Resize Applications windows with the virtual machine

[kittyhawk72]

Fusion Version 11. I have a 2017 iMac running macOS Mojave (10.14). I have installed VMWare 11 with Mojave as I have A 32-BIT application the requires Mojave. I am testing VMWare as I wish to upgrade the operating system on the host iMac. My question is this: How can I resize the application window in my virtual machine. I have tried grabbing the lower right corner, as is normal to resize window but to no avail. Anyone have any suggestions or cures g=for my problem.

Thanks

[scott28tt]

Do you mean the window of an application within Windows, or the console view of the Windows VM?

Have you installed VMware Tools in Windows?

[kittyhawk72]

I mean the window of an application within the Virtual Machine window. Yes, I do have VMWare Tools installed.

Thanks.

[dempson]

@scott28tt The OP is not running a Windows VM. They are running a macOS 10.14 Mojave VM in VMware Fusion 11, hosting on macOS Mojave (at the moment). They are having trouble resizing windows in the guest macOS.

@kittyhawk72

I happen to still have VMware Fusion 11.5.7 running on macOS Mojave 10.14.6 on my older MacBook Pro (Late 2013 15-inch), and I happen to have a macOS Mojave VM. I have it running in Single View view (entire VM desktop in a window on the host), and I have VMware Tools installed. Starting up my VM now to test your case, it all seems to work fine for me - I can resize Finder windows (for example) inside the VM simply by dragging them from the edge or corner, same as normal for windows on the host macOS. It also works if I put the VM into full screen mode. (Unity is not an option for macOS guests.)

As I hadn't used that VM for a while, it was not up to date - updating VMware tools and installing the latest macOS updates...

I can still resize windows fine with all updates installed.

The first thought which occurs to me: are you clicking in the VM window to activate it, before trying to resize the application window inside the guest macOS?

Have you tried resizing any other guest macOS windows, e.g. Finder? Perhaps there is some compatibility problem with your application which means it doesn't work properly in a VM (I don't recall seeing that particular symptom).

It is worth noting that there are a few 32-bit macOS applications which cannot work in a VM. The main problem is that there is no support for 3D graphics hardware inside macOS VMs (if the guest is macOS 10.15 Catalina or earlier - Big Sur has experimental 3D graphics support but it is too new to be able to run 32-bit applications).

In my case the primary issue was the iWork '09 applications (Pages 4.x, Numbers 2.x, Keynote 5.x) which I was still using for a long time after Apple released newer versions, because of missing features in newer versions (most of which were eventually reinstated, so my need for the old versions is now rare). The iWork '09 versions don't work in a VM because they use QuickDraw 3D to draw the content of document windows, and QuickDraw 3D required 3D graphics hardware. The end result is that the applications run, the window chrome (title bar, scroll bars, tool bar, etc.) is visible, but the document area is completely blank, which makes them useless.

I solved that particular problem by keeping iWork '09 on an older Mac Mini running macOS 10.12 Sierra (the last version which ran iWork '09 without problems). I still use several macOS VMs on my main Intel Macs for occasional use of other old applications which do work in a VM (but not in later macOS versions).

[kittyhawk72]

Thanks all for the replies...

Interestingly I had quirt out of VMWare to do other things and research the problem further. I start VMWare a few minutes ago and checked the monitor setting in VM. I set the "Scaled High resolution" to All Views Mode. I changed that to Unity and Single Window. When I closed that out and went back to the VM window and opened the Application (Freeway - a web creation program) everything worked as it should. I could resized both the application window and the VM window.

So, I thank you all for taking the time to communicate with me. I am a novice with VM, but have worked with Macintosh computers since 1984. Even worked as a Macintosh IT specialist for a company  for four years and a Macintosh Computer Support Specialist for 5 years for an elementary school.

I only use VM for this one program, but there may come a time when I may need to expand that.

Again, Thanks...