Fusion compatible with case sensitive file system?

[HenryAZ]

In upgrading from El Capitan to Sierra, I did a fresh install on two Macs, and in reformatting the drives, I changed from "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" to "Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)".

Since the fresh install, none of my VM's work.  They all refuse to start up, returning "Internal Error".  I have tried Fusion 8.1.1 and Fusion 8.5 on Sierra, both with the same result.  All of these VM's (a mix of OS's, including OS X, Debian, and Windows 10 Anniversary Edition) were running fine under Fusion 8.1.1 on El Capitan.  There is another thread on "Internal Error", exposing some other explanations of the "Internal Error", and there are also people reporting everything is running fine under Sierra with Fusion 8.5.  I also tried creating a new VM, using the 10.11.6 (El Capitan) installer app as the image.  This has worked fine in the past, and it does go through the motions of making a new VM, right up to the settings page.  Once you click the "run" button, however, it returns "Internal Error".

As an experiment, I just installed Sierra on an external SSD that was formatted "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", the way I used to format everything.  I installed Fusion 8.5, and copied over one of my VM's to test.  It ran just fine.  Which leads me to believe there might be an issue with Fusion under a case sensitive file system.  Is there any knowledge base or experience with this where someone might know this for a fact?  If this is indeed the case, are there any workarounds to make Fusion work under a case sensitive file system.

Thanks for any assistance.

[HenryAZ]

OK, so I answered my own basic question.  This morning, I took the same external SSD and wiped it, reformatted to "Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)", and did a fresh install of Sierra.  As before, I didn't do anything "extra" to the install besides configuring Finder enough to make it usable, and making a few clicks in System Preferences relating to the UI.  I then installed Fusion 8.5, and copied over the same VM I experimented with yesterday (a small Debian 8 VM), and it ran just fine.  So, the answer to this question is 'yes' Fusion does work on a case sensitive file system.

Since I did basically the same fresh install to my main Macs with Sierra (wiped the disk, re-formatted to jhfsx), the question now is what happened between that fresh install, and when I got around to running Fusion for the first time.  I did a lot, but mostly installed all of my software (all mainstream) and configured their Preferences.  Then, when I run Fusion, I get the "Internal Error" message on that same Debian VM, as well as all my other VM's.  Which leads me to suspect one or more pieces of my program installs is somehow interfering with Fusion, or Sierra itself (the OS) acquired a new setting or component in this process that interferes with Fusion.  Because everything worked just fine on El Capitan; same VM's, Fusion 8.1.1.  And yes, I did try uninstalling Fusion 8.5 and installing 8.1.1 on Sierra, but that gives the same "Internal Error" when I try to start any of my VM's.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Case sensitive FS do break a lot of things - they're only included as part of UNIX certification, not because Apple intends (or supports) people using them.

That aside, is it possible that the external drive is starting to fail, and you've got data corruption in the VM's?

Last, are you re-partitioning, or just erasing the drive?

[HenryAZ]

Both of my Macs' internal SSD's were initially installed with jhfsx (case sensitive), after a wipe/partition using diskutil, using a command like this:

sudo diskutil partitionDisk /dev/disk** 1 GPT jhfsx LABEL-HERE 100%

Obviously, the exact /dev/diskID number needs to be filled in and the desired label inserted in that command.  I was using the external SSD for testing only, after having problems with the initial installs on the two Macs.  I partitioned/formatted the external using the same method.  For some reason, Disk Utility just doesn't appeal to me anymore.:smileygrin:

I since decided that case sensitive was not for me, so I rewiped/redid both machines to jhfs+ (using the above command modified to jhfs+), and reinstalled Sierra on each from scratch.  Interestingly, if I install Cold Fusion very early in the process of setting up the machine, the VM's (at least the newest ones) work without throwing the "Internal Error".  The VM's for 10.9.5 and 10.10.5 would open, but immediately shut down.  10.11.6 works fine, as well as the Debian one.  When I go to open the saved Windows 10 VM, Fusion won't even open it.  In browsing for it (File, Open), once it is found, there is a big yellow triangle with an exclamation point over the VM file.  Click the Open button, and nothing happens, except the Open dialog browse box goes away.

At this point I am content to wait for 10.12.1.  Folks testing the betas report much better luck with Fusion, in another thread.

[HenryAZ]

Cannot figure out how to edit my post.  I meant VMWare Fusion, not Cold Fusion (shades of my past lingering in my brain).