go further, since User Template is root owned. At this point, every time we reach into the User Template folder we'll need sudo. Lets first take a look around. Assuming your default language is English (adjust appropriately if not), the command would be

sudo ls -lAF User\ Template/English.lproj/

which on my system returns

-rw-------   1 root  wheel    3 Jul 24  2007 .CFUserTextEncoding
drwx------+  3 root  wheel  102 Mar 31  2008 Desktop/
drwx------+  4 root  wheel  136 Dec 15 21:21 Documents/
drwx------+  4 root  wheel  136 Dec 15 21:21 Downloads/
drwx------+ 20 root  wheel  680 Mar 31  2008 Library/
drwx------+  3 root  wheel  102 Mar 31  2008 Movies/
drwx------+  3 root  wheel  102 Mar 31  2008 Music/
drwx------+  4 root  wheel  136 Dec 15 20:26 Pictures/
drwxr-xr-x+  4 root  wheel  136 Mar 31  2008 Public/
drwxr-xr-x+  5 root  wheel  170 Dec 15 20:26 Sites/

It's what you would expect a blank user template to look like. Anything you copy in here will automatically be copied to a new user's account (this is true not only of guest users, but any newly created user).

Let's assume you want to put the virtual machine in the guest's Documents directory (other good choices might be on the Desktop or just in their home folder). If the prepared clone is located at /Users/etung/Virtual Machines/Default.vmwarevm, the command would be:

sudo cp -r /Users/etung/Default.vmwarevm User\ Template/English.lproj/Documents/

If you log in as a guest now, you should see the virtual machine and the login process should be fast (since the added virtual machine should not have been very large).

Copy Other Support Files

We could stop here, but if you were to run the virtual machine in the guest account, you'd see Fusion's first-run windows (since the guest has not run Fusion before, and remember that when the guest logs out all the guest's files are erased, so having run Fusion doesn't persist). We can get around this by making Fusion think it's already been run once. We need two preference files: com.vmware.fusion.plist and VMware Fusion/preferences.

com.vmware.fusion.plist

com.vmware.fusion.plist is located in /Users/${USER}/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.plist. If you've run Fusion, it probably has a bunch of entries, but we're only interested in the boolean VMWelcomeScreenViewed_2.0. If you have the developer tools installed, you can make a copy and work on it using Property List Editor (which will allow you to selectively keep other entries you want, though I suggest getting rid of anything in the favorites list); if not, you can use the following command to create a dummy file:

defaults write com.vmware.fusion-copy VMWelcomeScreenViewed_2.0 -bool yes

Now copy this to the User Template folder (modify path as appropriate for your user):

sudo cp /Users/etung/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion-copy.plist User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.plist

preferences

The preferences file is located in /Users/${USER}/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/preferences. If you've run Fusion, it probably has a bunch of entries, but we're only interested in the value of pref.registrationViewed. You can create a copy and edit it to your liking, or paste the following into a text file (watch out for line endings, some browser/text editor combinations mangle them. You can work around this by deleting the newline and typing it yourself) - make sure to save it as a plain text file with no extension.

.encoding = "UTF-8"
pref.registrationViewed = "TRUE"

Now copy this to the User Template folder (modify path as appropriate for your user):

sudo cp /Users/etung/Library/Preferences/VMware\ Fusion/preferences-copy User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/VMware\ Fusion/preferences

At this point, if you log into the guest and start Fusion, you should not see the first-run windows.

Further Extensions

You might want to further customize the default user template - for example, you might be able to get the cloned virtual machine to automatically start (look in com.apple.loginitems.plist, though I'm not sure about syntax). You could add other virtual machines to the guest account. You could copy over other parts of the support files (perhaps populate the Virtual Machine Library).

VMWare 2 with XP Prof SP2 on Macbook Air - Installation failure

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:51:15 GMT

I tried it very hard to install WIN XP SP" into VMWare2 on a Macbook Air. The attached Apple-SuperDrive is working fine, but the XP installation doesn´t start.
I once got it, but Windows does not recognise the Airport Connection, it was impossible to install the VMWare Tools and so i give it up.
Has anyone an idea how it might work?
I donßt want to use Parallels any more, but this works fine till today...

Free VMware Fusion 2.0.1 now available

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 03:38:13 GMT

VMware Fusion 2.0.1, a free, downloadable update for all VMware Fusion 1.x and VMware Fusion 2 customers, is now available.

VMware Fusion 2.0.1 builds on the over 100 new features and enhancements of VMware Fusion 2 and adds the following enhancements:

Now shows application badge instead of generic document icons when assigning Windows applications to Mac documents

AutoProtect postpones taking a snapshot when the user is interacting with the virtual machine

Greatly reduced initial pause when opening mirrored or shared folders

No longer disables certain shared folders and mirrored folders that were nested folders. The potential data loss issue with nested shared folders has been resolved

No longer publishes Windows guest applications to Mac if Allow the virtual machine to open applications on your Mac is unchecked in virtual machine Settings > Sharing

No longer maps Num Pad Enter to AltGr by default for non-European keyboards

Brings back the Enable Hints menu item in Help menu

In addition to the above enhancements, VMware Fusion 2.0.1 addresses over 20 bugs including the following:

Running certain video games and other 3D applications in VMware Fusion 2 on the new MacBook or MacBook Pro, or the MacBook Air, could freeze the Mac and that is now fixed.

VMwareUser in Windows virtual machines could take 100% CPU after certain drag-and-drop operations.

A number of performance related issues were addressed in VMware Fusion 2.0.1 including:

Guest start menu traversal slow when it contains broken shortcuts (Windows XP and earlier only)
High CPU utilization by VMwareUser.exe when first starting up
Slow boot when iSight (product ID 0x8502 as reported by System Profiler) attached to virtual machine
Load time of the Virtual Machine Library on Fusion startup after the first startup

Installing VMware Fusion 2 changed the default browser or other default application in some cases.

Take Snapshot was incorrectly enabled for some Boot Camp virtual machines.

Running Google Earth with 3D acceleration enabled would cause the virtual machine to unexpectedly quit.

Suspending a virtual machine located on a FileVault encrypted volume for non-English Mac OS X users makes the system unresponsive.

For more details, go to:

http://www.vmware.com/support/fusion2/doc/releasenotes_fusion_201.html

If you are updating from VMware Fusion 2 to VMware Fusion 2.0.1, we recommened you first shut down your virtual machines, the install VMware Fusion 2.0.1. Once you power on your virtual machines after the 2.0.1 update, VMware Fusion 2 will offer to update to the latest tools. We recommended updating your virtual machines to the latest 2.0.1 included tools.

If you are upgrading from VMware Fusion 1.x to VMware Fusion 2.0.1, we put together a detailed document on how to upgrade your existing VMware Fusion 1.x virtual machines to take advantage of VMware Fusion 2 features including advanced 3D support. Please review the upgrading your VM document to get the most out of VMware Fusion 2 upgrade!

Check out the new resources page on the VMware Fusion portal for links to the release notes, video tutorials, and much more.

Again, VMware Fusion 2.0.1 is a free downloadable update for all VMware Fusion 1.x and VMware Fusion 2 users. Your existing VMware Fusion serial number will work with VMware Fusion 2.0.1, and all you need to do to upgrade is download and install. Click here to download your free VMware Fusion 2.0.1 update.

We hope you enjoy using VMware Fusion 2.0.1!

Pat Lee
Group Manager, Consumer Products
VMware

Information Gathering for VMware Fusion

etung@vmware.com — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:40:49 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is not official or endorsed by VMware. Feedback and suggestions are welcome. Feel free to extend.

This document contains step-by-step instructions for common information-gathering tasks. It is intended to help novice users who may not already be familiar with these techniques. If you've been directed to this document, someone probably needs information from you in order to help with a problem.

Note If you're asked to provide multiple pieces of information, you can zip them all together, rather than doing each one separately.

Locate your virtual machine

In Fusion's Virtual Machine Library (Window > Virtual Machine Library), ctrl-click the virtual machine and select "Show in Finder". A Finder window should open showing the virtual machine.

Note: Some people get confused about this, so it's worth mentioning: a virtual machine is not the same thing as the VMware Fusion application (just like an .mp3 is not the same as iTunes, a .doc is not the same as Microsoft Word, etc.).

Get inside a .vmwarevm bundle

Locate your virtual machine (see prior section).
In the Finder, ctrl-click the .vmwarevm bundle and select "Show Package Contents". A Finder window should open showing the contents of the .vmwarevm bundle.

Note: Virtual machines created by Fusion will be in bundles, but virtual machines from other platforms might not be (it's also possible to unbundle a virtual machine). In this case, the second step is not needed.

Note: Some people get confused about this, so it's worth mentioning: a virtual machine is not the same thing as the VMware Fusion application (just like an .mp3 is not the same as iTunes, a .doc is not the same as Microsoft Word, etc.).

Edit a .vmx config file

Get inside the .vmwarevm bundle (see prior section).
Locate the file with the .vmx extension - you should not have to go anywhere, it should be in this bundle.
Make sure the virtual machine and Fusion are not running. Never edit a file from under Fusion!
Open this file in your text editor of choice (such as TextEdit).
Make the edit.
Save and close.

Note: There must only be a single value per key. If you're supposed to add a key that's already present, replace the existing key instead.

Note: Editing .vmx files lets you do useful things not exposed in the UI, but is officially unsupported and doing this incorrectly can cause your virtual machine to not work. Unless you know what you're doing or have been instructed to do something, it's probably best to leave this file alone.

An alternate method is to use VMX Extras.

Collect vmware.log files

Get inside the .vmwarevm bundle (see prior section).
Locate the vmware.log files - there will be up to four, names vmware.log, vmware-0.log, vmware-1.log, and vmware-2.log. You should not have to go anywhere, they should be in this bundle.
Select them, ctrl-click and select "Create Archive of # items" (Tiger) or "Compress # Items" (Leopard) to zip them.
Post the zip file as an attachment.

These logs record what happened from vmware-vmx's point of view during a run. The log files rotate - vmware.log is the most recent, followed by -0, then -1, and finally -2.

Collect vmware-vmfusion.log files

In the Finder, go to /Users/${USER}/Library/Logs/VMware Fusion/
There should be up to four vmware-vmfusion logs in this directory.
Select them, ctrl-click and select "Create Archive of # items" (Tiger) or "Compress # Items" (Leopard) to zip them.
Post the zip file as an attachment.

These logs record what happened from the Fusion UI's point of view during a run. The log files rotate - vmware-vmfusion.log is the most recent, followed by -0, then -1, and finally -2.

Get a file listing of the .vmwarevm bundle

In a Terminal window, type the following without quotes, including the trailing space, but don't press enter yet. Note these are lowercase 'L's, not ones: "ls -lAF "
In Fusion's Virtual Machine Library (Window > Virtual Machine Library), ctrl-click the virtual machine and select "Show in Finder".
Drag and drop the virtual machine to the Terminal window. This will enter the full, escaped path to the virtual machine.
Type the following without quotes, including leading space, then press enter: " > ~/Desktop/filelist.txt"

This image is what you should see during step 3.

This will create a file on your desktop with important information about the contents of the .vmwarevm bundle, such as file sizes, names, and permissions. Post it as an attachment.

Collect Tools installation logs

For Windows guests

Tools installation logs are located in %TEMP%\vmmsi.log and %TEMP%\vminst.log in the guest. Zip and attach them.

Collect Tools logs

For Windows guests

The Tools config file location depends on the version of Windows you're running. It may be one of the following:

C:\Users\All Users\VMware\VMware Tools\tools.conf (Vista)
C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Tools\tools.conf (XP, Vista)
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Tools\tools.conf (XP)

After locating the config file, skip to the "For all guests" section.

For Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and OS X guests

The Tools config file is /etc/vmware-tools/tools.conf in the guest.
After locating the config file, continue to the "For all guests" section.

For all guests

In the config file you just found, set the following:

log = "TRUE"
log.file = "%PATHNAME%"

where %PATHNAME% is something like "c:\vmtools.log" or "/tmp/vmtools.log", depending on the guest. You'll end up with two files - one the name you specified, and one with a number appended (e.g. c:\vmtools.log.289) -- the number corresponds to the pid of vmwareuser.exe. Whatever location you pick needs to have full permission for all accounts. Reboot the guest.

Reproduce the problem, zip and attach the log. You probably want to undo the Tools config file edits after you're done so that you don't keep generating log files.

Enable USB debugging

Edit the .vmx config file (see prior section) to include the line usb.analyzer.enable = "TRUE"
In Fusion's Preferences, make sure "Diagnostics: Enable debugging checks" is enabled
Start the virtual machine and reproduce the USB problem. Try to minimize other activity so the log is easier to read.
Shut down the virtual machine and collect vmware.log files (see prior section).
Optional: Remove the usb.analyzer.enable line from your .vmx file and disable debugging checks, since the combination will make your logs large.

USB debug logs record a bit of information about each USB packet that gets sent to or from the device, which is invaluable in tracking down USB problems.

An alternate method is to use the USB debug preset in VMX Extras

Running Visual Studio 2010 CTP in VMware Fusion

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:04:27 GMT

This guide describes how to run the Visual Studio 2010 CTP in VMware Fusion on Mac. If you have any trouble following this document at any point (bad wording, mistake etc.), "Add a comment" below and I will try to explain things better.

Unlike Microsoft requirements state, you will need only ~31GB space in total: 7.3 GB for the compressed VPC files, 23 GB for the uncompressed files, and 1-2GB for the files converted for VMware Fusion.

Make the folder to which you will download the files a shared one.
Download all the files. In the meantime, you can continue with points 4., 5. and 6. to kill the long downloading time
Extract the files somewhere to a shared directory: either make the folder to which you downloaded the files a shared one and from a Windows VM, double-click the .exe file. Or if you have MacPorts, "sudo port install unrar", then unrar e the_exe_file.exe from a directory where you wish to put the output.
Download ORCA msi editor to a shared folder. For some reason, Safari renames the downloaded file from orca.msi to orca.msi.exe. If that is the case, rename it back to orca.msi. Now double-click the file from a Windows VM and install orca.
Download the free VMware Player to a shared folder.
Follow the steps 1.-4. in Installing vmware player inside a virtual machine, with following remarks:
1. during step 1., you have to enter command-prompt (Win+R, type cmd, enter); Also, when prompted by the installer, choose some folder than can contain a lot of mess.
2. during step 2., the MSI to open will be probably in the directory you chose in step 1. (or it will be in the directory where vmware-player....exe resides).
3. during step 2., when you have the InstallUISequence selected in left pane, sort the items in table on the right using the first column (click on its header). That way you will find the VM_CheckVM line easily.
When you finish downloading and extracting the .rar files (steps 2., 3.), open the extracted VisualStudio2010CTP.vmc file in VMware Player. The import process will start. Don't worry if VMware Player looks like freezed for a few minutes, it took me approx. 15-20 minutes total. Do not run the virtual machine in Player when finished.
When VMware Player finished the conversion process, it will complain about permissions not set or something like that. Ignore that, close VMware Player. You can now shut down the Windows VM, you will not need it anymore.
Edit the file VisualStudio2010CPT/VisualStudio2010CTP.vmx file with a text editor, change the scsi0:0.fileName = "<wrong path>" to scsi0:0.fileName = "/Users/<your_username>/...correct path to the vmdk".
Edit the file VisualStudio2010CPT/drive-0.vmdk with a text editor, change parentFileNameHint="..\VisualStudio2010CTP.vhd" to parentFileNameHint="../VisualStudio2010CTP.vhd".
Now open the .vmx file in VMware Fusion. You can also take a snapshot at this point to have this state saved if you screw something up when using the VM.
After first boot, install VMware Tools. I did not find any trace of VPC's Virtual Machine Additions, so hopefully no need to remove them first.
Enjoy!

Note that you can now delete the .rar files, but cannot delete the 23 GB .vhd file that resulted from the original extraction - VMware Fusion still uses it!

Advanced Networking Configuration - Tokamak Networking Scripts for VMware Fusion

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:29:47 GMT

VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0

Network Utility

Dave Parsons

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background

These scripts replace the default network configuration processing for VMware Fusion. New features are made available that match those found in the other hosted VMware products, such as Workstation and Server. The new capabilities introduced by these scripts are based on the functionality provided by VMware Workstation 6.0 for Linux. This includes the capability of:

Adding new vmnets
Deleting vmnets
Modifying connection types: e.g. bridged, hostonly, nat
Changing IP addresses
Changing the physical interface used for bridged connections

Reference material for the use of this software can be found in documentation for the network configuration scripts for VMware Workstation 6.0 for Linux. This is available online at the VMware web site, and can also be downloaded in PDF format. Questions can be asked at the VMware Communities in the Fusion forum, and also check out the search facility to see if the question has been answered before.

The code is copyrighted Dave Parsons and also contains copyrighted VMware code. I must please ask that you do not re-post the code or modify without consulting me first. VMware kindly gave me explicit permission to re-distribute their code. I am happy to take feedback and any patches that may be useful to others.

1.2 What's New?

Version	Feature
2.0.0	Fixed scripts to work on Fusion 1.1.3 and 2.0.0.
1.0.3	New "reapply" command to re-apply current settings.
1.0.2	Fixed issues where daemons stopped due to incorrect start/stop order.
1.0.1	Private test version.
1.0.0	Initial version.

2.0 Getting Started

2.1 System Requirements

The current release of the VM@Work Tokamak scripts have been tested with the following releases of VMware Fusion:

VMware Fusion 1.0.0 (build 51348)
VMware Fusion 1.1.0 (build 62573)
VMware Fusion 1.1.1 (build 72241)
VMware Fusion 1.1.2 (build 87978)
VMware Fusion 1.1.3 (build 94249)
VMware Fusion 2.0.0 (build 116369)

Versions of Mac OS X were used during testing include:

Leopard

o 10.5.4
o 10.5.5

Also you will need to be comfortable using the terminal to run bash and Perl scripts, plus running with root privileges. Running as root can be accomplished either with the "sudo" command or enabling the root account. The commands shown do not shown sudo on the command line for brevity.

2.2 Installation

Close VMware Fusion before doing any network changes!

Decompress the archive into a folder using Finder or the Terminal "gzip" command. Now all operations need to be carried out either using sudo or root account, as we will be modifying files owned by root. We need to setup the system to use the scripts as well as backup the existing configuration files. Open installation folder in the console and run the following command:

./tokamak.sh --install

You will get output similar to this, although there may be differences due to IP addresses and other machine specific network settings.
When the network settings are displayed, the script pauses for you to view the information. Press the "Esc" key to continue.

VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0: Installer started
VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0: Stop daemons and kexts
VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0: Create backup folder
VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0: Save original files
VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0: Set boot script
You have already setup networking.

Would you like to skip networking setup and keep your old settings as they are?
(yes/no) [yes]

VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0: Display settings
The following virtual networks have been defined:

. vmnet1 is a host-only network on private subnet 192.168.48.0.
. vmnet8 is a NAT network on private subnet 192.168.197.0.

VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0: Extended network scripting - Dave Parsons
Host-only/NAT networking on vmnet1 using 192.168.48.1/255.255.255.0 is running
DHCP server on vmnet1 is running
Host-only/NAT networking on vmnet8 using 192.168.197.1/255.255.255.0 is running
DHCP server on vmnet8 is running
NAT networking on vmnet8 is running
VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0: Installer completed

During the installation existing network configuration is maintained, and a backup is stored in the "backup" folder. When uninstalling the software, your original files and network settings will be restored.

The main script is called "tokamak.sh" and has a variety of options:

VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0

Usage: ./tokamak.sh {--install|--uninstall|--reinstall|--modify|--reset|--reapply|--display}
--install - setup the Tokamak replacement scripts and configure networks
--uninstall - remove the Tokamak replacement scripts and reset networks
--reinstall - reset and reinstall Tokamak
--modify - modify networks
--reset - reset and reconfigure networks
--reapply - reapply current configuration
--display - display current network settings

3.0 Configuring Network

The network configuration is modified using the "tokamak.sh" command. Again this operation must be done with root privileges.

./tokamak.sh --modify

This will take you through the configuration of the network settings. At the end of the re-configuration the Fusion network components will be restarted. In this sample I am re-configuring the vmnet1 and vmnet8 IP addresses used.

You have already setup networking.

Would you like to skip networking setup and keep your old settings as they are?
(yes/no) [yes] n

Do you want networking for your virtual machines? (yes/no/help) [yes] y

Would you prefer to modify your existing networking configuration using the
wizard or the editor? (wizard/editor/help) [wizard] e

The following virtual networks have been defined:

. vmnet1 is a host-only network on private subnet 192.168.48.0.
. vmnet8 is a NAT network on private subnet 192.168.197.0.

Do you wish to make any changes to the current virtual networks settings?
(yes/no) [no] y

Which virtual network do you wish to configure? (0-99) 1

The network vmnet1 has been reserved for a host-only network. You may change it, but it is highly recommended that you use it as a host-only network. Are you sure you want to modify it? (yes/no) [no] y

What type of virtual network do you wish to set vmnet1?
(bridged,hostonly,nat,none) [hostonly] h

Configuring a host-only network for vmnet1.

The host-only network is currently configured to use the private subnet
192.168.48.0/255.255.255.0. Do you want to keep these settings? [yes] n

Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help) [yes] n

What will be the IP address of your host on the private network? 172.16.1.1

What will be the netmask of your private network? 255.255.255.0

The following virtual networks have been defined:

. vmnet1 is a host-only network on private subnet 172.16.1.0.
. vmnet8 is a NAT network on private subnet 192.168.197.0.

Do you wish to make additional changes to the current virtual networks settings?
(yes/no) [yes] y

Which virtual network do you wish to configure? (0-99) 8

The network vmnet8 has been reserved for a NAT network. You may change it, but it is highly recommended that you use it as a NAT network. Are you sure you want to modify it? (yes/no) [no] y

What type of virtual network do you wish to set vmnet8?
(bridged,hostonly,nat,none) [nat] n

Configuring a NAT network for vmnet8.

The NAT network is currently configured to use the private subnet
192.168.197.0/255.255.255.0. Do you want to keep these settings? [yes] n

Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help)
[yes] n

What will be the IP address of your host on the private network? 172.16.8.1

What will be the netmask of your private network? 255.255.255.0

The following virtual networks have been defined:

. vmnet1 is a host-only network on private subnet 172.16.1.0.
. vmnet8 is a NAT network on private subnet 172.16.8.0.

Do you wish to make additional changes to the current virtual networks settings?
(yes/no) [yes] n

VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0: Display settings
The following virtual networks have been defined:

. vmnet1 is a host-only network on private subnet 172.16.1.0.
. vmnet8 is a NAT network on private subnet 172.16.8.0.

VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0: Extended network scripting - Dave Parsons
Host-only/NAT networking on vmnet1 using 172.16.1.1/255.255.255.0 is running
DHCP server on vmnet1 is running
Host-only/NAT networking on vmnet8 using 172.16.8.1/255.255.255.0 is running
DHCP server on vmnet8 is running
NAT networking on vmnet8 is running

There are many other things possible.

Do NOT remove the vmnet0, vmnet1 and vmnet8 adapters. Doing so will cause the VMware daemons for networking to fail. It is OK to change the IP addresses.

4.0 Modify Guest VMX File

If you have added network adapters other than the defaults, which Fusion currently uses, you will need to edit the VMX file held in the "vmwarevm" package. To edit the VMX file, you can show the package contents in Finder, and edit using your favourite text editor. Alternatively use Eric Tung's VMX Extras editor. It can be found at:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/92087

Once you have the file open you can then start adding parameters. For example if you have defined vmnet3, add these statements to the VMX file. Save and close the file, then fire up Fusion and check that the networking has worked.

ethernet1.present = "TRUE"
ethernet1.connectionType = "custom"
ethernet1.vnet = "VMnet3"

Picture of VMX editor:

5.0 Uninstallation

To remove and rollback the settings to the original configuration run the following:

./tokamak.sh --uninstall

The original VMware Fusion settings will be restored and the network configuration reset to settings in place before Tokamak was used.

6.0 Other Options

There are several other options that can be used with the main script.

reinstall - is the equivalent of uninstall plus install
reapply - reapplies the current custom settings
reset - useful if you have a configuration you are not happy with. It wipes out the current configuration database and then runs the modify function to re-configure the networks
display - display current network settings and status of daemons. Some sample output is shown

VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0: Display settings
The following virtual networks have been defined:

. vmnet1 is a host-only network on private subnet 172.16.1.0.
. vmnet8 is a NAT network on private subnet 172.16.8.0.

VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0: Extended network scripting - Dave Parsons
Host-only/NAT networking on vmnet1 using 172.16.1.1/255.255.255.0 is running
DHCP server on vmnet1 is running
Host-only/NAT networking on vmnet8 using 172.16.8.1/255.255.255.0 is running
DHCP server on vmnet8 is running
NAT networking on vmnet8 is running

7.0 Acknowledgements

Thanks to Pat Lee, the Fusion Product Manager at VMware, for giving me the permission to re-distribute the modified code.

Thanks to Paul Rockwell for investigating and merging in the changes from Fusion 2.

Thanks to ActiveState for the great Komodo IDE product that makes debugging simple.

Finally thanks to the VMware Fusion team for a great product.

Contact details:
VMware Forums: DaveP
Web site: www.daveparsons.net

Networking Issue - unable to communicate between Window images

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:01:06 GMT

Issue:

I recently bought a Macbook and VMWare fusion in order to run pre-exising VMWare images from a PC notebook. These images were used to emulate work networks in order to test the integration of certain software pieces and troubleshoot issues found in production and lab networks. Unfortunately I could not get any of these images to communicate on the Macbook no matter what type of networking a used (be it HOST, NAT or Bridge).

Resolution:

I eventually figured out that the images had the same MAC address which was preventing the Fusion DHCP server from appropriately issuing an IP address. This wasn't an issue with VMWare Workstation on the PC.

Since these images are far internal use only, I went a manually changed the MAC of each image, restarted the image which resolved the issue. Note that you can change the MAC by following these steps:

1. Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel and double click on Network and Dial-up Connections.
2. Right click on the NIC you want to change the MAC address and click on properties.
3. Under â€œGeneralâ€� tab, click on the â€œConfigureâ€� button.
4. Click on â€œAdvancedâ€� tab.
5. Under â€œProperty sectionâ€�, you should see an item called â€œNetwork Addressâ€� or "Locally Administered Address", click on it.
6. On the right side, under â€œValueâ€�, type in the New MAC address you want to assign to your NIC.
7. Reboot.

Bootcamp paritition error after resize/clone. (Particularly using winclone)

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:55:02 GMT

When launching bootcamp partition VM, recieve "Cannot open the disk /Users/%user%/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Boot Camp/%2Fdev%2Fdisk0/Boot Camp partition.vmwarevm/Boot Camp partition.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on." (Where %user% is your MacOSX user shortname.)

The trick is to just delete BootCamp partition.vmwarevm file. (Technically, a bundle folder.) This forces VMWare to rebuild the settings as if it were launching it for the first time.

Info found at http://lonewolf-links.blogspot.com/2007/09/mbp-w-bootcamp-seamless-hdd-upgrade.html

Increase a Virtual Disk Using Fusion 2.0 and Windows Vista

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:26:56 GMT

To increase the size of a virtual disk using Fusion 2.0 and Windows Vista, you need to complete two steps:
1) Use VMWare Fusion settings to make the change to the virtual disk
2) Use Vista's Computer Management to recognize the space

In detail...
1) With the virtual machine shut down and powered off, select Virtual Machine > Settings > Hard Disk from the VMWare Fusion menu
2) Slide the slider to select the desired drive size or enter a number in GB
3) Close the Setting window
4) Power up the Vista virtual machine
5) In Vista select Start > Control Panel
6) Select System maintenance > Administrative Tools
7) Select Computer Management
8) Select Storage > Disk Management
9) Select the disk that contains the unallocated space
10) Select Action > Extend Volume
11) Accept the default values and confirm the change
12) Exit Computer Management and Control Panel
13) Restart the virtual machine
14) That is it!

Audio Driver Bug in VMWare Fusion 2.0

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:20:35 GMT

There is an audio bug in Fusion 2.0 (full release). After upgrading to the 2.0 version from the latest 1.x (I never tried the beta), I went to Windows Update to check for new software.

Windows XP Pro SP3, Boot Camp partition

When I visited there, I was told that there is a new driver for the Sound card, the Creative AudioPCI ES1371,ES1373 (WDM). So I let Windows install it.

This completely disabled the sound coming from Windows. I looked at the Sounds and Audio Device Properties in the VM, and it indicated on the Volume tab that there were no audio devices. The speaker icon was also missing in the Windows taskbar. Oddly enough, Windows really thought that my audio hardware was working properly.

I noticed the file date was 3/18/2008 for the new driver, and it was version 6.0.0.0. After fiddling with a few things, here is how I fixed it:

I went into Device Manager and selected the Creative device. I then chose the driver tab and chose update driver. I told it to install advanced, and "don't search. I will chose the driver to install."

On the next page, there were two (identical) drivers listed. The bottom one is the old one. So I selected the bottom file, and now audio works!

I am back to Driver date: 7/1/2001 and Version 5.1.2535.0 (the original). I guess the latest Creative Labs driver won't work with VM Ware.

When in doubt, look for the es1371mp.sys file in your system directories if you get stuck and you need to know where Windows sticks their unused driver files.

But since VMWare chose to use this as their virtual hardware, it would be nice if it was compatible with the real one.

Also, I noticed that essentially everything VMWare now installs is a USB device listed under the "safely remove hardware" object. Not too useful. Perhaps they could make all of those things stop appearing there. It doesn't seem like it is toouseful to ever remove any of those USB devices, as it seems to confuse Fusion if not Windows.

This document was generated from the following thread: Audio Driver Bug in VMWare Fusion 2.0

Frequently Asked Questions about Guest OSes

etung@vmware.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:05:32 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is not official or endorsed by VMware. Feedback and suggestions are welcome.

This document is intended to address common questions about common guest OSes, and is a complement to Frequently Asked Questions about VMware Fusion. You may also be interested in the official Fusion FAQ, the official Fusion support FAQ, the release notes, or anything else in the Fusion forum documents category. It may also answer questions in more depth than is appropriate for a normal forum post. The document assumes familiarity with common terms such as guest or host; see A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion for an explanation.

In addition to this document, be sure to check out the documentation for your guest OS. If a problem affects real hardware, there's a good chance it affects a virtual machine as well.

If you want to be notified of changes and additions to this document, you can use the "Receive email notifications" action in the sidebar on the left. Do NOT ask questions in the comments - use the discussion section of the forums instead.

Windows

Booting XP from CD

If you used Easy Install and need to boot from the XP install CD for some reason (e.g. to repair your installation), there's a good chance the CD will not recognize the virtual disk.

Explanation

This is because Easy Install causes Fusion to use a virtual SCSI disk (as opposed to a virtual IDE disk). XP doesn't come with the proper SCSI drivers; we can provide them during Easy Install, but if you need to boot from the XP CD yourself, you need to be ready to tell XP where to get them.

First, download (and unzip if necessary) the drivers. This is a .flp floppy image, similar to how an .iso is a CD image. With the virtual machine shut down (suspended doesn't count), go to the virtual machine's Settings and add a floppy drive if one doesn't already exist. Set the floppy drive to use the .flp image.

When booting from the XP CD, there should be a point at which it asks for drivers (I believe you're supposed to press F6; on some Mac keyboards you may need Fn-F6). Do so. Your virtual hard disk should now be recognized.

See also Re: How can I repair XP in VMware Fusion 2

PCI-to-PCI Bridge Loop When Upgrading Virtual Hardware

Upgrading a virtual machine's virtual hardware may trigger many notifications about PCI-to-PCI bridges being detected.

Explanation

Fusion 2.0 understands a newer virtual hardware version than Fusion 1.x does; you can keep the old virtual hardware version (probably a good idea for older guests might get confused by the new hardware and which won't benefit anyway) or upgrade. Upgrading a virtual machine's virtual hardware may trigger Windows to show many notifications about PCI-to-PCI bridges being detected. It's not a loop, there are just a lot of them (32 or so). There's not much we can do about this - Windows is the one providing the standard driver, and Windows is the one deciding to show the prompts. This should be a one-time event.

If this persists even after dismissing all the prompts (and/or the install fails), this may be due to a corrupted Windows driver database. You can clear out the cache by doing the following:

Start the virtual machine and log in. Immediately (before clicking on anything in new hardware wizard) go to Start > Run, and run cmd.exe. Run the following commands:

c:
cd \windows\inf
del infcache.1
exit

After that click on 'Next' in hardware wizard. It will take long time because the whole infcache needs to be regenerated, but after that it should install driver for first new device. After installing first device (when asked to click 'Finish') just restart guest. After you log in again, all your drivers should be installed without prompting.

BSoD in es1371mp.sys driver

es1371mp.sys is a Creative driver, provided by Microsoft. Version 6.0.0.0 is known to cause BSoDs.

Explanation

This is a bug in the driver and acknowledged by Microsoft, it also appears on physical hardware. Downgrade to the 5.1.2535.0 driver.

Additional Safely Remove Hardware Choices

Upgrading a virtual machine's virtual hardware may cause new devices to show under Safely Remove Hardware.

Explanation

Fusion 2.0 understands a newer virtual hardware version than Fusion 1.x does; you can keep the old virtual hardware version (probably a good idea for older guests might get confused by the new hardware and which won't benefit anyway) or upgrade. Certain version of Windows will show additional choices in the Safely Remove Hardware menu, including "VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter" and "Creative AudioPCI (ES1371,ES1373) (WDM)". These are expected, and it is actually possible to have removable devices like this - see for example hotplug.

Boot Camp virtual machine has a Blue Screen of Death with error code 0x0000007b

See Re: Bluescreen trying to run Fusion 1.1.2 from Boot Camp partition on MacBook Air.

All Linux

Can't Write to HGFS Shared Folders

Even if you have write permissions to a HGFS shared folder (e.g. it works in Windows guests) and the virtual machine's Settings allow writing, you still might not be able to write to a HGFS shared folder. This may affect all non-Windows guests.

Explanation

Although Fusion is letting you write to the folder, the guest OS may be looking at the UID/GIDs of the files and the guest user, finding they don't match, and preventing you from writing. The solution is to edit the guest's /etc/fstab and add uid/gid arguments. For example, if the line is currently

.host:/                 /mnt/hgfs               vmhgfs  defaults,ttl=5     0 0

and the guest uid/gid is 1000, you would change this to

.host:/                 /mnt/hgfs               vmhgfs  defaults,ttl=5,uid=1000,gid=1000     0 0

You will have to remount the HGFS mountpoint; if you're not sure how to do this, restarting the guest should work.

vSMP and Guest Hangs

Multiprocessor guests may occasionally become unresponsive and not recover. This is known to affect Ubuntu 7.04 (32-bit)/7.10 (32, 64-bit)/8.04 (32, 64-bit) and RHEL 5 (32-bit). Other distros are also affected.

Explanation

There is a known bug in the Linux kernel, introduced in 2.6.18 (32-bit)/2.6.21 (64-bit) and resolved in 2.6.26 where it can't deal with time going backwards. Each core has its own notion of the time, and these can drift out of sync. If the kernel switches from one that's fast to one that's slow, it will think time has gone backwards and panic. This drift can happen on physical hardware, but is more likely to happen in a virtual environment.

To work around this, set the clocksource=acpi_pm kernel option as described in KB 1007020 or update to a kernel past 2.6.26.

vsock Tools module fail to load on kernels 2.6.26 and above if CONFIG_MODVERSIONS is defined

We're working on this. Most people probably don't need the vsock module anyway, but if you do, a workaround is to copy the Modules.symvers from the build directory of the vmci module into the vsock build directory before building vsock. The kernel build system should then pick up that Modules.symvers file and use symbols with these versions. Another alternative is to use open-vm-tools, which has the fix.

Ubuntu

Mouse integration is not correct in Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)

On a completely stock Ubuntu 8.10 install with no updates, soft ungrab does not work, and mouse clicks may be displaced

Explanation

Soft ungrab not working and mouse clicks being displaced are known Ubuntu vmmouse bugs which have been fixed. Apply updates to get the fix.

Fedora

Mouse Offset in Fedora 9

The apparent mouse position doesn't match the actual mouse position, e.g. clicks select something somewhere else. This is position dependent, e.g. the further out you go, the more difference there is.

Explanation

This is a bug in Fedora 9, and documented in their release notes. As noted in the release notes, a workaround is to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add Option NoAutoAddDevices to the ServerFlags section. If you don't already have a ServerFlags section, add one as follows:

Section "ServerFlags"
	Option      "NoAutoAddDevices"
EndSection

OS X

10.5.6 guests

There are three main known problems with 2.0(.1) and 10.5.6 guests. If you have Tools installed, you will get only a gray window in the guest (as opposed to the normal UI). Keyboard does not work, nor does a guest reboot. All three will be fixed in the next release of Fusion; in the meantime, we recommend that if possible, 10.5 guests not be updated to 10.5.6.

Workarounds

10.5.6 guests do not successfully reboot in Fusion 2.0.1. The workaround is to shut down the virtual machine, then start again.

The keyboard might not work in 10.5.6 guests. This is due to a bug in our virtual USB device handling. You can work around it by editing the .vmx (when neither the virtual machine nor Fusion is running) and changing

usb:1.deviceType = "hub"

usb:1.deviceType = "keyboard"

Note that you will be unable to use any other USB devices in the virtual machine (since there is now virtual hub to plug into). Remember to undo this change when the next release of Fusion is available.

If you install Tools, the guest's window server will not start, which will make the guest show just a gray screen. There is a workaround, but you need to have MacFUSE (this is installed by default with Fusion):

Power off the virtual machine
Locate the virtual machine in the Finder (default location is /Users/${USER}/Documents/Virtual Machines/). Another way to get locate the virtual machine is that you can ctrl-click on the Virtual Machine Library entry and select Show in Finder.
Ctrl-click on the virtual machine and select More > Mount Virtual Disk > Mount All.
Browse to the mounted virtual machine volume in Finder, then go to the virtual machine's /Library/LaunchDaemons folder.
Open the file com.vmware.launchd.tools.plist and change the value of RunAtLoad to false. Save.
Unmount the virtual disk. Tools should now no longer start automatically in the guest.

Remember to undo this change when the next release of Fusion is available.

Can I run Tiger or the non-Server version of Leopard?

No. Apple's licensing explicitly allows only Leopard Server to be run in a virtual machine. Petition Apple.

Leopard Server won't install on my Core Duo MacBook/MacBook Pro/Mac mini

OS X guests are a bit different than other guests; we need a 64-bit Mac to handle them (even if you're running the 32-bit version of Leopard Server). This is documented in the release notes.

Minix

ASSERT vmcore/private/iospace_shared.h bugNr=64440

When you attempt to power on a Minix virtual machine, you might encounter this ASSERT, which will prevent you from using the virtual machine.

Explanation

This is due to the way that Minix detects devices and how we react to the guest doing so. While the virtual machine is powered off and Fusion isn't running, edit the .vmx config file (see A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion for help locating it) and remove the following line (and anything similar):

pciBridge0.present = "TRUE"

Third-party utilities/scripts for VMware Fusion

etung@vmware.com — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:11:47 GMT

This is a list of links to third-party utilities and scripts that may be useful to VMware Fusion users. This does not imply endorsement or support by VMware, it's strictly informational. Feel free to add others.

PMRC

Remotely control virtual machines running on another Mac via the magic of ssh+vmrun+VNC. Requires Fusion 2.0 or later (on the remote Mac) and some setup before using.

Network Settings

Script to manage Fusion's network settings. See also How to modify Fusion network settings whitepaper.

Automator Actions

These Automator Actions are wrappers around vmrun, a command-line interface to Fusion. Requires Fusion 2.0 or later.

VMX Extras

A GUI way to change semi-common settings that don't show up in Fusion's UI.

vdiskmanager GUI

A GUI wrapper around vmware-vdiskmanager, allowing you to work with .vmdk files. It is not as needed in Fusion 2.0, where many of the capabilities are now built in to Fusion.

RemoteDisplay.vnc.key

Compute a hashed version of a password for use in a .vmx file.

vmsd-grapher

Shows a tree view of snapshots. Useful if you have a large number of snapshots in a complex arrangement.

FireWire and VMware Fusion FAQ

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 17:35:55 GMT

While VMware Fusion does not virtualize FireWire devices directly, you are able to access and use FireWire hard drives, CD/DVD drives, and printers with Mac drivers with VMware Fusion 2.

See below for details:

Can I access my FireWire hard drives in Windows?
Yes, you can access your FireWire hard drives in VMware Fusion by mapping the hard drive to a VMware Shared Folder. Go to the Virtual Machine menu, select Shared Folders and select Add Shared Folder. Select your FireWire hard drive and click Open to assign your FireWire disk to the shared folder. To access your FireWire hard drive in Windows, go to My Computer and use the drive letter for Shared Folders and select your FireWire hard disk. The advantage of using Shared Folders is that you can access HFS formatted FireWire drives in Windows without any additional software.

Can I use my FireWire CD and DVD drives in Windows?
Yes, you can access your FireWire CD/DVD drives in VMware Fusion by
assigning your FireWire CD/DVD drive to a specific virtual CD/DVD drive. Go to the Virtual Machine menu, select CD/DVD and select CD/DVD Settings. Select "Specify physical CD/DVD drive" and choose your FireWire CD/DVD drive and close the Settings windows. To access your FireWire CD/DVD drive in Windows, go to My Computer and choose your CD/DVD drive which is now using the FireWire CD/DVD drive for it.

Can I use my FireWire printer in Windows?
If your FireWire printer has Mac drivers, you can can use it via Apple's printer sharing feature or VMware Fusion's driverless printing feature.

Can I use my FireWire camera or scanner in Windows?
No, VMware Fusion does not support virtualizing FireWire devices, so you cannot use your FireWire camera or scanner with Windows.

Removing Virtual Only Serial and Parallels Ports

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:59:01 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is not official or endorsed by VMware. Feedback, suggestions, and edits are welcome.

By default, VMware Fusion virtual machines include a virtual serial port and virtual parallel port to be consistent with all other VMware virtual machines. In some cases, users want to reuse the COM1, COM2, or LPT1 ports for use with USB to Serial/Parallel adapters in the virtual machine with those ports. To disable VMware Fusion's virtual serial and parallel ports, do the following:

Shut down the virtual machine
In the Finder, right click on the virtual machine and select Show Package Contents
Open the .VMX settings file in your favorite text editor
Add the following line to the end of the .VMX settings file - bios.forceSetupOnce = "TRUE"
Start the virtual machine and BIOS automatically opens
Use the right arrow key to select Advanced
Use the down arrow key to select I/O Device Configuration
For Serial port A, use the + key to change the setting from Auto to Disabled
Repeat the steps above for Serial port B and Parallel port to disable them as well
Hit ESC to exit
Use the right arrow key to select Exit
Exit Saving Changes is selected by default, so hit ENTER to save your changes
Hit ENTER to accept the confirmation dialog and virtual machine will boot
When Windows (or other OS boots), check the Device Manager to confirm that the serial ports and parallels ports no longer exist in the virtual machine

Resizing Virtual Disks With Step by Step Instructions

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:39:36 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is NOT official or endorsed by VMware. I take no responsibility for data loss or any other issues that may occur by using this information.

ANY MENTION OF THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OR SUPPORT FOR THESE PRODUCTS BY MYSELF OR VMWARE.

BEFORE YOU PERFORM ANY DISK RESIZE OPERATION, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF YOUR VIRTUAL MACHINE IN CASE YOU ENCOUNTER PROBLEMS AT ANY STEP!

Feedback, suggestions, and edits are welcome.

When you run out of disk space in your virtual disks, you have two choices to add more disk space to your virtual machines.

Add a second virtual disk to your virtual machine
Resize your existing virtual disk to be larger

There are a number of advantages of adding a second virtual disk to your virtual machine when you need more disk space.

It is very simple to add a second virtual disk and it doesn't require using third party tools make the disk space available. Just shut down the virtual machine, go to Settings, click on plus button and select "Add Hard Disk". Select the hard disk size you want and the interface type and click OK. You then to go into Windows Disk Management and format the second virtual hard drive.
You can move all your user data to the second virtual disk, separating your data from the Windows operating system. Separating user data onto a separate disk makes it easier to only protect only the data you care about.

While it is easy to add a second virtual hard disk, many users would rather expand their existing virtual disk so they don't have to change application or data locations.

VMware Fusion 2 includes tools that resize your existing virtual disk hardware to a larger size. VMware Fusion increases the size of the virtual hard disk, which effectively adds more "virtual spindles" to make the disk larger.

The challenge is that most users expect the increased virtual disk size to mean that Windows (or other operating systems) sees the increased disk size immediately.

However, Windows (and operating systems) work with partitions on a hard disk. You need Windows (or other operating system) specific disk management tools to increase the existing partition size to match the larger virtual hard disk size.

Most modern operating systems including Windows Vista, Mac OS X Leopard Server, and some versions of Linux provide built-in disk management tools that can resize live partitions to use additional hard disk space.

NOTE: BEFORE YOU PERFORM ANY DISK RESIZE OPERATION, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF YOUR VIRTUAL MACHINE IN CASE YOU ENCOUNTER PROBLEMS AT ANY STEP!

How to Resize A Virtual Disk With VMware Fusion 2 Disk Management Tools

1) Shut down your Windows (or other) virtual machine so that it is powered off.

2) Bring up the Settings dialog for your virtual machine and click Hard Disks

3) Select the slider or enter the new virtual disk size you prefer and click Apply.

4) After a few short time and a brief flash, your virtual disk will now be resized to the new size.

Resizing Partitions To Use Larger Virtual Disk

As we stated above, you now need to use operating system specific tools to resize the existing file system/partitions to use that new space. So, below are steps for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X Leopard Server.

Resizing Windows XP Partitions

Unlike Windows Vista or Mac OS X Leopard Server, Windows XP does not include disk management tools to resize a live partition, so you need to use third party partition management tools such as Symantec's Partition Magic, EASEUS Partition Master, Acronis Disk Director, or open source projects like GParted to resize an existing partition to take advantage of the added virtual hard disk space.

Below are options with step-by-step tutorials for resizing partitions with two different tools: EASEUS Partition Master and GParted.

Option 1 - Resizing A Windows XP Startup Partition With EASEUS Partition Master

BEFORE YOU PERFORM ANY RESIZE OPERATION, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF THE VIRTUAL MACHINE IN CASE THE OPERATION FAILS!

Lifehacker recently ran an article about a free personal edition of EASEUS Partition Master, which is a Windows utility that provides disk and partition management tools that Windows XP that is free for home use. This is exciting for VMware Fusion personal users who want to resize a Windows XP partition.

See Lifehacker article at:
http://lifehacker.com/399871/easeus-creates-and-manages-hard-drive-partitions-for-free

Download the Software

1) Download the latest EASEUS Partition Master
http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm

Resizing A Windows XP Startup Partition Has Two Distinct Parts

1) Use VMware Fusion to resize the virtual disk (See above)
2) Use EASEUS Partition Master to resize partition

Part 1 - Use VMware Fusion 2 to resize the virtual disk

See "How to Resize A Virtual Disk With VMware Fusion 2 Disk Management Tools" above

Part 2 - Use EASEUS Partition Master to resize partition

1) Install EASEUS Partition Master in Windows XP

2) Start EASEUS Partition Master from Windows XP Start menu

3) When EASEUS Partition Master launches, it takes over the full screen and shows your virtual hard disk with partitions and unallocated space on the disk

4) To resize your partition to take up the existing space, grab the separator between your "C:" drive and Unallocated and slowly drag the separator to the right to take over all Unallocated space

5) In the Partition Operations pane on the left, click Apply to save this change

6) In the Apply Changes confirmation dialog, click Yes

7) EASEUS requires that you restart to finalize the partition resize, so click Yes in the confirmation dialog to restart the virtual machine

8) When EASEUS reboots the VM, do NOT touch the keyboard as EASEUS needs to run at boot time to resize the partition and mouse or keyboard at boot will cancel the operation

9) After 10 seconds, EASEUS will finalize the resize of the partition in text mode and then restart the virtual machine when complete

10) Windows will boot to the desktop and after a short period Windows will recognize the newly configured hard drive as new hardware, the larger hard drive, is now available. You need to restart Windows for the resized disk to be available.

11) When Windows XP reboots, go the Start Menu and select My Computer. Select your updated hard drive and notice that the size is now updated to your desired size.

Option 2 - Resizing A Windows XP Startup Partition With GParted

BEFORE YOU PERFORM ANY RESIZE OPERATION, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF THE VIRTUAL MACHINE IN CASE THE OPERATION FAILS!

This solution will use two free tools to help resize the Windows XP startup partition/file system after you resize the virtual disk with VMware Fusion's included disk management tools.

VMX Extras - A tool by Eric Tung. We will use this to make it easier to access the BIOS.

Gparted Live CD - An open source tool that provides partition management. We will use this to resize the partition on the expanded disk so Windows can recognize the additional space.

Download the Software

1) Download the latest VMX Extras
http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=687564&#

2) Download the latest Gparted Live CD disk image (ISO)
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

Resizing A Windows XP Startup Partition Has Five Distinct Parts

1) Use VMware Fusion to resize the virtual disk (DONE AT THIS POINT)
2) Changing the BIOS boot order to boot from the Gparted Live ISO
3) Use GParted to resize the partition to use larger virtual disk
4) Restore the prior BIOS boot order
5) Boot into Windows to complete the resize operation

Part 1 - Use VMware Fusion 2 to resize the virtual disk

See "How to Resize A Virtual Disk With VMware Fusion 2 Disk Management Tools" above

Part 2 - Changing the BIOS boot order to use Gparted

Since the VMware Fusion BIOS flashes by very quickly, we are going to use VMX Extras to add a 5 second delay to the BIOS boot to make it easier to change the boot order.

1) Launch VMX Extras and select Open from the File menu

2) Navigate to the virtual machine package for the virtual machine in question and select the VMX file, which contains all the virtual machine settings, and click Open.

3) Click on the VMX Extras Preconfigured Options tab:

4) Click on BIOS Delay and change setting to 5 seconds and click Change. Quit VMX Extras and you will be presented with a save changes dialog. Click Save.

5) Launch VMware Fusion, select the virtual machine, and click the Settings button or type Command-E to bring up the Virtual Machine settings dialog.

6) Click on CD/DVD. Make sure "Connected" is selected, and choose the "Use disk image" option and click "Choose..."

7) Select the Gparted Live CD ISO and click Choose.

8) Click the Start button in the VM to power on the VM and click into the Window and type F2 (or Fn-F2 on laptops) to bring up the VMware BIOS.

9) Before proceeding, make a note of the boot device order so you can restore to the defaults after resizing your virtual hard disk. Next, use the arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate to the Boot menu of the BIOS. With the Hard Drive selected, use the minus key ‘-‘ on the keyboard multiple times to move Hard Drive and Removable Devices so that CD-ROM Drive becomes the top item in the boot order.

10) Type F10 (or Fn-F10 on laptops) to save changes to the BIOS and continue booting the virtual machine.

Part 3 - Use GParted to resize the partition to use larger virtual disk

1) VMware Fusion will proceed to boot off the GParted Live CD. Click Enter to select the default "auto-configuration" settings to proceed.

2) You will need answer two separate questions by hitting enter to make GParted proceed with the default keyboard settings for English.

3) The virtual machine then boots directly into GParted

4) Select your existing virtual disk partition and click Resize/Move. GParted will put up the resize dialog.

5) Select your existing partition at the right arrow and drag it completely to the right to take up the newly added virtual hard disk size.

6) Click on the Resize/Move button.

7) With your newly updated partition selected, click the Apply button.

8) Click Apply to the GParted Confirmation dialog.

9) GParted will proceed to repartition the virtual disk and at the completion will put up a confirmation dialog. Click Close to proceed.

10) Now that the partition resizing is complete, click on the Exit button in the upper left hand corner to exit GParted.

11) Select Shutdown from the GParted confirmation dialog and click OK.

12) Once GParted exits the UI, it will finish the Shutdown in text mode.

Part 4 - Restore the BIOS boot order and delay time

1) In VMware Fusion, select the powered off virtual machine, and click the Settings button or type Command-E to bring up the Virtual Machine settings dialog.

2) Click on CD/DVD and change the option back to your previous CD/DVD settings from "Use disk image" and click OK.

3) Now we should restore the boot order to the default or your previous settings. Click the Start button in the VM to power on the VM and click into the window and type F2 (or Fn-F2 on laptops) to bring up the VMware BIOS.

4) Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate to the Boot menu of the BIOS. Then, use the minus key ‘-‘ on the keyboard multiple times to restore the boot order to the previous settings you recorded in step 10.

5) Type F10 (or Fn-F10 on laptops) to save changes to the BIOS and continue booting the virtual machine. Once the VM starts booting again, select Shut Down Guest from the Virtual Machine Menu

6) Launch VMX Extras and select Open from the File menu.

7) Navigate to the virtual machine package for the virtual machine in question and select the VMX file, which contains all the virtual machine settings, and click Open.

8) Click on the VMX Extras Preconfigured Options tab:

9) Click on BIOS Delay and change setting from 5 seconds to No BIOS Delay and click Change. Close VMX Extras and you will be presented with a save changes dialog. Click Save.

Part 5 - Boot into Windows to complete the disk resize operation

1) In VMware Fusion, click Run to power on the virtual machine. When Windows begins to boot, it will start with a disk check for consistency. This is expected, as this is the default setting of GParted to ensure that the partition operation was completed successfully.

2) Once the Windows disk check is complete, Windows will boot to the desktop and after a short period Windows will recognize that new hardware, the larger hard drive, is now available. You need to restart Windows for the resized disk to be available.

3) When Windows XP reboots, go the Start Menu and select My Computer. Select your updated hard drive and notice that the size is now updated to your desired size.

Resizing Windows Vista and Windows 7 Partitions

1) Click on the Start menu in your Windows Vista virtual machine

2) Right click on Computer and select Manage

3) Windows Vista requires your permission to open the Computer Management application. Click Continue.

4) Open up the Storage category and click Disk Management

5) Your existing virtual hard disks and their partitions will be listed in the Disk Management pane

6) Right click on the existing partition you’d like to expand and select Extend Volume

7) Windows Vista will present it's all so intuitive "Extend Volume Wizard" and Click Next to begin

8) The Extend Volume Wizard automatically selects the newly added disk space, click Next to continue

9) Click Finish to complete the "Extend Volume Wizard" and expand your existing partition

10) Close the Computer Management application

11) Click on the Start menu and select Computer

12) The C: drive will now have the increase size you expect

VMware Fusion 2.0 Release Candidate now available...

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:55:39 GMT

VMware Fusion 2.0 Release Candidate (build 113392) is now available! VMware Fusion 2.0 will be a free downloadable upgrade for all VMware Fusion 1.x customers when released.

Click here to download VMware Fusion 2.0 Release Candidate (build 113392): http://www.vmware.com/communities/content/beta/fusion20/registration.html

New and Improved Features in VMware Fusion 2.0 Release Candidate

VMware Fusion 2.0 RC has many enhancements and fixes, including:

Windows Virus Protection Included

To keep your Windows-on-Mac experience as safe as possible, VMware Fusion includes a complimentary 12-month subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus to help protect your Windows XP and Windows Vista virtual machines.

Now Available in Seven Languages

VMware Fusion 2 includes support for seven languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Italian and Spanish

User Interface Improvements

Snapshot/Rollback window
- Added a toolbar and re-arranged UI controls in this window to be more discoverable
- Now shows more information for each snapshot, such as created date and time, and approximate file size
- Access to AutoProtect settings from the snapshot/rollback window
Sharing
- Finer control and improved wording for shared applications

Mac OS X Server Guest Improvements

Mac OS X Server guest creation now uses SCSI virtual disks as the default disk bus type, not IDE
Mac OS X Server guest creation now defaults to the new Mac Profile for Keyboard and Mouse. See Keyboard and Mouse preferences to edit or change this setting.
VMware Fusion now ships with a pre-formatted virtual SCSI disk for Mac OS X Server guests, so you don't have to go through the disk formatting step when creating the Mac OS X Server guest

Shared Applications/URL Handling

Windows XP only exposes the default web browser as a valid HTTP applications, which means that other browsers would not show up as valid HTTP applications on Windows XP. VMware Fusion 2 works around this Windows XP limitation and adds support for Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, and Firefox on Windows XP to be valid HTTP proxy applications making web development even easier on the Mac.

Revamped Help

VMware Fusion 2 help updated for all new features and user interface changes.
Help reorganized to make make it easier to find the information you need and searchable in the Help menu and in Apple's Help Viewer.

Reduced Download Size

Reduced download size by over 80 MB compared to VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 2

Issues Resolved in VMware Fusion 2.0 RC

Boot Camp activation issues in beta 2: The problem introduced with VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 2 that required reactivation when booting back and forth between Boot Camp and a virtual machine with Windows XP and Vista has been resolved.
Keyboard issues in beta 2: The problem where the keyboard failed to work correctly in beta 2 when users belonged to 16 or more groups (primarily in an Active Directory enviornment) has been fixed.
Third-party application crashes due to VMDKMounter resolved: The problem some third party applications would crash when VMDKMounter was running should now be resolved.
Crash when waking up from sleep. On some Macs, VMware Fusion would crash when waking up from the Mac sleeping. This should be resolved in VMware Fusion 2 RC.
Unity: The problem where Unity view failed to work correctly when users belonged to 16 or more groups (primarily in an Active Directory enviornment) has been fixed.
MacBooks and MacBook Airs with the Intel GMA X3100 video card can now have correct display operation in Unity view
Setting default applications for URL handling now works more reliably
Popup windows in Unity view no longer disrupt the operation of Spaces
Installing Windows Vista SP1 no longer causes reactivation problems in the native Boot Camp partition and the Boot Camp virtual machine
3D acceleration is enabled by default for appropriate operating systems only
The AutoProtect snapshot limit can be set to fewer than three without producing excess snapshots
Dragging and dropping a picture from Microsoft Word or Wordpad does not cause VMware Fusion to fail
Dragging and dropping a file from the guest to the host now works correctly
Windows Easy Install for Windows Vista now works if the user name on the Mac is Administrator
The Linux Easy Install option now works with CDs as well as ISO images
Logging out in Unity view no longer causes the log out to stall
Switching to Unity view does not produce duplicates of each running application
VMware Fusion no longer becomes unresponsive when a virtual machine is restarted in Unity view
Changing the setting for showing a shared running application in the dock now works in Unity view
During a restart to Unity view there is now a visual indication that the virtual machine is loading
Using "Safely Remove Hardware" within a virtual machine no longer interferes with mouse action
VMware Fusion does not permit attributing the wrong bus type to a virtual hard disk
Having the VMware Fusion status bar hidden does not cause VMware Fusion to fail when closing a virtual machine window
VMDKMounter does not display an incorrect message after a successful disk mount
Removing a default application setting in the preferences window now works correctly

There is a separate beta forum/community for the VMware Fusion 2.0 beta program that includes bug reporting. Please refer to the VMware Fusion 2.0 beta community at:

http://communities.vmware.com/community/beta/fusion

We are excited to bring make VMware Fusion 2.0 Release Candidate available to you and look forward to your feedback.

NOTE: As with any pre-release release, there are known and unknown issues. We recommend testing only for those who want to use the latest and greatest software and can afford potential downtime and issues.

Pat Lee
VMware

Installing Mac OS X Leopard Server VM and Optimizing Performance

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:54:16 GMT

Mac OS X Leopard Server is now a supported operating system in a VMware Fusion 2 virtual machine. Here are a bunch of tips to get the best experience with Mac OS X Leopard Server virtual machines.

First, we recommend you create a new Mac OS X Server virtual machine with VMware Fusion 2 Release Candidate.

In order to get the best disk performance, we recommend that you install Mac OS X Server onto a virtual SCSI disk.
In order to get the best mouse and display experience, we recommend that you install VMware Tools for Mac OS X Server.
In order to get the best mouse and keyboard experience, we recommend that you use a keyboard and mouse profile optimized for Mac OS X Server virtual machines.

NOTE:

We also recommend that you prevent Mac OS X Leopard Server from putting the (virtual) computer to sleep.

See instructions below for getting up and running with Mac OS X Server in a VMware Fusion virtual machine:

Install Mac OS X Server onto a virtual SCSI disk

Install VMware Tools

1) After Mac OS X Server has finished installing, eject any CD from within the virtual machine (typically by dragging and dropping their desktop icon to the Trash icon in the Dock).
2) Select Install VMware Tools from the Virtual Machine menu.
3) Open VMware Tool CD in Finder, run Install VMware Tools, and follow the instructions to install VMware Tools.

Using Shared Folders from Virtual Machine to Access Data Stored on Mac Host

1) Once VMware Tools are installed, you will be able to access data stored on your Mac host in your Mac OS X Server virtual machine
2) To enable a shared folder, go to Settings and click on Sharing. Enable "Share folder on your Mac" and click the + button to add a Shared Folder.
3) To access shared folders, double click on the VMware Shared Folders shortcut on the desktop.
4) You will now be able to browse any Shared Folders you enabled in the Setting window
4) Alternately, go to the Finder and select Go To Folder from the Go menu
5) Enter '/volumes/shared folders/' at the prompt and click Go

Keep Computer Sleep Disabled

By default, Mac OS X Server is configured to never put the computer to sleep when it is inactive. Make sure you do not change that setting (it does not make sense to change it for a virtual machine anyway), because a defect in VMware Fusion 2.0 will prevent the computer from ever waking back up!

Enjoy Your Mac OS X Server Virtual Machines

You are now ready to enjoy your Mac OS X Server virtual machine with VMware Fusion 2:

You can resize the virtual machine's window at any time, or select View > Enter Full Screen and the display resolution of Mac OS X Server inside the virtual machine will automatically adapt.
You can copy & paste text with Command-C and Command-V in and out of the virtual machine.
You can use your Shared Folders inside the virtual machine by going to /Volumes/Shared Folders (see above).

We hope you find this document useful. For more helpful tips and tricks about VMware Fusion 2.0, don't forget to visit the VMware Fusion 2 Beta forums.

Known Issues

No sound?

At the moment, Mac OS X Server virtual machines are not capable of playing/recording sound. This will be addressed in a future release.

Stay tuned.

Installing Microsoft's IE Compatibility VPC Images in Fusion

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:26:12 GMT

Microsoft offers, for free download, virtual disk images with Windows XP/Vista and IE6, IE7 or IE8 beta, so that web developers can check compatibility. The images are, of course in Virtual PC 2007 format, and they expire every three months. Judging from this tutorial, it wasn't so hard to import with Fusion 1 and/or older images, but I had a bear of a time with Fusion 2.0RC and the current ones (published August 28, 2008). I started writing instructions, but I'm hoping that at least some of this can be improved by VMware or Microsoft.

Here's how it went.

Preparation

First, you'll need four things:

a way to extract the self-extracting archive under OS X (it's a Windows executable). I recommend doing "sudo port install p7zip", if you have MacPorts.
a way to convert the image to VMDK. I recommend downloading Q (kju), here: click the "Download Latest Nightly" link in the upper right corner to get a Leopard-compatible version (currently Q-0.9.1d118). Drag it to your Applications folder.
the virtual disk image itself. Go to the Microsoft download page, and pick your poison. I used IE6-XPSP3_VPC.EXE.
a legitimate Windows XP SP2 install CD or image. (You don't need an extra license.)

Unpack and convert the virtual disk image

Open a terminal, and cd to the directory where you downloaded the EXE file.
Extract the archive into a .vhd file:
```
7za e IE6-XPSP3_VPC.EXE
```

Convert the VHD to VMDK:

/Applications/Q.app/Contents/MacOS/qemu-img convert -O vmdk -f vpc XP\ SP3\ with\ IE6.vhd XP\ SP3\ with\ IE6.vmdk

Create a new VMware machine that mounts the image

Switch to Fusion, and select File | New.
Click the "continue without disk" button.
Click the "Use an existing virtual disk" radio button, and select the newly-created .VHDK.
A dialog pops up, saying "This virtual disk was created with an older VMware product."
Click the "Convert" button.
After conversion, click the "Continue" button.
Choose "Microsoft Windows" as the operating system. ("Windows XP Professional" will then automatically be selected as the version.)
Click "Finish" to create the virtual machine, and save it.

Now, the VM will launch for the first time.

Problem #1: Sometimes, at this step, Fusion says "Cannot connect virtual device ide:0". If I continue, it says ide:0 will start disconnected; if I acknowledge that, startup succeeds anyway.

Skip initial driver installation

Once it boots into Windows, it will start discovering all sorts of devices you don't have drivers for:

Hit ESC to all the "Found New Hardware" and "Insert CD-ROM" dialogs
Close the "Display Settings: Your computer's resolution..." pop-up
When you see the "You must restart your system" dialog, answer "No"
Alt-F4 will close the Notepad window with the EULA

Keep answering all the dialogs until you're back at the main Windows desktop, with nothing running.

Undo some Windows restrictions

Press CTRL-ESC and then press "R" to run a command; type "REGEDIT" and press RETURN.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Uninstall.
On the right is the "NoAddRemovePrograms" value. Press forward-delete to delete it (and click "Yes" to confirm). Close RegEdit.
Press CTRL-ESC, R, "SECPOL.MSC", RETURN.
Navigate to Local Policies\Security Options.
On the right is "Devices: Unsigned driver installation behavior". Change it from "Warn but allow installation" to "Silently succeed". Close Local Security Policy.

Remove Microsoft's Virtual PC drivers

Now you'll need your Windows XP installer CD or image.

Press CTRL-Command to escape the guest.
On the Fusion menu bar, select Virtual Machine | CD/DVD | Choose Disk Image... and find your ISO (or insert the real CD into your drive).
The Windows Installer will autorun. Choose "Exit".
Go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware Tab. (Shortcut: Command-F15, right-arrow, right-arrow). Click the "Device Manager" button.
Under MSIE6 -> Batteries, you'll see an Unknown Device, with an exclamation point. Right-click (or use the Action menu) and select "Disable". Confirm "Yes". Close the Device Manager and the System panel.
Go to Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs, and remove the "Virtual Machine Additions" program.
When you see the "You must restart your system" dialog, answer "No".
Close Add or Remove Programs, and close the Control Panel itself.

Try to install VMware Tools

Press CTRL-Command again, and select Virtual Machine | Install VMware Tools.
A pop-up appears. Click the "Install" button.
In the installation wizard, click "Next", "Complete", "Next", "Install".
Problem #2: When it tries to install the mouse, it will ask for i8042prt.sys. This is not provided VMware Fusion tools; my other VM doesn't use this driver for the VMware mouse, and I am not sure why it needs it. However, you can point it at C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS and click "OK".
Problem #3: When it tries to install the printer, it will ask for pscript5.dll, which is not yet installed, and not on the VMWare Tools CD. Just press ESC.

When you see the "You must restart your system" dialog, answer "Yes". The guest system restarts.

Go through driver hell

This is another part that I don't understand. My guess is: Fusion doesn't provide the standard USB and sound drivers, on the assumption that they'll be already installed. They're not; maybe VPC's Virtual Machine Additions doesn't require them. The Found Hardware Wizard can find them on the XP CD, but only if they're unpacked; USBUI.DLL isn't even unpacked! It's hidden in DRIVERS.CAB. Maybe it'd be installed by XP setup under normal circumstances?

When the guest system restarts, it will begin finding new devices.
When you get the "Display Settings: Your computer's resolution..." pop-up, click on it.
Windows will ask "Do you want Windows to automatically correct your screen resolution...". Answer "Yes".
It will adjust the screen; answer "Yes" to confirm that this worked.
You'll eventually see the "Found New Hardware" wizard. Choose "No, not this time", click "Next", and allow it to automatically install the drivers.
When it asks you to "Insert disk" for the Windows XP CD, press OK.
You'll see a Files Needed dialog. Click on "Browse".
Problem #4: I guess this is a Windows XP bug I've never noticed? Although it's pointed at D:\I386, which contains the file it's looking for (e.g. USBPORT.SY_), it wouldn't have accepted "OK" in the Files Needed dialog. Instead, you have to drop down to "browse" and open the file there.
The "Locate Files" dialog appears. It will be looking for one of:
- USBPORT.SY_
- USBHUB.SY_
- USBCCGP.SY_
- HIDCLASS.SY_
They're there. Really. Just click "Open", and then "OK".
You'll get the unsigned driver warning; select "Continue Anyway".
Repeat steps 5 through 11 as needed.
When you get to a "Copy Error", you're at Problem #5: VMware depends on USBUI.DLL, but it's not installed. So:

Digression: unpack one important driver

Go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Windows Explorer
Under My Computer, navigate to D:\I386
Type "DRIVER.CAB" to get quickly to the DRIVER.CAB file, and press RETURN to open it
Select USBUI.DLL. Right-click, and select "Extract".
Navigate to Local Disk (C:) under My Computer, and click "Extract" to extract the file there. Close Windows Explorer.

We now return to driver installation

Go back to the Found New Hardware wizard, with its Copy Error dialog. Point it at C:\ and click OK.
Repeat steps 5 through 11 again as needed.
You're done! Wow.

Updating Imported Parallels VMs to Support 2-way SMP and Power Management

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:46:14 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is not official or endorsed by VMware. Feedback, suggestions, and edits are welcome.

Some users have imported their Parallels or Virtual PC for Mac VMs to VMware Fusion and are bummed to find they can't enable multiple virtual processors or power management.

This is because Parallels VMs running Windows are built using a non-ACPI HAL that does not support these two features, and because converting a VM from Parallels to Fusion does not change the HAL due to Windows constraints, converted VMs cannot use VMware Fusion's support for dual virtual CPUs or power management.

The solution is to change the HAL. Before Windows XP, it was fairly easy: just go into Device Manager and choose a new one (NT4) or delete the old one and reboot (2000). Unfortunately, Microsoft does not support changing an XP VM's HAL without reinstalling Windows.

A lot of people asked, "Okay, how do you do that?" So Brian Rice prepared this followup. If you follow it, be sure to make a backup before you start! The following is Brian's experience, not an official VMware document. Frankly, most of what's in this document is Microsoft stuff rather than VMware stuff anyway.

See Brian's writeup below:

Start off with a Parallels VM and converted it to VMware Fusion using VMware Fusion 2's built in import function.

Next connect Windows XP SP2 CD to the imported Virtual Machine. When Windows notices the CD, it runs the CD's autoplay script and gives this menu:

Pick "Install Windows", choose Upgrade from the "Installation Type" pulldown. NOTE: You will have to re-enter your Windows product key. Pretty soon, Windows reboots into its text (non-GUI) installer.

WARNING! If you're following along, be alert here! When Windows reboots, click once in the window to ensure that it has input focus. Windows will, for a few seconds, display a message telling you to press F6 if you have a driver disk. Instead, when you see that message, press F5.

Windows will not acknowledge the fact that you pressed F5 right away. But in a few seconds, it will show you this screen:

Believe it or not, that's a scrolling window. Use the up-arrow to scroll all the way up to ACPI Multiprocessor HAL or ACPI Uniprocessor HAL.

Either of these HALs will allow your VM to shut down cleanly, without requiring the gui.exitonCLIHLT = "TRUE" .vmx file hack that that PDF discusses. But only ACPI Multiprocessor HAL will allow your VM to have two virtual CPUs. So I picked ACPI Multiprocessor HAL and let the reinstallation proceed.

Eventually Windows rebooted into its GUI installer, and the boring part began.

After 30 minutes or so, Windows finishes reinstalling itself; you can choose to decline the opportunity to register my copy of Windows again; and then your VM is back. Just one catch: the mouse was a little broken. Apparently, something in the reinstall process messes up the VMware mouse driver. To resolve this issue, ctrl-cmd to get input focus out of the VM, and then re-launch the VMware Tools installation once again (as always, by pulling down the Virtual Machine menu and choosing Install VMware Tools).

But this time do a Repair of VMware Tools rather than an Install.

Allow VMware Tools to reboot the VM as always, and the mouse should be back to normal on reboot. To enable multiple virtual processors or power management, you need to shut down the VM.

Look! Stand By isn't grayed out anymore! That's because we now have an ACPI HAL.

While the VM was powered off, go to VMware Fusion's Settings dialogue and changed the number of virtual CPUs from 1 to 2. Power on your imported VM and revel in the multiprocessor goodness.

Now your imported Parallels or VPC virtual machine will support the same features as a newly created VMware Fusion virtual machine with regards to SMP and Power Management.

Mac OS X Server VM, Energy Saver tab

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:04:25 GMT

Best Practice for Upgrading to new VMware Fusion Betas

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:59:16 GMT

The best practice to achieve best results when updating to new versions of VMware Fusion is:

1) With your existing VMware Fusion build, bring up each VM and power them off/shut them down
2) Uninstall the old VMware Fusion build
3) Download the new build
4) Install the new VMware Fusion beta build
5) Start up your VMs, all Windows VMs should offer to update VMware Tools when powered on. Say Yes and continue. If VMware does not offer to update tools automatically, go to the Install VMware Tools menu in the Virtual Machine menu to start the process.
6) Reboot VMs after VMware Tools update

This should help provide a more optimal experience.

Beta 2: Installing Mac OS X Server VM and Optimizing Performance

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:02:59 GMT

With VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 2, Mac OS X Leopard Server is now a supported operating system in a VMware Fusion virtual machine. Here are a bunch of tips to get the best experience.

In order to get the best disk performance, we recommend that you install Mac OS X Server onto a virtual SCSI disk instead of the beta 2 default of a virtual IDE disk.
In order to get the best mouse and display experience, we recommend that you install VMware Tools for Mac OS X Server.
In order to get the best mouse and keyboard experience, we recommend that you create a keyboard and mouse profile optimized for Mac OS X Server virtual machines.
We also recommend that you prevent the Mac OS X Server from putting the (virtual) computer to sleep.

NOTE: By default, VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 2 has debugging enabled to help us track down bugs. Debugging greatly slows down performance. You have the option of disabling debugging by going to Preferences in the VMware Fusion menu and disabling "Enable debugging checks". Disabling debugging checks will give you a more accurate idea of Mac OS X Server VM performance.

See instructions below for getting up and running with Mac OS X Server in a VMware Fusion virtual machine:

Install Mac OS X Server onto a virtual SCSI disk

1) Click new in the Virtual Machine Library to create a new virtual machine
2) Insert your "Mac OS X Server Install Disc" DVD or click Continue to select a DVD disc image (a .cdr master or .iso format).

NOTE: If your image is in .dmg format instead, you can copy and convert it to .iso format by opening Terminal and entering the following command line at the prompt: hdiutil convert YourImage.dmg -format UDTO -o YourImage.iso. Alternatively, you can open your DMG with Disk Utility and save it as a DVD/CD master for use with VMware Fusion.

3) On the operating system screen, Apple Mac OS X in Operating System and select "Mac OS X Server 10.5 (experimental)" or "Mac OS X Server 10.5 64-bit (experimental)" as the version and click Continue
4) On the Finish screen, click on the Customize Settings button
5) Name the virtual machine and click Save
6) In the Virtual Machine Settings window, click on Hard Disks
7) Select the existing IDE hard disk and click on the - (Minus) button to delete it
8) Click Remove in the confirmation dialog
9) Click the + (Plus) button to add a new hard disk
10) Click on Bus Type and change the type from IDE to SCSI
11) Change the size from 20 GB to 30 GB
12) Click the Split into 2 GB files option
13) Click on Apply to create the new SCSI virtual disk
14) Close the Settings window
15) Select the Mac OS X Server virtual machine in the Virtual Machine Library and click the Play button: this will start the virtual machine and Mac OS X Server will start installing.

16) Mac OS X Server will not find a volume to install to by default. Go to the Utilities menu and select Disk Utility

17) Select the SCSI hard disk, go to the Erase tab, optionally change the Name of the volume, and click on Erase... to format the volume.

18) Quit Disk Utility to go back to the installer.

19) Select the formatted virtual SCSI disk and continue the Mac OS X Server installation and follow the prompts

Install VMware Tools

Create a keyboard and mouse profile optimized for Mac OS X Server virtual machines

VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 2 adds keyboard profile feature to make it easier for Windows users to remap Windows keyboard equivalents to Mac keyboard equivalents for ease of use with our new default keyboard profile. Unfortunately, the default keyboard profile is optimized for Windows and not Mac OS X Server guests. Create a new Mac OS X Server profile for the optimal experience in beta 2.

1) Select VMware Fusion > Preferences...
2) Select the Keyboard & Mouse tab.
3) In Keyboard & Mouse Profile, select Edit Profiles...
4) Click the + (Plus) button to add a new profile, and name it "Mac OS X Server guest" for example.
5) In "Assign profiles to your virtual machines.", select your virtual machine in the list, then assign your newly added "Mac OS X Server guest" profile to it.
6) Click Done.
7) In Keyboard & Mouse Profile, select your new "Mac OS X Server guest" profile.
8) In each of the 4 tabs (Key Mappings, Mouse Shortcuts, Mac OS Shortcuts, and Fusion Shortcuts), uncheck absolutely all the boxes you can find.
9) Close the Keyboard & Mouse window

Using Shared Folders from Virtual Machine to Access Data Stored on Mac Host

1) Once VMware Tools are installed, you will be able to access data stored on your Mac host in your Mac OS X Server virtual machine
2) To access shared folders, go to the Finder and select Go To Folder from the Go menu
3) Enter '/volumes/shared folders/' at the prompt and click Go
4) You will now be able to browse any Shared Folders you enable in the Setting window
5) To make this easier to access, you can make a link on the desktop
6) Opening Terminal and enter the following command line at the prompt: cd ~/Desktop; ln -s '/Volumes/Shared Folders'
7) You will now have a shortcut to VMware Shared Folders on your Mac OS X Server VM desktop

Keep Computer Sleep Disabled

By default, Mac OS X Server is configured to never put the computer to sleep when it is inactive. Make sure you do not change that setting (it does not make sense to change it for a virtual machine anyway), because a defect in Fusion 2.0 beta 2 will prevent the computer from ever waking back up!

Enjoy Your Mac OS X Server Virtual Machines

You are now ready to enjoy your Mac OS X Server virtual machine with VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 2:

You can resize the virtual machine's window at any time, or select View > Enter Full Screen and the display resolution of Mac OS X Server inside the virtual machine will automatically adapt.
You can copy & paste text with Command-C and Command-V in and out of the virtual machine.
You can use your Shared Folders inside the virtual machine by going to /Volumes/Shared Folders (see above).

We hope you find this document useful. For more helpful tips and tricks about VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 2, don't forget to visit the VMware Fusion 2 Beta forums.

Known Issues

VMware Tools always out-of-date?

Just install the Mac OS VMware Tools once and ignore the subsequent notifications that your VMware Tools package is out-of-date. This issue has been fixed internally, so it will not be present in the final release.

No sound?

At the moment, Mac OS X Server virtual machines are not capable of playing/recording sound. Stay tuned.

Free VMware Fusion 2.0 Upgrade with Over 100 New Features & Enhancements Now Available!

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:11:53 GMT

VMware Fusion 2, a free, downloadable upgrade for all VMware Fusion 1.x customers, adds over 100 new features and enhancements including:

More Seamless with Unity 2.0: Application Sharing, Link Handling, Mirrored Folders, Driverless Printing, True Multiple Display Support, and Custom Keyboard Mapping
Safer Windows on Mac experience with AutoProtect automated snapshots and a 12-month complimentary subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus security software for Windows XP and Vista
More Power with DirectX 9.0c with Shader Model 2 3D graphics, 1080p HD video playback, Multiple Snapshots, 4-way vSMP for Server OS guests, and Better Linux Support (Unity & Easy Install)
More Mac-like, More Mac-friendly with all new Welcome Screen, Virtual Machine Library and Virtual Machine Settings, Cover Flow and Quick Look integration, and Apple Help
Finally, Mac OS X Leopard Server is now supported in a virtual machine on Mac hardware

Check out the new resources page on the VMware Fusion portal for links to the release notes, video tutorials, and much more.

Again, VMware Fusion 2 is a free downloadable upgrade for all VMware Fusion 1.x users. Your existing VMware Fusion 1 serial number will work with VMware Fusion 2, and all you need to do to upgrade is download and install. Click here to download your free VMware Fusion 2 upgrade.

We put together a detailed document on how to upgrade your existing VMware Fusion 1.x virtual machines to take advantage of VMware Fusion 2 features including advanced 3D support. Please review the upgrading your VM document to get the most out of VMware Fusion 2 upgrade!

For more details, go to:

http://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2008/09/windows-gets-ev.html

We hope you enjoy using VMware Fusion 2 as much as we enjoyed creating it for you!

Pat Lee
Group Manager, Consumer Products
VMware

HOWTO: Run ESXi in Fusion

etung@vmware.com — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:55:47 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is not official or endorsed by VMware. Feedback and suggestions are welcome. People who are experienced with ESX(i), especially in a virtual machine, are encouraged to update this document.

If you want to be notified of changes and additions to this document, you can use the "Receive email notifications" action in the sidebar on the left. Please use the comments below only for things specific to this document; general questions are better off in the discussion section.

Introduction

VMware recently released ESXi as a free product. Think of ESXi as an operating system designed and optimized to do exactly one thing: run virtual machines. Unlike VMware Fusion, which is a hosted product, ESXi is a bare-metal hypervisor. ESXi is more restrictive about what hardware it can install on, but offers higher performance than our hosted products.

While it's not a good idea to run nested virtual machines, running ESXi in Fusion can be useful for learning or demonstrations. Be sure that you come into this with the right expectations, though - running in Fusion is not going to be anywhere near as fast as running on native hardware. Also keep in mind that I'm not an ESX expert, so some explanations might be off. Although this guide is written for Fusion, it should be applicable to other VMware products as well.

Note: Fusion 3.0 makes it easier to run ESXi. Choosing the VMware ESX/ESX Server 4.0 guest type sets all the necessary defaults.

Note: This document is currently a barebones sketch, intended to get people up and running quickly. I tested with Fusion 2.0b1 (89933) and ESXi 3.5U2 (103909).

Difficulty Level

Advanced: You should be familiar with editing .vmx files and be experienced with creating and using virtual machines, and preferably other VMware products. Additionally, the group of people interested in doing this in the first place is expected to be power users.

Requirements

ESXi iso image
64-bit dual-core Mac (or better)
2 GB RAM (ESXi seems to want at least 1 GB)
Windows (for VI Client)

Prepare

Create a new virtual machine for ESXi using the iso image. ESXi isn't based on any other operating system (it's our own proprietary kernel), so select Other/Other 64-bit as the Guest OS type. Unfortunately, ESXi's hardware requirements are stricter than the default Other/Other 64-bit virtual hardware, so we need to make some changes before we can power it on.

Disable 3D acceleration and printing passthrough. I don't know if they hurt, but they're certainly not going to help.
Change to 2 vCPUs and (at least) 1 GB RAM.
Delete the default IDE vmdk.
Quit Fusion, we need to edit the .vmx file
Create an LSIlogic .vmdk in the .vmwarevm bundle, e.g. `/Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/vmware-vdiskmanager -c -s 10GB -a lsilogic -t 1 ESXi.vmdk`
Add the following to the .vmx file:

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "ESXi.vmdk"
ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
monitor_control.restrict_backdoor = "TRUE"
monitor.virtual_exec = "hardware"

You can also do some cleanup, such as deleting the IDE disk.

Note: For older versions of VMware products, monitor.virtual_exec = "hardware" used to be monitor_control.vt32 = "TRUE"

TODO: cover other setup, e.g. host-only network for VIClient

Install

Install should be straightforward at this point. ESXi will attempt to put the network adapter in promiscuous mode, which will cause Fusion to prompt you for admin access. TODO: add more details

When it's done, you can customize the setup (e.g. select a root password).

Install VMware Infrastructure Client

From a Windows computer (possibly a virtual machine), use your web browser of choice to connect to the IP shown on the ESXi console. This will download the VMware Infrastructure Client, which is used to manage ESX servers. Run the setup.

TODO: Check if VIClient works in WINE, I hear it does.
TODO: Instructions to enter license
TODO: Write up how to create a virtual machine using VICllient.
TODO: Point out some features, such as resource allocation

Further Resources

TODO: put in some stuff about ESX, Virtual Center, etc.

Update to Mac OS X 10.5.5 to avoid potential data loss...

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:08:36 GMT

Optimize Performance for Mac or VM?

Many of our users are probably familiar with the setting under VMware Fusion Preferences that lets users determine if they want to optimize for virtual machine disk performance, or optimize for performance of their Mac OS applications.

The way this works is that, by default, VMware Fusion “optimizes for virtual machine disk performance” with the tradeoff of using more of your Mac’s memory. Conversely, if you “Optimize for Mac OS application performance” VMware Fusion uses less of your Mac’s memory, but can decrease performance of your virtual machines—a tradeoff that some users are willing to take.
Apple Issue with Unbuffered IO

“Optimizing for Mac OS applications performance” works via enabling what is called “unbuffered IO.” The problem is that there is an Apple problem with unbuffered IO that can cause your virtual machine, or your entire OS, to hang at some points. If this occurs, your virtual machine disk can get corrupted, which, of course, we want to avoid at all costs.

Apple has now resolved this bug with Mac OS X 10.5.5. Feel free to update to Mac OS X 10.5.5 as appropriate to workaround this problem.

Glossary of Virtualization (and Computing) Terms

etung@vmware.com — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:34:27 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is not official or endorsed by VMware. Feedback, suggestions, and edits are welcome.

This document is intended for someone new to virtualization or who needs to understand the terminology used when discussing virtualization. Other links of interest include A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion and Frequently Asked Questions about VMware Fusion. Note: This glossary of virtualization is aimed towards x86, VMware, and specifically Fusion.

If you want to be notified of changes and additions to this document, you can use the "Receive email notifications" action in the sidebar on the left. Please use the comments below only for things specific to this document; general questions are better off in the discussion section.

Term	Meaning
ACE	A VMware product that provides a way to secure and manage virtual machines, for example in the workplace. The proper name is "VMware ACE".
AMD-V	AMD's implementation of virtualization hardware assist
Binary Translation	A virtualization technique pioneered by VMware in the late '90s for the x86 architecture where the instruction stream is inspected and non-virtualizable machine instructions are replaced with "safe" code. Contrast with hardware assist.
Boot Camp virtual machine	Using an existing Boot Camp installation as a virtual machine. Contrast with normal virtual machine.
console window	The window on the host which allows you to interact with the guest. Note: Not really applicable to a Unity situation, this is mainly single-window mode.
Converter	A VMware product that converts a physical (or virtual) Windows machine to a virtual machine. The proper name is "VMware Converter".
core	Computational unit. There may be multiple cores in a socket. Note this is a generic term, not to be confused with Intel's Core (Solo, Duo, etc.) product line.
COW disk	Copy-On-Write disk. Part of a snapshot, and keeps track of disk changes since the snapshot was taken.
CPU	Central Processing Unit. Depending on context, might refer to a core or a socket.
ESXi	A free VMware virtualization software product aimed at businesses and enterprise. Unlike Player/Fusion/Workstation/Server, does not run on top of another OS. The proper name is "VMware ESXi".
file-based disk	A virtual disk where the contents are stored in a file (or multiple files, for split disks). Contrast with raw disk.
Fusion	A VMware hosted virtualization software product. Runs on Mac OS X hosts. The proper name is "VMware Fusion".
fullscreen	A view mode where the guest display takes up an entire physical monitor (or more). Contrast with single-window and Unity.
guest	The operating system that runs in a virtual machine. There can be multiple guests per physical machine, but only one per virtual machine. Contrast with host.
grab	To direct input (i.e. keyboard and mouse) to a virtual machine, for example by clicking in a console window. Contrast with ungrab.
hard ungrab	Forced ungrab, such as by pressing ctrl-cmd (by default) in Fusion.
hardware assist	A virtualization technique where the CPU allows software to specify instructions (e.g. non-virtualizable ones) to cause traps (thus making them virtualizable). Examples on the x86 architecture include VT-x and AMD-V. Contrast with Binary Translation.
host	The OS that has direct control of the hardware. There is only one host per physical machine. What the virtualization software runs on; e.g. for Fusion, the host is OS X. Contrast with guest.
HGFS	Abbreviation for "Host-Guest File System". VMware's name for the guest-visible aspect of a Shared Folder.
hypervisor	Software that controls virtual machines, managing resources and ensuring that guests are properly isolated.
Importer	A companion program for Fusion 1.x that translates third-party virtual machines (e.g. Parallels, VirtualPC) to a format that Fusion understands. As of Fusion 2, this functionality is built in to Fusion. The proper name is "VMware Importer".
NIC	Network Interface Card. What a computer uses to talk to the network; can be wired or wireless.
Player	A free VMware hosted virtualization software product aimed at end users. Has fewer features than Workstation or Fusion. Runs on Windows and Linux hosts. The proper name is "VMware Player".
pNIC	Physical NIC; what the host uses to talk to the network.
vNIC	Virtual NIC; what we present to a guest. Our vNICs always appear as wired devices to the guest, even if the pNIC is a wireless device.
network share	A method for accessing one computer's filesystem from another computer; not restricted to virtualization. Well-known examples include NFS and SMB/CIFS. Does not require VMware Tools, but does require a network connection. Contrast with Shared Folder.
normal virtual machine	For example, what you get when you create a new virtual machine with all defaults. A normal virtual machine is portable between computers. A normal virtual machine does not have things such as raw disks.
Operating System	Software that controls the hardware and runs other programs. Well-known examples include Windows and OS X.
OS	Abbreviation for operating system.
partition	noun: A self-contained region of a hard disk that usually contains a filesystem. verb: to create a partition A partition is not the same as a virtual machine, nor do you have to partition your Mac's hard drive to create a virtual machine.
physical machine	A computer that (for example) you could touch or throw out a window. Contrast with virtual machine.
raw disk	A virtual disk where the contents are stored directly on a partition on the physical machine. Not safe to use with snapshots or suspending. For example, a Boot Camp virtual machine uses a raw disk. Contrast with file-based disk.
Shared Folder	In the context of VMware, a specific method for accessing the host filesystem from the guest using VMware Tools. Does not require a network connection. Contrast with network share.
single window	A view mode where the guest's display appears in a single host window. This is the default view in Fusion. Contrast with Unity and fullscreen.
SMP	Symmetric MultiProcessing. Using multiple cores at once.
vSMP	Virtual Symmetric MultiProcessing. Using multiple cores in one virtual machine.
snapshot	A way to save all state (disk, RAM, CPU) of a virtual machine (note this does not include network, since that is external). As long as you don't delete the snapshot (or underlying base disks), you can return to this state. Useful for testing purposes or for remembering a known-good setup.
socket	A (physical) computational unit, e.g. something you would plug a CPU into. A computer may have multiple sockets, a socket may have multiple cores. Can also refer to a particular type of communication method between programs.
soft ungrab	Automatic ungrab, such as when your mouse leaves the console window.
Tools	Optional software installed in the guest that improves performance and usability. The proper name is "VMware Tools".
ungrab	To direct input (i.e. keyboard and mouse) away from a virtual machine. See also soft ungrab and hard ungrab. Contrast with grab.
Unity	A view mode where guest windows appear to be on the host, e.g. you can interleave them with host windows. Requires VMware Tools; not available for all guests. Contrast with single-window and fullscreen.
virtual machine	A "computer" that exists only in software. Contrast with physical machine.
virtual machine monitor	Another name for a hypervisor.
VM	Common abbreviation for virtual machine.
VMware	Company that makes virtualization (and related) software.
VT-x	Intel's implementation of virtualization hardware assist for x86. All Intel Macs have this.
Workstation	A VMware hosted virtualization software product aimed at developers and testers, with a number of features that Fusion does not have. Runs on Windows and Linux hosts. The proper name is "VMware Workstation".

HOWTO: Run a Virtual Machine at Boot

etung@vmware.com — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:42:56 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is not official or endorsed by VMware. Feedback, suggestions, and edits are welcome.

This document is intended for someone who wants to run a VMware Fusion virtual machine at boot, and assumes basic familiarity with both OS X and Fusion, as well as A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion.

If you want to be notified of changes and additions to this document, you can use the "Receive email notifications" action in the sidebar on the left. Please use the comments below only for things specific to this document (e.g. inaccuracies); general questions (including questions about getting this to work) are better off in the discussion section.

Motivation

Unlike Windows or Linux, where you can choose from Workstation/Server/Player/etc., on the Mac, Fusion is currently our only product. While Fusion is intended to be a consumer product, it shares the common VMware code base, and so gets a bunch of features for free. With a little bit of tweaking, you can run a virtual machine at boot and in the background. For example, you might want to do this on a server, or with a virtual machine that provides services to users on the Mac.

Prepare the Virtual Machine

This section is mostly optional, but makes it easier to interact with your virtual machine. Add the following lines to the .vmx config file:

msg.autoAnswer = "TRUE"
signal.suspendOnHUP = "TRUE"
signal.powerOffOnTERM = "TRUE"
RemoteDisplay.vnc.enabled = "TRUE"
RemoteDisplay.vnc.port = "5902"

msg.autoAnswer is because sometimes Fusion wants to prompt you with some information (e.g. Tools aren't installed). Without this, the virtual machine will sit around waiting for an answer, but we don't want that since the idea is to run automatically.
signal.suspendOnHUP and signal.powerOffOnTERM give us ways to suspend or shut down the virtual machine by sending signals (via `kill`, e.g. `kill -HUP $PID` where $PID is the ID of the vmware-vmx process).
RemoteDisplay.vnc.enabled and RemoteDisplay.vnc.port give us a way to connect to the virtual machine. Note that by default, Fusion virtual machines already come with RemoteDisplay.vnc.port; edit this rather than creating a duplicate entry.

Test your virtual machine by running it normally in Fusion, connecting via VNC, and suspending and/or powering off.

Run at Boot

You can have the virtual machine automatically restart when stopped (shuts down, suspends, crashes, etc.) or run (automatically) only once per boot. You will need administrator access for this part. A graphical editor for launchd scripts which you might find useful is Lingon.

I've tested this on a Mac mini running 10.5.4. 10.4.x has slightly different launchd syntax and defaults; you'll probably need to tweak the plists slightly. Note I'm not a launchd expert, this section is based on what I learned via Googling and playing with scripts. Improvements welcome.

With Fusion 2.0b2, you can use "vmrun start ..." instead of calling "vmware-vmx -x ..."; vmrun is meant for scripting and is probably the better way to go.

Run Continuously

This method will restart the virtual machine if it dies (shuts down, crashes, etc.). This makes the HUP signal not very useful, because immediately after the virtual machine suspends, launchd will respawn the virtual machine and it will resume again.

Create a plain text file in /Library/LaunchDaemons, let's call it com.example.fusion-as-server. Paste in the following:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.example.fusion-as-server</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
                <string>/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmx/Contents/MacOS/vmware-vmx</string>
                <string>-x</string>
                <string>/Users/etung/Virtual Machines/Test.vmwarevm/Test.vmx</string>
        </array>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>
        <key>UserName</key>
        <string>etung</string>
        <key>KeepAlive</key>
        <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Be sure to change the path in ProgramArguments to point at whatever virtual machine you want to run, and UserName to the owner of that virtual machine. You probably also want to give it a more descriptive name and Label.

In Re: running OSX Server with Fusion as a daemon and OSX server as host?, Dr. Wo suggests not using KeepAlive with 2.0b2 because vmware.vmsg may not be found, causing launchd to keep respawning (or something).

Run Once

This method runs the virtual machine once at boot, but if the virtual machine stops (shuts down, crashes, suspends, etc.) it won't get restarted.

Running once is slightly more tricky than running all the time. The problem is that in order to run a virtual machine, various Fusion kexts need to be loaded. If we run the virtual machine before the kexts are loaded, vmware-vmx looks around, doesn't see anything to talk to, and gives up and dies. We can get away with it in the continuous case because launchd will keep respawning the virtual machine, and eventually it will succeed (after the Fusion kexts come up). In the run-once case, the lack of kexts means that the virtual machine doesn't run. We want to make sure the kexts are loaded before trying to run the virtual machine.

Unfortunately, launchd provides no way to order tasks. Apple's recommendation is to use IPC. However, from an end-user's point of view, this is not a practical possibility. Instead, let's try a hack.

When the kexts are loaded by boot.sh, various files are created. We'll make a script that waits for the creation of one of these files before starting the virtual machine. Let's call it test.sh, located in your home directory.

Note: I don't think you can use the launchd WatchPaths or QueueDirectories parameters instead of a script. First, they appear to take precedence over the LaunchOnlyOnce parameter, so it wouldn't do the right thing. According to this blog post, WatchPaths only works if the file always exists (the files used by boot.sh don't, they're created and destroyed). QueueDirectories watches an entire directory; the vmnet-*-vmnet-*.pid files are in a directory with a bunch of other stuff, so are unsuitable; vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet*.leases changes whenever a DHCP client connects or disconnects (so stopping a virtual machine would trigger it to run again). If you wanted to use these, you could probably modify boot.sh to create a sentinel file you could watch for.

TODO: Should use kextstat to see if the Fusion kexts are loaded instead of the file test

#!/bin/bash
while [! -e /var/run/vmnet-bridge-vmnet0.pid]; do
   sleep 1
done
 
"/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmx/Contents/MacOS/vmware-vmx" -x "/Users/etung/Virtual Machines/Test.vmwarevm/Test.vmx"

Be sure to change the path to wherever your virtual machine actually is. chmod the script to be executable (e.g. `chmod +x ~/test.sh`).

Create a plain text file in /Library/LaunchDaemons, let's call it com.example.fusion-as-server. Paste in the following:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.example.fusion-as-server</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
                <string>/Users/etung/test.sh</string>
        </array>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>
        <key>ExitTimeOut</key>
        <integer>0</integer>
        <key>LaunchOnlyOnce</key>
        <true/>
        <key>UserName</key>
        <string>etung</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Be sure to change UserName to the owner of that virtual machine, and the path in ProgramArguments to point at wherever the script actually is (you probably don't actually want to have it in your home directory). You probably also want to give it a more descriptive name and Label.

VMware Fusion 1.1.3 (Support for Vista SP1 Boot Camp Activation) Now Available...

Sat, 31 May 2008 22:12:05 GMT

VMware Fusion 1.1.3 is now available and addresses six issues and incorporates the changes from VMware Fusion 1.1.2 that added support for the MacBook Air, support for Windows XP SP3 in Boot Camp partitions, and enabled Time Machine backups.

VMware Fusion 1.1.3 addresses the following six issues:

Boot Camp activation now works with Windows Vista SP1 Boot Camp partitions.

VMware Fusion 1.1.3 again allows users to enable unbuffered I/O, otherwise known as Optimize for Mac OS application performance, on Mac OS X 10.5.3 now that Apple has addressed a previously hang under heavy disk load when unbuffered I/O is in use.

Fixes problem where Sound would not work for VMs created with other VMware products including VMware Converter and VMware Workstation.

Fixes a problem in VMware Fusion 1.1.2 that caused Shared Folder mounting failures in Linux guest operating systems.

Fixes a problem where VMware Fusion did not distinguish between Traditional and Simplified Chinese so that if your system language preference was set to either Chinese version, Fusion would always present the Simplified Chinese interface. In VMware Fusion 1.1.3, this has been resolved and Simplified Chinese is only displayed on systems set to Simplified Chinese by default.

Updates the Simplified Chinese on-line help.

VMware Fusion 1.1.3 update is a FREE update for all existing VMware Fusion customers and the 1.1.3 update includes English, French, German, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese language support.

To download VMware Fusion 1.1.3, go to:

http://www.vmware.com/download/fusion/

We hope you find VMware Fusion 1.1.3 helpful and as always let us know if you encounter any issues.

The VMware Fusion Team

HOWTO: Manual Linked Cloning in Fusion

etung@vmware.com — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:28:30 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is not official or endorsed by VMware. Feedback and suggestions are welcome.
Note: This is very unsupported. Normally you'd do this through the UI or vmrun, but Fusion does not currently support cloning.

Introduction

A large number of virtual machines usually means a large amount of space needed to store them. However, if you happen to be running similar setups on multiple virtual machines, you may be able to save space by reducing duplication of common files between identical virtual machines via a combination of snapshot and cloning. Note this is not deduplication - you can't smoosh two existing virtual machines together, the technique only works when creating new ones. Workstation users may recognize this as being very similar to Linked Clones.

This is a fairly advanced technique that is only useful in a few situations and has some drawbacks. While it's always a good idea to read things through fully before trying them, it is especially true here so you know what to expect. I assume you are comfortable getting inside .vmwarevm bundles and are familiar with the concepts in A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion.

Difficulty Level

Motivation and Use Case

I like sandboxing applications not only in virtual machines, but having a separate virtual machine for each task -- this way if there's some problem with program A, not only will it not spill over to the host, but it also won't affect program B (which is in a different virtual machine). Each virtual machine is clean for that application (no build up of cruft from incomplete uninstalls of unrelated programs). Sometimes application upgrades require guest OS upgrades or vice versa; if everything were on one virtual machine I would have to make sure all my programs worked in the new setup before moving. With per-application virtual machines I can upgrade piece by piece as I want. This isn't something I suspect a lot of people do, and is definitely not something a normal Fusion user would ever need, but for me it's useful.

One thing I do to get this is to keep a clean copy of my commonly-used guest OSes - to create a new virtual machine all I have to do is copy the master template. It's way better than sitting through a new install, and even Easy Install takes a while. However, creating copies takes space, and with a limited amount on my laptop, this isn't a great solution.

Another possible approach would be to have a snapshot branch per application. This would achieve the space savings by not duplicating the base install, but has the drawback that you can't run multiple branches at the same time.

Enter Linked Clones, which get you space savings while also allowing you to run multiple versions simultaneously.

Limitations

You must be running the same guest at the same patch level across multiple virtual machines. This won't help if you have one XP virtual machine, one Vista, one OS X, and so on - but it will help if you have 8 Ubuntu 8.10 virtual machines.

This is not appropriate if you have a single copy of Windows or other non-free OS (from a technical point of view it works, but we're basically creating multiple installs, which is probably against the EULA). For volume-licensed versions or free OSes, this technique is fine.

You will not be able to shrink these guests or expand the disk (since a snapshot is involved). I don't think this is much of a drawback as each virtual machine has a pretty specific purpose, so should not grow that much. Also, the space savings from eliminating duplication should outweigh not being able to shrink.

The cloned virtual machines will have external references to the base disk. If you want to move such virtual machines around, you need to copy the base disk too.

Along the same lines, if anything happens to the base disk, all the dependent virtual machines will be unusable. I get around this in two ways - I keep a backup of the base disk which I can restore, and I don't keep data I care about in the guest (so if anything does go wrong and I can't restore the base disk, my data is still safe).

To head off possible confusion, you will not be able to update the base disk (say to include a new system update) and have all the children pick up the changes, but will instead have to apply the change to each clone individually. Over time, this will cause the clones to get bigger. This is also true of snapshots - you can't update the base snapshot and have all the child snapshots pick up the change (that defeats the point of a snapshot), so this disadvantage is not unique to this technique.

Instructions

Overview

When you take a snapshot, the original virtual disk becomes read-only and a new COW disk is created. We're going to set up a virtual machine, then create new ones using that as the base disk and snapshot so they never try to modify the base disk. I will use Ubuntu 8.10 as an example.

Prepare the guest

Install the guest as you normally would, getting all updates, installing Tools, and so on (I also like to install any commonly used software or plugins). For the sake of example, I keep my virtual machines in /Users/etung/Virtual Machines/. Let's call the base virtual machine "8.10 Core".

Important: if you plan to run multiple versions simultaneously, the system must be set up so that it can be easily cloned, e.g. there are no unique identifiers lurking in the system. For example, Windows has a SID and you must sysprep the guest. The specifics of doing this are beyond the scope of this document, consult the documentation for your guest OS. In our example of Ubuntu 8.10, no additional setup is needed (as far as I know).

Another good thing to do at this point is to shrink the guest.

Shut down the virtual machine and Fusion. You may wish to verify your setup by making two copies of the base virtual machine and running them simultaneously. Tell Fusion you copied them. If set up properly, both should work at the same time (e.g. access the internet). After verification, shut down the virtual machines and quit Fusion - you can delete the copies made for verification.

I highly recommend backing up the base virtual machine at this point. As noted in the Limitations section, if anything happens to the base virtual disk, all the clones will stop working (bad!). Having a backup will work around this problem.

Since we only care about the virtual disk, not the virtual machine, I would also highly recommend moving the virtual disks out of the .vmwarevm bundle and deleting the bundle -- this makes it harder to accidentally modify the base virtual disk. I created a new folder, /Users/etung/Virtual Machines/8.10 Core/, and moved the vmdk files there.

Fix paths

Open the plaintext metadata file "8.10 Core.vmdk" in your favorite text editor. This file contains paths to the actual data files, and we need to fix them up.

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
encoding="UTF-8"
CID=242293ca
parentCID=ffffffff
createType="twoGbMaxExtentSparse"

# Extent description
RW 4192256 SPARSE "8.10 Core-s001.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "8.10 Core-s002.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "8.10 Core-s003.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "8.10 Core-s004.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "8.10 Core-s005.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "8.10 Core-s006.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "8.10 Core-s007.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "8.10 Core-s008.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "8.10 Core-s009.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "8.10 Core-s010.vmdk"
RW 20480 SPARSE "8.10 Core-s011.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base 
#DDB

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "7"
ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 99 ab ce aa 92-d3 3e 55 a9 30 e7 c6 dd"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "2610"
ddb.geometry.heads = "255"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
ddb.toolsVersion = "7460"

We want to change the paths so they'll work from other locations. Since I keep all my virtual machines in /Users/etung/Virtual Machines/, I can do something like the following:

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
encoding="UTF-8"
CID=242293ca
parentCID=ffffffff
createType="twoGbMaxExtentSparse"

# Extent description
RW 4192256 SPARSE "../8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s001.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "../8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s002.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "../8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s003.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "../8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s004.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "../8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s005.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "../8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s006.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "../8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s007.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "../8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s008.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "../8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s009.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "../8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s010.vmdk"
RW 20480 SPARSE "../8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s011.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base 
#DDB

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "7"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "2610"
ddb.geometry.heads = "255"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
ddb.toolsVersion = "7460"

Another option would be to use an absolute path instead (e.g. instead of "../8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s001.vmdk", use "/Users/etung/Virtual Machines/8.10 Core/8.10 Core-s001.vmdk", etc.). I'm not sure if it's necessary, but I also took out the ddb.uuid line to be safe against duplicate uuids.

Write Protect

Finally, make sure the .vmdk files are not writable - this provides another layer of defense against accidental changes. You could do this by doing a Get Info on each file, or by running the following Terminal command:

chmod a-w /Users/${USER}/Virtual\ Machines/8.10\ Core/*.vmdk

Of course, replace the path as appropriate for your setup.

Create a Clone

We're now ready to clone. Create a new virtual machine in Fusion. Continue without the disk, and create a custom virtual machine. Select the appropriate guest OS type (in this example, Linux/Ubuntu). Choose to customize the default settings. In this example, I'll call the new virtual machine "8.10 Leaf" and save it in my usual location, /Users/etung/Virtual Machines/.

In the Hard Disk settings pane, delete the existing virtual disk by pressing the minus button. Go inside the 8.10 Leaf.vmwarevm bundle and delete the .vmdk files (optional). Copy the small plaintext metadata file from /Users/etung/Virtual Machines/8.10 Core/8.10 Core.vmdk to the 8.10 Leaf.vmwarevm bundle. Back in the Hard Disk settings pane, press the + button, then selecting "Choose existing disk..." for the file name. Choose the copied metadata file (the one in 8.10 Leaf.vmwarevm, not the one in the 8.10 Core folder) and uncheck the checkbox - we're happy with the file where it is, we don't want to copy or move it.

The reason we copied the metadata file ourselves instead of letting Fusion do it is that Fusion would have also copied all the slices, defeating the space saving point of this technique. The reason we made a copy of the metadata file instead of leaving it where it is because the lock file is created in the same place as the metadata file - if we left it in the 8.10 Core folder, all the clones would be trying to use the same lock file, which would defeat the simultaneous point of this technique.

Snapshot

Take a snapshot of the virtual machine, which will tell Fusion not to try to write to the original disk. I named mine "Base" with the comment "Don't delete!". Even if you run without the snapshot, because of the read-only permissions on the .vmdk files you shouldn't be able to change the original vmdk, but the leaf virtual machine will not be happy.

You should now be able to run the clone. For more clones, repeat the Create a Clone section.

VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 1 now available!

Tue, 06 May 2008 01:49:05 GMT

VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 is now available! VMware Fusion 2.0 will be a free downloadable upgrade for all VMware Fusion 1.x customers when released.

New features in VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 1 includes true multiple display support, experimental support for DirectX 9.0 with Shader Model 2, virtual printing support, integrated import of Parallels Desktop, Virtual PC VMs and Boot Camp partitions, and greatly improved user experience.

For more details, go to:
http://www.vmware.com/landing_pages/fusion2_beta.html

There is a separate beta forum/community for the VMware Fusion 2.0 beta program that includes bug reporting. Please refer to the VMware Fusion 2.0 beta community at:

http://communities.vmware.com/community/beta/fusion

We are excited to bring make VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 1 available to you and look forward to your feedback.

NOTE: As with any beta release, there are known and unknown issues. We recommend beta testing only for those who want to use the latest and greatest software and can afford potential downtime and issues.

Pat Lee
VMware

VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta: 3D Games Testing Matrix

Mon, 05 May 2008 18:52:05 GMT

This is a list of DirectX 3D applications (probably mostly games) that people have found to work with Fusion 2.0 beta. It is not for OpenGL applications. Results with Fusion 1.x should use DirectX 3D Applications Compatibility List instead. Feel free to add your findings to the document, but keep questions in the comments. You can edit the document by selecting "Edit document" under Actions in the left sidebar.

This list does not guarantee that a particular application will work for you, and does not imply support from VMware.

To enable 3D acceleration, shut down (suspend doesn't count) the virtual machine and go to Virtual Machine > Settings > System Hardware > Display. Check the "Accelerate 3D graphics" option.

As of version 2.0b1, Fusion offers experimental support for up to DirectX 9.0 with shaders. Adding shader support required a fairly major rewrite of the 3D code, so some regressions are currently expected. With your help, we can hopefully track them down and fix them.

Column Explanations

Application, Version

Which application you tested, and what version of the application. If possible, link to a free demo or something (legal!) that other people can try.

Guest OS, Version

What Guest OS you are using, and what version of the OS.

Mac OS

What version of OS X you are using (e.g. 10.4.11, 10.5.4). Note that 10.5.3 fixed a bunch of graphics bugs, so if you can test on the latest version of Leopard, please do so.

Fusion Build

Which version of Fusion you tried this with; for example, 89933 for 2.0b1 or 107508 for 2.0b2. This information can be found under VMware Fusion > About VMware Fusion. Unless you say otherwise in the notes, it is assumed the installed version of VMware Tools matches the build number. Please try to keep your results up to date with the most recent build.

Mac, Graphics Card

Type of Mac (e.g. Mac Pro, iMac, etc.) and graphics card (e.g. nVidia GeForce 7300 GT, ATI Radeon X1900 XT, etc.). Readers should keep in mind that Macs with integrated graphics (i.e. mini, MacBook) don't completely support OpenGL 1.4, which is necessary for proper guest 3D acceleration.

Change from 1.x

Whether things are Regressed, Improved, Mixed, or the Same from 1.x. Note that this is your overall rating, it's possible for something that's Regressed to have improved in some areas or for something that's Improved to have regressed in some minor areas. Mixed means that overall, you think it's about the same as in 1.x but there are improvements/regressions worth mentioning.

If you haven't tried this program in 1.x, leave this field blank.

Reporter

This will make it easier to figure out who to ask if other people have questions about setup. Also, get credited for your work

Notes

Anything others need to know, e.g. known issues, tweaks, links to HOWTOs, etc. If applicable, note what has changed since 1.x.

Working

Applications that run perfectly or have minor problems that do not greatly affect usage. Similar to a Platinum or Gold rating on WineHQ AppDB list.

Application, Version	Guest OS, Version	Mac OS	Fusion Build	Mac, Graphics Card	Change	Reporter	Notes
Narbacular Drop	XP Pro, SP2	10.4.11	2.0b1 (89933)	Mac Pro (GeForce 7300)	Improved	etung	Portal eyes now burn. Use vmmouse.present = "FALSE" vmx flag.
Neverwinter Nights 2 (Mask of the Betrayer)	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.2	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	Improved	dpolombo	No bugs so far, but I had to set the graphics level almost to the minimum to make it playable (no shadows, water reflection, ...), and it remains slow.
Puzzle Quest (Demo)	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.2	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (Radeon Mobility x1600)	Improved	jackfaust	Sluggish, but playable.
Psychonauts	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.4	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	Nickhamm	Plays fine, slow frame-rate in complex scenes
EA FIFA 07	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.2	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	anton3s	Plays very well (tested up to 1024x768). Select low details setting (higher settings still playable but then the players look white and are hard to distinguish)
Galactic Civilization I	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.2	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	Sormine	Play very well. Speed ok. Music doesn't seem to work. Minimize and exit to desktop if switching to another space in MAC OS. Older game some most likely less demanding on 3D code.
Spectromancer	XP Pro, SP2	10.4.11	2.0b1 (89933)	MacBook (Intel GMA950)	Improved	etung	Now runs. Occasional slowdown and sound stuttering, probably because this was on a MacBook.
StepMania	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.4	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	Nickhamm	Runs Flawlessly; May need to adjust timing in options
The Sims	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.4	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	Nickhamm	Flickery top bar and "Sticky" graphics
The Sims 2	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.4	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	Nickhamm	Flawless; low FPS
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm Demo	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.3	2.0b1 (89933)	MacBook Pro (GeForce 8600M GT)	?	etung	Occasional sound stutter. Very fluid.
Sins of a Solar Empire Demo (1.032)	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	Mac Pro (GeForce 7300)	Improved	etung	Very fluid, some delay panning. Research tree, Diplomacy window has missing backgrounds.
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	MacBook Pro (Radeon X1600)	Improved	WelshSage	A little slow during UI updates, but very playable.
Spore Creature Creator	XP Pro SP2	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	Mac Pro ATI Radeon HD 2600		j0nn0	Needs DX9.0c. Works great, really fluid, connects to Spore site for updates. Had problem uploading video to Youtube but that may be my network.

Semi-Working

Applications that have some problems but are still mostly usable. Similar to a Silver or Bronze rating on WineHQ AppDB list.

Application, Version	Guest OS, Version	Mac OS	Fusion Build	Mac, Graphics Card	Change	Reporter	Notes
FFXI Vana'diel Bench 3	XP Pro, SP2	10.4.11	2.0b1 (89933)	Mac Pro (GeForce 7300)	Improved	etung	Textures/models no longer obviously missing, but still slow.
Space Empire V	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.2	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	Sormine	Using the STEAM version of the game (Game Download Service)Work in some very limited video mode and with Video Memory put to safe. Slow to the point of being un-playable (even for a turn based game). Crash randomly. Seem to work with the game when game video preference taken off from Direct3D HAL or Direct3DTL HALand set to RGB Emulation. Video memory still need to be put in safe. acceptable speed there but not really using Direct 3D On many video setting, blank black screen with sometime grey horizontal line with all attempt of video setup. Need to force exit with CTRL-ALT-DEL. As soon as it exit, crash "blue screen" crash upon exit of the game. Crash is dirty and reboot require shutting down the guess then restarting it after it freeze on rebooting after crash.
Civilization IV	XP Home, SP2	10.5.3	2.0b1 (89933)	iMac 2.66GHz, 2GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (Radeon HD 2600 Pro)	?	jvhiii	Plays in single player mode, but a little slow.
Morrowind	XP Pro, SP2/SP3	10.5.3	2.0b1 (89933)	iMac 2.33GHz, 2GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (NVIDIA 760GT 256MB)	?	damikki	Still black screens after entering the first building. There's also an issue with the crosshair causing the body parts of game characters to be attracted to the crosshair causing lines of streteched body parts to constantly appear around the crosshair location. Switching off the Cross Hair makes no difference. Pixel shaders seem to work though.
RealFlight G3.5	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.4	2.0b1 (89933) and 2.0b2 (107508)	MacBook Pro 17", 2.5GHz Core2Duo, 2GB DDR2, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT	Improved	darrylr	G3.5 works if you use model aircraft (not helicopters) on "Photofield" sites. Moving clouds, smoke and streamer effects all work. The simulation (with smoke effects aka particles turned off) is fast enough to be quite usable on a fast MacBook Pro, but has some problems... Multiple Windows error messages pop-up at program startup, when selecting a new model or when a model crashes, "Error creating effect ShadowBlob2" and "Error creating effect ShadowAntiBlob2" regardless of whether Simulation>Settings>Graphics>Quality>Shadows Enabled is Yes or No. PhotoFields work, but traditional field are really not usable, scenery objects and aircraft when used on non-PhotoFields render as grey objects with no surface texture. Helicopter models display radiating polygons spinning in the plane of the rotor blades that fill the entire screen making helicopters unusable. As expected graphics performance in Unity mode is horrible, audio stutters, Windows error messages like in #1 do not display properly in Unity mode, but not important. 2.0b2 fixed this: Screen capture (Tab shortcut or from pulldown menu) from withing RealFlight does not work. Each screen capture file is mostly of the underlying Windows desktop with some garbage on it. 2.0b2 fixed this: Window>Show Title Bar has problems enabling the Title Bar, you have to use the mouse to "paint over" where the Title Bar is to make it appear when you turn it on after turning off.
Silent Hunter III	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.3	2.0b1 (89933)	MacPro Quad 2.8mhz, 8GB, Nvidia 8800GT, VM File resides on seprate drive - WD Raptor 300GB	?	brotebjo	Works, but runs very slowly for an older game. 2 to 3 FSP. Game only runs at 1024x768. Should be able to get better performance out of this game.
Halo: Combat Evolved	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.4	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	Nickhamm	Runs only in safe mode; Extremely low FPS (like 5-10 fps)
Auran: Trainz 2006	XP Home, SP2	10.5.4	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600M GT)	?	Cool Games	Runs now in 2.0b1 set DirectX 9 1440 x 900 32 bit but Last line of Text in route and session names are not visible until clicked below choices. First try was only for a few minutes but was usable. I will be playing with more settings.
Portal: The First Slice	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	MacBook Pro (GeForce 8600M GT)	Improved	etung	Sometimes you can see geometry on the other side of a portal except where the portal is (e.g. the filter is inverted). This makes it really hard to correct your aim if you miss.
Portal: The First Slice	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	Mac Pro (GeForce 7300)	Improved	etung	Some shaders run in software, and the mouse is overly sensitive (lag problem?)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	MacBook Pro (Radeon Mobility X1600)	Improved	WelshSage	Game is too slow to be playable. Shadows are not rendered correctly if at all
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	Mac Pro Tower, dual Xeon, Dual Core, Radeon x1900	Improved	shornby	Starts up fine, but too slow to play. Frame rate is about 2 FPS at 640x480 with all settings reduced to minimum. VM settings - 1.5GB ram, 2 VCPU's, optimize for VM.
Uru Complete Chronicles	XP Home, SP2	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	MacBook Pro (Radeon X1600)	?	cwalther	Game is playable and runs very smoothly, but has moderately severe graphics glitches. Many objects appear black (for some, the texture returns depending on viewing angle); vertex colors and/or shading missing on some objects (appear at full texture brightness), depending on viewing angle; sometimes real-time shadows are also projected towards the light source, not only away from it; black beams from the center of the screen to animated objects; some objects with alpha-blended textures are invisible.

Not Working

Applications that do not run properly, have problems that significantly impede usage, or are otherwise unusable. Similar to a Bronze or Garbage rating on WineHQ AppDB list.

Application, Version	Guest OS, Version	Mac OS	Fusion Build	Mac, Graphics Card	Change	Reporter	Notes
Half Life (through Steam)	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.2	2.0b1 (89933)	MacBook Pro (GeForce 8600M GT)	Regressed	sulka	Complains about incompatible video card upon launch (claims doesn't even support DX7). After first 3D scene loads, the game freezes. Works fine under Boot Camp.
Portal (through Steam)	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.2	2.0b1 (89933)	MacBook Pro (GeForce 8600M GT)	Regressed	sulka	Complains about incompatible video card upon launch (claims doesn't even support DX7). Tries to start, the stops and complains the video card needs to support at least version 1.1 pixel shaders. Works fine under Boot Camp.
Maple Story	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.2	2.0b1 (89933)	MacBook Pro (GeForce 8600M GT)	Regressed	sulka	GameGuard crashes immediately when application user presses Play in Maple loader, cannot proceed playing. Works fine under Boot Camp.
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 Demo	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	Mac Pro (GeForce 7300)	Regressed	etung	Sound, cursor, and (most) command icons are now smooth (though there is an outline around the cursor). However, many non-background textures are all gray/black, making this pretty much unplayable.
Dungeon Seige II Demo	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	Mac Pro (GeForce 7300)	Regressed	etung	Movies now play smoothly. Cursor still very flickery. Performance is worse and unplayable due to poor framerate.
Galactic Civilizations II	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.2	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	Improved	dpolombo Sormine	Game launches, and it is possible to start a game. Gray lines constantly flash across the screen, and the interface is very slow, making it very difficult to play. Addition: Text and graphic is distorted from the grey line. Line seem to be coming from the upper left screen in a cone shap toward lower right corner of the screen. Crash "blue screen" crash upon exit of the game. Crash is dirty and reboot require shutting down the guess then restarting it after it freeze on rebooting after crash.
The Longest Journey	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.2	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (Radeon Mobility x1600)	Improved	jackfaust	A strip across the top of the screen is (maybe the top fifth?) is flashing garbage, backgrounds are flickering, but all character models are now drawn.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare	XP Pro, SP2	10.5.3	2.0b1 (89933)	Mac Pro, Radeon x1900XT	?	batcave	Starts but then gives error - "Video card or driver doesn't support separate alpha blend, glow will be disabled." Then it just crashes.
RealFlight G4 Demo	XP Pro, SP3	10.5.4	2.0b1 (89933) and 2.0b2 (107508)	MacBook Pro 17", 2.5GHz Core2Duo, 2GB DDR2, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT	Improved	darrylr	The free G4 demo download barely works and is not usable like G3.5 is. If you do not change the default model the simulation will run however... Many tens of error messages pop-up that each need to be dismissed; at program start up, when selecting a new model or when a model crashes, "Error creating effect ShadowBlob2" and "Error creating effect ShadowAntiBlob2" regardless of whether Simulation>Settings>Graphics>Quality>Shadows Enabled is Yes or No. Many more of these errors occur than with G3.5 as G4 is obviously trying to render more shadows. Trying to change from the default model aircraft usually causes an application crash, either an "unknown error occurred" dialog and request to automatically submit a report to Knife Edge Software or just a silent crash of the application. Because of this I was unable to test a helicopter model (see G3.5 notes above). As expected graphics performance in Unity mode is horrible, audio stutters a well, Windows error messages like in #1 do not display properly in Unity mode, but not important. 2.0b2 fixed this: Window>Show Title Bar has problems enabling the Title Bar, you have to use the mouse to "paint over" where the TitleBar is to make it appear when you turn it on after turning off.
BioShock	XP Pro SP3	10.5.4	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	Nickhamm	Plays Intro Videos then stays black eating 100% CPU
Crysis	XP Pro SP3	10.5.4	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	Nickhamm	Works up until you gain control (skydiving) then VM suddenly shuts down
Grim Fandango	XP Pro SP3	10.5.4	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	Nickhamm	Black screen, 100% CPU usage
Need for Speed Carbon	XP Pro SP3	10.5.4	2.0b1 (89933)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	Nickhamm	Very slow; Graphics drawn incorrectly (black during race)
Google Earth 4.3	XP Pro SP3	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	MacBook Pro 17", 2.5GHz Core2Duo, 2GB DDR2, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT	?	darrylr	Goolge Earth start up and will appear to run for a while especially if you run in Safe Mode and have unchecked most options in the sidebar such as "Layers>Borders and Labels". However checking "Borders and Labels" or loading kml files that contain a large number of lines (several thousand) will reproducibly hang the virtual machine. Some of the lines are also often misdrawn before the virtual machine hangs. Often the hang also casues problems for the host OS with the host becoming unresponsive and requiring a reboot. Yes and OK Google Earth is not a game, but it uses DirectX, and I yes know it runs natively on Mac OS X, but I need to run with code that uses the OLE/.NET API only available on Windows.
Portal: The First Slice	XP Home, SP2	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	MacBook Pro (Radeon X1600)	?	cwalther	Game runs, but rendering defects make it hardly playable. Menu screen has small defects but is recognizable (text readable). Once arrived in the game: With recommended graphics settings: screen is black, faint red and green gradients depending on viewing angle, no geometry visible. With minimum graphics settings: some objects are textured with what looks like a normal map, most have no texture at all but just a flat color (including crosshairs, particles, light halos). In both cases: text characters rendered as solid rectangles, stays that way when returning to the menu screen.
There.com (DX8)	XP Home, SP2	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	MacBook Pro (Radeon X1600)	Regressed	cwalther	Fog is inverted: nearby objects appear foggy, far away objects clear. Own avatar is invisible.
Pro Cycling Manager 2007	XP Pro SP2	10.5.4	2.0b2 (107508)	Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM)	?	anton3s	Game crashes a soon as you try to start a race/tutorial.

Fusion 1.1.2 Download, Complete Uninstallation and Reinstallation step by step guide

Thu, 01 May 2008 10:43:51 GMT

VMware Fusion 1.1.2 and Ubuntu 8.04/Linux 2.6.24 - Step By Step

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:48:13 GMT

All credit goes to Mufassa for coming up with the excellent approach to installing VMware Tools on recent Linux distros. I turned it into a step-by-step post on my blog.

In summary:

    • Install any dependencies not shipped with a default Ubuntu install (build-essentials, libgtk2.0-dev, libproc-dev, libdumbnet-dev, xorg-dev)

    • Get the official and open tools, and extract them

    • Compile the open tools

    • Rename and tar them as expected by the official tools

    • Overwrite the official tools archives with the open ones

    • Install them using the official tools install script

First, you’ll need to add several packages, either via Synaptic or apt-get:

• build-essentials, libgtk2.0-dev, libproc-dev, libdumbnet-dev

• xorg-dev OR libX11-dev, libxinerama-dev, libxrandr-dev, libxtst-dev

A couple of these are new - libdumbnet and libproc were added as dependencies in the 2008-04-14 version of the tools, so other guides you see likely won’t list these.

Next, download and untar both the open tools and the official ones:

    • Open VM Tools at SourceForge

    • Official Tools are included on an iso that can be mounted via the standard VMware GUI - when mounted you want the tar.gz, not the rpm.

    • Move these somewhere convenient; I recommend the desktop.

    • Use “tar -xvzf file.tar” on each to expand.

Compile the open tools (if you have your dependencies straightened out, this should be fast and easy):

1) cd open-vm-tools-*/

2) ./configure && make

Next, package up the compiled modules:

3) cd modules/linux/

4) for dir in *; do mv ${dir} ${dir}-only; tar cf ../../../vmware-tools-distrib/lib/modules/source/${dir}.tar ${dir}-only; mv ${dir}-only ${dir}; done

5) cd ../../../

Finally, install the updated tools:

6) cd vmware-tools-distrib

7) ./vmware-install.pl

A few notes:

    • If you disabled Shared Folders in your VM config, you’ll see a message “Mounting HGFS shares: failed”. Just enable shared folders and reboot.

    • Networking does not seem to properly configure itself when on the default “roaming” mode. I’m honestly not sure what is wrong here, but switching it to manual configuration with DHCP or static IP works fine.

    • While this was all done on Ubuntu 8.04, I expect it will work fine in the future for new Linux versions and distributions.

Enjoy!

This document was generated from the following thread: VMWare Fusion 1.1.2 and Ubuntu 8.04/Linux 2.6.24 - Step By Step

VMware Fusion 1.1.2 (Free Update w/ MacBook Air and Time Machine Support) Now Available...

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:04:36 GMT

VMware Fusion 1.1.2 adds support for the MacBook Air, enables Time Machine backup of virtual machines, adds support for Windows XP SP3 Boot Camp partitions, and is now available in Simplified Chinese.

VMware Fusion 1.1.2 addresses two MacBook Air related problems. Previously, MacBook Air users would encounter a crash if a virtual CD/DVD drive was connected to the virtual machine but a CD/DVD drive was not connected to the MacBook Air. The latest VMware Fusion update also adds the ability to burn CD/DVDs with the MacBook Air’s USB Superdrive.

Prior versions of VMware Fusion automatically excluded virtual machines from Time Machine backups to avoid hitting a Mac OS X related crash when backing up virtual machines that were in use. Apple has addressed this issue in Mac OS X 10.5.2 and VMware Fusion 1.1.2 enables Time Machine to backup virtual machines on Mac OS X 10.5.2 and later. NOTE: Since virtual machines can be large, you may want to consider manually excluding certain virtual machines from backup in Time Machine’s preference pane.

With Windows XP Service Pack 3 arriving on April 29th, VMware Fusion now supports Windows XP Service Pack 3 Boot Camp partitions when they are run as virtual machines.

Other bug fixes include:

Properly disconnect USB devices connected to the virtual machine when shut down, making the USB devices available again to the Mac.

Addresses problem with wireless bridged networking in some cases not being able to obtain an IP address from the DHCP server.

Fixes a sound problem where only the default speaker worked in some cases.

Pressing the newly introduced keys on the new slim Apple Aluminum Keyboard caused VMware Fusion to crash in certain circumstances, this has now been fixed.

VMware Fusion’s keyboard shortcuts to remap common Windows commands to Mac keyboard equivalents could not be disabled previously in Full Screen or Single Window views

In some cases, VMware Fusion, after being upgraded to Version 1.1.1, would fail with a Signal 10 error when the user tried to use the keyboard. This problem has been fixed.

VMware Fusion 1.1.2 update is a FREE update for all existing VMware Fusion customers and the 1.1.2 update includes English, French, German, Japanese, and now Simplified Chinese language support.

To download VMware Fusion 1.1.2, go to:

http://www.vmware.com/download/fusion/

We hope you find VMware Fusion 1.1.2 helpful and as always let us know if you encounter any issues.

The VMware Fusion Team

VMware Importer Beta 2 Imports Parallels and VPC Mac VMs Now Available...

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:04:53 GMT

VMware Importer Beta 2 now imports Virtual PC 7.0 for Mac virtual machines in addition to improved support for importing Parallels Desktop for Mac 2.5 and 3.0 virtual machines. For more information and to download, go to: http://www.vmware.com/download/fusion/importer_tool.html

VMware Fusion 1.1.1 (Free Update, Fixes 15 issues) Now Available...

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:03:54 GMT

VMware Fusion 1.1.1 is now available, fixes 15 issues including the bridged networking problem, and is a free update for all 1.0 and 1.1 customers. See the Release Notes for more details. Download the free VMware Fusion 1.1.1 (Build 72241) update at http://www.vmware.com/download/fusion/

Using Dragon Naturally Speaking in Windows with VMware Fusion

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:00:36 GMT

Dragon Naturally Speaking and VMware Fusion

Original Thread Title: "Will VMware support Dragon Naturally Speaking (DNS)?"

INTRO NOTE:

I take no credit for creation of the substance of this document (which I've found to be quite helpful). Naturally, all the credit belongs to those dedicated, experienced people who contributed their time, energy and experience to it's development. It's not fancy, nor all that technical, but for me, it contained some solid, practical pointers to running and troubleshooting DNS in VM Fusion. I hope people continue to add to and build this document's usefulness.

WHAT IS DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING (DNS)?

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is an excellent voice recognition software by Nuance (formerly ScanSoft) - for my money, DNS is the best voice recognition software on the market. It now (v.9) comes in three (3) editions - levels of sophistication and functionality - Standard, Preferred, and Professional (Pro). DNS Pro Edition comes in at least three (3) "flavors" - DNS Pro, DNS Legal, and DNS Medical (Legal and Medical have built-in, additional technical & professional vocabularies), and there may be other "flavors" out there as well.

As a disabled U.S. veteran, currently using DNS Pro on a PC running Windows XP Pro, it's been a treasure. Those familiar with adaptive technologies will be aware, though, that DNS is Windows only app. As devoted a DNS Pro user I am, it's devotion born of necessity. My allegiance is to Apple computers for all the reasons any reader of this document will already know.

As any longtime Mac lover/user (my 1st Apple was a Mac SE, 20 MB HDD, with what was then a sizzling upgrade - 8 MB of RAM), I think that most who are also familiar with adaptive technologies would agree that DNS Pro is the most sophisticated consumer voice recognition software available. However, until recently, DNS was not a truly viable option (fast and high-performing) for running on Macs, and voice recognition software made for Mac OS still leave much to be desired.

Without getting into the Darwinistic market forces that shaped their placement on the technological evolutionary tree, we'll just leave the discussion of voice recognition apps for Mac OS; e.g., iListen, ViaVoice, etc., by describing them as exceedingly disappointing. Based on experience, regrettably, they do not even come close to Dragon NaturallySpeaking Pro's performance, accuracy, ease of use, documentation, and all the other criteria one could list.

However, then came Intel Macs, Boot Camp, VM Fusion, and other brilliant streams of welcome light! Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!

What follows is some proof -- DNS works well on Macs via VMware Fusion, but like most technology, it also takes some work on the part of the user. . .

Original Thread begins here:

VMware is a company. Fusion is their Mac product. I highly doubt VMware will support another company's unrelated product.

However, if you're asking if Fusion will run DNS, I haven't tried it myself but there are reports that it does - search the forums for "Dragon Naturally Speaking"

For Dragon you need lot of memory and a good performing processor. I think it will work but...my choice will be Boot Camp.

I have an intel imac with 2 Ghz duo core 2, 1GB RAM. Naturally speaking 8 has always worked in Boot Camp (Win XP, SP2), and quite well at that. I use a Plantronics USB headset. It never worked right with the Parallels trial that I tried. Fusion B4, using the Boot Camp partition worked great. Better still, I have been running it in a new VM (again, XP), and have to say it works very well. For what its worth, I can even play streaming audio or iTunes in OSX through the speakers, while AT THE SAME TIME dictating and playing back my dictation through the USB headset, obviously with Dragon in the VM. I copied/imported my speech files from the Boot Camp partition into the VM. It works very well. I dictate and edit 45-100 page documents into WordPerfect 10, now in a Fusion VM.

theb3freak,

how does the setup of the USB mic work in Fusion? Do you let Fusion recognize the mic as a USB mic, or do you (as in Parallels) tell the VM to ignore USB, designate your audio input source as "line-in" in DNS, and let OS X recognize the USB mic?

Thanks

Robert

I honestly don't recall the specifics, but I just plug in the USB mic, and/or make sure that it is connected in Fusion, and launch DNS. I have at times forgotten to connect the USB mic, launched DNS, and received a message to the effect that it can't find the mic, then connected the mic into Fusion, and merely continued loading my user into DNS. I have never had to "trick" DNS into using a pseudo line-in.

In fact, with the Fusion RC, you cannot use multiple Sound devices. That is, you can't tell Fusion to use a specific sound device as input or output. It will simply pipe the default input/output device.

As mentioned by the other user, you should just be able to "connect the USB device" to the Virtual Machine. This means, plug it into your computer, and then on the vm, find the appropriate USB device on the status bar (bottom right of the window) and click on connect. This is equivalent to unplugging the USB from your mac, and plugging it in to the VM. The VM should be able to recognize and use it with whatever software you choose.

OK. I finally got this thing to work. Just a recap. I have a 24"iMac 2.16 ghz intel duo core processor with 2gb RAM (1gb to the Mac and 1gb to Fusion). I am running Leopard 10.5.1 (the new update released last week) and have installed Fusion 1.1 and am running Win XP Pro w/ SP2. I have put dragon naturally speaking (DNS) on and loaded all of my voabulaires from the PC I use it on at my office. I am a physician and we use DNS to transcribe our dictations into a electronic medical record. I have tested a Phillips Speechmike Pro II USB microphone and a Logitech desktop USB microphone and both work great. In fact, with the Phillips Speechmike Pro II, I have even gotten the "Function keys" - specifically the record button - programmed to turn the microphone on and off.

Here is what I did. BEFORE starting the VM, plug in vwhichever USB device you are going to use. Next, in OS X, click system preferences, then sound, then input, and then click the USB device you have plugged in. This now tells the MAC that the USB device will be the audio input for the CPU. Now start the VM. Once it is up and running, along the bottom right of the VM screen you will see some USB symbols next to the CD symbol. Put the mouse pointer over the USB symbols and it will tell you what is connected to each one. When you find the symbol that has your microphone device connected, click the USB symbol and then click "Connect". This now tells the VM to use this device for audio input. That is it. You are now ready to use the microphone and DNS.

I have tried this same scenario with a Line/In microphone and headset microphone without success. From what I have read on the discussion boards, it does not appear as if Fusion supports Line/In devices (I may be wrong on that but I have not read otherwise and cannot get it to work myself). The only other tidbit I would offer is that DNS is very RAM and Processor intensive. On a PC I use 2gb of RAM just for the DNS and it works well. If you have performance problems, I would try to designate at least 2gb of RAM to the VM if possible. I think it will help with overall performance.

I welcome anyone elses feedback, experiences, tips or tricks.

I beg your patience as I'm new to all of this, but I'm in the market for anything that will give me a break from my carpal tunnel, and I just want to make sure that I have the facts straight before I drop dough:

If I run Fusion, I'll be able to run Dragon in Mac programs on the "Mac side" of the computer, including anything in the Office Suite and Firefox? And if I can't dedicate 2G of memory to it (which I won't be able to as my new Macbook just has 2G SDRAM), it will drag a bit, but will still function?

Do I have this correct? Because it was my understanding that I could only run DNS on the VM (either Fusion or Parallel), which is not what I want. I'd rather go the iListen route then, and I've heard such bad things about it.

Will I still have to install Windows on the Mac? If so, does it matter if it's XP or Vista?

Much thanks.

If I run Fusion, I'll be able to run Dragon in Mac programs on the "Mac side" of the computer, including anything in the Office Suite and Firefox?

No, Dragon will be limited to running in the VM.

Will I still have to install Windows on the Mac?

Yes, you still need Windows.

I haven't been able to get the sound to work in Fusion 1.1 for DNS. I get "Failed to Connect to Sound Device in VM". XP either 32 or 64 bit versions.

dkw.

Yes, DNS does work on the Mac side. It just is in a round about way. On the VM side, it works seamlessly. I do not know about with Vista as I do not have it. I run Win XP Pro w/ SP2. To use DNS on the mac side, just open the VM and start running windows. Next open a wordpad or word document ON THE WINDOWS SIDE. With DNS up and running, say the command "show dictation box". This opens the dictation box and you can dictate whatever you want. When you are finished, highlight the text you dictated and then right click onit and select copy. Now click on the Mac OS side and put you cursor in word, excel, powerpoint, pages, numbers, keynote, firfox, or mail and the select paste and it pastes the text that you generated using DNS. I know it is a work aorund but it does work.

Your last question, do you have to install Windows. Yes because to my knowledge DNS is only compatible with windows.

I have found the following to be a superior configuration. This yields the best performance I have ever gotten from DNS on Mac or native PC:

XP x64 and fusion 1.1, MBP 2.4 17", 160 GB HD 7200 rpm. Allot 1024 mb for VM.
Install DNS 9 first. Do not uninstall 9 but rather use the DNS 9.5 upgrade (will not install of x64 if DNS 9 not installed first or if 9 is removed).
Sennheiser M3 and Buddy USB pod.

Although all of the above help incrementally, the majority of the benefit came with switching from XP x86 to x64. (Also tried Vista x64 but performance was not nearly comparable).

Hope others find this helpful.

Sokolovss:

Outstanding response. It sounds like you have a working version using Fusion 1.1 and 10.5.1? You are using Leopard?

dkw

Yes to all.

can you Try this DNS KB artical http://knowledgebase.nuance.com/view.asp?60VQ=IHIF&5d7r4B=Zvp412u10r

following your lead I tried using Dragon in a XP 64 virtual machine. It worked fine, but not as well as in the XP 32-bit edition I've got working. I'll try to increase the memory of the VM.

I am trying to set this up for medical transciption using xp and os10.5.1 with a phillips mic - it picks up the mic when I go thru the initial set up , but when I go to the training sessions and click "go " a pop up window comes on that says "sound will not be available." the microphone is seected in the usb ports on the bottom left and I can hear their demo back thru the microphone - any suggestions?

Does the phillips mic require special drivers? I'm asking because the plantronics cs50 that I use does not use any--it's recognized by windows and works w/o problem in the VM.

Also, have you checked your audio settings inside winxp VM?

No , it has wrked great wehn on a regular windows machine with no drivers, and I did try checking the settings in Windows. I saw the link 3 posts above and am going to see if that helps

I need some help...

I have a macbookpro, 17", 2 2.33, 2gigs... I run vmware 1.1 (62573). I have win xp professional installed, in addition to word 2007. I've installed DNS 9.0 and have upgraded to 9.5. Here's the kicker: it works, but my user database keeps getting corrupted such that I'll run DNS and it will produce gibberish in response to my voice... when this happens, I load a backup user file and it works fine, for a while, but then does the same thing. I've spoken to DNS support, and of course they won't support vmware, but they say to "make sure you shut down DNS before you shut down windows." Would suspending the vmware session corrupt the user file? Has anyone else heard of this problem? I'm considering just buying a second computer to do my medical dictations but I didn't want to have to go that route..

Are you using Leopard and the internal microphone? I believe there's a known issue where sound input is garbled under these circumstances.

Nope, I'm using a Logitech USB mic - a fairly decent one too. I am using Leopard

Is the USB mic connected to the guest or used by OS X?

How do I know? I think it's connected to the guest, since the USB blue icon shines on the bottom right... but again, I'm not sure it's a mic issue since when I first install it, the mic works fine!

Your note was very helpful. I have the same set up as you and also use for Medical dictation. However, I have not been able to get my microphone (Philips USB as yours) to be recognized through VMF. I did set the system setting in MAC and it does pick up sound from the mic. However there is no USB (symbol) indication on the VM side at the bottom right screen on which I can click to activate the mic. Suggestion?

thanks.

Although all of the above help incrementally, the majority of the benefit came with switching from XP x86 to x64. (Also tried Vista x64 but performance was not nearly comparable).

Hi,

How do I know which XP I have ? I know it's a family one, but not what exact version it is.

At present DNS is not working properly. I don't know whether it comes from the microphone (when I use the WIndows recorder, I hear my voice very low and very slow !), from the audio-in design of Windows, or from something else. I should get a new microphone by tomorrow.

Thanks for any help !

Olivier

Original Thread ends here.

This document was generated from the following thread: Dragon Naturally Speaking

Please also see and add relevant new ones to the following thread: http://communities.vmware.com/message/829703

Frequently Asked Questions about VMware Fusion

etung@vmware.com — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:52:49 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is not official or endorsed by VMware. Feedback and suggestions are welcome.

This document is intended to address common questions not already covered by various other sources, such as the official Fusion FAQ, the latest release notes and documentation, or anything else in the Fusion forum documents category. It may also answer questions in more depth than is appropriate for a normal forum post. The document assumes familiarity with common terms such as guest or host; see A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion for an explanation. For guest-specific questions, see Frequently Asked Questions about Guest OSes.

If you want to be notified of changes and additions to this document, you can use the "Receive email notifications" action in the sidebar on the left. Please use the comments below only for things specific to this document; general questions are better off in the discussion section.

Quick Answers

Postflight script failed

When upgrading Fusion, in some cases the networking kernel extensions don't get unloaded properly. The easiest way to work around the problem is to reboot OS X.

Failed to connect to peer process

This indicates that some kernel extensions were not correctly loaded. One common cause is that an installation was incomplete (sometimes kexts don't unload properly). The following steps should solve this problem:

Reboot the Mac. This should make sure that kexts aren't stuck.
Uninstall Fusion using /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Uninstall VMware Fusion.app (this won't affect your virtual machines). This should make sure that problematic kexts are gone.
Reboot the Mac. This should make really sure they're gone
Install Fusion

VMware Fusion cannot connect to the virtual machine. Make sure you have rights to run the program and access all directories it uses and rights to access all directories for temporary files.

This indicates one of two problems.

The first is a permissions problem. The following steps should solve this problem:

Uninstall Fusion (this won't affect your virtual machines)
Reboot the Mac
Repair disk permissions using Disk Utility
Install Fusion

If you're technically inclined, one likely problem is that some of our helper programs in /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion must have the setuid bit set. These include vmware-authd, vmware-rawdiskCreator, vmware-vmx, vmware-vmx-debug, and VMDKMounter.app/Contents/MacOS/vmware-vmdkMounter. If you copied your installation from another Mac or used image deployment software incorrectly, these permissions might have been lost.

The second is if our kernel extensions (kexts) did not properly load. You can check if they are by running the following command in a terminal:

kextstat | grep vmware

There should be four kexts loaded. If not, please start a thread, mention the error and other information from HOWTO: Ask (and Answer) Questions, and include the support information generated by Fusion (Help > Collect Support Information).

Can't find CD/DVD a.k.a. What's this PXE thing?

If the BIOS is unable to find any bootable media, by default it will fall back to attempting to PXE boot (i.e. boot off the network). If possible, verify that your installation media is good (have you used it successfully before?). If you're using a physical CD/DVD to install from, it should disappear from the desktop when the virtual machine starts, which indicates that the virtual machine managed to get ownership of the drive.

Ctrl-click

Ctrl-click is a Mac shortcut for right click, and many users expect it to work that way. However, some guest applications may actually want to receive ctrl-click events. To disable this mapping, look under Fusion's Preferences and uncheck the Mac OS mouse shortcuts option.

If you still need right-click, you can get this on Mac laptops by enabling two-finger clicks, under System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Trackpad > "Place two fingers..."

Boot Camp virtual machine has a Blue Screen of Death with error code 0x0000007b

See Re: Bluescreen trying to run Fusion 1.1.2 from Boot Camp partition on MacBook Air.

Bluetooth stops working when Fusion runs

Apple's Bluetooth adapter is a USB device. As explained in Virtual Hardware later in this document, USB devices can only be controlled by one OS at a time. You've probably (accidentally) told Fusion to automatically connect the Bluetooth adapter to the virtual machine, which will cause OS X to lose track of it. The solution is to disconnect the Bluetooth adapter from the virtual machine (e.g. Virtual Machine > USB). If your mouse is Bluetooth, the easiest way to do this is to borrow a USB mouse.

USB sound devices connected directly to the guest produce garbled output on Snow Leopard hosts

This is an Apple bug in the full-speed isochronous USB support (WriteIsochPipeAsync) in 10.6. It impacts Fusion, Parallels, and VirtualBox alike. Apple is aware of the issue and is working on it.

Workaround: Keep the USB audio device connected to your Mac, and set it as the default audio output/input device in Mac OS X's System Preferences.

Function keys

By default, many Mac keyboards (laptop keyboards, the thin aluminum keyboard) have what appear to be "function keys" but are actually special media keys (sound, brightness, etc.). You can get normal function key behavior by pressing fn-F# (or in System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys).

Other things to try are unchecking "Enable Mac OS keyboard shortcuts" in Fusion's Preferences and/or checking that other shortcuts (such as Spaces) don't conflict.

Number lock

On full Mac keyboards, try the "clear" button above numberpad 7. On laptop keypads, try numlck/F6 (you may also have to enable this elsewhere in the guest; for example in Window's on-screen keyboard).

Keyboard layout in the guest doesn't match the host

http://www.harbar.net/archive/2008/06/30/Apple-Keyboard-Layout-for-Virtual-Machines.aspx has a nice explanation and instructions to fix.

Force Quitting

As A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion notes, Fusion uses a frontend GUI process and a backend vmware-vmx process. If you force quit Fusion, you're only killing the GUI process; the vmware-vmx process continues to run. If you want to stop Fusion, you need to kill vmware-vmx as well.

If Fusion is still responding but the guest has crashed or become unusable, a better choice is to tell Fusion to stop or restart the virtual machine. Select the Virtual Machine menu and hold the option key - "Shut Down Guest" should change to "Shut Down", and "Restart Guest" should change to "Reset" (note: for certain virtual machine configurations, this may be reversed).

Upgrading or updating Fusion

Installing new version over an old version should work; another option is to uninstall the old version first. It shouldn't matter. You usually shouldn't have to restart afterwards, though it can't hurt - if you have network problems after updating, this would be a good thing to try.

You should avoid having a virtual machine suspended when you update Fusion - while it usually works, it's safer to shut down virtual machines before updating Fusion.

Firewire

It is not possible to use Firewire devices in a guest as Firewire devices, our virtual hardware doesn't support it. Depending on the device, though, you may be able to access it in other ways - for example, if it's a Firewire hard drive, you could use a shared folder (or for advanced users, a raw disk map). If it's an optical drive, you could use it as a physical drive.

See also FireWire and VMware Fusion FAQ

When is the next release coming out?

VMware policy is to not comment on unannounced things such as timelines, so we're not allowed to say. Although every product and release cycle is different, here is some historical information you might find interesting:

Date	Version	Notable changes
Dec 22, 2006	Public Beta	Already had 64-bit guest support, USB 2, and multiple virtual CPUs. There was a private beta before this.
Mar 1, 2007	Beta 2	Experimental DirectX 8.1 support. Single snapshot. Vista as a normal guest.
Apr 5, 2007	Beta 3	Boot Camp support. Easy Install. Newly created virtual machines are bundles instead of folders.
Jun 7, 2007	Beta 4	Unity. Customizable toolbar.
Jun 21, 2007	Beta 4.1	Refresh to have experimental support for Leopard as a host, fix USB bug in 10.4.10 and Santa Rosa MBPs.
Jul 3, 2007	Release Candidate 1	Minor changes, ability to optimize for guest disk or host application performance.
Aug 6, 2007	1.0	Whew!
Sep 27, 2007	1.1 Beta 1	Experimental DirectX 9.0 support. iPhone fix.
Oct 25, 2007	1.1 Release Candidate 1	Leopard compatibility improvements (GA of Leopard is Oct 26, we don't have it yet). Vista in Boot Camp.
Nov 12, 2007	1.1	Localization in French, German, and Japanese (this may have been in 1.1b1 or 1.1rc1). Leopard compatibility. Importer Beta 1 was also released at the same time.
Jan 29, 2008	1.1.1	(optional) key combo (cmd-z/c/v/p/a/f to ctrl-z/c/v/p/a/f) remapping in all modes, not just Unity.
Apr 23, 2008	1.1.2	Localization in Simplified Chinese. MacBook Air Superdrive fix.
May 5, 2008	2.0 Beta 1	Multiple monitors. Experimental DirectX 9.0 with shaders. Easier printer sharing. Redesigned UI. Integrated Importer.
May 30, 2008	1.1.3	Boot Camp Vista SP1 support. Fixed prebuilt HGFS modules for Linux guests.
July 30, 2008	2.0 Beta 2	Multiple snapshots, AutoProtect. Cross-platform file associations. Linux Unity, Linux Easy Install (select distros only). Leopard Server guest. Improved DirectX support. Customizable key remapping. 4 vCPUs. vmrun.
August 29, 2008	2.0 Release Candidate	Bundled antivirus. Localization in Italian and Spanish. Various stabilization fixes.
September 15, 2008	2.0	Whew!
November 14, 2008	2.0.1	Performance fixes, nested shared folder fix, numerous other minor fixes.
February 11, 2009	2.0.2	Import Parallels Desktop 4 virtual machines, Ubuntu 8.10 support, fix a number of Tools-related problems, numerous other minor fixes.
April 2, 2009	2.0.3	Printing passthrough fix for breakage caused by Apple Security Update 2009-001. Snow Leopard guest (experimental) support improved.
April 10, 2009	2.0.4	Security fix for CVE-2009-1244, no other changes
June 23, 2009	2.0.5	Ubuntu 9.04 support, experimental Snow Leopard host and guest support (32-bit only)
October 1, 2009	2.0.6	Snow Leopard 32-bit host support, security fixes for CVE-2009-3281 and CVE-2009-3282
October 27, 2009	3.0	Whew! There were a few private betas before this.
???	???	???

The timeline may be off by a few days - I don't have official sources at hand so am going by what the internet tells me. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

If we're in the middle of a beta cycle, you can get some idea of the next update by checking when the current beta expires. There should be an update before then.

On a oct-core 2009 Nehalem Mac Pro (16 logical processors), Fusion crashes when you power on or resume a virtual machine

Fusion 2.0.2 fixes this issue, update.

Detailed Answers

High CPU Usage

Description

A virtual machine that's not doing anything consumes an abnormally high amount of CPU (exact numbers depend on the guest, but most should idle at below 10%, usually around 5%).

There are many possible causes, this section will point out some known issues.

Explanation

Is the guest really idle?

Even though you might not be doing anything in the guest, this doesn't mean the guest is idle. For example, some OSes automatically index the contents of the hard disk. There might be a runaway process in the guest, or you may have forgotten about that helper program you installed months ago.

You can check whether the guest is really idle by using guest-specific tools (e.g. Task Manager in Windows, top in Linux, etc.)

This is the only cause which should provoke 100% CPU usage, all the others produce elevated CPU usage but would not individually go all the way to 100%.

Host CPU throttling

On laptops, depending on your power settings, OS X might throttle the CPU speed. The CPU usage reported by Activity Monitor doesn't adjust for this (or does, depending on your point of view), so for example 24% of a core that is throttled 6x slower would be the same as 4% of an unthrottled core.

You can check this by doing something that causes the CPU to run at full speed (for example, run while true; do true; done in a Terminal window, use ctrl-C to break it when you're finished). If the CPU usage of the guest drops, this was the issue. As long as the laptop isn't actually running hotter, host CPU throttling isn't a problem.

Guest timer interrupts

Especially in Fusion 1.x, it is more expensive to take an interrupt in a guest than it is in native hardware. Some programs, such as QuickTime and iTunes, can raise the timer interrupt rate. Some guests, especially certain Linux distros, have a high (1 kHz as opposed to 100 Hz) timer interrupt rate compiled in to the kernel.

Devices

Having USB devices connected to the virtual machine can cause additional CPU usage, even if they're not doing anything. USB is a host-driven protocol; in physical machines, the USB controller must periodically poll all devices to see if they have any new data. In a virtual machine, the CPU has to do this work.

Multiple virtual processors

There is overhead in synchronizing virtual CPUs, since we have to wait for the host to schedule us properly, for a slightly more detailed explanation see Choosing the Right Virtual Machine Settings. As a wild guess, I would expect an idle vSMP guest to use perhaps 30% more CPU than an idle single vCPU guest.

Unity

In Unity mode, Fusion must do additional work to keep track of each guest window and see whether they have moved, changed size, etc.

Full vs Light versions

Description

When you download Fusion 2 or 3, there are two choices: full and light. What's the difference, and which do you want?

Explanation

In Fusion 2, the difference was that the full version came with McAfee VirusScan Plus, while the light version did not.

In Fusion 3, the difference is what packages are installed by default. If you do something which requires a package you don't have, Fusion will ask and then download the required package, so you don't lose any functionality by using the light version.

	Full	Light
Windows (2k and later) Tools
Mac OS X Tools
MacFUSE*
Linux Tools
McAfee VirusScan Plus
Windows (9x) Tools
Solaris Tools
Netware Tools
FreeBSD Tools

* Not a default install on 10.6 due to a bug which can cause the installer to spin forever; you can choose to select it anyway though

IMHO, the only reason to use the full installer is if you'll need the other packages and won't have internet (or a few other corner case scenarios). For the majority of users, the light version is better.

Color Printing

Description

You can print in color from OS X, but printing from the guest is only in grayscale. You are printing using Fusion's printing passthrough, a.k.a. driverless printing, a.k.a. ThinPrint.

Explanation

In order for the guest to know what it can print (in terms of capabilities, such as color, page size, and so on), it must learn this from Fusion (or to be more specific, ThinPrint). This information comes from ppd files that come with OS X, which outline what each printer can do. However, some ppd files incorrectly say that a printer cannot print in color - therefore the guest restricts itself to grayscale.

The solution is to edit the ppd file to correctly claim color printing capability. See for example Fusion 2.0 - Thinprint drivers and color printing.

Sound

Description

In some cases sound does not work.

A related problem is the built-in microphone not working.

An unrelated problem is sound being delayed or garbled.

An unrelated problem is that old guests which use a SoundBlaster16 card don't have audio in Fusion. This is (unfortunately) expected behavior. Unlike our other products, Fusion doesn't support SB16 as noted in the release notes.

Explanation

There are a few known causes, and you need to check each one.

If you used Converter to convert a virtual machine, the virtual sound device might have been configured in a way that Fusion doesn't understand. The simplest way to solve this is (with the virtual machine shut down) to go to Virtual Machine > Settings > Sound and select Remove Sound Device, then Add Sound Device. This should clear out the settings.

If you're using 32-bit Vista and have not updated, you need to run Windows Update to get the sound driver as noted in the release notes.

Make sure the guest sees the sound device and it's not showing errors (e.g. misconfigured driver).

Try disabling any audio filters that may have been installed on the host. We've seen some (such as an older version of SRS iWow or Digidesign CoreAudio) which will cause audio to not work. Check /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/ and /Users/${USER}/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/, as well as anywhere else audio plugins may have gotten installed. There are probably some which we aren't aware of that cause this problem - if you find one where disabling it fixes the sound, please let us know.

Disk Space

Description

The on-disk space (i.e. the space that OS X sees as used) doesn't always match what the guest thinks the size of the disk is. On-disk space may exceed the maximum size of the virtual disk, and is frequently less.

A related question is why deleting a file in the virtual machine does not reduce the on-disk size.

A related question is why deleting a virtual machine does not free as much space as the maximum size of the virtual disk.

Explanation

A virtual disk is only one part of a virtual machine, although it's usually the largest. The notable exception is a snapshot - a snapshot can potentially expand the required on-disk size by as much as the maximum size of all virtual disks in the virtual machine. As a thought experiment, consider what happens if you fill up your virtual disk, take a snapshot, then fill up the virtual disk with completely new data. Since a snapshot should let you revert to the state at the time of the snapshot, in this situation we could need to use (at least) twice the maximum capacity of the disk on the host. Remember that snapshots can increase the size of a virtual machine beyond the maximum disk size you chose when setting up the VM.

The default disk settings are set to use sparse disks. As A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion explains, sparse disks start out small and grow as needed, but an important thing to be aware of is that virtual disks don't shrink automatically. The reason is because Fusion has a very low-level view of the world - it doesn't know what files are to the guest, just that a guest wants to write some data to a particular block. For efficiency, most (all?) filesystems not only store data (e.g. the contents of that document you've been working on) but also metadata (e.g. the name, path, date modified, size, and so on). When you delete a file, most of the time you're deleting the metadata, not the actual data - this is why a giant file doesn't take long to delete, and is key for how data recovery software works (they try to guess/reconstruct the metadata). However, from Fusion's point of view, it doesn't know what the data means, so deleting metadata doesn't look any different from writing a small amount of data - Fusion has no idea that the data the file referred to isn't important anymore.

Enter Tools and the shrink process. Tools can use the guest operating system to tell what's actually a file (and thus contains valuable data) vs. what's wasted space (and can thus be gotten rid of and save space). Remember that the shrink process is necessary to free up unused space, and that it cannot be used if you have a snapshot or are using a preallocated disk.

Sparse disks confuse some people - if they tell Fusion to use 20 GB for a guest, then delete it and only recover 5 GB of space, some people get confused and wonder what happened to the other 15 GB. The answer is simple - Fusion never used that space in the first place, because sparse disks grow as needed.

If you use a sparse disk, one thing to watch out for is any program which constantly reads and writes data to the virtual disk - for example, defragmenters. These programs can cause the virtual disk to constantly grow (remember how it doesn't shrink automatically?), even though you're not actually doing anything. Either periodically shrink the disk (this doesn't work if you have a snapshot), avoid such programs, or accept that the virtual disk will grow (and perhaps use a preallocated disk, since at least then the size will be constant and you won't be surprised).

Virtual Hardware

Description

Virtual machines see a very different set of virtual hardware than is actually on the host. The most commonly asked-about one is the video card; other examples include (but are not limited to) the network card, keyboard/mouse, drives, and more.

A related question is why a device (such as an optical drive or a USB device) can only be used by one OS at a time.

A related question is why you can't dedicate a PCI cards to a guest.

Explanation

One of the key concepts of virtualization is resource control (along with equivalence and efficiency). In other words, a guest should not be able to affect things that the virtualization software does not allow it to affect. This was one of the major challenges to x86 virtualization - there are certain x86 instructions that cannot be easily handled, and was why VMware's Binary Translation technique was a big deal when it was new - it made x86 virtualization possible.

Many, if not all, devices assume they are controlled by exactly one OS - that is, whoever is talking to them is the one they should listen to. If two or more OSes were to give conflicting commands, devices would get confused, and then so would the OSes as they started to get unexpected errors. In these cases, we must either dedicate, or passthrough, the device to one OS, or emulate a similar device. Passthrough devices must be safe in the sense that anything a guest can do to a passed-though device must maintain the resource control criteria. As a concrete example, passthrough devices include USB devices, emulated devices include the default keyboard/mouse and sound.

Note that even Fusion goes through the host's drivers (again, only one OS controls the hardware, so that means everything funnels through the host drivers) - this means we're subject to any bugs or limitations of the host drivers.

Video cards are an example of a device which assumes it is controlled by exactly one OS. If a guest were to be able to access a graphics card directly, it could draw anywhere on screen it wanted, affect host textures, etc. Even a well-intentioned guest would cause problems, because it wouldn't be aware of what the host is doing ("Hey, what's this texture? I don't recognize it, must not be important!" and then your windows/icon/desktop/menus/etc. disappear). It's not possible to dedicate an entire graphics card to the guest either, since the underlying buses are also not safe to pass through - see for example Re: Guest able to directly access PCI cards for a good explanation.

Because of this, we take the emulation approach. The guest sees a VMware video card, and we do the work of converting guest commands into something that's safe and usable for the host video card. There's no point in installing drivers for the host video card in the guest (with the exception of Boot Camp virtual machines, where you might want to native boot) since the guest never gets to speak directly to the host video card.

One future possibility is the notion of virtualization-aware hardware, which does not make the assumption that it's only ever talking to one OS. Such hardware would have different contexts that the host can switch between for its own use or for guest use. Intel's Vanderpool and AMD's Pacifica are examples of virtualization-aware CPU technology. Other virtualization-aware hardware, such as for graphics, network, or storage, is theoretically possible but I don't think any currently exist, especially not for the consumer market. I'm am not sure when or even if they might become available.

Major Known Issues

vmdk files truncated at exactly 266240 bytes

Normally, even if you have to hard power off your Mac, your virtual disk files should be intact (though possibly inconsistent). However, if you have McAfee VirusScan 8.6.1 or McAfee Security 1.0 (other products or versions may also be affected) installed on the host, your vmdk files may be truncated at exactly 266240 bytes in some circumstances (such as when hard powering off your Mac). Truncations at other sizes may be the same issue, but the cases we've seen are at 266240.

This affects all versions of Fusion. We believe this is a bug in McAfee's kernel module com.mcafee.kext.Virex and have filed a bug with them about this.

As a workaround, exclude your virtual machines (or at least the .vmdk files) from being scanned. The exact instructions vary depending on what McAfee product you are using, but look under Preferences and either Anti-malware > Exclusions or More Options > Excluded File or Folder.

Updating from 2.0.5 Tools

There is a known problem with the 2.0.5 Tools for Windows where the updater does not work. You won't see this until you attempt to upgrade from 2.0.5 Tools (e.g. to 2.0.6 Tools) - nothing will happen. To work around this updater problem, uninstall VMware Tools, reboot the guest if necessary, and install VMware Tools.

Offtopic: Fold an Origami VMware Fusion Icon

etung@vmware.com — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:57:18 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is not official or endorsed by VMware. Feedback and suggestions are welcome.

Warning: Origami ahead.

Things To Know

This is a somewhat difficult model to get right because of the relative precision required to make the final result look good -- we are folding a very specific shape, with very specific ratios. While no individual step should be difficult, don't expect to get it really right the first time or without a bunch of tweaking. The majority of steps do not fold flat, so this is not a good candidate for making a few folds and sticking in your notebook, it's better to finish it in one sitting. The final model is flat.

Paper Requirements

There is a wide range of thicknesses in this model, so normal paper is not suitable. In fact, normal origami paper (that you might get at any craft store) is not suitable; it does not hold creases well enough across the thicknesses that occur in this model. I highly suggest using foil paper since it holds folds well. This is also a duo-colored model, and involves the ratio 1:15, so 15 cm (5 7/8 inch) duo foil paper like Yasutomo Fold'Ems is good and should be relatively easy to find. If you can't, then single-sided foil is preferable to normal duo paper - white is a bit of a boring secondary color, but strength is more important than having the right colors.

If you haven't used foil paper before, be warned that it is trickier than normal paper because every fold shows up permanently. Practice to avoid extraneous folds.

Time Estimate

Budget at least half an hour.

Instructions

Note the forum software scales down large images. A larger image (1000x2000) can be obtained by opening the image in a new window (or looking at the source and pulling out the URL). At the time of this writing, the link is http://communities.vmware.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/1822/Instructions.png (but this may not be permanent).

Warning: Origami geekery ahead.

About the Model

The Fusion icon is pretty simple, from an origami point of view - two long legs and two short ones, which suggests a thinned fish base. The color change was a happy coincidence that happened to work out. Since the short legs are very short relative to the long ones, a simpler model may be possible, though maintaining the color change may be hard. The 1:15 ratio in the second step was determined by first coming up with an appropriate design, then figuring out the necessary proportions.

This image is from the Library window, units are pixels. Considering just the blue half of the icon, the length:tip-to-halfway-point ratio is 31:447, or approximately 1:14.4. This measurement is of a different ratio than shown in in step 2, but it's easy to show that math works out such that the ratio is the same. Taking into account imperfect folding (some length will be lost due to paper thickness, it's not possible/practical to fold that precisely, etc.) and looking for an easy-to-use/remember number results in 1:15. However, I find erring on the thicker side (e.g. closer to 1:14 rather than 1:15) yields better results.

Crease Pattern

A crease pattern is what you get if you were to take the completed model and unfold it flat. Advanced folders can tell a lot by the crease pattern, and it is much more compact than writing out every step. In this image, I've added color (which is not part of crease patterns that I've seen) to show different parts of the model: black lines indicate the thinned fish base, red lines are used by the color change, blue lines are the final shaping, and yellow lines are the basic regions. Keep in mind this is a very rough pattern and does not take into account paper thickness; you couldn't laser cut it and expect it to fold.

Possible Improvements

If you look at the model the above instructions produce, you should notice that it's not symmetric - that is, if you flip it over, the color change on the long leg is not complete. This is because leaving it unchanged is necessary for the correct shape. It should be possible to make the model symmetric by widening the diagonal river, but I didn't think this benefit was worth the reduced finished model size:paper size ratio.

If you compare the origami Fusion icon to the actual one, you should immediately notice that the origami one is more angular since the outer corners are not rounded. One possible improvement is to change the ratio used in step 2 to produce thicker legs, then folding back the extra to shape the desired corners.

Of course, if you really look at the actual icon, the corners are not quite rounded in the way they are in this diagram - the center is pushed out from the inner corner, so the actual scaling factor would be approximately 1.6.

A more subtle difference is that some of the inner corners are rounded. I have not come up with a good solution to this; the previous technique does not work well because this is a concave corner, so folding paper away will not work unless you don't care about the folding flat property. I'm also inclined to say it's a small enough thing to not be worth bothering about.

A trivial improvement is to round the tips of the inner corners - I thought this would look strange since the rest of the model is angular, but if the previously mentioned improvements are made, this modification would make sense.

Selected Further Resources

http://www.langorigami.com/
http://web.mit.edu/origamit/
http://chosetec.darkclan.net/origami/

Understanding Networking in VMware Fusion

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 03:23:30 GMT

How does networking inside a virtual machine work?

Your VMware Fusion virtual machines talk to your network using a virtual network adapter. Inside your virtual machine, the guest operating system (Windows, Linux, etc.) believes that it is equipped with an ordinary (wired) Ethernet card. But Fusion patches this card to your Mac's regular network connection, regardless of whether it is wireless or wired.

What choices do I have for how my virtual machine connects?

Using Fusion's Virtual Machine menu, you can choose among bridged mode, NAT mode, and host-only mode. NAT mode is the default.

What do these choices mean, and how do I choose the right one for me?

We'll examine each of these network modes in turn.

What is bridged mode?

Your home or office network is probably equipped with a router for talking to the Internet. Bridging is a network term that describes extending a network without using a router. When you place your virtual machine's virtual network adapter into bridged mode, your local wired or wireless network is effectively extended to your virtual machine. Your virtual machine becomes a peer of all the other computers on that network.

Although your virtual machine will connect to your local network using the same hardware your Mac uses, the virtual machine will retain its own fully independent network identity. Mac OS's networking features cannot tell the difference between your virtual machine and a PC on your local network; Mac OS interacts with them over the network in exactly the same way.

Many users' Macs get their IP address from their wireless base station or router, using a piece of software built into those devices called a DHCP server. In bridged mode, if the operating system inside your virtual machine (Windows, Linux, etc.) is configured to request an IP address from a DHCP server, your virtual machine will get its IP address from the same DHCP server your Mac uses.

What is NAT mode?

NAT is a network technology that protects one network from another. For example, your router probably also acts as a firewall: it protects your Mac by preventing unknown computers on the Internet from connecting directly to it. The term "NAT" is an abbreviation for "Network Address Translation"; the protection afforded by a firewall works (in part) by the router representing your Mac on the Internet. Your router substitutes its own address for your Mac's.

VMware Fusion's NAT mode is the same technology, but one layer closer to you. NAT mode protects your virtual machine from the other computers around it by placing the virtual machine on an isolated virtual network. Whenever your virtual machine wants to communicate with your office network or the Internet, it does so through a software firewall. This firewall is a component of VMware Fusion that runs inside Mac OS.

Notice that, in this situation, your virtual machine is not on the same network as your Mac and your router. Compare this to the diagram of bridged mode, in which your virtual machine is a peer of your Mac and your router.

In NAT mode, your virtual machine will get its IP address from a DHCP server supplied by VMware Fusion that runs in Mac OS, just as the firewall does. But this IP address will only be used for relaying communication between your virtual machine and the software firewall; that firewall will represent your virtual machine for its network communication with the outside world. Another way to think about this: from the Internet's perspective, your virtual machine is sharing your Mac's IP address.

What is host-only mode?

In host-only mode, your virtual machine is not only protected from your local network and the Internet, but also locked out of them. The virtual machine's network world is wholly within your Mac.

Just as in NAT mode, your virtual machine will get its IP address from a DHCP server supplied by VMware Fusion that runs in Mac OS.

How do I choose the right network mode for me?

The right network mode for your virtual machine depends on how you plan to use it. In an office or home-office environment, with network printers and file sharing, bridged mode is probably best, particularly because bridged mode allows your virtual machine to use Apple's Bonjour technology for finding printers. Windows's workgroup features need bridged mode; only in bridged mode will a Windows virtual machine's Network Neighborhood show the other PCs on your local network.

NAT mode is ideal when you want your virtual machine to be protected from other computers on your local network, such as when you are using a public wireless connection. Because, in NAT mode, your virtual machine shares your Mac's IP address for purposes of external communication, it's especially ideal for use when you are using a paid wireless service, such as in a coffeehouse or hotel. The use of bridged mode would require you to pay twice: once for your Mac and once for your virtual machine.

Host-only mode is useful for environments where your Mac has no network connection at all, or when you wish your virtual machine to be completely isolated from the rest of the Internet.

That's a lot of choices. How do I keep them all straight in my head?

Here's a way to think about the network choices:

Mode	Nickname
Bridged	Home-office mode
NAT	Starbucks mode
Host-only	Airplane mode

Can I change from one mode to another?

Yes! But, unless you have configured your virtual machine to use fixed IP addresses, you must tell the operating system inside your virtual machine to release and renew its IP address. Renewing your IP address after you change network modes will automatically contact the correct DHCP server: the one on your local network if you changed to bridged mode, and the one provided by VMware Fusion if you changed to NAT or host-only mode.

To release and renew IP addresses within Windows, open a command prompt using Start -> Run -> cmd . Then, in the command-prompt window, give first this command:

ipconfig/release

then this command:

ipconfig/renew

Rebooting the virtual machine will also cause it to obtain a fresh IP address.

Can you give me some troubleshooting tips?

Versions of VMware Fusion earlier than 1.1.1 may give an unreliable network connection to virtual machines in bridged mode when their host Mac connects wirelessly to the local network. Version 2 is a free upgrade for all 1.x customers. Download it from http://www.vmware.com/download/fusion/

If your virtual machine cannot use the network, make sure its virtual network adapter is connected. Check Fusion's Virtual Machine -> Network submenu, and ensure that Connected is selected.

If your virtual network adapter is in NAT or host-only mode, be sure that the operating system is configured to use dynamically assigned IP addresses (that is, from a DHCP server). For Windows, use Start -> Control Panel -> Network Connections, and open the Properties dialogue of your network connection. Edit the Internet protocol properties to ensure that it gets a dynamically assigned IP address and DNS server.

Click on this image to zoom in:

Choosing the Right Virtual Machine Settings

etung@vmware.com — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:31:43 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a personal document and is not official or endorsed by VMware. Feedback, suggestions, and edits are welcome.

This document is intended for someone new to Fusion, and possibly someone who is new to virtualization in general. It describes some choices a new user faces when setting up a virtual machine. This guide is written for VMware Fusion 2.0.x; earlier versions have slightly different wording in some places. New users may also be interested in A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion.

If you want to be notified of changes and additions to this document, you can use the "Receive email notifications" action in the sidebar on the left. Please use the comments below only for things specific to this document; general questions are better off in the discussion section.

To Boot Camp or Not To Boot Camp?

Fusion can use existing Boot Camp partitions or use a virtual disk stored in a large binary file. There are advantages to each, but my general advice is that unless you need a specific trait of a Boot Camp virtual machine, it is better to use a file-based (normal) virtual machine.

Advantages of a Boot Camp virtual machine

Can boot natively into the guest OS for full access to hardware - useful if you need full 3D support, Firewire, ExpressCard, or absolute maximum CPU/network/RAM.
Useful if you already have a Boot Camp partition set up and don't want to reinstall programs
Converting to a normal virtual machine is relatively easy
No fragmentation problems from OS X's point of view (the guest filesystem may still become fragmented)

Advantages of a normal virtual machine

Portable between disks/computers
Suspend/Snapshot (this is disabled by default for Boot Camp virtual machines because doing either and then booting natively could cause disk corruption)
Fewer/no reactivation problems (while this should also be fine for Boot Camp virtual machines, it's one less thing that can go wrong and some people report problems)
Probably faster guest disk performance (because OS X can cache things, and because OS X's raw disk path is not optimized)
Virtual disk can be sparse (starts off small and grows as necessary)
No need for an administrator password (especially important if the user is not an administrator)

Which Guest OS?

If you already have a license or requirement for a particular OS, your choice may be easy - just use what you have. On the other hand, if you're thinking of buying a license, or want to try out other OSes, this might be worth some thought. Which OS is "better" is a personal thing and the subject of many a geek flame war, but here are some of my thoughts:

Windows Vista has a pretty large set of system requirements: about 8 GB disk just for the Windows install, and 1 GB RAM is preferable. XP has a much lighter set of requirements: 2 GB disk just for the Windows install and 256 MB RAM is fine. Windows 7 is supposedly lighter than Vista and closer to XP in terms of system requirements. Of course, your experience will depend on which programs you need.
Fusion does not have a 3D WDDM driver, which is a requirement to run Vista's (or 7's) Aero interface.
If you're not tied to Windows, consider Linux. Most Linux distributions are free, and are more than good enough for everyday tasks like web browsing and email. They also come with a bunch of free software, such as OpenOffice and the GIMP. If you decide you don't like it, you can always go back to Windows.
Fusion also supports (and has Tools for) Solaris, Novell Netware, and FreeBSD. These are probably not of as much interest for a beginner, but if you decide you like playing with OSes, you can try them out too.

How Much Disk Space?

Although it's possible to change the size a normal virtual disk, this can be difficult for beginners, so it's better to get the size right from the start. Consider how you plan to use the guest - what programs and what data. For example, a fresh install of XP (with all patches) will run about 2 GB, but a fresh install of Vista will be more like 8 GB. Office, Photoshop, and other large programs have their own footprint to account for. Regular files are small, but things like digital video can be large (about 10 GB/hour). Finally, you want some breathing room in case your needs change a little bit and for other things like swap space.

Another concern is how much space you have available. Shrinking a disk may require as much free space as the partition to be shrunk (this is usually the size of the virtual disk). Thus it's a bad idea to make the virtual disk as large as the free space.

Remember that snapshots can cause the virtual machine to be larger than the maximum size of the disk - in the worst case, a snapshot can be as large as the maximum size. Thus a virtual machine with a 10 GB disk might need as much as 20 GB space if it has one snapshot, up to 30 GB if it has two, and so on. Also keep in mind that Autoprotect is based on snapshots, so if you're keeping 10 autoprotect snapshots, you might need 110 GB for the disk (10 GB for the base disk + 10 snapshots at 10 GB each).

What Type of Disk?

Under the advanced disk options of the Virtual Hard Disk step, you have the option of using a preallocated or sparse disk, and also monolithic or split. These options are briefly described in A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion. My personal recommendation is sparse-split (e.g. leave "Allocate all disk space now" unchecked, but check "Split disk into 2GB files"), but if you have a large virtual disk (e.g. on the order of 100 GB) and use snapshots or Autoprotect, you may be better off with sparse-monolithic in order to avoid running out of file descriptors.

Remember that although sparse disks grow as necessary, they don't shrink automatically. If you have a sparse disk with 5 GB, write 5 more GB and then delete 2 GB, you'll still have 10 GB used, not the 8 GB you might expect. The reason for this is that on most OSes, when you delete a file, you're just changing a small amount of metadata for a file to say "nope, nothing here" (this is how disk recovery programs work - they reconstruct what the metadata probably was). However, Fusion operates at too low a level to know the difference between a deleted file that's just wasting space and actual valuable data. When you delete a file, from Fusion's point of view very little has changed. To shrink a disk, Fusion needs help from something that does know about this difference. During the shrink process, VMware Tools tells the guest OS to identify stuff that's unnecessary so that Fusion can compress the disk. However, this can be a somewhat slow process, and Fusion doesn't start the process until you tell it to.

To Share or Not To Share?

If you use the Easy Install, one of the options is about making your home folder available to the guest. Your choice controls whether the guest can read or write to your home folder (and in the case of Windows Easy Install, whether special folders are mirrored). This option is not necessary to install or run the guest, and you may wish to disable it for better guest isolation. Leaving it enabled may make it more convenient to access your files.

How Much RAM?

Software, especially modern OSes, like to gobble RAM. While it might seem like a good idea to give the guest as much RAM as possible, remember that OS X needs some too. A good split depends on how much RAM you have total and what you're doing in the host/guest - if you're doing more work in the host, give more to the host; if you're doing more in the guest, give more to the guest.

You can change the amount of RAM while the guest is powered off (suspended doesn't count) by choosing Virtual Machine > Settings > Memory. If you want to change this before installing the guest, uncheck "Start virtual machine and install operating system now" on the final setup page of the New Virtual Machine Assistant.

After you've installed the guest OS and your programs, gbullman has a good post on how to experimentally determine how much RAM the guest wants: Re: What's the sweet spot (memory-wise) for my Macbook?.

How Many Virtual Processors?

At first glance, it might seem that enabling multiple virtual processors is always a good thing, but in many cases it's not. To use an analogy, let's say that physical processing units are seats at a restaurant (granted, a very small restaurant - for the sake of this example, let's say it has 4 seats, e.g. a 2x2 core Mac Pro). Processes are people who want to eat, and sometimes you get a group of people who all want to be seated together. It's easier for the restaurant (i.e. host OS scheduler) to handle seating (i.e. running) 4 single people than a single group of 4 people, especially when you remember that a normal system will easily have tens or hundreds of processes at a time.

To turn this analogy back to a technical explanation, a common problem is synchronization, where a program decides it needs to make sure it's at the same point across different threads or processors -- in other words, a group of people who want to be seated together. On a physical computer, it's not a big deal because the other CPU isn't doing anything else but catching up (e.g. if one person is a little late for the reservation, it's not a big deal). However, on a virtual machine, the guest is potentially competing with other programs for CPU time - this is more of a problem on Macs with only two cores to begin with (i.e. there aren't as many seats to go around in the first place), which is every currently shipping model except Mac Pros. While the guest is trying to synchronize, even if Fusion has time on one core, it may not be able to make progress and "spins" doing nothing, since it needs both cores at the same time. To make matters worse, OS X is the one to decide when and where programs get to run, and last I heard, there were no way to ask OS X for the necessary scheduling (i.e. there's no way to make group reservations; the best we can do is to sit down and hope that everyone manages to show up before the restaurant kicks us out and moves on to the next set of people). Exact numbers of course vary by the exact setup, but a rough numbers I've heard of additional idle CPU overhead is in the ballpark of 30%.

This is not to say that using multiple virtual processors is always bad. If you have a workload that actually can make use of multiple cores, you can definitely get a boost. Another useful case (though probably rarer) is if a developer needs to test a program on multiple processors. In general, though, my advice for this area is like Boot Camp - use it if you know you need it, but otherwise leave it alone.

You can change the number of virtual processors while the guest is powered off (suspended doesn't count) by choosing Virtual Machine > Settings > Processors. If you want to change this before installing the guest, uncheck "Start virtual machine and install operating system now" on the final setup page of the New Virtual Machine Assistant.

Note: Many operating systems have different kernels or hardware abstraction layers (HALs) depending on how many cores they detect at runtime. Changing the number of virtual processors after installation may not trigger a change of the kernel/HAL. One notable example of this is Windows XP, and Microsoft does not support changing the HAL without a complete reinstall (it's unofficially possible). Therefore, it's better to choose the appropriate number of virtual processors before installing the guest.

NAT, Bridged, or Host-only?

The default network type, NAT, allows multiple computers (e.g. the guest, in addition to the host) to share one connection. This is good for situations where you can only get one IP address (such as when you're directly connected to a cable modem), as well as preventing external computers (perhaps with viruses) from initiating connections to the guest. On the other hand, some useful things, such as Bonjour networking, require Bridged networking. A more detailed explanation of these modes is in Understanding Networking in VMware Fusion.

If one type of networking isn't working for you, try the other. If you change the networking type, remember to get a new IP address for the guest if necessary (if you don't know whether it's necessary, it probably is) - exact instructions vary depending on the guest, but for Windows disabling/enabling the network adapter or restarting the guest should do it.

If your guest requires internet access, my suggestion is NAT if possible and bridged if necessary. Host-only (or even no network at all) is more secure, but is suitable for only some use cases.

Viruses and Other Malware

You should treat a guest the same way as you would treat a physical computer with regards to security. This means that if you connect it to the internet (which is the default), you should have a firewall, antivirus, and regular updates. If you have shared folders enabled, this may provide a path for malware to read your personal data or (if the guest is able to write to the folder) infect files. While infected files probably won't affect OS X (I've not heard of cross-platform viruses yet), they could infect other guests that access the files.

Mapping keys on an apple keyboard into some necessary keys in Windows

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:50:44 GMT

VMware Communities : Document List - VMware Fusion® (for Mac)

Fusion 3 on snow leopard

Application sharing after moving the virtual machine

Upgrading Virtual Machines from VMware Fusion 2.x to VMware Fusion 3

Subscription Service- What does it offer? What if I don't have it?

Having Upgrade Problems - Get Free VMware Fusion 3 30-day Trial Download With License Key Here

VMware Fusion 3 Now Available. Upgrades are $39.99 USD

What’s new in VMware Fusion 3?

We hope you enjoy VMware Fusion 3!

VMware Fusion Competitive Crossgrade Promo for Business

VMware Fusion 3: System Requirements

No bootable device was detected

VMware Fusion 3: Supported Operating Systems

VMware Fusion 3: New Features

**Free** VMware Fusion 2.0.6 now available

VMware Fusion 2.0.6 beta for Snow Leopard now available!

Cannot start XP anymore Not in Fusion, not in bootcamp - ntoskrnl.exe file is missing or corrupt

Importing a Parallels or Virtual PC Virtual Machine in Vmware Fusion

Vmware install Cleaner utillty

**Free** VMware Fusion 2.0.5 now available

Windows XP Professional-000015.vmdk

Apple mighty mouse Horizontal scroll in Windows operating system

How to Configure DHCP in Windows XP

.vmx settings information

**Free** VMware Fusion 2.0.4 now available

Resizing Virtual Hard Disk in Vmware Fusion for Windows Guest

**Free** VMware Fusion 2.0.3 now available

Virtual Machine will not start after Time Machine Restore to new Imac

Support for VMware Fusion

How To Start: Installing Fusion?

Supported Mavhines

Installing Vmware tools in Mandriva Linux in Vmware Fusion

Is it possible to resize the current BootCamp Partition? I need more space for my Windowns XP SP2. Its running with VM Fusion

**Free** VMware Fusion 2.0.2 now available

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Adding more vram to graphics card for Windows Vista/7

Fusion- bootmgr is missing

IE 7 quits unexpectedly on WinXP SP3 VM - Had to downgrade to IE 6

Windows XP Pro VM from Boot Camp Partition versus Pure Virtualization

no bootable device detected-

HOWTO: Use Fusion with a Guest Account for Improved Nonpersistance

Motivation and Use Case

Difficulty Level and Requirements

Background

Limitations and Notes

Instructions

Create the Virtual Machine

Copy to Default User Template

Copy Other Support Files

com.vmware.fusion.plist

preferences

Further Extensions

VMWare 2 with XP Prof SP2 on Macbook Air - Installation failure

**Free** VMware Fusion 2.0.1 now available

Information Gathering for VMware Fusion

Locate your virtual machine

Get inside a .vmwarevm bundle

Edit a .vmx config file

Collect vmware.log files

Collect vmware-vmfusion.log files

Get a file listing of the .vmwarevm bundle

Collect Tools installation logs

For Windows guests

Collect Tools logs

For Windows guests

For Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and OS X guests

For all guests

Enable USB debugging

Running Visual Studio 2010 CTP in VMware Fusion

Advanced Networking Configuration - Tokamak Networking Scripts for VMware Fusion

VM@Work Tokamak 2.0.0

Network Utility

Dave Parsons

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background

1.2 What's New?

2.0 Getting Started

2.1 System Requirements

2.2 Installation

3.0 Configuring Network

Free VMware Fusion 2.0.6 now available

Free VMware Fusion 2.0.5 now available

Free VMware Fusion 2.0.4 now available

Free VMware Fusion 2.0.3 now available

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Free VMware Fusion 2.0.1 now available