2 to 8. I'm stuck.

[Tennison]

I'm an orthodontist and have to run Windows for my image capture software for the x-rays I take, so I have Fusion on the one computer I have by the x-ray machine. I had to update my OS to 10.10.5 to run the latest upgrade to my practice management software and then found out that Fusion 2 won't work. I didn't run a backup before I upgraded to 10.10.5 (I know. I'm an idiot. Help me now. Shame me later.) I have since run a backup.

My question is: What is the best way to remedy the situation? If I simply download Fusion 8, will it be easy to open Windows seamlessly? Will I need to do something to transfer the Windows program from 2 over to 8? Do I need to somehow reload a previous OS so that Fusion 2 works and back that up? Also, when I run a Time Machine backup, will it also backup the Windows information stored in Fusion, or do I need to run a separate backup for that? Thanks for helping this technically challenged toothman.

[Mikero · Accepted solution]

Firstly, make a copy of your VM on an external drive and disconnect it from your Mac. Always better to be safe

-Uninstall Fusion 2 by following this KB:

Manually uninstalling VMware Fusion

(newer versions it's much easier, but for v2 you have to run the uninstaller)

- Install Fusion 8 (download, double-click the download if it doesn't run automatically, drag + drop the Fusion icon to your Applications folder...

- When you launch 8, it will read the library from v2, so your VMs will be there.

- When you launch your VM for the first time, it will ask to upgrade. Do this. (this is why I had you take a backup earlier also)

Knowledge Base article: Upgrading from Fusion 7 to Fusion 8

IT should automatically ask to upgrade the VM as well as upgrade VMware tools. Do this. If it doesn't, the KB has the instructions to do it manually.

And that's it. Windows will reboot once or twice after upgrading the virtual hardware and Tools, everything else should be just as you left it.

Hope that makes sense, let me know if you have any questions about it!

[wila]

Hello,

Also, when I run a Time Machine backup, will it also backup the Windows information stored in Fusion, or do I need to run a separate backup for that?

Time Machine is not a reliable way to backup virtual machines, I will leave the technical details on the why that is.

You should really run a separate backup for the virtual machine.

In order to do so, shut down Fusion and make a copy of the whole virtual machine to an external disk.

If you have made snapshots in your virtual machine, then commit those before making the backup.

edit: I now see that Mike mentioned that as well in his first line, somehow I managed to miss that

--

Wil

[Tennison]

Thank you! It worked perfectly. You communicated the steps well and it went exactly as you said. I really appreciate your help.

[Tennison]

Thanks for the extra input. It's good to know Time Machine isn't a reliable backup for VMs.