Transport (VMDB) error -14

[DearBrian]

I was a customer of VMware for years up to version 8. Various things happened since but now I'm back with a new MacBook Pro M1 Max. I want to burn some DVDs for the distributed family using the Windows program Imgburn and I stumbled over the "VMware Fusion Player – Personal Use Licence" offer which sounds perfect for my limited requirements.

I think I followed the installation procedure correctly and I entered the serial number for my copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. However, when launching the application and clicking on the big arrow I got a message stating: "This version of VMware Fusion is for Intel-based Macs, but it is being run on an Apple silicon based Mac via Rosetta-2 See KB-84273"  This sounded promising.

I clicked on OK and then another shorter message came up: "Transport (VMDB) error -14: Pipe connection has been broken" I pressed OK and the window went back to displaying the big arrow.

I rebooted my machine but the result was the same.

The Mac is running Monterey 12.0.1 and has very little on it for the time being.

I wonder where I am going wrong? Am I posting this on the right board? Thanks in advance for any advice.

[gringley]

Well...what you want to do is simply not doable with Fusion.  An M1 Mac is not an Intel Mac, and thus no Intel operating system like Windows 7 runs on an M1 Mac.  Arguably the closest you might get is to try Parallels, sign up for the Windows Insider Program, run the Windows 11 for ARM Insider Preview in Parallels, and then hope your IMGBURN program runs in the Intel to ARM app emulation that Windows 11 on ARM provides.  Fusion has a tech preview for M1 Mac, but there is no support for Windows on ARM as both Microsoft and Apple have stated they will not support running Windows on ARM in any way.  People are getting Windows 11 ARM to run under Fusion with quite a bit of effort, but they have to RDP the Windows VM to do anything useful with it.  Apple has left shiny discs behind like most everything else from the last 20 years so not sure what the options are for you?

[scott28tt]

Your Mac has an M1 processor, only this version of Fusion can run VMs on that platform: https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Fusion-for-Apple-Silicon-Tech/ct-p/3022

But, it only runs VMs/OSes for Arm-based processors, not Intel-based processors.

[Technogeezer]

@DearBrian Why complicate things with a virtual machine? Have you investigated any of the Mac solutions for burning items to DVD? 

[ColoradoMarmot]

Trying to get an old windows intel program running on an M1 mac via USB, emulation and shared devices, when Monterey itself is having major USB issues?  Good luck.  I have to agree with @Technogeezer .  Run a native mac program to burn disks.

[DearBrian]

Many thanks to all of you for your speedy replies - much appreciated but I suppose a free program to fulfil this need was too good to hope for.

This DVD burning is something I do irregularly but when it happens I set up my stack of five old burners and IMGBURN lets me specify the total number to be burned. This could be 50 or even more. After that I pop back, change the five completed DVDs and let it continue to run. I've looked for an equivalent Mac program that handles batches but so far unsuccessfully. Any ideas...?

So there is a free program for Intel-based Macs - might there be any plans for an equivalent destined for these new Macs? Worth asking!

I looked at Parallels but even for my limited use it seems a bit expensive - about $100 every year

Thanks scott28tt for the suggestion about the "Fusion for Apple Silicon Tech" being the only version that can run VMs on the M1 platform. I registered/signed in, downloaded, installed and first got a message that the program "would like to record this computer's screen" (pretty scary, I thought!) and then another that stated "This virtual machine cannot be powered on because it requires the X86 machine architecture which is incompatible with this Arm machine architecture host". You wrote "But, it only runs VMs/OSes for Arm-based processors, not Intel-based processors.". So should I be able to use it or not? I'm confused.

Once again, many thanks for your replies.

[Technogeezer]

I haven’t had to do large scale CD/DVD burning in a while, but in the past my go-to for burning has been Roxio’s Toast Titanium. It’s not free but works well. And the latest version does seem to support multple copies and use of multiple devices. 
(My needs have been handled by the Mac’s built in capabilities but as I said my needs are very basic- typically burning a copy of an ISO software download). 

[DearBrian]

OK, thanks for the heads-up about Toast. I used it many years ago and it didn't have the multiple burners capability at that time. Anyway, I've just now posted a message on their support forum to see what it can do these days. It wasn't obvious in their specs but I did find an old Knowledge Base article alluding to this. Fingers crossed it works so I can leave you all in peace! 😉

[scott28tt]

Only the version of Fusion you now have works on an M1 Mac but it will not run OSes that were built for Intel processors.

You either need an Intel Mac, a version of your application that can run on a different OS in a VM (an OS for ARM processors), or simplest of all would be an application that just runs on MacOS and not to bother with Fusion or any VMs.

[ColoradoMarmot]

You will never be able to use your existing intel based VM's on an M1 mac.  You'd have to build a brand-new VM from scratch using an ARM based OS.  There is no windows 11 support in fusion, but some folks have gotten it to work (see the preview forum).

[Technogeezer]

@DearBrian You may want to check if you registered that old copy of Toast - you may be eligible for an upgrade discount (about $40 off Toast Titanium list price).

[DearBrian]

Thanks Technogeezer, I posted a message in the Toast 20 forum asking if there is a feature anywhere for multiple burners but no replies so I'll leave it at that. Thanks again for the idea. I'll just change my workflow, no problem, using Fusion was just one idea.

[DearBrian]

"try Parallels, sign up for the Windows Insider Program, run the Windows 11 for ARM Insider Preview in Parallels, and then hope your IMGBURN program runs in the Intel to ARM app emulation that Windows 11 on ARM provides"

Actually I've been using Parallels for the last maybe ten years on my other two MacBookPros (2015) and it looks like I'll continue for this one thing for the time being. I was thinking it would be nice to have the workflow all on one machine which was why I cam here and asked nicely. I hope that gradually my (ageing) contacts will come round to accepting MP4s - they're a lot simpler to deliver!

[DearBrian]

Thanks for that scott28tt - as alluded to elsewhere I thought it was worth a try to find out if some clever people might have had something up their collective sleeve.

[DearBrian]

Thanks dihotka. Mmm.. sounds a bit complicated. Perhaps in time someone might try it but by then all of us will surely have moved on from DVDs 

[coolpontiac]

@scott28tt Hi Scott. remind those of us (engineers) who have forgotten... does a hypervisor ..by definition.. only work if the guest os and the host os where written for (compiled?) for the same processor?

That seems like a major drawback?  I though a hypervisor (like vmware fusion) is able to emulate an OS independant of the underlaying host h/w .

thanks

[scott28tt]

Hypervisors don’t emulate the processor, the guest OS must be capable of running natively on the underlying physical processor.

[coolpontiac]

 the hypervisor is , by definition, a program that is running on the host OS?

when i used to  install guest OS (win10) on my macbook pro (with host MacOS) ... the hypervisor (Fusion) is making the Win10 think it is seeing PC hardware?    so  my windows App is running on a program (win10), that is running on a program (Fusion) that is running on a program (macos) that is running on the intel processor? is that an accurate simplification

but more to the point.. if Macbooks now run on propritary h/w (M1) and no other OS's (other than MacOS) support that h/w, does that render Mac with Fusion useless for running windows Apps going forward?

thx

[Technogeezer]

Well, the hypervisor (or as some call it a Virtual Machine Monitor) is performing a "carving up" of hardware resources so that other individual operating systems think they are getting their own dedicated hardware, but in actuality are sharing resources with other operating systems. A hypervisor like Fusion runs under an "host" operating system that provides management of the native OS's applications, but allows "guest" virtual machines to use those same hardware resources.  A hypervisor like VMware ESXi doesn't require a host operating system as it boots and runs directly on the hardware. Its only purpose is to carve up physical resources to virtual machines.

Apple threw a monkey wrench to users by switching to M1. What they gained in return was improved performance, lower performance/watt of power, and a unified chip architecture across all their products. What users lost is the ability for Windows x86_64 (or any operating system that runs on Intel chips) to run on their Macs. 

Technically it's possible to move forward using Windows 11 for ARM.  They are putting in compatibility features similar to Apple's Rosetta 2 that will allow Intel Windows apps to run on it..  But that road forward is full of potholes. The biggest ones are that Microsoft has been a bit dodgy on how to license Windows 11 on ARM for mere mortals to purchase, and (more importantly) they do not support Windows running on M1 Macs. They know it works, though. 

Parallels provides a way to run Windows 11 on their product. VMware currently considers Windows 11 as an unsupported operating system - it works on the Fusion Tech Preview but not as nicely as Parallels. I'm not going to get into the "VMware vs. Parallels" debate - there's enough of that on the boards here. Let's just say that I believe a product has to have full support from its developer if I really need to do something with it. That's simply not the case with Windows running on the M1 Mac today. You may have a different attitude, and if so, Parallels provides you with a way forward today. VMware might in the future (and we're all keeping our fingers crossed). 

[coolpontiac]

@Technogeezer   thanks for such a robust response.

a couple of Q's.

-is it a question of vmware making the effort to 'port' fusion to work on macos running on M1 h/w?  how much cooperation do they need from Apple to do that?

-how much is microsoft cooperation required other than licensing... i mean win10 or win11 doesnt know its running on a hypervisor right? or am i missing a critical point here

-regarding ARM.. is M1 compatible with ARM at h/w level? is that why msft doesnt have to do much extra lifting to support win11 on M1 if they already built a version for ARM

- i must say , its hard to wrap your head around how some of this tech works. I kind of understand how an application is compiled to run on a specific h/w arch... which supports a specific instruction set.    an OS is effectively the same thing right? a  program running on that same h/w arch too ?     

-how about this for a simple clarification question (forgetting about hypervisors for a minute)...   you have App X and you have 2 h/w platforms Y and Z  (like a PC or a mac or a data center blade server) and you have an 2 OS's   A and B (like macos , windows, or redhat linux)...  in order to make everything work ... does each OS have to be ported  to have a unique version that runs on both h/w platforms?  and then the actual App X. does it have to be compiled to 4 different executables. 1 or for each combination of OS and H/W Platforms?