Upgrade to Fusion 5.02 caused Windows 8 VM crashes

[vladvino]

I upgraded to Fusion 5.02 this afternoon and started experiencing Windows 8 VM crashes when I run Chrome in it. I didn't have a single issue with 5.01. Please see attached diagnostics file.

Thanks,

-Vlad 

[admin]

Can you attach a support package to this thread please?

To do this:

- Reproduce your crash one more time

- Select help > collect support information

- Attach the .tgz file that it generates (it'll be on your desktop)

[vladvino]

I already have in the original request.

[admin]

That was directed at fishtanked, sorry for the confusion.

[dixosw]

Sorry for the "me too" post. I have a iMac running 10.8.2. Upgrading from Fusion 5.0.1 to 5.0.2 causes Windows 8 to crash all the time. Turning off "Accelerate 3D graphics" worked for me as a workaround.

I don't have a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro and didn't install any recent software updates from Apple. The only recent change is from Fusion 5.0.1 to 5.0.2 which led to the problem. Thanks

[dariusd]

Hi dixosw, and welcome to the VMware Communities!

That's not quite a "me too" post... yours is the first report we've had of 5.0.2 causing problems with an iMac (just about everyone else having trouble with 5.0.2 is using a recent MacBook Pro), so I would be very interested to take a look at your problem and figure out what's happening.  I'd appreciate if you could create a Support Information Bundle (go into Fusion, then choose Help > Collect Support Information), then take the resulting "tgz" file and attach it as a reply to this post using the Browse... button below.  Alternatively, you can open a Support Request if you'd prefer.

Cheers,

--

Darius

[DallasJeff]

SInce 5.0.2 is causing so many problems, can anyone tell us what was changed in it so we know what to look for ? I'm not sure why it's being kept such a secret. It sure doesn't seem to have been well tested.

[DallasJeff]

Darius…. THat is not true. I role you that I have a 2008 MBP with the issue and no update but for some reason you ignored it.

[dariusd]

Could you kindly provide the support information bundle from that 2008 MBP system?

Thanks,

--

Darius

[dixosw]

As requested, I opened case # 12246262311 for the 5.0.2 issue and uploaded the support bundle to the FTP site. Hope it helps you. Thanks again.

[dariusd]

Hi DallasJeff,

You could also attach the 2008 MBP's support bundle to your SR and I can just grab it from there, if you'd prefer.

Thanks,

--

Darius

[dariusd]

Hi dixosw,

Thanks for that.  I've looked through your support bundle, and I can confirm that it is not the same issue as is being reported elsewhere in this thread.  Can you describe what's happening there when the VM is crashing?  Are you seeing the Windows 8 sad-face screen with "Your PC ran into a problem it couldn't handle, and now it needs to restart."?

Thanks,

--

Darius

[dixosw]

Hi Darius,

Windows 8 starts up and runs for a couple of minutes usually. Then the window shrinks down to a smaller window, all black, with a flashing underline cursor in the top left corner. After that nothing happens. I'd guess it's trying to install the new VMtools that come with 5.0.2 but after an hour or so there is still no response and I have to shutdown the VM from the Virtual Machine menu.

I tried all variations of restarting the VMtools installation, re-installing, cancelling etc. Didn't make any difference. Now that I've turned off 3D, booted Win 8 and upgraded vmtools I guess I should try again with 3D enabled again. I'll give it a shot when I get chance.

Steve

[dixosw]

Well, that solved my problem. Having booted Win 8 with 3D acceleration off, the vmtools installation worked fine. Now I can turn 3D back on and Windows 8 runs fine once more. Can't be sure, but I'm pretty certain my issue was during the phase when upgrading vmware tools while 3D is enabled because it worked fine when it was disabled.

If I'm not mistaken vmtools is upgraded automatically after a minor update normally a few mins after the vm boots up.

And it was only on Windows 8 that I had the problem as I booted a Win 7 x64 VM with 3D enabled and vmware tools upgraded fine. Strange.

Anyway, thanks VMware for the prompt response. I know there is a lot of, er.... passion, yeah that's the word.... from people with 5.0.2 problems. My first response was to be angry that a minor update broke  Fusion for me. Then I thought back and remembered that I've used Fusion since 3.x since I first got my iMac back in '09. It's always been rock solid and all updates, major and minor, have been flawless. So I can forgive this latest issue with 5.0.2 especially as VMware responded so quickly and provided a quick workaround. Thanks for a great product guys.

[dariusd]

Ah, OK.  That sounds a lot like the problem that thalesj reported over in – the original post, before the thread was hijacked by the rest of the universe.

And I see you've just posted now that you have things working again... that's great to hear!  Although now I will be left wondering what the common factor was that was affecting your VM and thalesj's VM but not everyone else's...

Cheers,

--

Darius

[dixosw]

Yes, I just checked the screenshot that thalesj posted in the other thread and mine was identical - black screen like a DOS window with a cursor.

[dariusd]

Hmmm... here's a thought.  DallasJeff, is your 2008 MBP booting from an external disk drive, by any chance?

Thanks,

--

Darius

[dariusd]

Hi dixosw,

Thanks for reporting back with that information.  It is always very helpful to know that the same problem is cropping up in more than one place, even if I'd prefer that it hadn't cropped up at all! 

Some quick questions about your Windows 8 VM, if you don't mind: Is your VM configured to auto-login (i.e. go directly to the desktop or Metro or whatever-it-is-called), or does it wait for you to log in when it boots?  At the moment when the VM went to the black screen, do you know/recall whether it would have been sitting idle at the login screen, sitting idle at Metro-or-whatever-it-is-called, sitting idle at the desktop, or doing something else?

Thanks,

--

Darius

[dixosw]

Hi Darius,

    No, my Windows 8 VM doesn't auto-login. It just goes to the login screen. I think the first boot after 5.0.2 I didn't login right away and by the time I went back to the Fusion window it was at the 'DOS black screen' instead of the login window. Under Virtual Machine menu I noticed I had the option to cancel VMtools install which is why I think it was related to vmtools being automatically upgraded. After the forced shutdown and boot up I got the login screen and logged into Tileworld (Metro). A minute or so later I was back at the black screen. Third time I logged in quickly, went to the traditional Windows desktop from Metro and launched a program. Before it started the black screen was back.

    Each time I left the black screen up thinking it was part of the vmtools upgrade where it usually resizes the screen and does funky stuff. But after a long time it never recovered. Can't be sure but I suspect the black screen of death for me is related to upgrading vmware tools which happens automatically a minite or two after startup of the VM for the first time after a Fusion update.

    Good luck tracking it down. Let me know if you need anything else.

[danielmiessler]

Ok, so just to summarize, are we saying that we can avoid the crashes in Windows 8 within Fusion by disabling 3D graphics acceleration?

I've done that and I'm going to try to do the things that crashed it before to check myself while I wait for a response.

Thanks.

[dariusd]

Hi danielmiessler, and welcome to the VMware Communities!

If you are encountering the same problem as most of the people on this thread ("VMware Fusion has encountered an error and has shut down Windows." when trying to run certain applications in a Windows guest on a mid-2012 MacBook Pro [or when trying to boot newer Linux guests]), then you should be able to avoid the crashes by disabling 3D graphics acceleration.

if you only run Windows VMs, you would also have the option of reverting to Fusion 5.0.1 to avoid this issue.

We continue to investigate the issue, which only arose with the release of Apple's MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Update 2.0 just over a week ago.  Sorry for the trouble!

--

Darius