MBP, Fusion 16, Guest is being suspended and Fusion exits when host is inactive (still powered on)

[wwalker]

New MacBookPro 16", running latest Big Sur, running latest VMware Fusion 12.

Guest  (Fedora 32) is running.  I walk away, screen saver kicks in.  VM is still running  (logging in a terminal in the guest).

1 hour after the screen saver kicks in, the logging in the guest stops.  An hour lafter that, the mac is still running, showing the screen saver.  I unlock it, Fusion is not running.  I restart Fusion.  The guest is suspended; when I start it up, the logging continues.  Looking at the time stamps in the logging, I see that it ran for an hour after the host's screen saver kicked in.

I have no idea why Fusion is being closed (probably by the host OS??)

Thank you for taking the time to look at this !!

Wayne

[ColoradoMarmot]

That's apple putting the machine to sleep 1 hour after the screen blanks.  In system preferences/energy check the 'prevent sleep when screen blanks' checkbox.

[wwalker]

Thank you @ColoradoMarmot .  However I already have that one checked (annoying as hades that that isn't an option when on battery, but that's a different issue).

It is still shutting it down.  but Not when it turns off the screen (I have that set to 15 minutes right now) .  I can still communicate with the VM until 1 hour of inactivity (45 minutes after it blanks the display...)

Wayne

[ColoradoMarmot]

Hmm, is the guest itself set to sleep by chance?

[wwalker]

@ColoradoMarmot,

No, it isn't set to shut down.

I use the VM as a server, I've had it for years.

It's etiher a problem with Big Sur or with Fusion 12 (had to upgrade from 11.5 when I upgraded to Big Sur).

Of course Apple people say it is VMware ....  I can't find anything talking about Big Sur shutting down apps due to inactivity.

Wayne

[wwalker · Accepted solution]

So, for anyone else who runs into this, here is where the demon is:

System Preferences
-> Security and Privacy
  -> unlock the pad lock
    -> Advanced
      -> Uncheck "Log out after 60 minutes of inactivity"

:headdesk:

I'm told on IRC #macosx that by default this is not enabled.  Yet, I've had my machine for maybe 3 weeks, and I spend 99.99% of my time in my Fedora VM.  I booted the machine, upgraded to Big Sur, installed Fusion, copied my VM from my previous machine, and never touched macOS again until today trying to figure out this problem.

I didn't enable it.  My machine isn't corporate managed, so that didn't enable it.
So, don't assume that isn't your problem because "I wouldn't turn on auto logout, I hate auto logout", because something (the NSA??) may have turned it on.

Best of luck!

[ColoradoMarmot]

Wow - that's really odd, but definitely the culprit.

It's not by chance, a non-admin account it is?  maybe apple changed the default for those.