Vmware fusion and Lion OS X USB Support

[timcarlisle]

Hi Everyone,

First post here.  I upgraded my iMac to Lion and installed Fusion and latest update.  the only problem I am having is when I try to install my jump drive it will not install the software and see the drive (running Windows 7 with all of the latest updates).  Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Thanks in advance for your help - Tim

[mpeskin]

I'm not patient about this sort of thing, so I just downloaded Parallels, converted my VM, and... it works beautifully. Sorry VMWare, you may have just lost a customer.

[typemismatch]

Sorry but I disagree, it is typical software industry lazyness to just re-install/reboot/unplug/kick things to fix problems instead of finding out why it is actually broken and clearly for some people it isn't helping. I'm not sure what you mean by "when indicated" - that would be official enough.

[typemismatch]

Yeah - I just keep an install of both products because generally they leap frog each other, especially when things break

[ErocMillsie]

I may be watching this thread a little longer.

[WoodyZ]

Sorry but I disagree

You can disagree till your heart's content and while it may not fix the issue every time however don't ever forget it's what fixed your issue!

it is typical software industry lazyness to just re-install/reboot/unplug/kick things to fix problems instead of finding out why it is actually broken

Nothing created by man is perfect, far from it, and while some might think its laziness nonetheless it is a valid and recognized industry standard methodology and has its rightful place on the diagnostic tree and generally speaking has a very good success rate.  It would be nice if there was always enough time and money to dig deep and analyze an issue to, if possible, find the reason why.   However lets be pragmatic about it for a moment and if an operation that takes but a few minutes resolves an issue vs. spending unreasonable amounts of time and quite possibly never finding the actual cause of the issue then by all means choose the fools errand first.

clearly for some people it isn't helping.

That's true however without having done a official count nonetheless it certainly appears to be fixing the issue more often then not and where it doesn't then things will have to be analyze more carefully to see it there are common denominators other then having upgraded to a new OS.  Sometimes it can be another application that is installed on ones system that isn't on the others as an example, an unbeknownst issue with it that has cause a cascade effect creating problems with other processes too.  The bottom line is, common sense dictates that one try a five minute fix before spending hours to find out the five minute fix is what would have worked in the first place.  If the uninstall/reinstall didn't do it then one can proceed down the other branches of the diagnostic tree.

I'm not sure what you mean by "when indicated" - that would be official enough.

In the context of this discussion it means that when ever and issue occurs as a direct result of an in place OS upgrade with a given application the expedient stop on the diagnostic tree is to uninstall/reinstall the affected application and go from there.

Should I assume that you'd complain if it were suggested that one first reboot a system to see if the issue persists?

[creain]

I agree.  I just did the same thing and full USB support is back!

[nickhasser]

I formatted my HD and did a fresh install of Lion yesterday. I then installed Fusion 3.1.3 from the trial and then registered with my paid-for license key. I copied my VMs from an external drive. I don't receive the dialog to choose whether to connect a device to the Mac or Windows (WinXP 32bit VM) like I did in Snow Leopard, but if I boot from my backup drive (external drive with Snow Leopard installed) and run Fusion from there it still works fine. If I try to connect via the USB menu in Fusion on Lion, the USB device disappears from the list as soon as I check the box or try to change the setting on what to connect it to.

I haven't reinstalled Fusion...it's a brand new install of Lion (not upgraded from Snow Leopard) and a brand new install of Fusion...both done yesterday. Any thoughts?

[WoodyZ]

I haven't reinstalled Fusion...it's a brand new install of Lion (not upgraded from Snow Leopard) and a brand new install of Fusion...both done yesterday. Any thoughts?

I would still uninstall/reinstall VMware Fusion and reboot the Mac afterwards, even if not prompted, and then try again.  Also before reinstalling make sure the MD5 or SHA1 checksum matches what is published for the file you downloaded.

VMware Fusion 3.1.3 (for Intel-based Macs)
File name: VMware-Fusion-3.1.3-416484.dmg
File size: 437M
File type: .dmg
Version: 3.1.3
MD5SUM: e19e5a2487955a5e60a2a4dc7e2b9096
SHA1SUM: 48edc8b598d1fe0876e8fbb34c2a257339946047

VMware Fusion 3.1.3 Light for Mac (for Intel-based Macs)
File name: VMware-Fusion-3.1.3-416484-light.dmg
File size: 150M
File type: .dmg
Version: 3.1.3
MD5SUM: f35ac5c15354723468257d2a48dc4f76
SHA1SUM: 3c849a62c45551fddb16eebf298cef7279d622a9

Click for information about using  MD5 checksums and SHA1 checksums.

[wurz]

I has this issue and uninstalled and reinsalled Fusion. No change - USB devices were not showing up in my W7 VM.

However, after a reboot, is started working again - I got the familiar "do you want to connect the USB device to Mac or Windows" message when plugging in a USB drive.

But now after a reboot of my VM, it's stopped working again. The problem is that OS X is "grabbing" the USB device as soon as you connect it, and Fusion does not even ask the question whether you want to connect it to the host or VM. Even if you eject it in OS X, it does not appear as a device in the Windows VM settings to connect.

Also - I have a USB ethernet adapter that I connect to my Windows VM. If I try and connect that it says "the USB device is unable to connect to the guest due to a host application of driver claiming the device". This is even though I have disabled the adapter in OS X network settings.

All this used to work fine in Snow Leopard!

I haven't tried a full reinstall - removing preferences files - so I may try that next.

[Mavromatis20111]

So it has been a few days since I got things working after reinstalling Fusion 3.1.3 on Lion.  I thought everything was working "ok" however, it's not.  I have some Arduino projects that don't work (can't read the serial data via USB) using Fusion.   I converted my VMWare image to Parallels (didn't even have to reinstall Parallels) and it works perfect.  Seems like VMWare still has issues they need to resolve with Lion and USB support.  Until then folks, Parallels is your answer.

[admin]

Hi All,

   I'm with the USB team@VMware. I'd like to get to the bottom of the USB problems that some people have been reporting. This is not something that I personally have been able to reproduce. One way to help track down the problem would be to get some logs when the error is occuring.

My request for people who are having USB problems after upgrading to Lion:

If you have time to help out please consider gathering logs and either posting them or sending me a private message. To gather the appropriate logs please see http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8720. We will *not* need the VM tools logs. Please do enable the USB debug checks before gathering the logs (and make sure to turn of USB debug logging when you are finished).

Thanks in advance!

[Mavromatis20111]

Hi Aaron!

I would like to note that my "most" of my USB devices (thumb drives) seem to work after a reinstall.  The particular ones that are failing to work are FTDI based USB to Serial chip used in devices like the Arduino.  It shows up in the list but when enabled or selected, it is not removed from the OSX instance so it seems to be shared which is obviously an issue with RS232.   I also tried to use it with my AVR programmer and it killed a microprocessor because of this issue.   Parallels is working without any issues with the same VMWare image (just converted).

I will follow the instructions and submit logs.

Best,

Danny

[timcarlisle]

Hi Aaron,

I will be happy to send you the logs and issues regarding my problem with Fusion and USB.

Thanks,

Tim Carlisle

Network Analyst II

tim.carlisle@doit.cccounty.us<mailto:tim.carlisle@doit.cccounty.us>

DOIT

Ph: (925) 313-1261

CP (925) 812-4239

Idealism untempered by realism often does little to improve the world

[admin]

Thanks to those who have responded so far! The logs that I have seen seem to indicate that some other program is using the usb device on the mac.

If you are curious if this is the problem you are hitting you can look for the following log message in your vmware.log file (in the VM bundle directory):

USBGM: USBInterfaceOpenSeize failed (e00002c5)

If you are hitting the above problem some additional informaiton would be very useful in helping me reproduce and fix the problem.

1) Follow above instructions to enable Debug USB logging.

2) Open a terminal window (under Applications/Utiltities). You may have to also install XCode from the Apple app store (this is free) if the command does not work.

3) Reproduce the problem where the USB device doesn't work in Fusion.

4) Run the following command:

    ioreg -l

5) Upload or send me the vmware.log + the output from those two commands.

Aaron

[wdewing]

Aaron, here is a short section of my log where the USBGM is found.  Is this the error you are talking about?

Jul 29 10:19:24.453: vmx| USB: Found device [name:SanDisk\ MobileMate\ SD+ vid:0781 pid:a3a4 path:13/1/1/4 speed:full family:storage]

Jul 29 10:19:25.875: vmx| USBGM: USBInterfaceOpenSeize failed (e00002c5)

Jul 29 10:19:25.875: vmx| USBIO: Detect usb-storage class

Jul 29 10:19:25.898: vmx| USBGM: Submitting URB to ep 2 without valid pipe

Jul 29 10:19:25.898: vmx| USBGM: Unhandled status ffffffff

Jul 29 10:19:26.987: vmx| USBGM: USBInterfaceOpenSeize failed (e00002c5)

Jul 29 10:19:26.987: vmx| USBIO: Detect usb-storage class

Jul 29 10:19:26.989: vmx| USBGM: Submitting URB to ep 2 without valid pipe

Jul 29 10:19:26.989: vmx| USBGM: Unhandled status ffffffff

Jul 29 10:19:28.069: vmx| USBGM: USBInterfaceOpenSeize failed (e00002c5)

Jul 29 10:19:28.069: vmx| USBIO: Detect usb-storage class

Jul 29 10:19:28.071: vmx| USBGM: Submitting URB to ep 2 without valid pipe

Jul 29 10:19:28.071: vmx| USBGM: Unhandled status ffffffff

Jul 29 10:19:29.174: vmx| USBGM: USBInterfaceOpenSeize failed (e00002c5)

Jul 29 10:19:29.174: vmx| USBIO: Detect usb-storage class

Jul 29 10:19:29.196: vmx| USBGM: Disable port called. (status=0)

[admin]

Hi wdewing,

   Yes that looks like the same issue others are having. Please send me your logs.

[admin]

Hi again all,

I'm looking for someone to help me gather yet another set of logs. I've narrowed down the problem quite a bit but because I cannot reproduce the issue I need a little more information. Thanks for all the help so far! The following should help us get to the bottom of the problems people are having.

Please only do this if you are **RUNNING FUSION 3.1.3** and OS X 10.7. Also please be comfortable with the commandline. If you do things incorrectly you could cause problems that could cause Fusion or OS X to stop working.

1) Shutdown VMware Fusion.

2) Download and install IOUSBFamily log release bundle from Apple and install. You can find the IOUSBFamly.kext at http://developer.apple.com/hardwaredrivers/download/usbdebug.html (If you are running Lion … which you should be for this bug … then you will want the top release (v 440.4.1). Install the package called IOUSBFamily-440.4.1-log.

3) Download the attached vmioplug.kext.tar.gz. Unzip the kext.

4) Open terminal. Run sudo -s. Type in your password.

5) Run the following commands:

       *cp -r /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/kexts/vmioplug.kext /vmioplug.kext-original

       *cp -r <Path to debug vmiplug> /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/kexts/vmioplug.kext

       *chown -R root:wheel  /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/kexts/vmioplug.kext

       *chmod 755  /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/kexts/vmioplug.kext

       */Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/boot.sh --restart.

6) Open the USB Prober Application. You can find that in /Developer/Applications/Utilities/USB Prober.app. It was installed in step 2.

7) Click on the USB Logger Tab.

😎 Select Level 6.

9) Press Start.

10) Run VMware Fusion.

11) Connect USB device that is having problems to guest.

12) Save the output from the USB Prober.

13) Save the output of ioreg -l

14) Save the output of vmware.log. You can find that inside the VM directory.

15) Shutdown Fusion. Send me the output logs you saved.

When you are done you can uninstall vmioplug debug version and replace it with the version you saved in step 5.

You can also install the non logging version of IOUSBFamily (it came in the same package as your download in 2)

Thanks in advance!

Aaron

[admin]

Hi all,

   Thanks for your patients and help so far. I have a solution to the problem that many customers have been seeing. One thing that can prevent Fusion USB support from working is having non-standard permissions on the root partition of your OS X install.

You can check if you have non standard permissions by opening a terminal and running:

"ls -ld /"

You should see output like this:

drwxr-xr-x  53 root  wheel  1870 Aug  4 12:43 /

If the permissions are different than above you can reset them using the following steps (for Fusion 3.1.3):

1) Shutdown Fusion.

In a terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)

2) Run "sudo -s"
3) run "chown root:wheel /"
4) run "chmod 755 /"

5) Reboot

6) Start Fusion and try connecting a USB device.

Pleas post if this does or does not work for you.

Thanks!

Aaron

[wdewing]

Thanks Aaron, works for me.  I followed the instructions, and popped in my flash drive, and it works just fine now.

[wurz]

Hi Aaron,

I went through your steps but I still have the issue. My USB flash drive won't show up in my Win7 VM and connecting my ethernet USB dongle still results in message "the usb device is unable to connect to the guest due to a host application or driver claiming the device".

I did check the permissions of / after going through the commands and they had changed to

drwxr-xr-x  29 root  wheel  1054  6 Aug 10:59 /

Thanks.