Duplicate entries on Virtual Machine Library dialog

[pnosko]

Hello all. I have a Mac Pro running 10.5.6 and initially had Fusion 1 installed. I installed version 2.0 (116369) a while back. My only virtual machine is my bootcamp XP SP3 partition. Every time I reboot (not often), I get a duplicate entry on the Virtual Machine Library dialog. Almost a duplicate. The one I can delete is labeled Windows XP Profession. The other has no label and has the delete menu item disabled. When I delete the first one, the one remaining starts normally, but shows "VMWare Tools is not installed". I install them, recreate my shares and then all is well until the next time I reboot, which takes me back to step 1.

Also-- I map my XP "My Documents" to a folder named DocumentsWinXP in my OS X user home to keep all my data backed up by Time Machine. Access to the files from WinXP is extremely slow. I'm not sure if this is related or normal.

How can I prevent this duplicate entry from reoccurring I want to setup some Linux VMs but will hold off until I get this resolved.

Thanks.

[WoodyZ]

How can I prevent this duplicate entry from reoccurring

You can't because Apple doesn't guarantee the BSD Name of a Disk between reboots and VMware not taking this into account when designing Fusion so this can be problematic because of this.

[pnosko]

Thanks for your reply.

Are you suggesting this is a known, common problem everyone may experience? I find that hard to believe. It never happened under 1.0, and it has never happened on my MacBook running 2.0 (which never had 1.0). And I think I would have seen similar reports in a Google search, but have not.

[WoodyZ]

Are you suggesting this is a known, common problem everyone may experience?

I'm not suggesting anything, I'm stating facts!

Fact 1. Apple doesn't guarantee the BSD Name of a Disk between reboots.

Fact 2. VMware unfortunately and inexcusably was unaware of this when they designed Fusion and as such when OS X assigns a different BSD Name to a Disk then it previously had and when this Disk has a Boot Camp partition that has already been prepared to run as a Virtual Machine then two or more entries for the one Boot Camp partition can and will appear on the Virtual Machine Library in all versions of Fusion to date.

This is more prevalent on with a Mac Pro however I've experienced it with a MacBook Pro and especially when having external drives attached that have a Boot Camp partition on them. On a Mac that has a single hard drive and only a partition for OS X and a partition for Windows it's less likely to happen compared to the Mac Pro which often have more then one internal drive however I have experienced it on a MacBook Pro in of by itself however it is more likely to occur when multiple hard drives are in play.

I find that hard to believe. It never happened under 1.0, and it has never happened on my MacBook running 2.0 (which never had 1.0). And I think I would have seen similar reports in a Google search, but have not.

That's your prerogatived if you choose not to believe what I'm saying, I really don't care whether you do or not! This has been covered before in this forum and not just by me but also by VMware employees and you are not the first user to ask the question nor will you be the last and until VMware changes how it detects, enumerates and tracks Boot Camp partitions and makes the necessary changes for this condition not to occur then what I have said remains true.

[pnosko]

That's your prerogatived if you choose not to believe what I'm saying, I really don't care whether you do or not!

I know I'm new here, but I'm not new to support forums. Comments like these add no value to a reply. Maybe it is too subtle for you, but saying something is "hard to believe" is not the same as saying "I don't believe you." Lighten up!

That said, I appreciate the information you supplied.

[Rarose1007]

I can't believe they didn't take this into account, but nothing surprises me anymore. Thank you for the explanation! I can confirm it impacts my MacPro with multiple hard drives more then it impacts my MacBook. I have been a loyal VMWare user, but at this point I may need to switch. I am tired of constantly changing the settings, and worse...trying to explain this to my wife. Do you know if Parallels suffers from the same issue? At this point it might be worth spending the $80!

Thanks!

[WoodyZ]

I can't believe they didn't take this into account

Had they taken it into account this wouldn't be an issue!

Do you know if Parallels suffers from the same issue? At this point it might be worth spending the $80!

I tested Parallels 4 when it first came out however I only did it with normal file based Virtual Machines not Boot Camp partition so I can't answer that from first hand experience other then to say that Parallels doesn't automatically populate the Boot Camp partition in the Virtual Machines Directory like Fusion does in the Virtual Machines Library. (I love that because I do not want it to be there because I really do not what to virtualize by Boot Camp partition.)

While I have not run my Boot Camp partition as a Virtual Machine under Parallels I can say though that when one does the DiskDescriptor.xml file does contain the physical disk's GUID and /dev/diskNsN (when N is the number) information so it would make me think it is prone to fail like in Fusion however having not experienced it or looked in the Parallels forum to see if it and issue I can't say.

[pnosko]

So before I spend $25 on VMware's world class technical support for a single incident, have they publicly taken a position on this bug? Because it's broken AFAIC. Do they intend to fix this?

[RDPetruska]

How can you classify this as a bug with VMware Fusion, when it is Apple's moronic decision to randomly change the names for hardware devices?!

[pnosko]

Well RDPetruska,it's quite simple. It's Fusion that isn't working properly. I may be wrong, but to my knowledge, I haven't seen this issue affect any Apple-provided software.

I'm no Apple loyalist/apologist by any means. I switched just over a year ago, and have my fair share of complaints about OS X (a handful of things where Windows is friendlier). But if a company with VMWare's reputation (especially in virtualization) wants to develop software for OS X, they should have known about this issue.

Now, if Apple withheld or mislead developers regarding this tidbit, I'll stand corrected.

[Rarose1007]

The problem with your argument is that Parallels product does not suffer from the same flaw. I have been using the trial version for the last few days, and I have honestly found it faster and easier to use. I am seriously thinking about spending the $80 and getting it. At this point it is worth it. I am sick and tired of having to reconfigure Fusion.

[ckais]

So, this still hasn't been addressed, even with recent updates.

Every time I restart my Mac I have to re-import my Boot Camp partition in Fusion.

Is VMWare even listening? This bug is a big, glaring, obvious one. One that is a real pain in the neck.

[pnosko]

Is VMWare even listening?

I can tell you that if they dont listen very soon, I will be moving to Parallels. I chose VMWare-- a Mac newbie over Parallels because I believed their extensive experience in virtualization would help them "lap" Parallels in no time at all. But by not even addressing this post, they are thumbing their nose at me. When the Spring semester ends in a few weeks and I can afford the time, if they have not publicly stated that it wil be fixed in the near future, I will switch and thumb my nose at VMWare.

[WoodyZ]

So, this still hasn't been addressed, even with recent updates.

Every time I restart my Mac I have to re-import my Boot Camp partition in Fusion.

Is VMWare even listening? This bug is a big, glaring, obvious one. One that is a real pain in the neck.

This is not a bug, it is an out right design flaw in that they were insufficiently aware of the environment they were programing for and failed to take into account how OS X managed disks as they were designing Fusion and this is far more grave and serious then a bug. Furthermore this has been a know issue for a couple of years and nothing obviously is being done about it and basically renders using the Boot Camp partition as a Virtual Machine worthless due to constantly having to take corrective action.

AFAIC Until VMware corrects this issue it is not worth using the Boot Camp partition as a Virtual Machine and I went so far as to, with Fusion closed, rename "/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-rawdiskCreator" so Fusion would stop enumerating the Boot Camp partition and placing an entry on the Virtual Machine Library. I then deleted the "/Users/$/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Boot Camp/../Boot Camp partition.vmwarevm" Virtual Machine and opened Fusion and deleted the Boot Camp partition entry on the Virtual Machine Library and will not use it on the Boot Camp partition as a Virtual Machine until VMware fixes it!

[ckais]

Well, I used Parallels when it first came out, even though I was a VMWare customer for years before that.

I honestly switched to Fusion because I believed they would make progress on the Mac faster than Parallels.

Boy, was I wrong.

WoodyZ -- I share your frustration, but at the risk of sounding pedantic, a bug and a design flaw are the same thing in this case.

What we have here is a bug that is being willfully ignored, and since we already paid for the software and your 30 day support contract is as expired as mine, we have little recourse.

I guess we can just keep whining here and hope someone blesses us with a response.

[GeorgeRudd]

Has this problem been fixed?

[pnosko]

That would be a resounding NO. VMWare won't even address it, never mind fix it. Get Parallels.

[GeorgeRudd]

I am glad that I tried the 30 day demo first. I already own Parallels and I was hoping that VM Fusion had better graphic card support. I am using a CADCAM program that seems to be taxing my video card through these Windows "emulators"

(or whatever you want to call them).

[GeorgeRudd]

How can they just ignore the problem? If I was a paying customer I would be demanding a refund.

[pnosko]

Better graphic card support? I lost 3D acceleration on my ATI Radeon X1900 with their latest patch release-- 2.0.5. They are probably blaming it on ATI like they blame the subject problem on Apple.