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RickCAZ
Contributor
Contributor

Reinstalling macOS and Fusion

I may need to erase my HD and reinstall macOS High Sierra.  Grrrrr ...

I clone my HD using Super Duper, every 2 weeks.  And I back up to Time Machine.  Can I use that to recover Fusion (with my Win10 installation), just by dragging the VM folder back?  Or do I need to reinstall Fusion (and Win10) from scratch?  Or is there some other process for recovering Fusion?

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Time Machine is not a reliable backup application for Virtual Machines (the main reason I developed a backup program, see my signature).

OTOH if your superduper clone also clones the hard disk that has your virtual machines you at least have a proper copy of the virtual machines in case of need.

For an easy backup of your virtual machine, shut down the VM, then make a copy of the whole bundle to an external disk.

Yes you can then drag THAT folder back to your mac and start the VM using Fusion.

Note that if you install High Sierra from scratch that you need Fusion 10 and also note that for Fusion 10 there are additional Fusion 10 system requirements over Fusion 8.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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RickCAZ
Contributor
Contributor

What I have is a 41GB VMbundle called Windows 10 x64.vmwarevm.  It is on an external disk.  I am guessing that is the bundle you're referring to. 

If I end up having to reinstall High Sierra, I plan to wipe the drive and then install HS.  Is that a scratch installation?  Will my VM bundle work if I drag it back to that new HS installation?  Or will I need to first install Fusion 10?  I am trying to avoid reinstalling Win 10. 

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Yes, that's exactly what I meant by bundle.

That should be fine. You will have to install Fusion 10 before you can run the virtual machine. The order of copying the VM to your machine and installing Fusion does not matter.

In the case you get a question from Fusion "Did you copy or move" .. answer "move", in that case it will work just fine.

For clarity, if you answer "copy" then the VM will get new virtual hardware and you will have to re-activate Windows 10, which -I'm guessing- is not what you want to have to do.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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RickCAZ
Contributor
Contributor

Just want to clarify something.

I upgraded my macOS Sierra to High Sierra.  I currently am running Fusion 8.5.9, and everything works just fine. 

Because of a glitch in the macOS upgrade I am going to wipe the drive and do a fresh install from scratch.  I want to confirm that I need to buy the upgrade to Fusion 10 after the High Sierra installation, and that I can no longer run Fusion 8.5.9.

BTW, if I buy the upgrade prior to the wipe and reinstallation, will that license work with the new HS installation?

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply, something to do with me having holidays to some remote place Smiley Happy

After wiping your disk and reinstalling HS you'll have trouble trying to install Fusion 8.5.9, but Fusion 10 should work when your hardware falls within the supported system requirements for Fusion 10.

You can upgrade prior to the wipe the installation code will work after reinstalling, but you will have to re-install and enter the license again.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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