UPGRADING TO EL CAPITAN AND FUSION 8: WHICH DO I DO FIRST?

[winmorgan]

I've purchased the Fusion 8 upgrade (not Pro) and need to update my Mac OS from 10.8.5 to El Capitan. I don't know whether to install the Fusion upgrade first or whether to upgrade the Mac OS first. Also, searching support articles on VMWare's site about upgrade instructions shows only articles dealing with upgrade from 6.x to 7.x or upgrade from 7.x to 8.x....there's no article about upgrading from 6.0.4 to 8.1.1?

Any help is very greatly appreciated,

Win

[vmxmr]

I would do both at the same time. Here is how I would do it:

• Look at the software requirements for other software on your Mac that may require upgrades when you move to El Capitan, not just VMware Fusion.
• Backup your entire Mac to an external hard drive. Even if you have Time Machine backups, I would use Carbon Copy Cloner (or SuperDuper!) in addition to Time Machine to make a complete copy of your Mac to an external drive before you upgrade it, just in case.
• If you have the disk space, make a copy of your virtual machine(s).
• Upgrade the Mac to El Capitan
• Install VMware Fusion 8.1.1
• Install any other software that needs to be upgraded.
• Launch the virtual machine(s). They should just work.

Good luck!

[winmorgan]

Hi vmxmr,

Thank you very kindly...I'll follow your suggestions.  I've already backed up the Windows machine by running Retrospect and backed up the Mac via Time Machine, but I'll take your suggestion and use Carbon Copy Cloner as well.

Can you tell me how to make a copy of my virtual machine?  I use Fusion a lot and mostly run email, a browser, and MS Word therein, but am pretty much a novice with regard to knowing about Fusion.

Thank you again,

Win 

P.S. Do you know if it's possible to find a setting to tell VMWare's forums to email me when there's a response?  I just found your answer when I decided to check the forum but had been looking for an email notification if someone replied, but I never got one.

P.P.S.  Do you know if I can upgrade straight from Fusion 6.x to 8.1.1?  I see VMWare articles on upgrading from 6.x to 7.x and from 7.x to 8.x, but nothing about going from ver. 6 to 8.1.1. I've written VMWare but so far have not received a reply.

[vmxmr]

Hi Win,

Here are the answers to your questions:

Copy Virtual Machine:

* In VMware Fusion, shutdown the virtual machine.

* Find the virtual machine "file" in the Finder. Open the Virtual Machine Library (Window menu, Virtual Machine Library). CTRL-click or right-click your virtual machine in the Virtual Machine Library and choose "Show in Finder".

* Copy the virtual machine "file" in the Finder just as you would any other file. Hold down the Option key and drag it to another folder or an external drive. Keep in mind that virtual machine files are very large. It may take a long time to copy and you should be sure that you have enough disk space.

NOTE: Time Machine does not properly backup VMware Fusion virtual machines. Time Machine appears to work, but the resulting backup is likely to be corrupt.

Using Time Machine to Backup Virtual Machines:

* Exclude your virtual machine from Time Machine backups. Time Machine doesn't back it up correctly anyway. If your virtual machine is the only file in its folder, you can exclude the folder by opening System Preferences and selecting Time Machine. Click the Options button, then click the + symbol to add the virtual machine's folder to be excluded. (Note that whatever other files are in the same folder will also be excluded. That's why you may want your virtual machines in their own separate folder.)

* Create a new, separate "Virtual Machine Backups" folder.

* Whenever you want to backup your virtual machine, copy its file (see instructions, above) to your Virtual Machine Backups folder. The next time Time Machine runs, it will backup your copy of the virtual machine.

* IMPORTANT: Remember to make that copy frequently, or your virtual machine will not be backed up.

Getting VMware's Forums to Send You Emails When There are New Posts:

* On the right side of the thread, you will see a green plus sign :smileyplus: with the words, "Following in..."  Click on that.

* Click on the checkbox next to (Follow in) "Email Watches"

* Click the "Done" link

Can You Update Straight from VMware Fusion 6 to VMware Fusion 8.1.1?

Yes.

I would delete VMware Fusion 6 from the /Applications folder before upgrading to El Capitan first, then upgrade to El Capitan, then install VMware Fusion 8.1.1.

If you forget and do it in a different order, it should not matter much, but VMware Fusion 8.1.1 is not compatible with OS X 10.8.5 that you are currently running.

Good luck!

[winmorgan]

Hi there,

I'm going to send this via email and also via the forum thread so I can make sure you got it.

Your instructions were a terrific help, and thanks for straightening me out about time machine.  Most of my important files are on the Windows side of things so that is really valuable information. 

I did back up the virtual machine to a separate hard drive and then followed your earlier instructions: did the El Capitan upgrade first and then the Fusion upgrade and (I'm afraid to say it out loud) everything worked great!

Thanks so much for all your help...I love it when communities and forums yield this sort of help for others and I do my best to reciprocate.

Thanks again, and all best wishes,

Win

[vmxmr]

You're welcome. I am glad it worked out for you.

I forgot one thing. You can compress your virtual machine files to save a lot of disk space. Here is a better "Copy Virtual Machine" procedure, which is useful for backups:

Copy Virtual Machine using Finder's Compress Feature:

* In VMware Fusion, shutdown the virtual machine.

* Find the virtual machine "file" in the Finder. Open the Virtual Machine Library (Window menu, Virtual Machine Library). CTRL-click or right-click your virtual machine in the Virtual Machine Library and choose "Show in Finder".

* In the Finder, CTRL-click or right-click your virtual machine file. Choose "Compress (virtual machine filename)" from the drop-down menu. The Finder will compress your virtual machine file and create a new ".zip" file.

* Drag the .zip file to your "Virtual Machine Backups" folder so that Time Machine will back it up. This will leave your original virtual machine file where it belongs, and the .zip file is much smaller than a full copy. The .zip file uses much less disk space.

If you need to restore (uncompress) your .zip file, simply double-click it. Keep in mind that the unzipped file will have the same name as your original virtual machine file. Be careful - it could overwrite your original if you unzip it in the original folder that has your virtual machine.