What VMware Fusion release is best suited for OS/X 10.11?

[Dumby]

Hi all,

I've as my main machine an iMac 27, core i7, RAM 32 Gb. SSD 2 Tb. with OS/X 10.9.5 and VMware Fusion 8.5.10 and I've a second iMac 27, i7; RAM 20 GB. SSD Apple 256 Gb. + HDD 1 Tb. with OS/X 10.11 that I use only for tests but currently without any VMware product installed on it.

However, I plan to upgrade my main iMac 27 to OS/X 10.11 (and not above because of some ridiculous limitations of the latest OS/X releases), and thank you to the excellent, effective and friendly support of several VMware folks, I've been able to understand how download an upgrade for Fusion 11.

So, before to mess up my main system, my questions are the following:

- will VMware Fusion 8.5.10 still run on OS/X 10.11?

- will VMware Fusion 11 run with OS/X 10.9.5 or OS/X 10.11?

- what is (are) the VMware Fusion version(s) best suited for OS/X 10.11 (i.e. VMware Fusion 8.5.10, 10.1 or 11.0)?

- as a consequence of the questions above, will I be obliged to upgrade OS/X over 10.11 to run VMware Fusion 11 (if so, I'll upgrade the OS of my second iMac 27)?

- last but no least, may I run several VMware Fusion releases (e.g. of course if compatible with a specific OS/X release, let's say both VMware Fusion 8.5 and VMware Fusion 10.1 or 11) at the same time on the same system as long as they are installed in separate folders?

Thank you in advance for your time and help.

Best regards.

[wila · Accepted solution]

Hi,

One note before I start answering your questions. You are aware that OS/X 10.11 just had its last security patches and is end of life, so will not get any security patches anymore.

My recommendation would be to at least update to 10.12.

Also note that Fusion 8.5 is also end of life.

With those remarks "out of the way", here's my answers to your specific questions.

- will VMware Fusion 8.5.10 still run on OS/X 10.11?

The doc says: Mac OS X 10.9.0 or later for the host OS. Mac OS X 10.10 or later is recommended.

See also: System Requirements for Fusion

Running 8.5.10 up to macOS 10.12 was supported.

- will VMware Fusion 11 run with OS/X 10.9.5 or OS/X 10.11?

The minimum host OS on which Fusion 11 is supported is macOS 10.12

- what is (are) the VMware Fusion version(s) best suited for OS/X 10.11 (i.e. VMware Fusion 8.5.10, 10.1 or 11.0)?

That would be Fusion 10.1 as it is still under support and would run on OSX 10.11, but I would recommend -if at all possible- to use the latest VMware Fusion and bump the OS with 1 version, so that you at least run on macOS Sierra.

- as a consequence of the questions above, will I be obliged to upgrade OS/X over 10.11 to run VMware Fusion 11 (if so, I'll upgrade the OS of my second iMac 27)?

Not sure if I understand the question, but recommendation says at least macOS 10.12

- last but no least, may I run several VMware Fusion releases (e.g. of course if compatible with a specific OS/X release, let's say both VMware Fusion 8.5 and VMware Fusion 10.1 or 11) at the same time on the same system as long as they are installed in separate folders?

Yes, that works, but you can only run one VMware Fusion at the same time.

PS: just my opinion, but 10.11 always felt a bit half done to me and 10.12 was more smooth.

Hope this helps,

--

Wil

[Dumby]

Hi Wila,

Thank you so much for your detailed and precise answer.

So, I wil first upgrade my second iMac with OS/X 10.12 to test it and if satified will do the same with my main iMac.

Best regards.