Upgrading Fusion 8.5 to Fusion 13

[tlit-jn]

Hey, all. Please forgive if this is the wrong forum, but I have kind of a simple-ish question.

I've got a user that is having to migrate from an older iMac running High Sierra to one that's running Ventura. They currently have Fusion 8.5 installed, but this won't run on the newer iMac, so an upgrade is obviously needed.

My question is this: Is it possible to upgrade straight from Fusion 8.5 to Fusion 13? If so, are there any steps I need to take to ensure a clean install?

Thanks in advance!

Edit: For clarification, I am also intending to buy the upgrade version of Fusion 13 instead of the full install. If that won't work because my user is already so far behind, please let me know.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Shut down (not suspend) the guest, and delete any snapshots.  Then uninstall Fusion 8.5 (drag to the trash, empty trash) before upgrading the OS.  Then upgrade the OS, then install Fusion 13.  When you try to run a guest it'll prompt you to upgrade the virtual hardware (do), and then you'll need to reinstall VMWare tools.

8.5 is too old for upgrade pricing I believe, but if it's non commercial use, Fusion 13 is free.

Oh, and important:  If they're moving from an intel to an ARM (M1/2) mac, the old guests will not work.  They will have to build a new ARM based guest (the unofficial guide pinned in the document section is the best way to get that done).  Windows 11 and Linux are the only options (no older windows will work).

[Technogeezer]

If it's a newer intel Mac that's never had Fusion installed on it before, you should not have to perform any uninstall of Fusion. Just don't move over applications if you're using the Migration Assistant. (I'd never move applications over from that old of a macOS to Ventura - take it as an opportunity to get on the latest and greatest of any apps you have - that way you avoid any compatibility problems that may occur with old versions of apps that may have never been tested/built for Ventura. 

8.5 is too old for upgrade pricing. Upgrade discounts to Fusion 13 are only available for paid Fusion 11 or 12 licenses.

Fusion 13 Player (not Pro) is available with a free personal use license if it's being used for non-commercial purposes (that means not for anything work related or revenue generating activities). 

@ColoradoMarmot is correct in warning that those old VMs will not work on an Apple Silicon Mac. The Unofficial Fusion 13 on Apple Silicon Companion guide (the document that he's referring to) spells out what your options are.

[SHSteve]

Hi all

I'm on the point of upgrading my early 2013 MacBook Pro from 10.8 (Sierra) to 10.15 (Catalina - highest I can) and am using Fusion 8.5 with 2 VMs (XP and Win7)... both at Hardware version 12.

Reading the posts here it seems I need to shut down the VMs, uninstall Fusion 8.5, upgrade to Catalina, download & install Fusion 13 (free version), locate my VMs and load them up - correct?

My Mac is an Intel Core i7 so I believe my existing VMs will power up in Fusion 13 ok? Accept I'll need to update VM Tools as well. Again, correct?

Assuming the above is correct is there anything else I need to watch out for or do to move forward?

Many thanks

SHSteve

[Technogeezer]

Fusion 13 doesn’t run on Catalina. The last version that ran on Catalina was 12.1. 

Last I checked you could still get a free license for Fusion 12 - search the forum for the link as it’s not directly accessible from VMware’s pages  

Your strategy is sound, but I’d perform a full manual uninstall of Fusion using KB article https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1017838 before upgrading macOS. Shut down the VMs (don’t suspend them). And make sure you have a backup of your VMs before upgrading (a Time Machine backup is not sufficient- copy them to an external drive when the VM is shut down)  

The other comment I have is that when you power up a VM on a new version of Fusion, do not accept the offer of upgrading the virtual hardware version or VMware Tools. Let it run for a while, then upgrade those if desired  

[SHSteve]

Thanks Technogeezer

Missed 13 didn't run on Catalina!

Found the older version link too and it seems 12.1.2 was the last version to support Catalina (12.2+ requires Big Sur+)

Downloaded ready to go...

On the VM backup front... all I can see are the 2 .vmwarevm files (60gb each), I assume this is all I need to copy off first?

I run Carbon Copy Clone as well, I'll have a look at that backup too to see if they are there. Would these be ok if they are present? I assume so as I can boot to the clone drive and run the laptop from that (albeit a lot slower!) but not tried running a VM from that drive.

Once I have it installed I'll get a free license (or attempt to - checking the forum there seems to be confusion getting free keys for 12, but that was a few years ago now).

[Technogeezer]

As long as the VMs are powered off and Fusion is shut down at the time of the CCC backups you will be fine.

As a matter of practice, I would not boot off media that I consider a backup unless I had another  copy of that backup data. Consider what you would do if something goes horribly wrong when running on the only copy of your important data. 

[SHSteve]

That's a very good point over the backup Technogeezer!

Thanks for pointing it out.

[Technogeezer]

By the way, the link to get a Fusion Player 12 personal use license is:

https://customerconnect.vmware.com/en/evalcenter?p=fusion-player-personal

(as an FYI - the link for Fusion Player 13 has a "-13" at the end of the URL)