My Virtual Machine doesn't start anymore in Fusion

[zzmadd]

Hi,

today I updated my macbook pro to 10.8.5, and I also performed the SMC firmware update

Then i updated to Fusion 6.0.1, and since then I'm unable to open my virtual machine.

When I do it I get a series of little windows tihg OK button saying:

- Unable to retrieve kernel symbols.

- Failed to initialize monitor device.

- Cannot find a valid peer process to connect to

Then I uninstalled manually Fusion 6.0.1, installed 6.0.0 and I got the same thing.

Then I uninstalled Fusion 6.0.0 manually, installed Fusion 5, changed virtual machine but still

I got the same little windows.

Anyone has an idea why this is happening?

thanks

[dariusd]

Hi zzmadd,

This usually means that the OS X update didn't complete quite correctly, leaving your system in an inconsistent state.  Here are a few things to try in order:

1. Launch Disk Utility and use the First Aid tab to verify all of your disks.

2. If your Mac has multiple hard disk drives using software RAID (unlikely but not impossible in a MacBook Pro ), use Disk Utility again to verify that your RAID set is not degraded.  If it is degraded, rebuild it.

3. If VMware Fusion still fails, download the Mac OS 10.8.5 Combo Updater and install it to apply the update again.

Please let us know if that solves the problem there!

Cheers,

--

Darius

[ahernandezb]

Hi dariusd,

I have exactly the same problem than zzmadd.

I tried the steps you sent but installing the he Mac OS 10.8.5 Combo Updater , I got a error that says "OS X Combined can't be installed on this disk. An error occurred while evaluating JavaScript for the package", I tried it with that one and with the Supplemental Update and is the same error.

I verified the disks as well, and everything seams to be fine but VMware Fusion stills failing.

Thank you very much for your help,

Arturo

[dariusd]

Hi Arturo, and welcome to the VMware Communities!

To help us figure out what's going on here, could you provide the output of running the following three commands in Terminal on the affected Mac?

   uname -a

   system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType

   ls -l /mach_kernel

Just copy-and-paste the output from Terminal into a reply in this thread.

For zzmadd: If you continue to have problems after following the instructions I gave earlier, I'd appreciate if you could run these three commands as well (and let me know if you also installed the OS X 10.8.5 "Supplemental Update", which was released only a few days ago).

Thanks,

--

Darius

[zzmadd]

Hi, thanks a lot.

I had indeed things not running properly on my mac.

I reinstalled the system and even created again the fusion drive since at first I couldn't install the system on it.

Now it all goes nicely..

Thanks.

[ahernandezb]

Hi dariusd,

Here is the information.

uname -a

Darwin COMPUTER.local 12.5.0 Darwin Kernel Version 12.5.0: Sun Sep 29 13:33:47 PDT 2013; root:xnu-2050.48.12~1/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64

system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType

Software:

    System Software Overview:

      System Version: OS X 10.8.5 (12F45)

      Kernel Version: Darwin 12.5.0

      Boot Volume: Mac's HD

      Boot Mode: Normal

      Computer Name: MacBook Pro

      User Name: System Administrator (root)

      Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled

      Time since boot: 21:03

And I dont have the mach_kernel in / (I think I have to worry, hehehehe)

Thank you very much

[WoodyZ]

ahernandezb wrote: And I dont have the mach_kernel in / (I think I have to worry, hehehehe)

Copy and paste the following in a Terminal and press Enter:

ls -l `mdfind -name mach_kernel`

[Tokyo_Seoul]

Hi, dariusd.

This is my first post to VMWare Communities.

First sorry for my poor English(Engrish) skill because of I'm Japanese studying in Korea.

I also have the same problem than zzmadd and ahernandezb.

When I boot VMWare Fusion 6, small windows below are indicated and fail to open it.

• Unable to retrieve kernel symbols.
• Failed to initialize monitor device.
• Internal error.

I tried to follow steps you told but during installing the he Mac OS 10.8.5 Combo Updater,

the error "OS X Combined can't be installed on this disk. An error occurred while evaluating JavaScript for the package" occurred.

The results of Disk Utility i.e. Disk First Aid are all fine but I can't still open my VMWare Fusion 6.

Last, my information is...

uname -a

Darwin MacBookPro.local 12.5.0 Darwin Kernel Version 12.5.0: Sun Sep 29 13:33:47 PDT 2013; root:xnu-2050.48.12~1/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64

system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType

Software:

    System Software Overview:

      System Version: OS X 10.8.5 (12F45)

      Kernel Version: Darwin 12.5.0

      Boot Volume: Macintosh HD

      Boot Mode: Normal

      Computer Name: Motohiko Sakazaki's MacBook Pro

      User Name: Motohiko Sakazaki (TokyoSeoul)

      Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled

      Time since boot: 7:57

ls -l /mach_kernel

ls: /mach_kernel: No such file or directory

ls -l `mdfind -name mach_kernel`

total 0

drwx------   3 user  staff   102  9  6 14:23 Applications

drwxr-xr-x   2 user  staff    68  5  9 00:32 DVDTemp

drwx------+ 17 user  staff   578 10  9 06:53 Desktop

drwxr-xr-x+ 32 user  staff  1088 10  7 16:59 Documents

drwxr-xr-x+  7 user  staff   238 10  9 07:05 Downloads

drwx------@ 14 user  staff   476 10  8 23:21 Dropbox

drwxr-xr-x   3 user  staff   102  5  8 18:01 EPKI

drwx------@ 84 user  staff  2856 10  8 20:53 Library

drwxr-xr-x+ 12 user  staff   408  8 19 13:32 Movies

drwxr-xr-x+  7 user  staff   238  4 23 01:08 Music

drwxr-xr-x+  7 user  staff   238 10  7 22:53 Pictures

drwxr-xr-x+  4 user  staff   136  7 29  2012 Public

drwxr-xr-x   2 user  staff    68  8  4 23:11 line-log

drwxr-xr-x   5 user  staff   170  3 26  2013 Mail Backup

Thank you for your help.

----

Moto

[ahernandezb]

Hi ,

Same results than Tokyo_Seoul for the ls -l `mdfind -name mach_kernel`

COMPUTER:/ root# ls -l `mdfind -name mach_kernel`

total 333

d--x--x--x    8 root         wheel     272 May 20 17:07 .DocumentRevisions-V100

drwxr-xr-x    2 root         wheel      68 Mar 12  2013 .PKInstallSandboxManager

drwx------    5 root         wheel     170 Mar 12  2013 .Spotlight-V100

d-wx-wx-wt@   2 root         wheel      68 May  5 15:32 .Trashes

-rw-rw-rw-@   1 ahernandezb  staff  147854 May  6 00:27 .VolumeIcon.icns

srwxrwxrwx    1 root         wheel       0 Oct  7 11:34 .dbfseventsd

----------    1 root         admin       0 Aug 16  2012 .file

drwx------  118 root         wheel    4012 Oct  8 16:58 .fseventsd

drwxr-xr-x@   2 root         wheel      68 Jun 20  2012 .vol

drwxrwxr-x+  78 root         admin    2652 Oct  8 16:58 Applications

drwxr-xr-x+  66 root         wheel    2244 Sep 13 17:44 Library

drwxr-xr-x@   2 root         wheel      68 Aug 16  2012 Network

drwxr-xr-x+   4 root         wheel     136 Mar 12  2013 System

drwxr-xr-x    5 root         admin     170 Jul 12 13:29 Users

drwxrwxrwt@   4 root         admin     136 Oct  7 16:34 Volumes

drwxr-xr-x@  39 root         wheel    1326 Jun  5 15:49 bin

drwxrwxr-t@   2 root         admin      68 Aug 16  2012 cores

dr-xr-xr-x    3 root         wheel    4402 Oct  7 11:33 dev

lrwxr-xr-x@   1 root         wheel      11 Mar 12  2013 etc -> private/etc

dr-xr-xr-x    2 root         wheel       1 Oct  7 11:33 home

dr-xr-xr-x    2 root         wheel       1 Oct  7 11:33 net

drwxr-xr-x    3 root         wheel     102 May 14 15:22 opt

drwxr-xr-x@   6 root         wheel     204 Mar 12  2013 private

drwxr-xr-x@  62 root         wheel    2108 Sep 13 17:44 sbin

lrwxr-xr-x@   1 root         wheel      11 Mar 12  2013 tmp -> private/tmp

drwxr-xr-x@  11 root         wheel     374 May 13 10:47 usr

lrwxr-xr-x@   1 root         wheel      11 Mar 12  2013 var -> private/var

COMPUTER:/ root#

Thank you in advanced

[karthikg2013]

Solution to the issue is:

1. Download the update package from http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1686

2. Create an empty mach_kernel file (otherwise the update installer won't work) using Terminal command:

sudo touch /mach_kernel

3. Install the OSXUpd10.8.5Supp.pkg from the downloaded file. It should restore the proper mach_kernel file.

After installing the update (and before restarting) it's possible to verify that the file was installed correctly:

ls -l /mach_kernel

It should show the permissions -rw-r--r--, owner root, group wheel, and file size 8244640 bytes.

To prevent the mach_kernel file from showing up in Finder, run the command:

sudo chflags hidden /mach_kernel

[ahernandezb]

Thank you karthikg2013 With your suggestion the issue was solved, I can run again all my VMs.

Thank you very much to all for your support.

[Tokyo_Seoul]

karthikg2013,

Thank you for your advice, my VMWare Fusion 6 run well again, too.

Thank you to all for your suppot.

----

Moto

[btoone]

This fix worked for me as well. Thanks! I'm pretty sure I remember deleting the mach_kernel file (oops!). This thread has some more info on that file Re: Unable to retrieve kernel symbols.

[schmu56]

I get the same errors after a logic board replacement:

Unable to retrieve kernel symbols

Failed to initialize monitor device

Internal error

When I boot from a SuperDuper! image backup I made prior to taking the system in, Fusion works normally.  I restored the SuperDuper! backup to the internal SSD and the issue persists.  Given the fixes above, I'm stumped.  Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Scott

[dariusd]

Hi Scott, and welcome to the VMware Communities!

Which version of OS X and Fusion are you running?  Perhaps the SuperDuper! restore is not restoring the Recovery HD, which is where the OS actually boots from (in a typical installation), although things might have been complicated if different versions of Fusion and/or OS X are involved.

Cheers,

--

Darius

[schmu56]

Darius,

Thanks for replying.  I actually found the solution in another thread you had assisted with.  The Netboot process at the Apple Store had caused a low disk space condition on the Recovery partition.  Once I cleaned that up per your instructions, Fusion works again.

Thanks for your time and assistance!

Scott

[nrdsrfr]

I'm getting this error after updating to Yosemite 10.10.2

[chrisdidato]

I had a similar issue.

Try Opening Activity Monitor and kill / quit all the VMware Related Processes and Launch Fusion Again.

[Lilashree]

I did the mentioned steps. My Macbook is OS X EI Capitan. I updated osxupdcombo10.11.3 but after update the size of /mach_kernel file is zero. Is there any way to resolve it?

[shchen1011]

Hi Dariusd,

I'm having the same issue. And followed your instruction. The issue is my OS is much newer (consider it's 2022 now). So I got error message when installing the patch. Please help to let me know if there's any newer version I can use. My Mac is using macOS Monterey 12.4 now.

thank you!