Unable to install 11.5 or later on MacOSX

[chrisbog71]

I currently have a Mac OSX running Catalina.   I wanted to upgrade to Big Sur.   I'm running VMFusion 11.0.

For some reason, I could never install 11.5 of VM Fusion.   Basically, I run the installation.   It asks me if I'm sure since I downloaded it from VMWare, and then it asks me for my administration password for the one-time setup.   After I add the password, it dies.

The same behavior seems to occur on 12.0 of VMFusion.

Any ideas?

Basically, this is the vmware-vmfusion.log

2020-11-17T15:35:48.449-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Log for VMware Fusion pid=1470 version=12.0.0 build=build-16880131 option=Release
2020-11-17T15:35:48.449-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: The host is 64-bit.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.449-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Host codepage=UTF-8 encoding=UTF-8
2020-11-17T15:35:48.449-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Host is Mac OS X 10.15.7 (19H2) Darwin 19.6.0
2020-11-17T15:35:48.417-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: VTHREAD 4566801856 "VMware Fusion" tid 22195
2020-11-17T15:35:48.417-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: UTIL: Change file descriptor limit from soft 256,hard 4294967295 to soft 8192,hard 4294967295.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.418-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.418-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.418-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: PREF Optional preferences file not found at /Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config. Using default values.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.419-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/Volumes/VMware Fusion/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/settings": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.419-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Volumes/VMware Fusion/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/settings": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.419-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: PREF Optional preferences file not found at /Volumes/VMware Fusion/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/settings. Using default values.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.419-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/Volumes/VMware Fusion/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/config": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.419-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Volumes/VMware Fusion/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/config": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.419-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: PREF Optional preferences file not found at /Volumes/VMware Fusion/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/config. Using default values.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.419-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/Users/chris/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.419-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Users/chris/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.419-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: PREF Optional preferences file not found at /Users/chris/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config. Using default values.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.424-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: lib/ssl: OpenSSL using RAND_OpenSSL for RAND
2020-11-17T15:35:48.424-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: lib/ssl: protocol list tls1.2
2020-11-17T15:35:48.424-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: lib/ssl: protocol list tls1.2 (openssl flags 0x17000000)
2020-11-17T15:35:48.424-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: lib/ssl: cipher list ECDHE+AESGCM:RSA+AESGCM:ECDHE+AES:RSA+AES
2020-11-17T15:35:48.424-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: lib/ssl: curves list prime256v1:secp384r1:secp521r1
2020-11-17T15:35:48.425-05:00| VMware Fusion| I004: gVmomi: gvmomi_init: success.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.449-05:00| VMware Fusion| W003: Log Facility output is directed to file: /Users/chris/Library/Logs/VMware Fusion/vmware-vmfusion.log
2020-11-17T15:35:48.449-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/vsphereFeatures/techPreview.cfg": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.449-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: [msg.dictionary.load.openFailed] Cannot open file "/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/vsphereFeatures/techPreview.cfg": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.449-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: FeatureStateLib: Error while loading tech preview config file: /Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/vsphereFeatures/techPreview.cfg, using default (disabled) for all Tech Preview features.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.449-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: OBJLIB-LIB: Objlib initialized.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.450-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Msg_SetLocaleEx: HostLocale=UTF-8 UserLocale=en
2020-11-17T15:35:48.450-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/Volumes/VMware Fusion/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/messages/en/vmware.vmsg": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.450-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: WQPoolAllocPoll : pollIx = 1, signalHandle = 12
2020-11-17T15:35:48.471-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: vmxFilePath="/Volumes/VMware Fusion/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vmx"
2020-11-17T15:35:48.471-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: vmxFilePathDebug="/Volumes/VMware Fusion/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vmx-debug"
2020-11-17T15:35:48.471-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: vmxFilePathStats="/Volumes/VMware Fusion/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vmx-stats"
2020-11-17T15:35:48.491-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: HOSTDEV-MAC: HostDeviceInfo_FindHostSoundDevices: Found default sound devices [AppleHDAEngineOutput:1F,3,0,1,2:0|AppleHDAEngineInput:1F,3,0,1,0:1].
2020-11-17T15:35:48.493-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Warning: SGHostEnumerate not yet implemented
2020-11-17T15:35:48.493-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: SMBIOS: can't open /dev/mem: Could not find the file
2020-11-17T15:35:48.493-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: VmhsHostInfoPopulateSystem: Could not get information from smbios to populate VMDB.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.575-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/config": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.595-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Foundry Init: setting up global state (1 poll threads, 0 worker threads).
2020-11-17T15:35:48.595-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Vix_InitializeGlobalState: vixLogLevel = 0
2020-11-17T15:35:48.595-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Vix_InitializeGlobalState: vixApiTraceLevel = 0
2020-11-17T15:35:48.595-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Vix_InitializeGlobalState: vixDebugPanicOnVixAssert = 0
2020-11-17T15:35:48.595-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Vix_InitializeGlobalState: vixLogRefcountOnFinalRelease = 0
2020-11-17T15:35:48.595-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Vix_InitializeGlobalState: asyncOpWarningThreshold = 1000000
2020-11-17T15:35:48.595-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Vix_InitializeGlobalState: enableSyncOpSelection = FALSE
2020-11-17T15:35:48.595-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Vix_InitializeGlobalState: enableExternalThreadInterface = TRUE
2020-11-17T15:35:48.595-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Vix_InitializeGlobalState: enableVigor = FALSE
2020-11-17T15:35:48.595-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: Msg_SetLocaleEx: HostLocale=UTF-8 UserLocale=en
2020-11-17T15:35:48.596-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/Volumes/VMware Fusion/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/messages/en/vmware.vmsg": No such file or directory.
2020-11-17T15:35:48.596-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: VixHost_ConnectEx: version -1, hostType 3, hostName (null), hostPort 0, options 8707
2020-11-17T15:35:48.833-05:00| VMware Fusion| I005: InstallDirIsValid: Read only.
2020-11-17T15:36:45.033-05:00| VMware Fusion| W003: RegisterHelperWithAuth: com.vmware.fusion.InstallHelper registered failed due to The operation couldn’t be completed. (CFErrorDomainLaunchd error 2.).
2020-11-17T15:36:45.033-05:00| VMware Fusion| W003: MainWithAutoreleasePool: Install Helper registered failed.

[wila]

Hi,

What is the output of the following command in terminal?

sysctl -a | grep brand

--
Wil

[chrisbog71]

chris@Home-iMac ~ % sysctl -a | grep brand
machdep.cpu.brand_string: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
machdep.cpu.brand: 0
chris@Home-iMac ~ %

[wila]

Hi,

Hmm.. that looks fine.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/processors/core/i7-processors/i7-6700k.html

The processor is from Q3 2015.

System requirements for Fusion 12 are: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Fusion/12/com.vmware.fusion.using.doc/GUID-84E34BF1-92A2-4B86-9995...

Those are similar requirements as Fusion 11.5.
Minimum host OS is Catalina for Fusion 12 (not sure what the macOS 10.12.x reference in the doc is about, that's wrong)

From the looks of that your host -and host OS- is within specs for installing VMware Fusion 11.5 or VMware Fusion 12.

In your case I would probably try a full uninstall of VMware Fusion 11.0, then reboot the mac and try installing again.
Not sure if that helps though.
The log you provided isn't giving me any hints either.

That is.. the last 2 lines of the log might give a hint:

2020-11-17T15:36:45.033-05:00| VMware Fusion| W003: RegisterHelperWithAuth: com.vmware.fusion.InstallHelper registered failed due to The operation couldn’t be completed. (CFErrorDomainLaunchd error 2.).
2020-11-17T15:36:45.033-05:00| VMware Fusion| W003: MainWithAutoreleasePool: Install Helper registered failed.

But not for me.

--
Wil

[ColoradoMarmot]

Just to verify, you're doing this as an administrator account, right?  

[chrisbog71]

Yes.   I tried 12.0 and 11.5 and it behaved the same way.   However, when I did 11.1, it installed perfectly.   Something changed between 11.1 and 11.5 in my opinion.

[chrisbog71]

Unfortunately, I gave up.   I bit the bullet and upgraded to Big Sur and even tried the installation again, to no avail.  11.5 and 12.x will not install and the installer crashed.

Since I had no choice, I needed virtualization, I tried Parallels and it installed perfectly for what I needed.   So I guess after years of using VM Fusion, I had no choice but to switch.

[wila]

Understand.
Sad that we were not able to figure out why you were not able to install VMware Fusion anymore.
But glad to hear that you found a workaround for your issues and thanks for letting us know what worked in the end.
Perhaps until a later time.

--
Wil

[KateYoak]

I found this message because I ran into the same problem, or so I thought. The log entries were practically identical. To my surprise, a different vm on the same host came up without a problem.

I looked at the log file - and it too had all the same errors!

Those errors are meaningless. They happen on healthy vms.

My actual problem was the guest vm had amd architecture, and I was on an arm machine. With a different image, the errors in the logs remain, but the vm is healthy.

[Technogeezer]

You might want to start a new thread for an issue like you observed. The original poster was describing an issue with installing VMware Fusion. Your issue seemed to be happening after Fusion was installed and attempting to run a VM. 

Yes, Fusion can have an error messages that have multiple causes (that's frustrating, I agree). Asking a question in its own thread helps us focus on what's happening in your specific case because of that.