VMware Communities
erichtn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

New York Times Reader causes Fusion 1.1b1 to go haywire

I use Fusion to run the New York Times Reader. It's worked fine since the Fusion 1.0 betas and with the 1.0 release. I installed the Fusion 1.1 beta (57919) yesterday, and now launching the New York Times Reader causes Fusion to go haywire. Upon launching the Reader application, the VM window resizes erratically, the screen goes black, and the VM becomes unusable. It's kind of hard to describe, so I've uploaded a small .avi file illustrating the problem (don't open it if you're prone to seizures). Any help would be appreciated.

Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
rcardona2k
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

How did you kill the process the first time?

I didn't have to kill it. The screen resized itself a few times but I ended up on the login screen so I hit cancel.

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
12 Replies
erichtn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

I've reverted back to Fusion 1.0 and it works fine. It looks like this problem has to do with 1.1b's video driver. Any interest in tracking down the problem?

Reply
0 Kudos
rcardona2k
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Just curious, do you have 3D acceleration turned on for your VM? That is an area that has changed (been improved) and it may be playing a role here.

Reply
0 Kudos
erichtn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Nope. Should I? Thanks for the reply.

Reply
0 Kudos
admin
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Having 3D acceleration off is probably better since it means the 3D changes aren't the problem. When you were using 1.1b1, did you update VMware Tools and verify the version was correct? What guest is this?

erichtn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Yes and yes. I then uninstalled the Tools using the guest's control panel, rebooted the VM, and then reinstalled Tools. Same problem. The guest is Windows XP Pro SP2. Thanks.

Reply
0 Kudos
rcardona2k
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Yes and yes. I then uninstalled the Tools using the guest's control panel, rebooted the VM, and then reinstalled Tools. Same problem. The guest is Windows XP Pro SP2.

I downloaded Times Reader and I only experienced the same behavior as in your video on the first run after installation. All subsequent starts run without any problems. I'm running version 1.1.2.0 (under Settings). I've been reading the news and it's working well. This is a nice reader!

I'm running Windows XP SP2 and no 3D acceleration. Unrelated, with 3D accleration, the Reader login screen is fairly mangled (I'm not sure what's causing that).

I also noticed Times Reader is a .NET Framework 3.0 application, if that helps VMware.

erichtn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Hmm...thanks for corroborating the problem at least. How odd though that it didn't recur for you. How did you kill the process the first time? I'll try it with a fresh VM this weekend in case there's something specific to mine that causes the problem to recur. And, yes, the Reader is a nice app. I wish they'd just release a Mac version already. Thanks again.

Reply
0 Kudos
rcardona2k
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

How did you kill the process the first time?

I didn't have to kill it. The screen resized itself a few times but I ended up on the login screen so I hit cancel.

Reply
0 Kudos
erichtn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

It's working now. I uninstalled Fusion 1.0, installed Fusion 1.1b, let Fusion upgrade Tools and reboot. Then I uninstalled and reinstalled Reader, and launched it. The Reader application window resized once and then the app worked normally. It may be that the uninstall and reinstall of Reader fixed the problem somehow. Also, I launched the reinstalled Reader app for the first time as a user with admin privileges, rather than as my usual (non-admin) user. The previous problems I reported occurred when running the app as a non-privileged user. I imagine that might have had something to do with it. I can now run the app as this non-admin user, though.

Thanks again for the help.

Reply
0 Kudos
admin
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

With Fusion 1.0, were you running as your normal non-admin user? In 1.1, once you run as an admin, are you able to run as a non-admin?

Reply
0 Kudos
rcardona2k
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Also, I launched the reinstalled Reader app for the first time as a user with admin privileges, rather than as my usual (non-admin) user. The previous problems I reported occurred when running the app as a non-privileged user. I imagine that might have had something to do with it. I can now run the app as this non-admin user, though.

I'm glad you got it working! Times Reader probably needed to change something as Administrator once. You may be able to login as your non-admin user from now on (or until the next update).

Reply
0 Kudos
erichtn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

etung, yes, with Fusion 1.0, I ran the Reader as a non-admin user. In 1.1, having run the app once as an admin, I can now run it as a non-admin user.

rcardona2k, as you suggested, it does seem to be the case that the app needed admin privileges to configure a setting relating to the video driver.

It seems like the problem may well have resulted from a NYTimes Reader/Microsoft WPF bug, and not necessarily a Fusion bug. I don't know enough about it to be sure, though.

Thanks.

Message was edited by: erichtn. Fixed typo.

Reply
0 Kudos