MacOS 10.11 VM won't recognize keyboard

[fhmoore]

I recently got a 2019 MacBook Pro running MacOs 13 - Ventura. I am trying to transfer a VM from my older 2012 MBP running MacOS 10.13 - High Sierra and Fusion 8.5. I put my 10.11 VM on a SSD disk and moved it to my new Mac that is using Fusion 13.02. The VM runs fine on my old computer, but when I open it on my new one, I get a window with a title

"Bluetooth Setup Assistant"

Bluetooth Keyboard Setup

There isn't a keyboard connected.

I am not using a Bluetooth Keyboard, only the keyboard on my MacBook Pro.

Any idea what I need to do, or what I have done wrong?

Thank you for any help.

I didn't know how to edit my message. I just added the correct screen shot.

[fhmoore]

That was the wrong screen shot. Here is the correct one

[dempson · Accepted solution]

There is a USB compatibility issue with some older macOS versions when run as a guest in recent versions of VMware Fusion. I encountered this with my OS X 10.10 Yosemite VM and I've heard of others running into the same issue with OS X 10.11 El Capitan.

The solution: switch the VM to USB 2.0 instead of USB 3.0.

In a somewhat older version of VMware Fusion I have handy, the steps to do this are:

1. Shut down the VM.
2. Open the settings for the VM.
3. Click on the USB & Bluetooth category.
4. Near the bottom, click on the triangle next to "Advanced USB options" to reveal those.
5. Change the USB Compatibility pop-up from "USB 3.0" to "USB 2.0".
6. Close settings and start up the VM again.

[bluefirestorm]

The problem is the host hardware Bluetooth. You can see the difference in the host macOS in

System Report -> Hardware -> Bluetooth.

On the 2012 MBP, you should see USB for "Transport" while the 2019 MBP shows UART. AFAIK, Apple has been using UART for the BT interface on the MBP line since the 2016 model.

VMware Fusion just fails silently (i.e. no error dialog but there are errors in the vmware.log) when the "Share Bluetooth devices with host" option is checked. So it is likely VMware Fusion is expecting USB and not the UART present in the host.

The workaround would be to have a separate Bluetooth USB dongle and you connect this to the VM (from the USB & Bluetooth menu); and then pair the Bluetooth keyboard (or any other BT device for that matter) with the VM.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Is the keyboard connected to the host or guest?  If the latter, do the former.

Otherwise, make sure that you shut down (not suspended) the VM and removed any snapshots before migrating to the new machine.  When prompted, you need to upgrade the virtual hardware to the latest version.

[fhmoore]

Greetings,

Thank you for responding to my question. What I have are 2 macbook pros. The keyboards are part of the computer and are connected to the computers directly and not by bluetooth.

So what you are saying that is when I make the copy of my VM to move to my new computer, I need to make sure the VM is turned off and that I have deleted any snapshots of the VM when I make the copy. Is that correct?

When I made the transfer, I copied the VM from my old MBP to a hard disk, and then attached the hard disk to my new MBP and copied it to my new computer

[ColoradoMarmot]

Correct, shut it down (not suspend) and remove any snapshots.  Then copy them over.  When you first boot the VM Fusion will prompt you to update the virtual hardware, say 'yes'.  Once that's done, it should just work (you'll need to upgrade vmware tools too).

[fhmoore]

Unfortunately that didn't work. I have been trying to install MacOS VM on my new computer with know success. I was hoping that I could move a VM from my old Mac, but that doesn't seem to be working either. Has anyone been able to set up a MacOS 10.13, 10.12, or 10.11 VM with VMWare Fusion 13? Everytime I try to set up a new MacOS VM I get an error that says the installer was damaged or similar error message. I have several installers that I have used to update my Macs in the past, but these have the same error. If someone has been able to set up a Mac VM, how did you do it? Perhaps I should start a new thread asking that question.

How do you upgrade vmware tools. When I tried to do that on the VM I just moved, it said something about needing a vmware CD.

[Technogeezer]

Don’t try to drag/drop a “install macOS xxxx.app” on the Create a Virtual machine dialog or try to install from a recovery partition. The methods that Fusion is using to install with these methods are broken.

Instead, create an ISO from a downloaded “Install macOS xxxx.app”. See https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Discussions/Fusion-12-Big-Sur-Unable-to-create-insta...

Then once you have a macOS installation ISO, create a custom VM and use the ISO in your virtual CD drive. 

Note this only works on Intel Macs since no version of macOS is able to be virtualized on Fusion 13 on Apple Silicon Macs. 

[ColoradoMarmot]

and FYI - supported guest OS's:

[Technogeezer · Accepted solution]

To the installer error messages you're seeing, you may be running into an issue with an older El Cap installer whose certificate has expired. Check to see the date on the installer, if it's before 24-Oct-2019, that can cause the "it may have been corrupted or tampered with during download" message. See https://tidbits.com/2019/10/28/redownload-archived-macos-installers-to-address-expired-certificates

Check https://mrmacintosh.com/how-to-download-macos-catalina-mojave-or-high-sierra-full-installers if you need to download a refreshed installer. Mr. Macintosh has links that point directly to Apple's servers.

I think @dempson hit it on the head with the USB 3.1 compatibility. I just created a macOS 10.11 El Capitan VM from the freshly downloaded "Install macOS 10.11.app" installer, I did find that the VM was created with USB 3.1 compatibility for the virtual USB controller. It exhibited the same kind of "connect a Bluetooth" keyboard and mouse behavior (alternating between graphics of the power switch for both mouse and keyboard". Powering down the VM and switching the USB compatibility to 2.0 fixed the issue and the install went normally. My guess is that a moved VM may have defaulted to USB 3.1 since you're now running it on hardware that supports USB 3.

Regardless of the "official" status in the VMware compatibility list, El Cap does install and run. 

[fhmoore]

That was the problem. I am so dense that I couldn't follow your @dempson 's  excellent directions. Technogeezer mentioned you again in his latest post. I followed his and @dempson 's instructions and it is working perfectly. Thank you VERY much for your help!

[fhmoore]

Thank you Technogeezer for you great explanation. What you said works perfectly.  Now I am up and running El Cap. I really needed to have an older MacOS that would allow me to run Quicken 2007 and FileMaker. Thank you again for everyone's help in getting my new computer running an El Cap VM. The problem was the USB settings. I changed the settings from 3.1 to 2.0 and everything is working as it should.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Definitely a nice catch there @Technogeezer 

[Technogeezer]

I can take credit for the installer failure. @dempson its the one that found the USB 3 compatibility issue. 

Regardless of who gets credit, I'm glad that @fhmoore was able to get the VMs running!

[SvenGus]

Remember this similar one…? A really old bug, which has never been fixed…

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Discussions/OS-X-10-10-5-Yosemite-VM-freezes-after-S...