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CCarboni
Contributor
Contributor

VMWare Fusion Pro 10 Mac Menu Bar Icon

Hello all,

I can locate a whole host of threads asking how one would remove the VMWare Fusion 8 menu button (I believe it was officially called the "Applications Menu") from the (top right corner) of their mac top bar. However, after updating to Fusion 10, that button is no longer there. I may be one of the few who actually like that functionality, but advice for readding that button would be much appreciated.

For reference, enabling and disabling said button in Fusion 8.5 went as follows:

VMware Fusion (menu in top-left) > Preferences... > General, then next to Applications Menu choose "Never".

^I want to accomplish the opposite of this. And yes, I have checked that preferences pane, and the Applications Menu option no longer exists there.

Cheers,

-Christian

20 Replies
wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hello Christian,

Welcome at the VMware communities Fusion forum.

It appears that VMware has removed the applications menu from Fusion 10.

See also:

VMware Fusion 10- No Applications Menu

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

We removed the always-on menu bar because we didn't find it very useful in how it was implemented.

However in Unity it is very necessary.

As such, we moved the feature to be per-VM instead of for all VMs, it only activates in Unity mode, and it goes down on the Dock now as opposed to in the Menu Bar.

I am considering what we might want from the menu bar going forward, so any suggestions and feedback here would certainly be welcomed.

-
Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
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SvenGus
Expert
Expert

Well, Unity is only available for Windows guests, so the new Applications menu in the Dock now becomes a feature only for Windows guests. BTW, if in the Dock, probably it should be redesigned, as it doesn’t look very macOS-like, so to speak, when seen from the Dock.

A redesigned menu bar Applications menu, OTOH, could first of all be a VM launcher, as this feature is now removed and there is no direct way of launching VMs “automatically”, without opening the VM Library: so, the Unity functions could be in the Dock item (only for Windows guests) and the general functions (open, resume, info and so on) in the menu bar, for all guests; and a redesigned VM menulet could offer more easy access to VMs, for example by showing them in a grid with previews, or something like that.

... Just some quick and very basic hints: other ideas...? :smileycool::smileyinfo:

SvenGus
Expert
Expert

BTW, the "new" Applications menu in the Dock is a step backwards also because one cannot directly launch apps in Windows guests anymore: also if one pins the new Unity item to the Dock, one must first click on it to reactivate the VM, and only then is the Applications menu available again; while in the menu bar it was of course always available, if set to always show.

Not a good evolution, at least IMHO...

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SvenGus
Expert
Expert

... If you want to reimplement a new menu bar item, something like a TotalSpaces-like menulet could IMHO be quite cool (of course, not only with a grid of clickable VM previews, but also more):

https://totalspaces.binaryage.com

andywise
Contributor
Contributor

Can you put it back please - its made it a whole lot more difficult to suspend my VM now ... in the previous release it was one click of the icon and one click to suspend - now I have to find the VMware icon in the launcher at the bottom, right click and select virtual machine library then click on the icon for the VM then click suspend... then close down the library window etc.

I can't understand why you have removed a key control from the UI

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Andywise,

While I can't do anything about the application menu, perhaps a tip might help a bit to alleviate the pain.

If you want to suspend your VM, simply close it and by default VMware Fusion will suspend the VM.


Eg. From the menu -> File -> Close.

The behavior on what to do when you close a VM is configurable in Fusion menu -> Preferences -> General tab page.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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Legend0
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

@Mikero

This is awful, not because it's in dock but because there is no hotkey to activate the icon which immediately targeted the search field. A lot of us use cmd+space to use spot light to launch an app, and it was a great way to be able to do it in windows. I guess VMware chose to LOSE functionality rather than retain a very valuable feature and poll it's user base. I'll be switching to parallels because they still have an application menu icon and a hot key to activate it.

clhallinan
Contributor
Contributor

I will add my own voice to the discussion.  I upgraded to Fusion 10 this morning.  Much to my surprise and dismay, I discovered the Application Menu missing.  I looked in the Preferences, etc, rebooted, tried everything I could to restore it, without success.  A call to technical support confirmed my worry - that feature has been removed in Fusion 10. 

I am a long-time licensed Fusion user.  Unity mode is a wonderful feature - I used that Application Menu found on the Apple Menu Bar for everything - launching applications, opening Explorer, starting up, shutting down, etc.  Why In The World Would Such A Useful Feature Be Removed Is Beyond My Comprehension!!!

The tech support rep said that lots of customers complained about it.  OK, I can buy that: so provide a Preference option to remove the icon from the Menu Bar, and allow the rest of us to use it.

In my humble opinion, this was a big step backwards in usability and it appears to have been removed without providing any useful replacement.

VMware: If you are listening, please restore this feature!!!!  

Also, for those of you that want the feature restored, please take a moment to fill out a feature request at this URL:

Contact VMware

Thank you.

Chris H - Punta Gorda, Florida

clhallinan
Contributor
Contributor

Please fill out a Feature Request at

Contact VMware

Maybe if enough of us do that, it will be put back in a future update.

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scooterschneide
Contributor
Contributor

I am just going to throw in my 2 cents as well. Please put it back. Make it something that can be disabled for those that do not want it. I used it all the time to switch machines on and off. It wasn't necessary but it was convenient. When I upgraded to 10, I wanted just to go back to 9 for this very reason.

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rtijohnb
Contributor
Contributor

I'd certainly like this feature back, too.  I used it all the time and was disappointed to find it missing when I upgraded today.  The old feature was simple, elegant, clean.  Saved me from having to open the large, ugly VMWare Fusion GUI which now takes up real-estate on the monitor reserved for my host OS.

-John-

SvenGus
Expert
Expert

BTW, there indeed was already an option to enable/disable it, in the main Fusion preferences (i.e., always show, show only when Fusion is running, never show): so, the sudden removal of such a useful feature - at least for power users (who should be really, really important for VMware!) - is even more nonsensical.

What happened...?!?

Legend0
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

To put it simply, VMware doesn't give a crap about Apple users. We still don't have VLAN support or any advanced power user features that are in parallels and in workstation.

I've had to move to parallels to continue my work, it has it's annoyances but i'll be damned if I give $100 to VMware for an upgrade that takes features away.

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Legend0
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Unacceptable.

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SvenGus
Expert
Expert

Another application from which to take some inspiration for a possible renewed Applications Menu:

Microsoft Remote Desktop 10 on the Mac App Store

... with its previews of the remote PCs, which of course would be VMs in Fusion.

In other words, an improved Applications Menu could at least partly be a miniature version of the Virtual Machine Library, but in the menu bar.

(Anyway, also the already existing one was quite good, indeed: so, please bring it back, in some form, in Fusion 10.x...)

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Legend0
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

How ya doing Sven? Since we aren't getting a response we can just have a nice conversation until VMware responds.

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varennex
Contributor
Contributor

I would like to add to the chorus and I will be brief.  VMWare, respectfully, if you think in saying "it did not add value having the shortcut in the menu bar" you were out of touch with how users interact with the product.  Hopefully you have seen just a slice of that reality in this thread. Please just put the feature back in.

Legend0
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Respectfully to add VMware has been out of touch with their Mac customers from the get go.

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