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pre7amble1
Contributor
Contributor

No clicks in virtual XP running under VMware 12.1 on OSbig Sur

I have just installed Big Sur on my iMac and am running VMware Fusion 12,1 I have installed virtual copy of XP to run two legacy window programs however whilst the windows loads and I can see the mouse pointer moving neither right or left clicks are working.

 

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Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal

Have you checked under System Preferences > Security & Privacy  > Privacy tab to see that VMware Fusion has the following privileges granted

  • Camera
  • Microphone
  • Screen Recording
  • Accessibility

Also is that a freshly installed copy of XP, or was it converted from a physical machine/migrated from another virtualization solution such as Parallels? (in the latter case, there could be installed drivers for physical hardware or Parallels that are interfering with Fusion). In the former case, are VMware Tools installed?

 

- Paul (Technogeezer)
Editor of the Unofficial Fusion Companion Guides
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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

I seem to recall a thread recently that there were issues installing VMWare tools in XP, but I can't find the thread.

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Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal

Two things I've found via search:

Make sure you have the right version of VMware Tools installed. You need to install the version 10.0.12 ones found in the winPreVista.iso file that's part of the Fusion distribution. (You might have to boot into safe mode in the VM in order to check the version of VMware Tools that are installed.

The other thing I see mentioned in a search is to make sure you have 3D acceleration turned off in the VM's properties. 

- Paul (Technogeezer)
Editor of the Unofficial Fusion Companion Guides
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pre7amble1
Contributor
Contributor

After nine days I have found the basic problem. VMware sets my mouse up as being connected to a PS2 which my mac does not have. I remembered I had this problem when running VMware 7&8 finally a solution was given, this required a change to the .vmx file of the virtual machine. from distant memory there were two changes needed the first was to change USB :0.deviceType = "hid" to read USB:0.deviceType = "TRUE" this does fix the problem however even when the .vmx file is edited and saved as soon as the virtual machine boots the .vmx file returns to USB:0.deviceType = "hid". So far I have been unable to prevent this. The very fact that I am after years still chasing a problem that was apparent and fixed indicates VMware are failing in their support. The very fact that their VM tools still installs a PS2 socket is a the very least laughable.

Richard

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RDPetruska
Leadership
Leadership


@pre7amble1 wrote:

 this does fix the problem however even when the .vmx file is edited and saved as soon as the virtual machine boots the .vmx file returns to USB:0.deviceType = "hid". 

The very fact that their VM tools still installs a PS2 socket is a the very least laughable.

Richard


1.  If you are making hand edits to the vmx file, you must do it with the VM not running, and Fusion closed.  Otherwise, the system will revert the file.

2. Why is that laughable?  The BIOS of the virtual machine is an Intel 440BX chipset, which supported (and all motherboards of that era actually had) PS/2 ports for keyboards and mice.

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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

The physical hardware vs virtual hardware shouldn't make a difference.  I just tried an old XP VM on an old intel machine and it 'just worked'.

How was the VM created?  From scratch, or migrated from hardware? 

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pre7amble1
Contributor
Contributor

Hi, firstly the VMX file was copied before editing, the virtual machine was shut down VMware was closed the file was checked and then replaced by the edited file, as soon as VMware was called before the virtual machine was started the file had reverted. In trying to find the answer to this problem I am forced to move around windows using just a keyboard I then find three entries for the mouse under Device Manager one of which it states it is connected to a non existent PS2 socket and all are working (I wish). What really bugs me is this was a problem I saw when I was running XP using either VMware 7 or 8 and running High Sierra I think. At that time a fix was issued which required changing two lines in the .VMX file one of which was from memory this "hid" entry unfortunately I cannot remember the other. The XP has been created (numerous times over the last nine days) either by ISO file from my server or from the original disk running on a external CD unit, the ISO file was created from this disk, it has never caused me a problem before

Richard

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RDPetruska
Leadership
Leadership

That's certainly odd behaviour.  One question - if this VM was working on a different host OS before, why not just use a copy of that one?  That's one of the great things about VMs - they are portable and easy to backup and copy.

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pre7amble1
Contributor
Contributor

At last, pen and paper triumph, finally found the original fix in old paper file. VMware Knowledge Base, "Mouse clicks are not recognised in a VMware Fusion virtual machine (2010041)". Not sure if there is an alphabetical index to known fixes in the Knowledge Base it would have been helpful here.

Richard

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Kinnison
Expert
Expert

Comment removed...

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