Fusion Pro 8.5.9 - Export VM to OVF: Unknown error, please try again

[piperpie]

Using Fusion Pro 8.5.9 on macOS 10.3.1 (using APFS), when I attempt to export a VM to OVF I get the error message "Unknown error, please try again".

The VM in question is shutdown, it contains no snapshots. Nothing awkward, that I could see, in ovftool.log. ovftool.log is attached.

Downloading and using the latest ovftool from VMware (ovftool version 4.2.0), I get Segmentation fault 11:

$ ./ovftool --overwrite "/Users/me/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/builder-centos6.vmwarevm/builder-centos6.vmx" ~/Desktop/builder-centos6.ovf

Opening VMX source: /Users/me/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/builder-centos6.vmwarevm/builder-centos6.vmx

Opening OVF target: /Users/me/Desktop/builder-centos6.ovf

Writing OVF package: /Users/me/Desktop/builder-centos6.ovf

Segmentation fault: 11

Anyone else having these issues? Any alternatives to propose? Thanks in advance for any info/pointers.

[ColoradoMarmot]

8.5.9 isn't supported on High Sierra with APFS, so that might be part of the problem.

[piperpie]

Is there an official announcement by VMware that Fusion 8 Pro is not supported on High Sierra? High Sierra mandates that the boot drive be APFS, therefore no support for APFS would essentially mean no support for High Sierra. So far I've been using Fusion 8 Pro on High Sierra (with APFS) with no other issues except for the following two cases:

1. Inability to export some VMs to OVA/OVF (i.e. the case mentioned in this post).
2. File corruption when transferring/copying large files (~2GB in size) to a Windows 7 VM. I've reproduced this issue multiple times.

I'll try to open bugs with VMware for the aforementioned two issues (once I figure out how to do it).

[piperpie]

In case this might help others who encounter the same issue, this issue was resolved as follows: For the VM in question, go to Settings -> General and select "Clean Up Virtual Machine".

After that, exporting the VM to OVF/OVA worked. Also, uploading said VM to an ESXi server worked after the above "fix" (uploading to ESXi failed before). Go figure.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Yep, it's been stated multiple times in the forum.  Fusion 10 is the only supported version on High Sierra.

Fusion 8 has experimental apfs capability, but not official support.

[piperpie]

dlhotka​

Wow, I didn't know that. Disappointing given it's the expensive Pro version that doesn't have official support. After paying for 3 Fusion versions in a row (6, 7 Pro and 8 Pro) I'm not willing to pay again to upgrade to Fusion 10 Pro to get official APFS support. I'll have to have a look at Parallels I guess.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Well, the last paid upgrade for 8 was in 2015 (8.5 in 2016 was free), and High Sierra had major plumbing changes.

Parallels did something similar.  Companies have to have income to fund development.

[piperpie]

I totally agree that companies have to fund development, but within reason. Companies should not leave their customers out in the cold for a product that is just 2 years old, when it relates to OS compatibility issues. We're not talking about new features, but providing compatibility with the current OS version. Or at least, VMware could have offered an upgrade to Fusion 10 at a significant discount. 130€ to upgrade from Fusion 8 Pro to Fusion 10 Pro is too steep.

Imagine if Microsoft forced customers to upgrade Office every 2 years, siting compatibility issues with the latest version/service-pack of Windows: they would never here the end of it (and rightfully so). I purchased Microsoft Office for Mac back in 2015, and it works fine with High Sierra. Microsoft didn't demand upgrading.