VMs don't boot on Monterrey

[daemonspudguy]

I don't understand what the log is saying, and don't know what's wrong. Regardless, here it is:

[daemonspudguy]

It also isn't the hypervisor failing, because if it were the Metal API wouldn't be mentioned. That's purely a graphics API. If it were, all virtualization software wouldn't work, but VirtualBox does.

[ColoradoMarmot]

There's no known fix for your situation, and VMWare developers aren't going to troubleshoot an unsupported config.  Fusion has much tighter integration with hardware and leverages specific features that other products don't, so often things that work with them, don't with it.  The tradeoff is a much more stable and reliable platform.

Your options here are to downgrade to big sur since it was working, upgrade to a supported environment, or as you note, run a different product.

[Technogeezer]

Virtual Box is not Fusion and does not have the same dependencies on macOS capabilities sets that Fusion does. Fusion uses the Apple Hypervisor framework. VirtuaBox is a totally different implementation and continues to use legacy kernel extensions. If you look at Oracle's documentation, VirtualBox is not supported on Big Sur or Monterey. (probably because Oracle is not going to make the investments in a free product to transition the macOS version to using the Apple hypervisor frameworks like VMware and Parallels are doing).

While the symptoms you are seeing may be the same as some (but not all) are seeing, you won't get VMware to look at a configuration that they don't officially support. Just because you're seeing the same symptom doesn't mean you have the same underlying cause. The error message is somewhat of a "catch-all" that can have many different causes. It's possible that VMware addressing the issues for supported Macs/macOS may help you but that's a chance you would be taking.

My advice still stands. If it worked under Big Sur and whatever version of Fusion you had, drop back to it.

[daemonspudguy]

I've been told by both others who use OCLP and OCLP's developers that Parallels (which iirc also uses the Hypervisor framework) works fine, so I think it is VMware and not my system.

[gringley]

Sounds like you are stuck with Parallels going forward then.  Parallels will do things to make vendor unsupported configurations work, but VMware will not.

[ColoradoMarmot]

As we have posted multiple times, VMWare is enterprise-class software and takes full advantage of current hardware.  That means that obsolete systems are no longer supported.  Hacking around Apple's restrictions doesn't change that.  VMWare will never support Fusion on an unsupported system.

[hostrogo]

Hi, there is a way to run a VM with Monterey on these machines that can run Monterey with Open Core. Just download gfxCardStatus and set the graphic card to "d" only. 

[dempson]

Even if the gfxCardStatus was a good solution (it isn't: for many many macOS versions, its "force discrete graphics" feature has been unreliable), that will only help a small subset of Mac models which have both integrated and dedicated graphics, i.e. selected models of 15-inch MacBook Pro (which can't officially run macOS Monterey, i.e. 2014 or earlier).

gfxCardStatus is not an option for iMacs, Mac Minis, 13-inch MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs or other models which only have integrated graphics. There were also some low-end Late 2013 and Mid 2014 15-inch MacBook Pros which only had an integrated GPU.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Gfxcardstatus has a long history of causing issues with Fusion even without hacking around Apple's dependencies and definitely isn't recommended.

[hostrogo]

Of course it would be better if VMWare continued to support Intel cards, as they have always done until now. It seems like the drivers are still there, but VMWare is testing the Mac model to see if they should be activated or not.

[Technogeezer]

Where are you seeing that “as they have always done until now”? VMware continues to support “Intel cards”. They just won’t build, test, and provide support for Fusion releases on combinations of hardware and software that Apple won’t support.

Unsupported configurations mean just that. If they work, fine. If not, you don’t have a lot of choices. But that’s the risk you take. 

[daemonspudguy]

That would make sense, if VMware would acknowledge the other people on supported Macs with the same issue of Intel graphics being broken with VMware Fusion. But they aren't.

[ColoradoMarmot]

VMWare has never supported, and will never support, hacking around Apple's OS.

I've run Fusion just fine on intel-only Macs (looking at one right now across the room).  Supported version of fusion on a supported OS on supported hardware.

[hostrogo]

@Technogeezer
It's a shame, because many people use Open Core with great satisfaction. On my 2012 MBP for example, Monterey works better than Catalina, bluetooth in particular is better managed. All the software I usually use works, except VMWare.

[Technogeezer]

@ColoradoMarmot Double dittos here. 2014 Mac mini with integrated Intel graphics. Monterey 12.1 and Fusion 12.2.1.

@hostrogo  wrote:

t's a shame, because many people use Open Core with great satisfaction. On my 2012 MBP for example, Monterey works better than Catalina, bluetooth in particular is better managed. All the software I usually use works, except VMWare.

But OpenCore is still modifying the operating system as released by Apple which makes it unsupportable by Apple. If it works for you, then fine. But you have to go into that world with eyes wide open and realize that there may be things that will not work. If that something doesn't work on a patched Mac, but does on a supported Mac, then you need to be contacting the Open Core community because they're the only ones that have the expertise on that frankenMac.

Fusion is quite different than the other applications that work with Open Core in that it's highly sensitive to hardware and software capabilities. Apple continues to refine things like Metal and Hypervisor Framework, and its very, very likely that those changes have dependencies on the underlying hardware for certain functionality. And Fusion uses those more than your garden variety application.

VMware is also known to modify Fusion to take advantage of the hardware. For example in a past release VMware added a CPU requirement. This meant that some Mac models that were supported by macOS were not supported by Fusion because their CPUs lacked certain instructions.

I'm not sure how much further we can take this issue here. This is not an official VMware support forum. Almost all of us here are users trying to help out other users. We aren't Fusion engineers or Apple kernel/system extension developers. We don't have the ability to diagnose Fusion crashes. We're limited to what we can do here pretty much to our experiences and expertise. This issue requires a deeper dive than we're able to give you.

From time to time we will get a few VMware folks that pop in and help out. We would have to defer to VMware for the heavy lifting of diagnosing issues with Fusion. Sometimes they will take on diagnosing a problem here, but it's not guaranteed.

[DaMaceMan]

@daemonspudguy: Running `gfxCardStatus` and setting it to "discrete only" enabled me to use VMRC on a Macbook Pro 9,1 (15-inch, mid-2012) running Monterey via OCLP. Your mileage may vary, of course. https://gfx.io/

Prior to the above (and if I change GFX to "dynamic switching" or "integrated only") I would get the same error shown in your log.

For what it's worth, I think it's great that you're hacking around and getting your older MBP doing what you need -- even more so that you're seeking answers and working through a frustrating problem.

[ArthurPereira]

I can confirm that the 2012 MacBook Pro running Monterey can run a VM on VMware Fusion 12 without any problem when the post-install patches are not installed, which may mean that this problem is in the OCLP part.

[hostrogo]

@ArthurPereira

Yes, that's because Monterey no longer has the drivers for the Intel integrated graphics card.

The OCLP patch adds these drivers and that's what bugs VMWare in Monterey, whereas in previous versions of the system it doesn't bother it at all.

[Technogeezer]

Monterey does support Intel integrated graphics, as evidenced by its support of MacBook Air Early 2015. What may be happening is that Monterey doesn’t have a driver that supports earlier versions of Intel integrated graphics that are on older, unsupported Macs. 

For better or worse, Fusion seems to use features in macOS to try to improve integration with Apple technologies. Incuding integration with Metal APIs. Those APIs seem to be tweaked and extended with every macOS release, and VMware seems to want to use capabilities provided in each macOS release. 

As far as Fusion not liking the OCLP driver, my guess is that Fusion is making calls to Monterey’s Metal APIs thinking it’s running on a supported Monterey system. Those APIs may be assuming they have functionality which isn’t available from those older cards or drivers. 

[hostrogo]

@Technogeezer 

Yes, that is a likely explanation.