Can a copy of Fusion run NESTED INSIDE another copy of Fusion?

[smayer97]

For example, can Fusion v12 run on Catalina (10.15) with say guest OS Sierra (10.12) then run Fusion v8 on Sierra with say guest OS Snow Leopard (X 10.6.8)?

The reason should be obvious... the oldest guest OS that Fusion v12 supports is guest OS X 10.9 and I have software that needs an even older Mac OS. Speed is not a great concern...I also have a fast computer (27" 2019 i9 iMac 3.6GHz 8-core with 40GB RAM with Radeon Pro 580X 8GB , though I am willing to upgrade RAM if needed).

Are there some combinations of versions of Fusion that can work in this arrangement and others that cannot?

[scott28tt]

Nested is possible: Set Advanced Processor Options

[smayer97]

thanks Scott for the reply (my, you are working late... 3AM ET...new at-home COVID hours?!  ;-). [EDIT: I just noticed from your avatar that you are located in the UK...so that explains that 🙂 ]

This is good news.

So to clarify some details from that page, the product selection at the top only offers Fusion 10, 11 and 12. Does that mean nesting is only possible with these versions as the "host" version of Fusion?

I also see the following requirements:

1. Verify that the virtual machine is compatible with Fusion 8 or later virtual machines.
2. Verify that the virtual machine does not have an older guest operating system, such as Windows versions prior to Windows XP.
3. Verify that the host system has a CPU that is recent enough to support Virtualized Intel VT-x/EPT, performance counters, and IOMMU.

For 1. does this mean that the nested version of Fusion has to be v8 or higher?

For 2. does this mean that the min. version of the VM has to be whatever the lowest version that the nested version of Fusion supports, so if v8 is used, the lowest guest Mac OS is X 10.6.x?

Am I interpreting this info correctly?

For 3. I know the computer I mentioned is very current so ought not to be an issue but how would I determine this in general (I do have other computers worth considering)?

[smayer97]

On a side but related note, what is the reason Fusion no longer supports guest software like Mac OS 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8 but still supports software like Windows XP?

(This exercise would be easier as it would avoid resorting to attempt setting up a nested arrangement)

[wila]

Hi,

Why do you think that the oldest guest OS that Fusion 12 supports is OSX 10.9?

I just looked at my Fusion 12 install and it has this in the guest OS settings:

Note that if you want to run 10.6 as a guest OS that you need to run the server version of OS X.

I love nested and running Fusion nested works fine, but I would not like to use it for production.

Using Fusion 12.0 and running the guest OS directly on top of it would be my preferred solution and is less likely to have issues then running that same guest OS nested.

If your reason is the "supported" checkbox then I don't think you'll get that by running it nested.

--

Wil

[smayer97]

Thanks for replying and sharing that.

My analysis is based on this compatibility table:

VMware Compatibility Guide - Guest/Host Search

Interesting that it differs from your list. This suggests that the table really needs to be updated to reflect accurate info.

[scott28tt]

So to clarify some details from that page, the product selection at the top only offers Fusion 10, 11 and 12. Does that mean nesting is only possible with these versions as the "host" version of Fusion?

No, that's just how the documentation pages work - you would see similar drop-downs on the Workstation pages, the vSphere pages, and so on.

[wila]

Hi,

It's the difference between what VMware supports "aka they actively test it" versus what works.

It should just work.

--

Wil

[smayer97]

Neither of them (the table on the site vs the list in the software) refers to what is tested vs not, so it should make no difference, so why not have them both match?

It makes it confusing otherwise for users due to conflicting info.