This post is a heads up for those of you using VMware Fusion's Printers Sharing feature (technically ThinPrint. Turned on by VM Settings -> Printers) on a Mac OS X 10.5.x host. This feature will not work if you install the recent Mac OS X Security Update 2009-001. After installing the security update and rebooting your Mac, the shared printers will no longer show up in the Windows virtual machines. We are investigating the issue and I wanted to provide a workaround for now:
1) If your printer is set up as a network printer, switch to Bridged networking (http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-2527), disable Printers Sharing in VM Settings, and configure the network printer directly in the Windows virtual machine.
2) If your printer is connected to the Mac as a local printer on USB port, you can either:
2.1) switch to Bridged networking, grab the USB printer in the virtual machine directly and set it up as if it is physically connected to the VM, or
2.2) share the printer on Bonjour network, install Bonjour for Windows in your virtual machine, and configure it as a network printer in the VM
3) If you absolutely have to use Fusion's shared printer feature (ThinPrint), reinstall Mac OS X 10.5.6 (and not Security Update 2009-001) to get ThinPrint printer to show up. As some pointed out, this is far from an ideal workaround because you will be running your Mac without the latest security update, but I wanted to list it as an option.
Here is a video tutorial from VMware Fusion 1 that walk you through options 1), 2.1), and 2.2): http://tr.im/gwi2
Edit Feb-18: reorg the workaround and added link to the Fusion 1 printing video tutorial.
David Liu
Product Manager
VMware
1) If your printer is set up as a network printer, switch to Bridged networking (http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-2527), disable Printers Sharing in VM Settings, and configure the network printer directly in the Windows virtual machine.
2) If your printer is connected to the Mac as a local printer on USB port, you can either:
2.1) switch to Bridged networking, grab the USB printer in the virtual machine directly and set it up as if it is physically connected to the VM, or
2.2) share the printer on Bonjour network, install Bonjour for Windows in your virtual machine, and configure it as a network printer in the VM
3) If you absolutely have to use Fusion's shared printer feature (ThinPrint), reinstall Mac OS X 10.5.6 (and not Security Update 2009-001) to get ThinPrint printer to show up. As some pointed out, this is far from an ideal workaround because you will be running your Mac without the latest security update, but I wanted to list it as an option.
Here is a video tutorial from VMware Fusion 1 that walk you through options 1), 2.1), and 2.2): http://tr.im/gwi2
Edit Feb-18: reorg the workaround and added link to the Fusion 1 printing video tutorial.
David Liu
Product Manager
VMware