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Pbryanw
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Unity has stopped working upon upgrading to vmware tools in 2.01

Hi,

I have updated to Fusion 2.01 and updated my vmware tools to the new version. Upon updating my Unity menu became empty and Unity no longer worked.

So, I deleted the Applications folder in my vmwarevm bundle to see if that would fix it, but it has not been re-created upon shutdown and restart of the vm, and the unity menu is still empty.

I have tried uninstalling then re-installing the vmware tools twice but that han't helped.

I think the problem is due to the advice I followed in this thread to remove applications from my OS X open with menu. Taken from thread (😞

"There was a bug in the original script that didn't properly remove an </array> entry from the Info.plist file, making it corrupted. Eric updated the script, and it should work correctly now. It also makes the applications read-only, which prevents Fusion from adding the file/URL handling information back into them (unless it publishes a new app). You can even keep the "Allow your Mac to open applications in the virtual machine" option turned on, so you can launch the applications from the Dock.

After running the script, relaunching Finder seems to be enough to eliminate the apps from the Open With list. You can Relaunch Finder if you log out and back in, or hold down Option and right-click on the Finder in the Dock and choose Relaunch."

I have also made sure the vmtools service is started and set to automatic. Also in the vm sharing settings "allow your mac to open applications in the virtual machine" is enabled.

Any help appreciated, Paul

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

I think the advice from that thread is unrelated - if you deleted the Applications folder, there's nothing that is read-protected (the files are gone).

Pbryanw
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Okay, so if that can be discounted what could be causing the applications folder not to be re-created?

This has only happened upon upgrading to 2.01 and installing the new vmware tools. in the launch menu it says: "guest application launching is not supported for this virtual machine".

I am running Windows XP SP3. I'm running VMware Fusion on a Mac Mini running Leopard 10.5.5.

Thanks, Paul

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Pbryanw
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Any suggestions welcome. I don't normally run in Unity, but there's one application that I use a lot in Unity mode, so a fix would be welcome, or any help would be appreciated.

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

Since Unity is dependent on VMware Tools I'd uninstall/reinstall VMware Tools.

I'd also toggle the Shared Applications under the Virtual Machine's Settings to see if that will recreate the Applications folder and if not I'd manually create it.

If that doesn't work I'd uninstall/reinstall Fusion 2.0.1 and if that doesn't do it then uninstall 2.0.1 and reinstall Fusion 2.0.0.

Pbryanw
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks for the reply WoodyZ.

I have done some further testing since my last post. I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling VMware Tools and I've toggled the Shared Applications setting. This didn't work, so I un-installed Fusion 2.0.1.

I then re-installed Fusion 2.0.0. That didn't fix the problem. However, once I un-installed the VMware Tools that came with 2.0.1 and installed the ones that came with 2.0.0., then Unity mode worked again and the Applications folder was re-created.

So, maybe there is a bug somewhere between my XP virtual machine and the version of tools that comes with 2.0.1.

I will continue using 2.0.0. until a solution is found. If anyone can explain why this is happening or provide a fix, I'd appreciate it.

However I don't have the slow boot problems with 2.0.0. so, although a solution would be appreciated, it's not critical for me.

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jsturtridge
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

You don't have McAfee running in the XP guest do you (by any chance)?

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Pbryanw
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

No, McAfee isn't installed in my XP vm. I have installed it previously, only to uninstall it later.

Frankly, I haven't a clue why the old version of tools in 2.0.0. causes Unity to work, while as soon as I upgrade to 2.0.1. and its tools, Unity stops working?

Anyway, thanks for the reply.

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jsturtridge
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Pbryanw,

Here's something to add to the mix. I have two XP VMs, from totally different sources. I've just run them both up at the same time with Fusion 2.0.1 and I can do copy/paste and Unity in one VM and not in the other.

So that's definitely pointing to something faulty in either the VM itself (i.e. tools) - or some internal Fusion definition of the VM in config/plist files.

Hope that helps.

J.

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jsturtridge
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Also I wonder whether it's possible to get hold of the 2.0.0 ISO for installing the tools on XP and try the 2.0.0 tools in 2.0.1 (and ignore the warnings).

J.

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jimdouglas
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I just upgraded to 2.0.1 with one small glitch -- VMWare Tools disappeared from my Ubuntu 8.04 VM. I reinstalled it and rebooted the VM; everything looks good now.

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jsturtridge
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

OK - so I've just uninstalled the 2.0.1 tools in XP and re-installed the tools from 2.0.0 (while keeping the host Fusion version at 2.0.1). I can now cut/paste and use Unity - so this seems to be a workaround until there's a better fix available.

Hope that helps.

J.

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Pbryanw
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi jsturtridge,

Can I ask how you went about doing that - installing 2.0.0. tools in 2.0.1? How did you extract the 2.0.0. version of VMWare tools from the installer?

Hopefully, I can use this workaround, until a solution is found, or new version of Fusion is released.

EDIT: It's okay, I just didn't do the upgrade as requested when I installed 2.0.1. Unity works in 2.0.1. now but VMwareTools 2.0.0. are installed. I'll wait until I know 2.0.1. tools will work on my VM (or at least let me use Unity on it) before upgrading to 2.0.1 tools again.

Message was edited by: Pbryanw

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jsturtridge
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Pbryanw,

I know you've solved this - but just so you know. I use Time Machine on my Mac to back it up (but I don't back up the VMs) - so I went back in time and looked in my /Library/Application Support/VMWare Fusion/isoimages and you'll find the tools iso in there. So I just copied the v2.0.0 iso onto my desktop and then used the Mount ISO functionality to mount the old VMWare Tools iso and install it that way.

Hope that helps.

J.

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slogan
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

One way to find out what is going on might be to collect logs from

VMware Tools. To do so in Vista, there is a file named tools.conf

located here:

c:\Program Data\VMware\VMware Tools

In XP, the location is c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\ Application Data\VMWare\Vmware Tools

Open that file in your favorite editor, and add the end of it the following lines:

log = "TRUE"

log.file = "c:\toolslog.txt"

(you can use any path you like for log.file, that is just a suggestion).

You should get a couple of log files after restarting. One will

be the file you specify, the other will be the same but with a number

appended to it, e.g., c:\toolslog.txt.123 -- this number is the pid of

vmwareuser.exe if you are curious.

If you could do the above, duplicate the problem, and then attach the logs, that would be awesome.

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MusicMartha
Contributor
Contributor

I have the same problem with my brand new install of 2.01. I did get Unity to work once - by accident, I think - and then no more.

I can't go back in time to extract the old 2.0 vmtools since this is a brand new iMac which I've come to after years of Windows.

Suggestions on how to get the older version of the tools?

I'm thinking that I could download the 2.0 version since I bought it via download to start with, then try to find the part (an exe file, maybe?!?) for the tool, and then install that.

I'm not geeky enough to do much more of that without help.

So - ideas?? Will my idea work?

Thanks, folks.

M

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

Suggestions on how to get the older version of the tools?

I'm thinking that I could download the 2.0 version since I bought it via download to start with, then try to find the part (an exe file, maybe?!?) for the tool, and then install that.

I'm not geeky enough to do much more of that without help.

So - ideas?? Will my idea work?

You can either follow the directions in my reply and look at etung's reply directly after my reply or download and install Pacifist to extract the "windows.iso" file from the VMware Fusion 2.0 Download VMware-Fusion-2.0.0-116369.dmg file.

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MusicMartha
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you all for the discussion. I am using Unity finally. I uninstalled the Fusion 2.0.1 and reinstalled 2.0. I had to do some finagling to make it all work, but work it does. I also found out more about the inner workings of a Mac, which I haven't really used since system 7.0! Woody, thanks for the tip on Pacifist - that's a great program and it makes my little Windows heart happy to be able to crack open files. Nice program.

Now - (and I'll post this in a different thread) - how do I get my guest machine to recognize my two external hard drives?!?

Thanks all.

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