2 Question regarding Fusion 8

[Merideus]

Hello, I am currently using a trail edition of Fusion 8 to run Windows7 on MacBook Pro (running OS X El Capitan) and I have two questions.

1.  I have read Fusion 8 Pro will automatically suspend a VM when this lid of the MacBook is closed is it possible to make Fusion 8 do the same thing?

2.  As noted the Guest OS is Windows7.  The VM was created from a Lenovo ThinkPad using the VMware Converter Tool.  I have checked this option within Fusion 8 to "Pass Power to Guest" but after shutting down Windows and Exiting Fusion, then restarting Fusion and Windows the power information is still not passing to Windows.  I am wondering if this is due to the "Power Manager 3" software from IBM and if there is a way resolve this issue.

[wila]

Hi,

Welcome at the VMware community forums.

1. AFAIK there is no difference between Fusion 8 and Fusion 8 Pro on this part.

See also : Compare VMware Fusion 8 to Fusion 7, Fusion 8 Pro

There is no mention there.

To be fair I never pause my guest on closing the lid, I just keep it running, all of Fusion pauses just fine for me.

2. You should certainly uninstall all Lenovo specific software that talks directly to hardware that no longer is available.

Also you can specify in your Virtual Machine Settings if you pass the power state to the guest or not.

Menu -> Virtual Machine -> Settings -> Advanced -> Pass Power status to guest.

I guess that's what you checked already. It should just work.

I take it that you already did install VMware Tools?

Hope this helps,

--

Wil

[Merideus]

Wila thank you for the response.

For question 1 my VM does not automatically suspend when I close the lid of my MacBook so if this a something Fusion8 can do I'd be interested to know how to turn on this feature as I haven't found away of doing so.

For question 2 I unfortunately cannot uninstall the Lenovo software the clone was created from my work laptop for which I am not the administrator.  I did check the setting you mentioned and it does not just work unfortunately.

[wila]

Hi,

re 1. You mentioned "you read somewhere" .. Looks like you seen it here: VMware Fusion Pro: Professional Mac Virtualization

quote (emphasis mine)

For added control users can manually specify the GPU to use, or let Fusion 8 Pro automatically decide, providing you the best performance while least impacting your battery life without sacrificing choice. Fusion Pro will even suspend your virtual machine automatically when you close the lid, preventing any battery drain while you’re on the go.

That's really the first time I've seen this and I"m not even sure what they mean by it as everything gets suspended when you close the lid anyways (?)

I'll leave it to somebody else - like somebody from VMware - to clarify if it is a "Pro" feature only.

re 2. Yeah well.. in that case your VM is no good and will have a number of unfixable problems, you really should remove any hardware specific software drivers. If you're not the administrator you cannot fix that, I'm even a bit surprised that you could install the software to migrate to a VM then.

FWIW, the windows license is probably bound to the hardware anyways (OEM Windows license) so -most likely- running it as a VM isn't even legal within the Windows EULA.

--

Wil

[ColoradoMarmot]

1) it's always safer to manually suspend a VM before suspending the host.

2) Converting physical machines always results in bloated, buggy, unstable VM's.  Since you need a legal, retail, windows 7 license to virtualize it anyway, it's always best to build one from scratch.

[Merideus]

1. If it is unsafe to allow Fusion to auto-suspend the VM I would fail to understand why VMware would make a feature doing just that.

2. As for the conversion of a physical system, in this instance it was the best option for transitioning the necessary configuration to the VM.  Also as it relates to licensing it is an enterprise license being utilized so the number of instance is irrelevant.  After the VM was initially run Windows required activation anyway

[ColoradoMarmot]

Safer and works are not necessarily the same thing.  One risk is that the VM takes a long time to dump, and the machine overheats in your bag.  Nothing VMWare (or any other engine) can do about that.

Understand, just be aware of the tradeoffs, and that the resulting VM has a high probability of strange and unpredictable behavior.