Upgrade to Fusion 2.0 to 2.02 -- Software Reinstall?

[qb59]

I usually keep up with all software upgrades and I'm relatively tech savvy, but I'm new to VM and I really don't understand how an upgrade will behave.

I bailed out of an upgrade to Fusion 2.02 (from 2.0) on my IMAC running OS X because I was concerned by a message that led me to believe that 2.0 would be uninstalled before the upgrade. Forgive my cluelessness, but does that mean my existing Virtual Machine will be toast? Will I have to recreate it? What about the Windows licensed OS and software I have installed on the existing VM? Is it safe? Would I have to reinstall that? I really don't have time to recreate the whole VM environment (I also have worries about license reactivation issues).

I feel very ignorant.

Help? Reassurance? I'd turn back if I were you?

Thanks for any enlightenment you can offer.

[gbullman]

Consider this analogy for Fusion and your VMs; Fusion is an application and the VMs are pretty much sophisticated data files, or documents if you prefer. So analogous to updating Word and not touching any of your Word documents the same thing occurs when you upgrade Fusion (your VMs are not affected).

Having said that, there are some precautions you want to take before upgrading Fusion.

1) Shutdown / Power Off all VMs before doing the Fusion upgrade.

2) I would strongly recommend doing a full backup of your powered off VMs by copying the .vmwarevm bundle to a backup location.

Note that for pretty much any upgrade of Fusion there is usually an upgrade of VMware Tools, so that install will try to happen as soon as you bring up a VM in the new version of Fusion. For major upgrades there can also be upgrades of the Virtual Machine Hardware so those will upgrades will start as well.

Read any 2.0.2 release notes before performing the upgrade, and follow any directions about how to react to Hardware Wizards that may appear, etc.

I have been updating the same VMs since Fusion 1.1.1 and have only had minor problems when going from 1.1.3 to 2.0. For me the updates from 2.0 to 2.0.1 to 2.0.2 were completely uneventful.

Remember, if you have a full backup, no matter what happens you can safely go back to Fusion 2.0 and your current status quo.

[qb59]

Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. I always find analogies quite helpful. I feel quite reassured; but thanks, too, for your cautionary notes.

[admin]

Consider this analogy for Fusion and your VMs; Fusion is an application and the VMs are pretty much sophisticated data files, or documents if you prefer.

Nitpick: this isn't an analogy, it's an accurate description and the right way to think about things

[WoodyZ]

So analogous to updating Word and not touching any of your Word documents the same thing occurs when you upgrade Fusion (your VMs are not affected).

Well that not totally accurate and it would be more accurate to just say... "Uninstalling/reinstalling VMware Fusion does not delete the Virtual Machines."

Of course you did go on to say how they are and or can be affected after the upgrade so you really are contradicting yourself