option to install VMWare tools is unavailable

[Woodyanna]

I just installed the tech preview and updated my Windows 11 VM. It starts up okay, but when I start it and open the Virtual Machines menu, Install VMWare Tools is grayed out. How do I fix this? I didn't see anything in the testing guide about this problem. Thanks!

[Technogeezer]

@Woodyanna If you have a version of the unofficial guide that is telling you to use uupdump, you have an old and outdated version of the guide.  In the majority of cases, you should not be using a ISO created from uupdump as they're difficult for the average user to create and they can be flaky.

Instead, use the w11arm_esd2iso utility that's referenced in both the Fusion 13 Companion Guide https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Documents/The-Unofficial-Fusion-13-for-Apple-Silicon... , and the new Tech Preview Companion Guide https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Fusion-2023-Tech-Preview/The-Unofficial-Fusion-2023-Tech-Preview-C...

It will build a Windows 11 ARM 22H2 release channel ISO from the same ESD file that Parallels uses. It's an official Microsoft release, not a hacked together collection of packages like the uupdump version. A walk through on how to use it can be found in either of the two Companion Guides.

The w11arm_esd2iso utility can be found here https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Documents/w11arm-esd2iso-a-utility-to-create-Windows...

[Woodyanna]

Thanks for the detailed instructions, Technogeezer. It turns out that in both my production and tech preview versions of Fusion, there is no DVD/CD option in the Virtual Machines menu. Also, if I open Settings in either one and click on Removable Devices, which I assume would be another way to reach these options, nothing happens. The production version of Fusion can handle an external DVD drive just fine; I connected one and was able to play music through Windows with no problem. But in neither version of Fusion do I seem to have the option to point to a disk image and have Windows treat it as a DVD drive. I guess that's why the Install Virtual Tools option is grayed out. Does anyone know how I can restore the DVD/CD functionality to Fusion?

[Technogeezer]

In the VM's settings, do you have a CD/DVD device defined?

[Woodyanna]

Apparently not. I didn't know I needed to do that. How do I define one?

[RDPetruska]

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@Woodyanna wrote:

Apparently not. I didn't know I needed to do that. How do I define one?

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Interesting then, how the OS got installed without an optical drive to read from.

In any case - with the VM powered off (not just suspended) go to the VM settings, hardware tab.  Click the Add button.  Go through the wizard to add a CD-ROM device.  Power it back on, and hopefully Windows will see that there is an optical drive and automatically install the device driver for it.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Keep in mind that this is a virtual cdrom not a physical one.

[Woodyanna]

I added a CD drive and pointed it at the Windows image in the VMWare package. After that, I was able to install the VMWare tools. Thanks so much to everyone who helped with this!

[brakdalen]

Finally found the fix for this! 

1. Create a custom virtual machine
2. Select windows 11 64-bit Arm instead of Other 64-bit Arm as the instruction says
3. I selected UEFI (not sure if this has any effect on the outcome)
4. I selected Only the files needed to support a TPM are encrypted 
5. Use an existing virtual disk
6. Chose the vmdk file created from the VHDX file

After that everything works perfectly!! 

[Technogeezer]

There is no “fix” other than following the right instructions.

If you used instructions that told you to use a guest OS type of “Other 64-bit ARM” for Windows 11 ARM, then you used obsolete and incorrect instructions. Any instructions (either official or unofficial) available in this forum for Fusion releases from the 22H2 Tech preview (which, by the way is obsolete and should no longer be used) onward say to use Windows 11 64-bit ARM as the OS type. 

[ColoradoMarmot]

And let me add, that the VHDX conversion is not recommended - it's an insider build, which both expires and may be unstable.  

[Technogeezer]

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@ColoradoMarmot wrote:

And let me add, that the VHDX conversion is not recommended - it's an insider build, which both expires and may be unstable.  

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Although I’ve found that the insider beta channel VHDX build may be a bit more amenable to updating than the dev and canary channel builds. I’ve installed the published beta channel VDHX file. It seems to update to the latest 23H2 beta channel builds via Windows Update and they seem to keep updating. It also seems to be fairly stable  

I wouldn’t recommend a beta channel build to most users, but for those willing to use it for what Microsoft intends (not production/day-to-day work, but testing out software and providing feedback on new features) it might be worth a shot. 

[ColoradoMarmot]

Fair point, and it saves burning a windows key if you're doing that.