Issue with Installing VMware Fusion Player 13 on MacBook 13 M2

[akd_mac]

Dear Support Team,

I hope this email finds you well. I'm writing to report a problem I've encountered while attempting to install VMware Fusion Player 13 with a Personal Use License on my MacBook 13 M2.

Here's a description of the issue:

1. After double-clicking on the "VMware Fusion" icon.

2. I enter my MacBook password.

3. A pop-up appears with the message "Initializing VMware Fusion."

4. After a few seconds, the pop-up disappears, and the software doesn't install.

I've made multiple attempts to install it, and I also tried after restarting my laptop, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to successfully install the application.

My MacBook is running macOS Sonoma 14.

I downloaded the software from the official website using the following link:

[VMware Fusion Player 13 Download](https://customerconnect.vmware.com/downloads/details?downloadGroup=FUS-1302&productId=1375&rPId=105193)

I would greatly appreciate your assistance in resolving this matter. Please let me know if you need any further information from my end.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this issue.

[ColoradoMarmot]

First, you're much better off with the tech preview than Fusion 13.  Use that instead. Fusion Tech

Second, on Sonoma, you need to drag the installer to the desktop, then run it from there.

If you're building a windows VM, use the instructions in the unofficial guide (in the documents section of the tech preview forum), not the official instructions.

[Technogeezer]

Just a note: This forum is a user-to-user forum. There's no "support team" here from VMware that's looking over the forum for problems in any kind of official capacity.

This is a really bizarre problem - and there is a rash of this going around. Also note that Sonoma is not officially supported by Fusion 13 yet. 

That being said, I was able to reproduce this in a UTM virtual machine running Sonoma (while nested virtualization won't work on a VM, the installation of Fusion can be done - you just can't run any VMs once it's installed).. I tried the installation from the mounted .dmg file that I obtained from VMware directly. 

But after I fiddled around by making sure all remnants of the Fusion application were deleted (using the information in KB article https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1017838 and helped by the script https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Documents/Script-to-check-if-all-remnants-of-VMware-... to make sure that everything was gone.

I also fiddled around with a couple of other things (making sure the log directory and background agents) weren't there either.

Somehow, the next time I tried the installation from the same .dmg file, it worked and I can no longer reproduce the issue.

I'm going to keep seeing what I can do to figure this out, but I'm thinking there's something buried in the innards of macOS that's causing this. 

@Mikero - if some kind soul within VMware can give us a hint for what could be causing this - there is a lot of this happening recently and the logs don't give a clue as to what's happening other than saying that the privileged installation helper suddenly can't be contacted.