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mdawson69
Contributor
Contributor

Window focus issues in Unity mode

I updated to Fusion 8.1.0 while still using Yosemite (OS X 10.10) and immediately noticed an issue where windows for Windows applications would take focus when the cursor moved over them or a Windows application was performing a background operation without user interaction despite the fact that I was working in an OS X application. At the time there were other screen rendering issues and everything seemed to be resolved once I upgraded to El Capitan (OS X 10.11), as that upgrade had several enhancements for iMacs with retina displays.

Well today, in particular, I noticed that the window focus problem was back in full swing. I was working in OmniGraffle and every time I navigated my cursor over to the Color palette, the Microsoft Word window behind the Color palette would take focus and all other Windows windows would also come to the foreground ahead of any OS X windows that were in front of them. Also, anytime an e-mail popup occurs from Outlook, all of the Windows application windows come to the foreground despite the fact that I am working in an OS X window. I use Unit mode because of my workflow—I need to be able to switch between Mac and Windows applications seamlessly just as if I were working in a single OS—and this bug is disrupting my workflow.

Has anyone else come across this problem?

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31 Replies
admin
Immortal
Immortal

Hi mdawson69,

Welcome to Fusion forum!

Could you please let me know your guest information and  office version?

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cerutti
Contributor
Contributor

I have started seeing a similar issue while running Quicken 2014.  It mainly occurs when running transaction download.

VMWare Version 8.1.0 (3272237)

Was recently running windows 8.1 (x64) and updated to windows 10 (x64) a couple of days ago.  It was happening in both.

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mdawson69
Contributor
Contributor

By guest information do you mean the OS running in the VM? I am running Office 2007 in Windows 7.

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BradBazley
Contributor
Contributor

I'm also experiencing the same problem - if I switch from a Unity app to a Mac app, the Unity app will take focus immediately, and it takes about 2-3 attempts to get the Mac app to stay focused.

The only relevant information I could see in the host's console was the following:

25/01/2016 11:25:01.852 AM WindowServer[183]: _CGXGetWindowOrderingGroup: Operation on a window 0x7db requiring rights 0x5 by caller Microsoft Outlook

25/01/2016 11:25:01.869 AM WindowServer[183]: _CGXGetWindowOrderingGroup: Operation on a window 0x127b requiring rights 0x5 by caller Cisco Jabber

Software versions for reference:

Host: Mac OS X 10.11.2

VMware Fusion 8.1.0

Guest: Windows 7 Enterprise SP1

VMware Tools for Windows 10.0.5, build-3228253

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mdawson69
Contributor
Contributor

This problem seems to be even worse than I thought. I am currently working on a document in Word 2007 (Windows) and every time an e-mail from one of my clients pops up in Outlook (Windows) I lose focus. In extreme cases, such as just occurred twice while typing this post in Safari (OS X), when the e-mail message pop-up occurs my keying causes the incoming e-mail message to be selected and opened in a new window. This quirk is very disruptive to my workflow as it disrupts my train of thought as I am typing.

No window should be taking focus simply because the application is doing something in the background. Background operations should remain exactly that. For some reason, Fusion has seemed to have lost its ability to differentiate between a background operation and the user changing focus.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Please open a support ticket describing your problem.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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jasonroper
Contributor
Contributor

I've had this issue for months.

I opened a ticket with support who looked at it over the course of a month and a half and then came back to me and said that hopefully it will be addressed in a future update and I should keep my eyes out for that.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

I really _really_ hope for you that the engineer managed to get it in because if not .... it might be a long time before this gets addressed.

Reason is that AFAIK unity is one of those features that the fusion team worked on and the whole team has been laid off earlier this week... (see also Future of Fusion after team layoff?)

That was also why I suggested the other user to have it put in a ticket as his description was pretty clear and at least it gets on a todo list somewhere.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

I am trying to reproduce this issue, and if any progress, I will post here. Thanks.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Hi mdawson69,

I have reproduced it, now this issue is tracked by internal bug. Thank you for reporting this.

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CubicalEggs
Contributor
Contributor

Hello everyone,

I have still the same problem.

It is very nerved to use the unity mode in that way every day.

I hope it is fixed as soon as possible.

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vmxmr
Expert
Expert

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cerutti
Contributor
Contributor

@Candy1014,

Is there any status on this issue from the internal bug tracking?

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ICEchad
Contributor
Contributor

Just to chime in for anyone else that may be looking for focus problems, I'm seeing the same focus stealing behavior in Fusion 8.1.1 on Yosemite (10.10.5) with a Windows 7 (x64 Enterprise) VM.  Any time the Unity'd app has any sort of new window / dialog / notification appear the app will immediately take focus, even if I'm in a completely different desktop space that only has Mac apps on it.  I just relized that when I am in the Mac-only desktop space #3, when a notification dialog pops up for the Unity'd app in desktop space #2 it will display in my current space (#3).  I don't remember if Fusion 7 did that as well or if it is due to the focus behavior.  I also noticed that when I shift into the desktop space with the Unity app the Unity app will always immediately takes focus, even if I'm in another app with windows in both desktop spaces.

Wee bit frustrating as I only just last week convinced myself to upgrade from 10.8 to 10.10, with one of the key reasons being Fusion 8's native support for linked clones.  Thankfully the majority of time I switch on Unity is to specifically interact with a single application so it hasn't been horribly disruptive yet.

For anyone wondering if it is tied to VM options:  not that I can tell.  Behavior occurs with both hardware version 11 and version 12, both with and without 3d acceleration enabled.  Only options I can see are either waiting for the next update and hoping it gets fixed or downgrading to a version where it wasn't a problem.  Since we already know that 8.1.0 and 8.1.1 both have the problem I just tried downgrading to 8.0.2.  Same thing.  Then I remembered that vmware-tools was still on the newer version.  After uninstalling it, rebooting the vm, then installing the vmware-tools packaged with 8.0.2, and another VM reboot.  Really wish I could say that fixed it, but no.  When a window disappears or a new window appears, such as what happens right when you start an application, the focus is no longer stolen from another application.  Unfortunately, notification dialogs still steal application focus.  So, not too helpful for something like Outlook if you have email notifications popping up unless you turn them off.


8.0.2: vmware tools 10.0.1, build 3160059

8.1.1: vmware tools 10.0.6, build 3595377


I have not tried running 8.1.1 with 8.0.2's tools.  If you opt to try it, make sure that you disable the automatic tools upgrade in the .vmx:  tools.upgrade.policy = "manual".  If you have the older install .dmg file for 8.0.2, you can mount it and get the8.0.2 tools from VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/isoimages/windows.iso inside the disk image.


Personally, I'm sticking with 8.0.2 until this is fixed; 8.1.1 was stealing focus so often that it made using anything else extremely difficult.


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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

Candy1014‌ Can you give me the bug number? Thanks.

-
Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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ICEchad
Contributor
Contributor

FYI, I just noticed that hover-over tooltips also seem to trigger the behavior.  When they appear another icon is added to the Dock, as if it were a new application.  When it goes away, the Dock icon also disappears.

It looks like trying to bring up a right-click menu also triggers the behavior.  Right-click, menu appears, new icon appears in the Dock, and suddenly the menu goes away along with the Dock icon.  Have a period of about 1-2 seconds after bringing up the right-click menu before it disappears.  Doesn't look like the I can click on one of the menu items before it disappears.  If there is a keyboard shortcut, it is possible to press it in that brief period that the menu is displayed.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Sorry for the late response as I am just back to work after maternity leave. The bug number is 707623.

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ICEchad
Contributor
Contributor

This is still an issue in 8.5.6.  Has there been any progress on finding the root cause and fixing it?

Thanks!

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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

The bug is currently open and it looks like we have been able to repro it. I can't comment on a timeline for a patch, but we do have an understanding of the issue it seems.

-
Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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