VMWare Fusion not compatible with Windows 10? Seriously?

[bb101]

Frankly, I find it incredible that a company as large as VMWare can sit around for months knowing that their Fusion SVGA driver is preventing their customers from upgrading to Windows 10. Today is Windows' release date, and nothing has been done to fix the situation.

Apparently VMWare has "opened lines of communication" with Microsoft. If VMWare were a tiny company then I would understand and believe the delay, however are we really to believe that Microsoft is refusing to work with VMWare on an issue that affects all their users?

The cynic in me thinks VMWare is waiting to release Fusion 8 quite soon (paid upgrade of course) and will have "compatible with Windows 10" plastered all over it.... Planned obsolescence?

#VMWare #Fail

B

[TECH198]

Updated from Windows 7 using Fusion 7.1.2.

This messed up screen resolution, so just reinstalled/repaired VMWae tools and problem solved.

[rimcrazy]

Ok... that works but I found it in a different location.  On my system I redirected to get a new driver here:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\video_wddm

and then I just told it to find a driver.  If found the correct driver.  I had to do this twice as the first time I thought the machine locked up.  You get a screen like it finished the task but clicking inside does nothing.  The trick is you need to grab the bottom right corner of the screen and scale it.  Now your screen will automatically resize to a correct resolution and you can close the settings box.  I did a quit, quit Fusion, start Fusion and it remembered my resized screen.

So far it's pretty nice but this automatic update without intervention is a deal killer for me.  This is just a VM I use on my MBP for some old software that I use.  My main PC is a 3D workstation and I NEVER let Microsoft update any of the hardware drivers.  Software... no problem but it takes a lot of work to get a system (graphics mostly) that is stable from a hardware driver standpoint.  Just because NVidia has a new driver does NOT mean I want it and in fact most times I don't.   Until, hopefully, Microsoft changes this feature in Windows 10 I will not be upgrading anytime soon.

[Eylandt]

Unable to install VMware tools in Windows 10. Getting "The VMware Tools should only be installed inside a virtual machine."

[coachbb94]

I sure hope there will be an update to fix this problem.  I have tried all of the suggestions and still cannot upgrade my Win 7 VM.  It is all related to the incompatible SVGA 3D driver.  I even changed the driver being used by Win 7 to the Win 7 default driver and still no luck.  The one hope is that since all the other VM's are having the same problem that there will be a fix soon.

[Mikero]

The driver is signed by Microsoft and is fully compatible with Windows 10 but certain versions of the validation tool from Microsoft explicitly blacklisted virtual hardware for ALL vendors including Parallels and VirtualBox.

The simple workaround is to upgrade using the .iso as I describe here:

http://www.mikeroysoft.com/windows-10-and-vmware-fusion/

and here:

http://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2015/07/windows-10-svga-upgrade-issue.html

I've heard some users reporting success by just disabling the 3D acceleration, but I haven't been able to test that personally.

[icabb]

This worked!

I did the .iso update method and it worked for a little bit until Windows did an update and then changed the driver.

So I used the method of using this driver:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\video_wddm

And so far it is sticking!

[jbmelby]

I tried to install from the .iso, but it won't accept my Win7 product code. What should I do to upgrade using the .iso file?

[ozarkcanoer]

I had the same problem with Win10 .iso Setup.exe not accepting my Win8 Product ID.  I talked to Microsoft support and the agent told me that they are getting many calls about Product IDs that aren't being accepted and just suggested waiting for them to fix the issue.  Guess there isn't much choice right now.  Sigh....

[DanVin001]

Hi!

Seams I solved my problem with user's posts on this blog. Thank's guys. I noticed that I had a Win 7 Pro N version. So I used the link to Microsoft download that you'll find in this thread. I had to download the Win 10 Pro N version to get a clean update without prompting for a key or S/N.

Now it works. Not perfect, but it's Ok to get a view on the final release of Win 10.

Ciao

Dan 🙂

[TECH198]

Usually the simplest problems are the best.

[ozarkcanoer]

I've tried my Win8 Product ID and the installer for Win10 rejects it!  I haven't seen any Win10 Product ID/Activation key available from the Win10 .iso download site.  When I tried doing the Windows Update approach to Win10 upgrade I got a 80240031 error.  MS didn't make this a smooth process.

[ozarkcanoer]

I initially downloaded the Single Language edition of Windows 10 (thought it might be smaller) without finding any description of the choices for the multiple 'editions'.  Since Single Language install would not work for me I then downloaded the "Win 10" edition and the installation seems to be proceeding OK; at least it's gone further than before, and it hasn't yet asked for my Product ID - don't know if that is good or bad.

It has restarted and displays a "Upgrading" window that has a 'copying files', 'installing features and drives, and 'configuring settings' phases along the bottom of the window.  First phase done; installing; another restart and completing the 'installing features and drivers' phase;  It is financed.

I logged into Windows 10, changed some of the settings about WiFi auto connections (not safe in my mind) and it is setting up the applications I selected (Edge).  And I'm at the desktop and running Edge.  Finally.

Doing this on iMac late 2012 model, with Fusion 7.1.2.  Now to see if I will stay with Win10 or go back to my saved snapshot of Win8.1.

Success, for now.

[mntnbighker]

I made the same mistakes. I grabbed the single language ISO that failed, and I tried to use my existing license keys. But MS is VERY clear about a couple of things. You MUST download the ISO that matches your existing Windows version. AND you can ONLY get the initial free upgrade by doing an "in place" upgrade. Once you have an in place upgrade activated you are free to reinstall cleanly from scratch, and the MS server should reactivate you. You are never supposed to see the activation keys or need to enter them anyplace. But here is the rub. With a hypervisor, instead of physical hardware, this reinstall process seems to break. And I'm not sure it will ever reactivate. Because the server detects it as a different computer. I'm guessing there must be a GUID someplace (other than the MAC address) that doesn't match. I'm hoping VMware will eventually provide guidance for dealing with this. In the mean time I seem to be stuck with my upgraded VM image. I did a full reset, which is almost a clean installation.

[adelp]

if they wait fusion 8 to add windows 10 upgrade compatibility and don't offer a free upgrade to people who bought fusion 7 literally 3 months ago

I will happily take my money and my company one to Parallels who doesn't seems to have such issue.

[vmxmr]

I made the same mistakes. I grabbed the single language ISO that failed, and I tried to use my existing license keys. But MS is VERY clear about a couple of things. You MUST download the ISO that matches your existing Windows version. AND you can ONLY get the initial free upgrade by doing an "in place" upgrade. Once you have an in place upgrade activated you are free to reinstall cleanly from scratch, and the MS server should reactivate you. You are never supposed to see the activation keys or need to enter them anyplace. But here is the rub. With a hypervisor, instead of physical hardware, this reinstall process seems to break. And I'm not sure it will ever reactivate. Because the server detects it as a different computer. I'm guessing there must be a GUID someplace (other than the MAC address) that doesn't match. I'm hoping VMware will eventually provide guidance for dealing with this. In the mean time I seem to be stuck with my upgraded VM image. I did a full reset, which is almost a clean installation.

Disclaimer: I have done a lot of research about the upgrade, but I am still running the "Insider Preview" version. I have not yet upgraded to the release version of Windows 10.

Based on my research, mntnbighker did everything right, but missed a step. After you do the "in place" upgrade, first get the newly created Windows 10 Product Key from your installation. The Windows 10 product key is created during the upgrade process, and is different than your previous Windows 7 or Windows 8 product key. One way to get the product key is go to http://www.nirsoft.net and get the free Windows application called "ProduKey". ProduKey reads the product key from the Windows Registry and formats it into useable form. To repeat: I have not started my own upgrade to Windows 10 yet - I am repeating what I learned from online research.

Here are some links that I found, related to upgrading to Windows 10. I read them carefully, and know what I plan to do (basically what mntnbighker said above, but with the Product Key extraction added). I will wait for a couple weeks, until the heavy load on Microsoft's servers goes down, and to learn from others' experiences first. The links below are in no particular order - you must look at each of them to see which ones are helpful or not:

How to do a clean install of Windows 10 - CNET

How to do a clean install of Windows 10 (from Windows 7 and 😎 | Ars Technica

http://venturebeat.com/2015/07/28/how-to-force-windows-to-start-downloading-the-windows-10-update-fi...‌

Virtualization

Making The Jump To Windows 10, A Migration Guide | HotHardware

Windows 10 and VMware Fusion | mikeroySoft.com

P.S. I also plan to make a backup copy of my fully shutdown Windows virtual machine before upgrading it to Windows 10. (Mine is Windows 7, but yours may be Windows 8 or 8.1). You can also use snapshots, but a full and complete backup copy of the virtual machine package (file) seems appropriate in this case.

I hope this helps!

[ALD2355]

I have read all the posts on this and I am still confised.  When will the Windows 10 app allow us to download and install the updates?  Alternatively when will MS and VMWare sort out the problem?

[budleo3]

I was able to install Windows 10 .iso as Mike Soft described. Installed with no problem (on a Macbook Pro 2011 with Fusion 7.1.2 and an older 24" Apple monitor (not Thunderbolt). Two Issues:

1.  The display will not expand to use the whole monitor size, so there is an issue with the Vmware SVGA 3D display drivers. The desktop in Windows allows some ability to adjust resolution.

2.   The Z: vmware-local\Shared Folders file has a big red X in windows 10 file explorer and is not accessible when you click on it. However, programs that use files in the shared folders are still able to access them. Go figure!

Any ideas on the shared folders issue?

[JuanGuapo]

I'm unable to use Unity Mode with Windows 10 x64; however, Unity functions just fine in Windows 8.1 x64.

So far, I've done the following...

*Advice from VMware support

• Turn off 3D Acceleration and Retina support.*
• Uninstall VMware Tools (VMT)
  • Reboot*
• Reinstall VMT*
  • Reboot
• Double-check that Windows 10 x64 is the OS selected.*

None of the above options have resolved the issue. When I attempt to use Unity mode, this is what shows up...

Windows 10 was in public beta for months so I can hardly blame MS for these issues.

[RMCCAMPBELL]

I have the same problem...I just put the same wallpaper as my Mac and just live with it until they fix it ( it looks like a picture on top of a picture but whatever...also I can't see my Mac icons)...I can't believe they didn't make this upgrade much smoother. My friend has Parallels and said it went very smooth with no problems. I don't know many people who want to download an iso...mount it and then install thru that. Maybe while in beta but not as a final release. Very sloppy VMWare!

Other small issues:

1) When minimizing a window a ghost window appears for a few seconds. Thats annoying.

2) Shutdown doesn't work from start button. I have to use the fusion shutdown. Actually its once I click on one thing in the start button window the next action is unclickable. I can't scroll down...cant shutdown...cant do anything except click on file explorer because it opens a new window. Yesterday it did actually work once and I shutdown. I can't imagine this is a windows problem and has to be a fusion problem?

On another note...

I am not sure why Microsoft thinks we want a flatter and flatter Windows with less and less and less but whatever. Seems to help as a virtualized OS.

Thanks,

Russell

[RMCCAMPBELL]

Is there any work around for this? I don't have an easy way get to my Mac desktop.... VMware can you at least tell us if this is being fixed?