Upgrading to Fusion 12 (macOS Big Sur "not enough physical memory" error)

[abreitfe]

I recently upgraded to macOS Big Sur (11.6). I had previously been running VMware Fusion Professional Version 11.5.0 (14634996). Unfortunately I did not shut down any of my virtual machines before making this update, and now I get an error "Not enough physical memory" every time I try to open them.

I understand the fix for this error at this point is just to upgrade to Fusion 12. I am able to do that (I have not yet, but the download is straightforward). However, as I mentioned, my virtual machines are currently suspended, and I cannot resume them to shut them down safely before the upgrade. I could force shut them down, or I could proceed with the update without shutting them down. Which is the safest option?

[wila]

Hi,

Shut down would have been the best option, but it is too late for that now.

Force shutdown is the only option without downgrading the macOS to Catalina or earlier.
You might be able to force shutdown now from Fusion 11.x or do it later from Fusion 12.x
You might even be able to resume (although if you do then shut it down before continuing).

Either way.. your VM is likely to be fine as a force shutdown is comparable to a physical host loosing power. The current file systems of a recent operating system (where recent is "younger than 20 years") are pretty good with loosing power. So I don't expect a lot of trouble.

If you want an fail safe then make a copy of your VM(s) on an external disk before booting them.

--
Wil