VMware Fusion Compatibility

[krawfo]

My apologies if this is in the wrong forum.  In searching the VMware site I see conflicting info on using Fusion with OSX High Sierra 10.13.6.  One page says High Sierra will only run on Fusion 11.5 and another reference say 12 is ok.

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2088571

https://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/faq.html

Which is it?

Also my machine is an iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) 

2.5 GHz Intel Core i5

Will it run either version?

Thanks.

[scott28tt]

@krawfo 

Moderator: Moved to Fusion Discussions

[ColoradoMarmot]

Fusion 12 requires high sierra as the minimum version supported.  Fusion 10 and newer will run on High Sierra.

Fusion 12 has both a free trial download, and if for personal use, a free license, so I'd give it a go first.

Aside:  High sierra is unsupported by apple and has known security issues.  Upgrading to a supported OS (at least Mojave - Catalina would be better) is important to be safe online.

[bluefirestorm]

There is a distinction between the two links.

The matrix table in KB2088751 is for the host macOS version (Fusion 12 is supports on Catalina and Big Sur as host OS).
The reference in the Fusion 12 FAQ is for supported guest macOS versions in version 12 (Fusion 12 supports High Sierra as guest OS).

The iMac 2011 is not supported for Catalina.

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP803?locale=en_US

[dempson · Accepted solution]

I think you are getting confused over the question of the operating system running on the Mac itself (the host), and the operating system running inside the VMware Fusion virtual machine (the guest). The two articles you link mostly explain the requirements for the host operating system. The first one also mentions that VMware Fusion 12 can run macOS High Sierra as a guest.

Given you have a Mid 2011 iMac, the maximum operating system Apple supports on that model is macOS High Sierra 10.13.6. I'll assume you have installed High Sierra on your iMac and you are wanting to know if you can run VMware Fusion. Given the compatibility chart in the second article, that means you need VMware Fusion 10.x or 11.x, but not 11.5.5 or later, since 11.5.5 raised in the minimum requirement to macOS Mojave 10.14. You can't run VMware Fusion 12 on that iMac.

If you don't have a licence for VMware Fusion 10.x or 11.x, you can get one by buying VMware Fusion 12 then using the My VMware portal to downgrade your licence to VMware Fusion 10.x or 11.x instead.

You haven't mentioned which operating system you want to run as a guest inside VMware Fusion. This might affect whether it worth pursuing VMware Fusion as a solution: you may be better off buying a newer Mac and perhaps using VMware Fusion on that newer Mac to run an older operating system as a guest. For macOS guests, this depends on exactly which applications you want to run, because of limited graphics support for macOS guests.

[krawfo]

Thank you all for your comments and help.  I was able to get Fusion 11.5.3 to work.  

I'm trying to squeeze the last bit of life out of my iMac waiting for Apple to release an iMac with the M1 chip.  High Sierra is the end of the OSX upgrade road for my machine.  

Cheers!