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cyanode
Contributor
Contributor

"Could not open /dev/vmmon" on macOS 10.12

Hi,

I am currently on Fusion 8.5.0 freshly downloaded from your website. I have a couple of VMs from before I upgraded my OS to 10.12. Now none of them will start/resume and all I get is the error in the title.

I upgraded to Fusion 8.5.0 before the OS update and it worked fine, so I guess something in the OS update broke it.

I have tried searching around in this forum and have tried the following to no avail:

  1. uninstall/reinstall
  2. reboot
  3. install a new VM from image

In case it helps, I do have VirtualBox installed as well, and I need it just as much as I need Fusion.

21 Replies
jamesacres
Contributor
Contributor

I have the same problem here, except it only happens if I start VMWare after connecting to a SMB network share from finder go > connect to server.

If I start VMWare before connecting to the smb resource the VM starts fine, however I then cannot connect to SMB from finder at all and just get a generic couldn't connect to server.

This means it is now not possible for me to mount the vm Windows drive over the network from the host mac which is a big problem.

I also have VirtualBox installed but don't believe this is a problem. I also have MySQL installed which causes the mac to hang on shutdown but I don't believe this is related.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

more info on the subject and why you are bumping into the problem is here:

Re: Mavericks Fusion 6.0.2 /dev/vmmon not found, display cannot be initialized, internal error

Note that in some cases just restarting the host OS is sufficient, but if you are really running out of major device numbers then just a reboot might not be enough to fix it.

--

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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cyanode
Contributor
Contributor

After uninstalling VirtualBox, my VMs in Fusion seem to boot up fine.

What I don't understand is that both used to work prior to updating to macOS 10.12.

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nwoolls
Contributor
Contributor

Same boat here. Both VMware and VirtualBox installed. Both worked fine before macOS Sierra. After updated to Sierra, I get the same error message trying to open a VMware VM. Uninstalling VirtualBox and re-installing VMware fixed the issue but ultimately I need VirtualBox as well for various things.

Edit: tried to re-install VirtualBox after I got everything working again with VMware 7.1.3, and it seems VirtualBox will not install in macOS Sierra. So maybe this is more related to VirtualBox than VMware(?):

Edit #2: after further experimentation it seems like VirtualBox does work fine on macOS Sierra, but requires fully uninstalling VMware Fusion in order to successfully install VirtualBox.

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adrianm
Contributor
Contributor

Same issue here - Fusion and VirtualBox seem to no longer co-exist since Sierra

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Qcho
Contributor
Contributor

I confirm uninstalling VirtualBox fixed the issue.

Don't know whats happening but since I payed for Vmware Fusion and not VirtualBox I expect better support here :smileygrin:

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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

This is a weird one... In previous versions of OS X this was never an issue. We're investigating why this is happening with macOS, and we'll likely be working directly with Apple to produce a fix.

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

I confirm, uninstall Virtual Box solve the issue.

I found a script to uninstall easily it osx - Yosemite + Fusion 7.0.1 now gets "Could not open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory." and w...

RyGuy1860
Contributor
Contributor

This script that you recommended is EXACTLY what worked!!   :smileycool:

To make it easier for others:

  • Download VirtualBox_Uninstall.tool
  • Open the Terminal
  • Browse to the directory where you downloaded it
  • Run it with sudo sh VirtualBox_Uninstall.tool
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mawarnes
Contributor
Contributor

run the script above and remove virtual box, worked straight away for me, many thanks

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theodson
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

Has the resolution to this issue progressed any?

I'm using the same environment as original post and require both VMWare and Virtualbox machines (via Vagrant) for my development and support role.

Manually uninstalling these products each time I need to bring a VM up (vagrant up) is less than convenient.

Please any advice on having these products cohabit the same MacOS would be great.

Thanks in advance.

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Jick1946
Contributor
Contributor

I'm NOT using VirtualBox.  I'm running VMware Fusion 6.0.4 under Mac OS-X Sierra 10.12.3 and started seeing this /dev/vmmon error a couple of months ago.  None of the suggested fixes I've seen so far seem appropriate.  I'll need this fixed pretty soon as I have to analyze data for an experiment at J-PARC in Japan and another at TRIUMF in Vancouver, and my only (previously) working installation of the required software is on my Mac's VMware Ubuntu installation. 

Any suggestions?  HELP!

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dariusd
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

I believe Fusion 6 is too old to run on macOS Sierra.  You can try Fusion 8.x for free for 30 days and see if that gets you going: http://www.vmware.com/go/try-fusion-en

Cheers,

--

Darius

umarzuki
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

just to add, it seems fusion 6 supported up to maverick only

Supported host operating systems for VMware Fusion and VMware Fusion Pro (2088571) | VMware KB

so I installed fusion 8.5 and no problem with /dev/vmmon

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llozano66
Contributor
Contributor

Hi there,

Any news about this issue? im getting the same error on MacOS Sierra with VMware-Fusion and Virtualbox.

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tinjaw
Contributor
Contributor

I do not have VirtualBox installed on my MacBook Pro, yet I am experiencing this issue.  Sierra 10.12.4 and Fusion 8.5.6. Any ideas what might be the cause besides VirtualBox?

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llozano66
Contributor
Contributor

Hi there,

Ive already fixed the issue, i uninstalled some drivers and that fixed the problem, some info here:

Fusion 5 - Could not open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory.

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theodson
Contributor
Contributor

I too have suffered from this issue for over a year, I've tried every release of Fusion upto 8.5.8 and still the problem persisted.

Amongst the comments in this thread a reference to Fusion 5 - Could not open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory. was made, this proved invaluable as it hinted at the possible issue,

"It seems that some driver on your system is triggering the problem by consuming all of the available "character device major numbers" (a small number used to identify a driver/device).  I can't immediately identify the culprit driver, but the possibilities include:

  • Studio Network Solutions iSCSI initiator
  • Viscosity VPN
  • VirtualBox

"

Its reference to Viscosity VPN as possible factor made me consider the VPN tool of choice I have installed, namely SHIMO VPN. As a test in hope I removed this SHIMO VPN tool (a shame as I rely on it) and restarted OSX 10.12.6.

After the reboot I can successfully launch both VMWare Fusion 8.5.8 and VirtualBox 5.1.20 without issue, so my '/dev/vmmon' issue is solved, albeit at the expense of a great VPN tool, SHIMO.

Hope this helps.

Aside: I've contacted SHIMO with this info in the hope they can resolve the issue.

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kpknkrb
Contributor
Contributor

in my case, I solved it by remove tuntap(virtual network interface).

macOS Sierra 10.12.6

- VMware Fusion 8.5.8

- VirtualBox 5.1.28

- tuntap 20150118      <-  uninstall you

How to uninstall tuntap

sudo rm -rf /Library/Extensions/tap.kext

sudo rm -rf /Library/Extensions/tun.kext

sudo rm -rf /Library/LaunchDaemons/net.sf.tuntaposx.tap.plist

sudo rm -rf /Library/LaunchDaemons/net.sf.tuntaposx.tun.plist

reboot your mac.

Now I can run VMware Fusion and VirtualBox together.

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