Migration issue, Fusion 1 to Fusion 2

[PrismaticKen]

Hey everyone, I've had bootcamp on my macbook for a while now - since Fusion 1.0

Love bootcamp, Love Fusion, and back in Fusion 1, they were good buddies

I could get into bootcamp, mess with windows, boot back into OS X, use fusion to mess with the bootcamp partition and there were no conflicts or complaints from either side (except bootcamp seems to screw with the system clock - different story for a different thread)

Now that I've tried to update my "Fusion touched" bootcamp partition from version 1, to beta 2, to Final 2, when I switch between bootcamp and fusion, windows thinks i'm trying to pirate their software and asks me for new serial keys and all that silliness.

I get the feeling if I totally wipe everything off my laptop, and start over with fusion 2, it should be ok, however....I'm lazy and don't want to back up all my junk, etc etc, is there a way I can just fix the windows confusion problem without nuking my macbook?

thanks

[jim_gill]

The first thing to do is make sure the latest version of VMware Tools is running in your Boot Camp VM. If it will still come up as a VM and let you work with it, select "Install VMware Tools" from the menu.

I am checking out a report from another user that an XP update may have affected BootCamp/VM activation behavior, but I don't have anything to say on that yet.

[PrismaticKen]

Sounds like a plan, though I thought I had done this already, worth another stab....

I post the outcome here in an edit.

[PrismaticKen]

Just as I thought - no luck what so ever, infact I may have just set myself back a step or two...

I tried to reboot my BootCamp Partition in Fusion, of course, it wanted a new serial key, so I called up microsoft, had the little heart to heart with their tech people, they generated me a new code, and I'm up in VMware. however, I've noticed that when I try to update the vmware tools, it acts like it can't tell if Windows is booted up or not, and then does nothing. Windows is still working fine, just....Vmware tools won't update.....however, they are corresponding to the latest build number of fusion, so they ought to be the latest , most up to date, tools.

The next step now is that I boot back into Bootcamp only to find that I will need to call MS again to get a new generated code because windows is a paranoid little SOB and want's to be reassured every five minutes....but I'll have to get to that later...

Either way, the problem persists......I can't seem to get my Fusion 1.x boot camp partition to play nice with Fusion 2.x

any ideas?

[jim_gill]

I am looking into this today and will update you as soon as I have more information.

Are you using Windows XP or Vista? What service pack?

I'm sorry for all the trouble you're having. If you can minimize the number of times you bounce between reboot-into-Boot-Camp and Boot-Camp-as-a-VM, you'll minimize the pain; but that isn't how we wrote Fusion to work.

[PrismaticKen]

XP Professional SP 3 (I hope)

"you'll minimize the pain; but that isn't how we wrote Fusion to work."

this worries me......the wording.....how DID you write Fusion to work?

it seems like lots of other people bounce between BootCamp and Fusion a-ok.....right?

For my purposes, its better to just use Bootcamp because I need every last drop of graphics horse power I can squeeze out of my MacBook (1st generation) which isn't much at all to begin with, Thank you oh so much, Intel. So I'll see if I can't rig that up again until the issue gets resolved.......but as the case may be, it's just a moot point if I totally redo my system with a leopard 10.5 disk and go about setting up bootcamp right into Fusion 2.....that shoud allow me to bounce between the two, right?

For me, Fusion is just a way for my life to be more convenient and so I can play Hydro Thunder with OS X running. Nothing here is "mission critical" but ....Fusion 1 played well with bootcamp, i'd expect the same from Fusion 2, which....in every other regard, I adore completely. I still think about how glad I am that I went with VMware over Parallels on a fairly regular basis.

It's just this one weird issue with migrating between Fusion 1 and through the beta of 2 and on to 2 Final, and I know it wouldn't be an issue at all if Microsoft could pull their head's out of various bodily cavities and stop it with all this activiation madness they seem to enjoy so much.

[jim_gill]

Microsoft requires activation for each installation of Windows XP/Vista/Office on a separate computer, where they define a separate computer by taking a hash of various hardware settings. Under that definition, running your Boot Camp partition as a VM presents hardware different enough that it is considered a separate computer.

While respecting that -- Fusion contains no software to "crack" Microsoft's activation techniques -- if you have valid activations, as Microsoft requires, Fusion will make sure that the proper set is presented when Windows checks. Basically this means you must activate once in each mode. Generally, people activate Windows in their Boot Camp partitions, then install Fusion, and have to activate once more when the Boot Camp partition is run as a virtual machine. That establishes two sets of valid activation data, and VMware Tools takes care of presenting the right one.

I am appalled that this isn't working. I spent days and days installing Windows XP, Home and Pro, SP 2 and SP3, SP2 and upgrading, and all sorts of Vista and Microsoft Office variations, rebooting and testing that activation preserved across the mode switch. I was personally convinced that it was (finally) perfect. I didn't mean to alarm you with my wording. What we wanted, as closely as Microsoft's licensing allowed, was for it to "just work".

[PrismaticKen]

Oh, so you ought to be "the guy" to go to on this issue.

I'm trying to re-think in more technical terms what i've put my various partitions through that could give rise to such a problem.

The Specifics:

2GB of ram

2GHz CD2, 667MHz bus, 160GB Seagate harddrive (7200 rpm for performance purposes)

I've gone from OS X 10.4 to 10.5.5

If I'm not mistaken both Fusion 1 and 2 were installed, tinkered with, ruined, and eviscerated after 10.5.5 had already been installed (with the exception of the dual boot with Boot Camp which I then later had to re-update back up to 10.5.5 from 10.5.0)

The most important part of diagnostic information can be shown on this timeline:

-

---

Windows XP SP 3----

---

-

---

Fusion 1.x -

---

/---Fusion 2 Beta

---

/

---

Fusion 2--

---

Perhaps the problem is that the same copy of windows has just been through too much trauma?

It might just be time to put 'er to sleep and start over fresh, but I'm not sure what other information I can give you that'd be helpful.

My copy of Windows XP Pro is totally on the level, and paid for, unsurprisingly so is OS X, and of course VMware as well.

Final Edit:

In a most unexpected turn of events.....everything is fine......I've done this exact procedure since Fusion 2 Final came out.......and yet this time...it seems ok.....EVEN THOUGH the VMware tools won't install......but the problem switching between bootcamp and Fusion seems to have miraculously fixed itself. I have no idea what happened...only that I booted it up in VMware, then promptly restarted in bootcamp ...both without issue.

Gremlins.

[PrismaticKen]

The issue resolved itself, indirectly thanks to the advice I got here.

Again, Gremlins.