Windows 7 Beta (7000)

[keithernet]

Hi there. Has anyone been able to get the Windows 7 Beta (7000) running in Fusion?

I was able to install it, but on the first boot, it stalls on the loading screen. I also tried it in Parallels and ran into the same problem. Parallels reports that they have an update coming "soon" that will fix the issue.

Is the VMware Fusion team working on this too?

[WoodyZ]

I'm not really shure : (. I wasn't the one doing the configuration (not enough clearance in the company I work for :P).

If you have physical access to the computer and can start Fusion and run the Virtual Machine then you have the ability to look at the virtual Machines configuration file and add that line if need be.

[gebanks]

I successfully installed the 64 bit version of Windows 7 by telling Fusion it was Vista 64. I haven't tried Solitaire, but I have installed several programs and VMWare Tools and everything seems to be working just fine including Windows Updates and IE 8.

[mrblu]

Probably a beta issue but regardless of the flickering on boot-up the OS works fine once that's over and seems to boot faster and operate better than the install of Vista Ultimate that I have loaded.

My biggest problem is (still) the fact that VMWare hasn't figured out how to enable the Aero look. Without it you can't use the themes to change the color of windows and the taskbar.

I did manage to find the option that makes the taskbar smaller which makes it more bearable to use. It does appear faster and easier to use than Vista. The so-called new features like document preview are nice but don't work NEARLY as well as OS X.5 and the overall look of W7 is plain and boring but that could be primarily due to the fact that Aero isn't yet supported. I might feel differently if I could see the snazzy transparency effects on toolbars and fade-away transitions when closing, minimizing windows and such.

I'm a lot more impressed than I thought I would be and I will most likely upgrade once it's released.

[BeeCee]

I installed Windows 7 beta (32 bit) by upgrading VISTA VM (Fusion 2.01) Install went fine. NAT works fine. I cannot access shared folders and thus cannot re-install VMware Tools. HAs anyone provided a solution to sharted folders? If I can't get this to work, then will revert to a previous snapshot. Thanks for any assistance. MBP OS 10.5.6

[WoodyZ]

I installed Windows 7 beta (32 bit) by upgrading VISTA VM (Fusion 2.01) Install went fine. NAT works fine. I cannot access shared folders and thus cannot re-install VMware Tools. HAs anyone provided a solution to sharted folders? If I can't get this to work, then will revert to a previous snapshot. Thanks for any assistance. MBP OS 10.5.6

I have no problem using VMware Shared Folders with Windows 7 as a clean install nor would I install a new OS on top of an older OS as an Upgrade Clean Builds are the best way to go!

I'd try uninstalling VMware Tools and reboot and then reinstall VMware Tools.

[BeeCee]

Seems like a Catch-22. Can't unistall from Windows becasue it can't access
.host\Shared Folders

[WoodyZ]

Seems like a Catch-22. Can't unistall from Windows becasue it can't access
.host\Shared Folders

Being able to access or not the
.host\Shared Folders has nothing to do with the actual uninstalling of VMware Tools. Uninstallig a Windows Application is typically done through Control Panel.

[BeeCee]

I did attempt the uninstall from the control panel. I got the message that it could not access the
.host\Shared Folders and thus would not complete. So that seems like a dead end.

[BeeCee]

Just to be clear, here is the message:

1606. Could not access network location
host\Shared Folders\My Documents

[WoodyZ]

Just to be clear, here is the message:

1606. Could not access network location
host\Shared Folders\My Documents

Well that's entirely different and if you were getting an error message like that you should have included it in the first place! For future reference have a look at as a reference to the information to include when asking question.

Looks like you have changed the default path for My Documents so you should change it back to the default and then try again.

You may also have to manually edit the Windows Registry and verify that all "Shell Folders" and or "User Shell Folders" are set to local resources.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

[BeeCee]

I'll work on that and let you know. Sorry it was unclear to you what I was reporting.

[Pat_Lee]

Mirrored Folders, the remapping of four Windows shell folders to their Mac equivalents, may have issues and not work at this time.

This is of course something we will make sure works with the final release of Windows 7.

Pat

[pete_d]

I too had the "missing network" problem, and this suggestion to check for the "ethernet0.virtualDev" line in the .vmx file applied. I looked in the file, and sure enough that line was missing for some reason. Oddly enough, I had temporarily added a second device, and it had the proper line. Seems weird that the default device would be missing it.

[pete_d]

I didn't install Win 7 so that I could play the games. But, I'm not entirely without a sense of fun (no matter what people might say).

So sure, I tried the games. They reliably lock up the OS if I try to run them with 3D acceleration enabled. If I disable 3D, they'll boot. Well, Spider Solitaire does...didn't bother to check the others. But it puts up a warning that it'll be running in software rendering mode and may perform poorly. And boy, does it.

Oddly enough, I get the exact same kind of OS hang trying to use the games when running the same Boot Camp installation under Parallels instead of Fusion. So, whatever oddity in the 3D acceleration that causes the hang under Fusion, Parallels has the same affliction (to me, suggest a problem not just in Fusion, but rather some interaction between Fusion and an issue in Win 7).

[jimdouglas]

It's not just the games...I got random lockups all over the place in my initial testing of Windows 7 in VMware Fusion 2.0.1, before I realized that "Accelerate 3D Graphics" was the culprit.

[Kevin_Quincey]

Thanks WoodyZ for the tip on adding the ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000" line into the Boot Camp partition.vmx file if network adapters work in bootcamp but not in the bootcamp image under vmware. I know nothing about the files in those directories so it took me quite a bit of digging to find where that file is located so I thought I'd pass this on in case this might help others. Here's where I found it:

- In my uses directory -> library -> application support -> vmware fusion -> virtual machines -> boot camp -> %2Fdev%2Fdisk0

I quit out of Fusion, backed up this file, edited it using text edit, added the line around some other ethernet lines and saved it and magic! it worked!

Thanks very much!

[clarifix]

Same for me. Boot Camp with build 7100. No Ethernet card detected by the guest. Thanks for the tip on the first page.

The problem can also be solved using only the Mac GUI.

- Quit your Windows 7 guest

- Download and install VMX Extras ( http://communities.vmware.com/message/687564#687564 )

- Ctrl-click on the "Boot Camp partition" entry in the Virtual Machine Library window and choose "Show In Finder"

- Ctrl-click on the file that is shown in the Finder and choose "Show Package Contents"

- Ctrl-click on the "Boot Camp partition.vmx" file and choose "Open WIth" -> "VMX Extra's" ( Not "VMware fusion" ! )

- At the bottom of the window, type ethernet0.virtualDEV in the first field and "e1000" in the second field

- Click on the :smileyplus: button on the left

- Save and quit VMX Extra's

When you relaunch your Windows 7 guest it should detect the ethernet card and install the driver automatically.

[clarifix]

There are no plans to issue updates just to support Windows 7 pre-release builds, but we do plan on supporting Windows 7 when it is released in a timely manner as we do for major OS releases.

Then I'm probably ahead of schedule reporting that C:\ProgramData\VMware\RawdskCompatibility\vmrawdsk.log contains a line

>Windows OS is earlier than Vista; driver exiting.

on every boot.

If I'm not mistaking, the "driver" is the code that takes care of the license re-activation for people using boot camp.

You might want to put that on your list...;-)