topic Re: 8.5.10 suddenly giving This virtual machine was created by a newer version of VMware Fusion erro in VMware Fusion Discussions

8.5.10 suddenly giving This virtual machine was created by a newer version of VMware Fusion error

havinabubble — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 16:04:43 GMT

for other software reasons my daily driver iMac still runs Mojave 10.14.6 and VM Fusion Version 8.5.10 (7527438)

and ALL my guest OS worked fine.

I also have a MacBookPro Ventura 13.4.1 running VM Fusion Player Version 12.2.5 (20904517) and am very aware that should I try to move a Guest OS from this Mac to the older, it won't work because the VM has been created with a newer version

However, I've just gone to use VM Fusion 8.5.10 (7527438) and discovered ALL my guest OS suddenly give the

"This virtual machine was created by a newer version of VMware Fusion error" error

If I change COMPATIBILITY to an individual Guest OS setting to use HARDWARE VERSION 12, the OS will open

but one of my guests was SUSPENDED and I cannot change it or shut it down in this state

thats how I know something changed!

why has this occurred?
How do I close a suspended OS when I cannot open it (unless I move it to the newer Mac, close it, move it back)

...TIA

Re: 8.5.10 suddenly giving This virtual machine was created by a newer version of VMware Fusion erro

RDPetruska — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 16:14:25 GMT

"How do I close a suspended OS when I cannot open it (unless I move it to the newer Mac, close it, move it back)"

If you delete the *.vmss file, it will be like pulling the plug on a computer. The next time you open the VM, it will be simply powered off.

Re: 8.5.10 suddenly giving This virtual machine was created by a newer version of VMware Fusion erro

Technogeezer — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 17:12:30 GMT

@havinabubble wrote:
for other software reasons my daily driver iMac still runs Mojave 10.14.6 and VM Fusion Version 8.5.10 (7527438)
I also have a MacBookPro Ventura 13.4.1 running VM Fusion Player Version 12.2.5 (20904517) and am very aware that should I try to move a Guest OS from this Mac to the older, it won't work because the VM has been created with a newer version
However, I've just gone to use VM Fusion 8.5.10 (7527438) and discovered ALL my guest OS suddenly give the
"This virtual machine was created by a newer version of VMware Fusion error" error

why has this occurred?

It's not the version of Fusion specifically that is the problem, it's the virtual hardware version that the VM is configured with (exposed by the Fusion GUI in Settings > Compatibility). Fusion 8.5.10 is a minor update to Fusion 8.5, which supports a maximum virtual hardware version of 12. Fusion 12.2 creates virtual machines with hardware version 19 by default. Fusion 8.5 has no knowledge of virtual hardware version 19, so if you try to open any VM that has that virtual hardware version, it throws the message you see.

The best practice (that will give you the best chances for success) for moving virtual machines to a lower version of VMware products is to first shut down the VM - do not suspend - and remove all snapshots. Even better is to downgrade the virtual hardware version through Settings > Compatibility before moving it.

Moving suspended VMs makes it difficult to downgrade without manual intervention such as what @RDPetruska notes, as the "Compatibility" of a suspended VM can't be changed through the GUI.

Re: 8.5.10 suddenly giving This virtual machine was created by a newer version of VMware Fusion erro

havinabubble — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 07:10:31 GMT

@Technogeezer wrote:
It's not the version of Fusion specifically that is the problem, it's the virtual hardware version that the VM is configured with (exposed by the Fusion GUI in Settings > Compatibility). Fusion 8.5.10 is a minor update to Fusion 8.5, which supports a maximum virtual hardware version of 12. Fusion 12.2 creates virtual machines with hardware version 19 by default. Fusion 8.5 has no knowledge of virtual hardware version 19, so if you try to open any VM that has that virtual hardware version, it throws the message you see.

I follow what you are saying thank you.

But why has ALL my guest OS suddenly changed to thinking they have been created on a newer version? (when they haven't).

It has always run fine on this computer until now. It's just a pain to have to select compatibility on each OS (a 4 step process) as I have 21

@RDPetruska note to remove vmss worked great, thankyou. Once removed I then had to change the compatibility, but at least it now opens.

Re: 8.5.10 suddenly giving This virtual machine was created by a newer version of VMware Fusion erro

Technogeezer — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 14:24:08 GMT

Do you have a VM where this behavior is still happening (that you haven’t made the correction to)? If so can you post its .vmx file? You can find it by locating the VM in the Finder, right clicking on it, then selecting “Show Package Contents”. A Finder window will then open showing all of the files that make up your VM. The .vmx file for your VM can be found there.

Re: 8.5.10 suddenly giving This virtual machine was created by a newer version of VMware Fusion erro

havinabubble — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 14:45:27 GMT

sadly not

first 10 gave the error and I fixed as I went, remaining 11 haven't given the error.

But next time this issue occurs I'll be sure to post

Re: 8.5.10 suddenly giving This virtual machine was created by a newer version of VMware Fusion erro

dempson — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 02:26:06 GMT

@havinabubble wrote:
But why has ALL my guest OS suddenly changed to thinking they have been created on a newer version? (when they haven't).

A thought which occurred to me:

Where are your VMs stored on your daily driver iMac? In particular, are they stored in a folder which is being synced with a cloud service, such as Dropbox or iCloud Drive? iCloud Drive potentially includes the Desktop and Documents folders and everything under them, depending on whether that option is chosen in System Preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive.

The unexpected upgrade of your VMs might be explained if they are being synced with another Mac running a newer version of VMware Fusion, and changes made on that newer version are being synced back to the Mac running the older version.

If I'm right, this is a very bad idea - apart from the risk of this sort of issue, VMs are inherently not safe to store in locations that are synced with cloud services, because the VM frequently modifies parts of files and needs to do coordinated changes to multiple files, which may not sync reliably, resulting in file corruption and/or a bad copy of the VM in the cloud (or other computers to which it is also synced). Another problem is that the cloud sync service might decide to evict some files from local storage if it thinks they aren't in active use, which could break the VM.

Re: 8.5.10 suddenly giving This virtual machine was created by a newer version of VMware Fusion erro

havinabubble — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 07:09:27 GMT

cheers for the thought

no cloud services where used in the making of this glitch

the 2 most used of VM's are stored on the internal Flash

the 19 remaining are stored on an external SSD.

Once in a while I manually copy the 2 across to my MacBook Pro, but never back the other way for the obvious reason