VMware Fusion Pro 12.2.3 freezes

[jlorenz]

Since recently, VMware Fusion "freezes" and I can only force quit Fusion. I have two Windows 11 clients and this happens with both of them. It worked after I upgraded to Windows 11 for a while but started to come unresponsive recently (~2-3 weeks). It basically prevents me from using Fusion at all now.

I deinstalled Fusion twice, following the KB article to completely remove Fusion, restarted my Mac and re-installed. Same thing occurs.

What else can I do? Is there a known problem with Windows 11?

[Technogeezer]

There is no VMware Fusion 12.3, so I assume you mean Fusion 12.2.3 which is the latest version. 

What macOS release and Mac hardware are you using? 

[ColoradoMarmot]

What's the host and guest hardware config?

[jlorenz]

Hi! Yes, sorry... Fusion 12.2.3 (typo)

MacOS 12.4 and it's a MacBook Pro 16'' 2019.

[jlorenz]

The guests are Windows 10 and Windows 11 and all have 2 CPU and 8 GB RAM assigned.

All have VMware tools installed.

The Windows 11 have a TPM (as per instructions) and are Bitlocker encrypted.

[ColoradoMarmot]

2 CPU per guest should be fine, and 8GB should be OK as long as you have at least 16 in the system.

The only times I've had Fusion freeze are when I overload the host (either with too many cores, too many VM's, or too much RAM used).  

Do you get the spinning beachball?  That probably means it's a host resource issue.  If it's just the UI, then it may be inside the guest.

[jlorenz]

Yea, it's not because of the setup. I'm run-in Fusion for years now and all my guests worked up all now. It changed suddenly and now none work. I'm not sure when this happened and if/what changed. So I'm sort of at a loss. Maybe I'll set up MacOS new and restore from Time Machine to make sure there are no system object missing or such.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Just know that time machine is completely unreliable for backing up virtual machines.  You'll need to do a manual backup of some kind.

Just a thought - is this a managed machine?  Crowdstrike Falcon, JAMF, etc?

[jlorenz]

No. Nothing of the kind. I exclude VMs from Time Machine backups as well. As mentioned, I'm using Fusion for years now..

BUT: I just tried around and disabled sharing completely and not it sopped freezing. So it looks like it's something to do with sharing? Not sure what changed though. I've updated to MacOS 12.4 recently but cannot put my finger on that. Other than that there was an update of OneDrive for Mac (and I am using OneDrive for years as well).

Some problem with sharing. Not I'm running without sharing files between VM and host and no freezes so far. Not ideal though...

[Technogeezer]

Hmmm.  What folder(s) do you have configured for sharing between host and guest?

OneDrive has changed a lot in recent releases. You wouldn’t happen to be sharing a OneDrive folder, would you?

[jlorenz]

Yes, I was sharing folders that are synchronising with OneDrive as well. So maybe there's something that was changed that created an adverse effect. But I do not really have much data local anymore. Could be the cause of it - but that is just guessing. I will try to turn on sharing and only share a local folder and see if that causes the same problem or not.

[Technogeezer]

Would not be surprised if sharing your OneDrive folder is the culprit. Newer versions of OneDrive dramatically have changed how they work with Apple file systems because they have to use new macOS APIs in 12.3 and 12.4. These changes could be giving Fusion folder sharing fits because the OneDrive folder isn’t really the same kind of folder it was before.

My bet is that you will not see this hanging if you share a non-OneDrive folder. I’ve not had an issue with sharing non OneDrive folders. I can give this a try to see if I can reproduce as I have both OneDrive and macOS 12.4 installed. 

VMware should really take a look at this, it could be considered a bug. Folder sharing needs a lot of work in any case. 

[Technogeezer]

I just gave this a try with a Windows 10 VM on macOS 12.4 running the latest OneDrive client 22.099.0508.0001. I have a subfolder "Documents" in my oneDrive folder that I added to folder sharing in Fusion.

I didn't get a freeze in the VM, but I did get a request from Fusion when I navigated to the shared folder in the Windows File Explorer. It asked me to allow access to the OneDrive folder. I granted access and was able to see the files in that folder. I also double checked the Security&Privacy preference panel, Privacy tab,  Files and Folders. I find that one of the files and folders listed for VMware Fusion includes OneDrive.

[jlorenz]

Hi! I'm on MacOS 12.4 and using OneDrive client 11.111.0522.0002 (Standalone). My VM is Windows 11, but the same problem also occurs with a W10 VM. Seems not related to the guest OS.

One thing I did a while ago was activate OneDrive Folder Backup (Documents and Desktop). (This is currently only available with OneDrive Standalone) I don't really think that's the cause though since it worked fine and the problem seemed not related. Also, I was sharing both my local OneDrive library and a synchronised SharePoint Online library without problems for years. 

So maybe it's something wired just on m box. At least I've got a work-around not sharing with the host. The next one would be reinstalling MacOS, but I think I'll skip this for now.

[ColoradoMarmot]

OneDrive just made a major change to how it worked so that it's compatible with future releases of MacOS.  Very likely the issue - there's probably two different things trying to hook the same API's.  I'd try making sure there's no overlap between the folders being shared.

[Technogeezer]

One thought here. Was that shared folder set up in Fusion before these newer OneDrive versions that changed the way OneDrive works? . If so, have you tried deleting the existing OneDrive folder configuration in Fusion folder sharing preferences (not simply unchecking it) and add the “new” OneDrive location back?

[jlorenz]

Hi! I just tried. Revoved all entries and added the new ones one by one. Only she shared folders and not the documents or downloads folder. Worked for ~10 minutes and then starts to freeze again. Wired.

[duxed]

I'm seeing "freezing" also on Ubuntu 14 with 12.2.3 on Big Sur. (Have not been using Fusion for a month or so).

It started happening with this release. Wasn't happening before.

Mouse still moves, but the OS is not receiving mouse events. 

If you have streaming text in the terminal window, it still moves. 

So it looks like the app is dropping passing events from macOS to Ubuntu.

Happens after the Mac goes to sleep and wakes up.