VMware Communities: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2

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13 Replies Last post: Sep 3, 2008 1:47 PM by Mike Shappell

Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2

Aug 29, 2008 11:28 AM

Mike Shappell 24 posts since
Sep 22, 2005

I have recently created a new Leopard Server VM under beta 2 and encountered the following issues:

1) Occassionally, most often when starting to type for the first time in the VM, keys are repeated many times on a single key press. For example, I might start to type "this is a test" and get "thiiiiiiiiiiiis is a test". The problem seems to go away after it occurs, until I have restarted the VM or potentially lost and regrabbed keyboard focus. I am still playing with this to see if I can determine when it occurs and a solid repro case.

2) The keyboard shortcuts should be disabled when working in an OS X VM. Otherwise I am unable to close a window or for that matter close an application. This seems to be an issue for shortcuts and the redefinition of command-Q, etc. In the past this was not an issue since the keys do need re-mapped for a Windows VM, just not for an OS X VM.

3) The default configuration for an OS X VM is NO USB, but without a USB controller, there is no keyboard or mouse (on an iMac) so things did not work well after booting the Leopard Server disc. Once I added the USB controller, I was able to use the mouse and keyboard.

4) I am unable to get sound from the server VM. The OS does not appear to recognize the sound controller (I did enable and add it to the VM).

5) The system profiler cannot display information about the machine hardware, I get an message "there was an error gathering this information".

If others have found solutions to these issues, please let me know. Thanks.

Mike

10.5.4 Leopard Server
1GB Memory
Default 64-bit Config
Plus USB and Sound
Installed VMware Tools

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Aug 29, 2008 12:15 PM

etung 11,021 posts since
Oct 15, 2006 VMware

1) Occassionally, most often when starting to type for the first time in the VM, keys are repeated many times on a single key press. For example, I might start to type "this is a test" and get "thiiiiiiiiiiiis is a test". The problem seems to go away after it occurs, until I have restarted the VM or potentially lost and regrabbed keyboard focus. I am still playing with this to see if I can determine when it occurs and a solid repro case.

We've seen this occasionally. I don't remember if we're still looking into it or if it's been fixed.

2) The keyboard shortcuts should be disabled when working in an OS X VM. Otherwise I am unable to close a window or for that matter close an application. This seems to be an issue for shortcuts and the redefinition of command-Q, etc. In the past this was not an issue since the keys do need re-mapped for a Windows VM, just not for an OS X VM.

Did you see Beta 2: Installing Mac OS X Server VM and Optimizing Performance? We recommend creating a different keyboard profile for OS X virtual machines.

3) The default configuration for an OS X VM is NO USB, but without a USB controller, there is no keyboard or mouse (on an iMac) so things did not work well after booting the Leopard Server disc. Once I added the USB controller, I was able to use the mouse and keyboard.

There should be a USB controller by default, there is on mine. Weird.

4) I am unable to get sound from the server VM. The OS does not appear to recognize the sound controller (I did enable and add it to the VM).

That's expected, sound doesn't currently work.

5) The system profiler cannot display information about the machine hardware, I get an message "there was an error gathering this information".

Don't think I ever tried that, will check.

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Aug 29, 2008 12:24 PM

in response to: etung

Mike Shappell 24 posts since
Sep 22, 2005

Excellent! I totally missed the knowledge base article (great stuff). Thanks again.

Mike

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Aug 29, 2008 1:05 PM

in response to: etung

Mike Shappell 24 posts since
Sep 22, 2005

So I tried creating a new VM and following the instructions in the knowledge base article. I dropped the IDE drive and re-created the drive as a SCSI drive with 2GB files checked. When I booted the OS and formatted the drive in disk utility, it showed up as external. I would have expected it to show up as internal (IDE was internal), but wanted to let you folks know in case this was a bug. There was a USB controller this time around so not sure what happened the last time. Will let you know if anything else crops up.

Mike

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Aug 29, 2008 1:08 PM

in response to: Mike Shappell

etung 11,021 posts since
Oct 15, 2006 VMware

The icon is not internal vs external, it's IDE vs. SCSI. This is expected, and what you would see on a physical system.

I also see "there was an error gathering this information" when checking System Profiler. I'll file a bug, but unless you can think of a good reason, it's going to be very low priority.

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Aug 29, 2008 1:19 PM

in response to: etung

Mike Shappell 24 posts since
Sep 22, 2005

I am virtually positive that diskutility said "external", but I will verify again once the installation is complete.

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Aug 29, 2008 1:56 PM

in response to: Mike Shappell

etung 11,021 posts since
Oct 15, 2006 VMware

Hmm, my Disk Utility does show it as external. I don't know if that's a bug or if I misunderstood what other devs were saying.

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Aug 29, 2008 5:49 PM

in response to: etung

Mike Shappell 24 posts since
Sep 22, 2005

Yes, it is external here as well and that does seem like a bug. The media is ejectable

I have enabled (actually it was by default) printers support but my installed printers (network) don't show up in the VM.

Mike

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Aug 29, 2008 6:50 PM

in response to: Mike Shappell

etung 11,021 posts since
Oct 15, 2006 VMware

The media is ejectable

Oh. Yes. That would be a problem.

I have enabled (actually it was by default) printers support but my installed printers (network) don't show up in the VM.

Do you mean Fusion's Printing passthrough support? I wouldn't expect this to work in an OS X guest (actually, I'd only expect it to work in Windows guests). If you're talking about normal networked printers, try bridged mode.

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Sep 1, 2008 9:28 AM

in response to: etung

Mike Shappell 24 posts since
Sep 22, 2005

I am not sure why you wouldn't expect the printer pass-through stuff to work for OS X (seems like it would be simpler to implement), but it is enabled and selectable in the UI, so I would expect it to work

. In addition to the hardware section not showing up correctly in system profiler, there are other options under hardware that are also incorrect (like memory). I noticed that the processor that shows up in the about this mac is a Core 2 Solo (even when two processors are enabled), not a Core 2 Duo (which I have).

Mike

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Sep 1, 2008 7:41 PM

in response to: Mike Shappell

etung 11,021 posts since
Oct 15, 2006 VMware

I believe Fusion's printer passthrough depends on specific guest drivers (ThinPrint) that are part of Tools. Since I'm fairly sure these drivers don't currently exist in our OS X Tools, I don't think it'll work. The Settings for the virtual machine just means that the conduit is available, it doesn't mean anyone will be talking on it.

I noticed that the processor that shows up in the about this mac is a Core 2 Solo (even when two processors are enabled), not a Core 2 Duo (which I have).

Currently, we always present vCPUs as multiple single-core devices. A Core (2) Duo is a dual-core CPU and a Core Solo is a single-core CPU; it makes sense the guest would think it's seeing a Core Solo.

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Sep 3, 2008 12:52 PM

in response to: etung

Mike Shappell 24 posts since
Sep 22, 2005

Another issue with Leopard server VMs. If I go to the top of the screen the "host" menu bar will be displayed (over the top of the VM menu bar), sort of expected. In Windows this is not such an issue since there is generally not a task bar at the top of the screen. However, although inconvenient it is workable. However, I have noticed on occasion, in full screen mode when the two bars are overlaid, only the menu bar icons (right end) are added to the VM menu bar. The actual host menu bar seems to be transparent (mostly) and the menu items are not present. This seems to occur after hiding and reshowing the VM window. It can be very confusing (and inaccurate).

Mike

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Sep 3, 2008 1:47 PM

in response to: Mike Shappell

etung 11,021 posts since
Oct 15, 2006 VMware

The media is ejectable

Actually, I just tried this (on 2.0rc1), and while starting a drag does change the Trash icon to eject, you can't actually do it. Similarly, the Eject menu item is unselectable and there's no Eject item in the context menu. Are you sure it is actually ejectable?

However, I have noticed on occasion, in full screen mode when the two bars are overlaid, only the menu bar icons (right end) are added to the VM menu bar. The actual host menu bar seems to be transparent (mostly) and the menu items are not present. This seems to occur after hiding and reshowing the VM window. It can be very confusing (and inaccurate).

I remember hearing some reports that the menulets sometimes get stuck after showing/hiding the menu bar (independent of the guest OS), this would naturally be more confusing with an OS X guest.

Re: Leopard Server under Fusion Beta 2 Sep 3, 2008 1:47 PM

in response to: etung

Mike Shappell 24 posts since
Sep 22, 2005

I don't believe you can ever eject the boot volume (the OS prevents that), but other volumes, partitions or drives should be ejectable (even though in this case they are really fixed drives).

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