Fusion 5.0.2 - OSX 10.8.2 - Windows 8 - Lync 2013 Video Freeze

[johnmharte]

Question, is anyone else out there running Fusion 5, OSX 10.8.2, and running Office 2013?

I'm back on a new MBP retina 15" after using a Lenovo x220 for a year.

I've been having a number of odd issues with a Windows 8 Enterprise x64 VM but the most annoying for a remote employee like myself is the Lync video freezes.

Here is what happens....

I'm on a video chat... we use Lync with Office 365... talking...then Outlook 2013 pops up a new email message...and bam.  My side of the video stream just stops.  I have the 3D Graphics option set to on.  I have sync folders with the host enabled... know that was a fun issue back in Fusion 4, the synced folders and CPU usage... I've even turned off the 3D graphics option... still get the freezes.  I'm going to try from a windows 7 x64 VM next... see if it behaves the same there.

Doesn't matter if I'm in Unity Mode, single window, or full screen.  Same freeze behavior.

[johnmharte]

When turning 3D Graphics off... still freezes video.  Happens after about 10-30 seconds.

I turned off 3D Graphics due to the known issue with fusion crashes and the new MB Pro Retina's....and an apple update.

[morrisonbrett]

John - you're not alone.  I'm having the EXACT same problem with the same setup as you.  I'm out of ideas on how to fix.

[johnmharte]

I love this post is "possibly answered"    I guess that's a default thing... with the discussions.

Not even close.

Here is what I did, moved Outlook and Lync out of the VM into the Mac Office 2011 and Lync 2011.

There are a lot of features missing compared to windows 2013...

But..it gets the job done so far.

Outlook 2013 has all of these integrated social media features..... not in 2011.

Lync 2013 can do the nice see everyone on video at once, round table look.... Not Lync 2011...

But, if it can't run...it can't run... Maybe on the next Fusion update they will make some tweaks to running Outlook/Lync 2013 in Windows 8...or just tweaks to make windows 8 run faster..

What is really crazy, is when I do a Lync 2011 for Mac video conference and share my screen... Man, that process goes to 110% on process monitor and the MB Pro's fans just start to howl. It keeps working though...no freezes.

[morrisonbrett]

Yep, I also have Office for Mac installed.  I use Lync DAILY - I host a daily Lync meeting with developers all over the world.  It's great for collaborating and screen sharing.  The times I do want to share video, yes, like you, I'll use the Mac client.  And like you, I have the same experience during screen share the CPU spikes and the fan kicks in.  Also, on OS X Lync, you can't give someone control over your screen like you can in Windows.  So, I would MUCH rather use the Windows version of Lync 2013.  One more thing about Lync - the iOS Apps are REALLY weak.  Anyway, enough about Lync - I can go on all day about it.

The main issue is the FaceTime (aka iSight) camera doesn't work under Fusion.  I had a tough time even getting the drivers to not show a Yellow driver missing icon in device manager.  I ended up finding a hacked .msi file here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4104426.

Once I got rid of the yellow alert in device manager, I thought it would all just work, but in Skype for Windows and Lync for Windows, the video just freezes.  I've been "suffering" with this since August when I first installed Windows 8!

Today after looking AGAIN at trying to get it work, and seeing a friend running Parallels with no issues, I just switched to Parallels!

Parallels imported my Fusion guest OS no problem, and it's running even BETTER than Fusion.  I just re-ran the Windows Performance Assesment and I now have 8.2 HD, and 7.9 RAM scores, which are higher than Fusion.

And of course, the camera is working - flawlessly.  Already had a 30 minute Lync call with no issues.

Done.  Fusion out.  Parallels in.

p.s.  I wonder if this post will be deleted.

[johnmharte]

That's crazy.... that Parrelles would just work with Lync 2013/Outlook 2013/and Windows 8.

I saw that device manager alert too when I was using Lync but the only iSight camera I presented to the VM was from the Thunderbolt display.

I figured it was due to that display maybe not being part of the apple drivers... but get this... it worked... well...other than the freezing...ect..

I've left Fusion before back in the early 4.x builds and not being able to share folders between the host and the virtual machine without CPU use going though the roof.  I think that was on my "docgoku" account here associated with a VMWare account I had at the hospital system I worked for then. 

That's awsome, you're Lync use case.... as it's nearly identical to mine...only I'm in the secuirty side with team members in NYC, London, and Hong Kong.

I was about to make these MB Pros our default workstation with VMWare Fusion.

I was also wondering if Windows 7 runs Lync 2013 better...as a VM.  Just seems odd...

[morrisonbrett · Accepted solution]

3 hours later... Really impressed how well Parallels runs.  Also, with Fusion, I would normally suspend the VM before putting the Mac to sleep.  With Parallels, I just close the rMBP, let it go to sleep, opened it, waking it up, and the Windows 8 Guest OS was right where I left it.  I've done it before in Fusion but have had it crash on me when I do it.  This seems to work much more reliably in Parallels.

[johnmharte]

I didn't put a high probability that parallels would be better but it is.

I'm able to run video chats with Lync 2013 and outlook 2013 getting email with no freezes.

This all while running a few security tools from RSA inside the vm.

I could never get Fusion 5 to do that reliably.

I still have local folder sync enabled and now have my backtrack Linux vm and two windows target vms moved over.

3d graphics even work fine. There is no rendering issues between the Thunderbolt Display on the MBP retina video card vs the internal graphics card.

The retina laptop has two graphics cards and fusion with windows 8 needed 3D support disabled.

This is my new build standard.

[VMVickie]

Same issue happens for me on MBP retina 13 inch. Looks like jumping the ship to Parallels may be the only option.

For those that suggest using Lync 2011 on Mac instead, the screen sharing on Lync 2011 for Mac is WAY slower than screen sharing in Lync 2013 on Windows VM.

Please keep this thread updated with any possible workarounds/ options.

VMWare - Are your engineers/develpers listening?? Any response?

[johnmharte]

Lync 2011 on the Mac is not feature level with Lync 2010 much less 2013.

Try doing a multi-party video chat in 2010/2011 versions vs. 2013. 

Just not possible to see all faces in 10/11 where 2013 gives you a video of all parties at once. 

If you are working with remote teams, seeing all parties in one video is a must.

We have three machines now runing the parallels config and it uses a little bit of CPU when the multiparty video is going but nothing serious and never freezes.  We've been really happy with it.  Works better than some standard native desktops we have in produciton.