Error: Could not open /dev/vmmon: Broken pipe, while launching the Virtual Machine (80467)

[peterpp11]

I have tried everything suggested on the above page  including several complete manual uninstalls, etc,

Error does not go away.  

Privacy settings are correct.

Console/ log shows:

"com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.system): Could not read path: path = /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vmware.VMMonHelper.plist, error = 2: No such file or directory"

I concur. there is no such plist in the LaunchDemons folder.  

Why not?

Vm fusion 1.5.7

Mac os x 10.14.6

[peterpp11]

Correction: Vm fusion 11.5.7

[wila]

Hi,

This is an apple bug that got introduced somewhere during an update of macOS.
The cure is to throw away your kernel extension staging folder & contents.
It will be recreated on reboot.

This can most like be resolved by removing the /private/var/db/KernelExtensionManagement folder and reboot.

In the terminal run the following command:

sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/KernelExtensionManagement

Be careful not to add any additional spaces!

Then reboot your macOS host and start VMware again.

--
Wil

[peterpp11]

Hi Wila,

Thank you for your rapid reply.

The break occurred after I did a  os restore from the recovery partition and added some Apple updates that showed up.

I have just done another recovery partition restore without the updates and Vmfusion now works.

When I have the time, I will try adding the updates one by one.

Thank you,

Peter

[DanielPrieto]

Hello

I have exactly the same problem, I run the command in Terminal but the problem persist, I got this message:

Could not open /dev/vmmon: Broken pipe.

Please make sure that the kernel module `vmmon' is loaded.

[peterpp11 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I had a chance to determine which update breaks vmfusion. It is:

macOS Mojave Security Update 2021-005 10.14.6

To fix, I did a reinstall of 10.14.6 from the Recovery partition.  Vmfusion then opened the virtual machines without error.  I was then able to install the Safari 14.1.2 update and Vmfusion continued to work.

After installing macOS Mojave Security Update 2021-005 10.14.6, Vmfusion had the error.  Had to do the reinstall and Safari update again.  Everything now works.

Peter

[Cidenet]

This suggested fix is not possible for me, 
I am running Mojave 10.14.6, with the latest security updates (005) installed. 

When I reboot to Recovery Console (CMD + R) and use Terminal to remove the offending files suggested in the Kernel ExtentionsManagement folder located in /Private/var/db/ it is NOT present, nor are most of the populated files.

So I tried removing it from my booted machine, and I get operation not permitted when trying to remove the file.

Do you have any other suggested fix or method of removing this folder? I have tried everything on the internet to resolve this Broken Pipe error, including completely reinstalling VMWARE Fusion and deleting all associated preferences and related files using an App Cleaner. I do not want to resort to reverting my OS security update just to launch the latest version of VMWARE Fusion 11, and I can't be asked to upgrade to Catalina because I have 80 32-Bit applications that I use. So I am stuck trying to resolve this... 

Anything at this point would be helpful.

[Cidenet]

None of these folders or files show up when booted to Recovery, And using terminal there.
How can I remove this folder is the question. It seems to be a protected OSX File, which is not present when the system is not loaded. What a headache, even for me.

[wila]

See if this helps (read all the way to the bottom of thread).

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Discussions/I-have-managed-to-get-Fusion-to-stop-wor...

--
Wil

[Cidenet]

I just wanted to let you know,

I was able to resolve this problem myself with some of the guidance that was posted about removing the /private/var/db/KernelExtensionsManagement folder. 

I simply disabled CSRUTIL in Recovery Console, then rebooted my macbook into normal mode (With SIP Disabled) and was allowed to remove the offending files/folder via terminal,

I tested VMWARE Fusion 11 by starting it up and it started with SIP Disabled, I assume that it recreated the folder and permissions correctly because I was able to enable SIP again and reboot, and have everything working.

Now performance is another story and one I will be trying to address in a seperate post, The guest OS crawls in my Fusion Library and is basically unusable, pegging down my CPU and MacBook Retina (Mid-2012) with Mojave and maxing out the Fans while doing just basic GUI Windows 10 x64 activities.

I imagine this could be do to SIP so I tried disabling it again but it is unacceptable even with SIP turned off. There must be a reason beyond my obsolete hardware that this is so slow, I was using VMWARE Fusion 7 or 8 before this and it was perfectly fine running in 10.10.x prior to updating to Mojave and the latest security updates, But save that for another post. I have read that there are considerable amounts of other people having this issue with VMWARE Fusion 11.x on Mojave or other versions of OSX. So I'm stuck with a potentially unresolvable situation

Fortunately I am still in my 30 Days trial and will not be purchasing this software if it continues to be such a bug-fest. What happened to the old quality control of VMWARE Fusion such as was found in the older releases?

/Rantoff.

[ColoradoMarmot]

No, it has nothing to do with SIP.  What's the hardware configuration in the host and guest?  You should have no more than N-1 physical (not virtual) cores allocated to the guest (2 minimum unfortunately to run Windows 10), and leave a minimum of 4GB for the host OS.  So that means that if it's a dual-core 4GB machine, you're really out of luck getting decent virtualization performance because the host requires 2 cores just for OSX at a bare minimum.

Some things you can check are to make sure that debug is off completely in the VM settings, that it's on the latest hardware version, and that the virtual machine itself is on an SSD drive (preferably internal to the computer).   You should also disable system restore in the guest as well as any antivirus scans or other similar utilities that scan the entire drive.  Last, make sure you exclude the virtual machine folder from TIme Machine (it doesn't back up reliably anyway, and can cause contention issues), and close down as much other software as you can on the host.

Unfortunately, you are probably right, and the issue is likely that that machine is really old, and predates both the original Windows 10 release by several years, as well as being the oldest machine to run Mojave. Mojave is a substantially heavier load on machines than earlier releases, so it easily could have pushed it over the edge.

As much as I hate to say it, upgrading to a newer machine is probably something to consider

[Cidenet]

Thank you for your response, Sir. I hate to say it, But performance was acceptable last time I used this machine for virtualization purposes, which was back in 2014-2015, I wish I left the version of VMWARE Fusion and OSX Alone as they were fine for running multiple guest OS's, (which were mainly a couple Linux builds and one GUI Windows install for Visio, etc.).

I don't disagree with you, I will be upgrading or buying a new machine when I am able to, As of now that is not the case. For a variety of reasons. Mostly because I have multiple Macbook Retina 2012 models to feed parts from, so this thing just keeps going and going. I have a Desktop Gaming computer which I prefer not to use for Virtualization but will use it if its necessary because of performance problems on the Apple side of things.

I just wish this was supported better.

[Cidenet]

Regarding Mojave,
Initially I upgraded from a 10.10 or 10.11 I can't recall, to Mojave. The reason was Blizzard's World of Warcraft game used the newest Metal API and I wanted to see the performance of it versus OpenGL Firsthand. And I did. My system ran at 1880P (The native Retina resolution) and performed 25-30 FPS. This was remarkable for a old 650M 1gb GeForce Video card, As before I upgraded to Mojave my Framerate was only about 10-15 FPS with the same settings at this resolution so I disagree with you that Mojave should run slower on this machine, perhaps CPU related processes do run slower but Graphics calculations seemed to be much more efficient with the newer release. 

[Cidenet]

Regardless, I don't expect to resolve this problem nor do I expect community support for it, Though I have made a thread just incase anyone shares the same issue and somehow has resolved it,

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Discussions/Performance-Problems-with-Fusion-11-on-1...

And I do appreciate your "Things to try" regarding I believe debug is off completely by default, yes?

I have a PC that's 2 years newer which runs windows 10 flawlessly, It makes no sense that my Macbook with the same i7 Series and most recent updates (though Mobile) should perform at a similar level as a VM, No? I guess thats too much to ask. I'll see how a barebones/Unix terminal based virtual machine performs instead of basing my tests on the latest Windows 10, But I see that Kernel_task is basically using the same or more CPU resource than is available to VMWARE Fusion, which means the system is throttling at an equal pace to what its trying to do, and as you've said I doubt I will be able to resolve this without throwing money at the problem. Though software should be more optimized.... In general..

[wila]

Hi,

If you see "kernel_task" using a significant amount of resources then you have your answer.

That's a "pseudo process", as in that it is not a real process. It is what macOS shows when it is throttling.

Usually due to getting too hot, but it also happens if you charge your laptop from the wrong side.

see also: https://www.technewstoday.com/macbook-kernel-task-high-cpu-usage/

--
Wil