Mac OS X v10.11 (El Capitan) guest in VMware Fusion v7.1.2?

[ant]

Hello.

Can VMware Fusion v7.1.2 run Mac OS X v10.11 (El Capitan) as a guest VM? Or will there be problems like very slow speed performance like Mac OS X v10.10.x (Yosemite) as a guest VM?

Thank you in advance.

[haralds]

Works for me.

[ant]

Cool. How's the speed? Is it slow as v10.10 (Yosemite)'s speed?

[haralds]

As far as I understand, there is no good graphics acceleration. The perceived performance is slower - similar to Yosemite.

[ant]

Dang that sucks. VMware couldn't make a video accelerator for them?

[vmxmr]

I was running VMware Fusion 7.1.2 on a mid-2011 iMac with a quad-core i7, and had both Yosemite and El Capitan guest OSs running. (Four days ago, I upgraded to VMware Fusion 8.0.1.)

When I was running VMware Fusion 7.1.2:

* Graphics performance on a Yosemite guest was and is very poor. It would take a long time to tab from the Username field to the Password field on the OS X login screen (Over 4 seconds, no kidding). Menubar operations were very slow and you could see the individual graphics items flash and unflash as you moved the mouse down the menu. Popup displays (e.g., a "grid" display from the Dock) were very slow to "expand" and display themselves. It was always that way, from the beta through the production version, and the updates. No VMware settings made it different. Yosemite graphics performance did not change under VMware Fusion 8.0.1, but I did not expect any change. In my opinion, Yosemite is not very useable as a guest OS.

* Graphics performance on an El Capitan guest, from beta through production, was and is very much improved. Tabbing from the Username field to the Password field was instant - the same as all other versions of Mac OS X, except for Yosemite. Menus operated normally, etc. Menubars, popups (e.g., grid displays from the Dock), and more were very responsive. El Capitan graphics performance did not change under VMware Fusion 8.0.1.

* It is my subjective opinion that VMware Fusion 8.0.1 guests feel slightly more responsive than version 7.1.2. I have not run benchmarks, and it barely noticeable - not enough to recommend it as a reason to upgrade.

I hope this helps!

[ant]

I was about to set up my brand new guest VM from scratch, but I ran into a stopper. How do I set it up? I created a new VM with Mac OS X v10.10 from its list. Creating its medium resulted "Unable to create the installation medium." when I told it to use my downkoaded Apple Store's app installer copy.

[dariusd · Accepted solution]

Grab a copy of Create Mavericks Installer.tool from Fusion 8.0.1 (attached to this post for your convenience) and copy it over the top of your VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/Create Mavericks Installer.tool, and it should at least get past that particular error.

Cheers,

--

Darius

[ant]

Thank you, dariusd. I am currently booting up its installer. I hope this goes smoothly!

[ant]

Mac OS X v10.11 (El Capitan) and VMware Tools were installed. OS does feel smoother and faster than Yosemite/v10.10.x for sure. I wonder why VMware hasn't released an update for its v7.1.2 to include this 10.11 installer update.