Much crashing with XP and VMWare Fusion 3.0 — workaround?

[JimRoyal]

After upgrading to Fusion 3.0, I found that the Windows Explorer began crashing regularly. The crash would happen only when accessing files on the host system, not on the VM's virtual drive. I'm using Windows XP SP3.

Initially, just viewing a file listing on the host machine could precipate the crash. Explorer would quit and restart. I found that setting Explorer to display in Classic mode would stop these crashes. However, opening files in SmartDraw and Adobe FrameMaker — only when the file were located on the Mac — would cause Explorer to keep crashing and/or cause the VM to hang for minutes at a time.

I have since reverted to Fusion 2.0.6, and the problem went away.

When I performed the upgrade, I shut down Windows in the VM, uninstalled Fusion 2.0.6 (using the installer program), and then installed Fusion 3.0.

Any suggestions for getting v3 working for me, or should I just wait for the next point update?

[alsam]

I have a similiar issue with VM 3. I use XP Pro with all security updates. We use GroupWise 8 as our email sysytem. I have it set up with my remote folder on the host (Mac) drive. It works fine at first, but cpu utilization (on XP) continues to climb until it reaches 100% within a few minutes.

Thoughts?

How did you go back to 2.0? Uninstall VM tools, than VM 3, then reinstall 2?

Thanks

[WoodyZ]

Here is what I would try...

While running Fusion 2.0.x delete any VMware Shared Folders assigned in the target Virtual Machine's Settings and then reboot the Virtual Machine.

Next I'd uninstall VMware Tools and then reboot as prompted and then shutdown, not suspend, the Virtual Machine.

Next I'd uninstall VMware Fusion 2.0.x using the installer and then install Fusion 3.0.0 and reboot the Mac even though not prompted to do so.

Start Fusion and run the Virtual Machine to install VMware Tools and then after the reboot from the VMware Tools install then add back the VMware Shared Folders.

Tests to see if the issue persists and if it does then either try using SMB/CIFS Shares instead of VMware Shared Folders to see if the issue persists or go back to Fusion 2.0.x but uninstall the VMware Tools from 3.0.0 before going back.

[JimRoyal]

Woody, my initial method was identical to your directions with two perhaps important differences:

First, I did not uninstall the older version of the VMWare tools until running Fusion 3 for the first time.

Second, I did not reboot before running Fusion 3 for the first time.

I just repeated my steps, taking care to remove all traces of Fusion 2 both from the VM and the Mac before installing 3, and then rebooting. Interestingly, I was prompted to reboot this time. I don't believe I was before.

The result is that the Fusion 3 seems more stable than it was before. I am able to open and save documents on the Mac side without experiencing the crashes. Will see how it behaves for the rest of the day.

Much appreciated.