What's left to fix for a perfect product

[Stefsun]

I have been using RC1 exclusively, and these are my findings from day to day work in a corporate environment.

1. Unity problem, appears every day. I have Lotus Notes open, (which by the way still does not produce a dock icon), and then I open Word, or Excel, or Remote Desktop from within the VM. Sometimes one or more program windows freeze, you can't click in them or close them, the only way to un-freeze them is to go to Single Window Mode and back to Unity, or hide and unhide Fusion while in Unity Mode three or four times.

2. Unity could use a little speed-up, although I don't know if that is feasible.

3. Being able to choose in Bridged mode networking, which adapter to use, is still a very important issue that has not been addressed.

4. An extra configuration Window for defragmenting the VM HD would be nice, especially since from time to time a message pops up saying that the VM hard disk is fragmented.

5. In RC1, I dared to use the VT switch, and to my surprise my WindowsXP 32 VM is flying. Maybe an extra configuration window for that would be nice.

Message was edited by:

Stefsun

[adamsimpson]

USB. I don't like how it takes up about 25% CPU if I have something USB connected, and it's not perfect. I've experienced some problems when trying to transfer data over a slow USB connection. I love VMWare but the USB is killing me.

[rhind]

RE USB: Parallels has exactly the same issue, and I don't like it either. But given both products show the same behaviour (although Fusion does seem to use less than Parallels), I wonder if that is just something we have to put up with or if it is something that can be addressed.

Cheers

Russell

[JohnSmithx13]

I've just bought the RC1 release and have been using Fusion for a day to virtualize a Windows XP Home setup. All in all it's a great product and I'm very impressed.

\* I agree that the VMWare defrag tool should be accessible via the GUI. I've just had to delve into the command line to run it, after finding instructions on some guy's blog. Considering it makes a big difference in performance, periodically running the defrag tool should be mandatory for users.

\* Some dock icons don't appear for Unity apps, including Microsoft Office. This is a major failing that needs fixing. The reason I got Fusion was to use Microsoft Office, and I'm not alone.

\* It'd be nice if I could right-click a file within OS X and choose to open it in a Unity app on the Windows virtual machine, as in Parallels.

\* Screen redraws are a little slow, which is weird because I've used VMWare Workstation/Player on Windows to virtualize Windows, and it doesn't have this problem.

\* Maybe I'm going crazy but the kerning on fonts looks odd in Microsoft Office apps when running in virtual machines. Or maybe I'm just used to OS X's superior treatment of fonts.

\* I think the automatic sharing of the /User directory to the Windows virtualized machine is a security risk; a virus or worm could affect any files (and bear in mind that your Library folder is shared too). At the very least the user should be informed about the potential risks. Far better is to setup a shared folder within the Windows machine and let OS X access it.

[JohnSmithx13]

\

• Shrinking isn't intuitive. There should be a GUI option within the Fusion dialog to let you do this. At the moment you have to click the Prepare for Shrinking button in VMWare Tools in the virtualized machine, and it's not at all clear that Fusion will then step-up and shrink the disc afterwards.

[hks22]

Not sure what you mean: "Some dock icons don't appear for Unity apps, including Microsoft Office."

I keep the icons for Microsoft Office 2007 Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Access in the dock all the time. To set this up initially, run the app in Unity then right click on the dock icon and select "Keep in Dock." Now to launch one of the Office apps from OS X, I just click on the dock icon, Fusion is launched, and the app is there in Unity mode. Takes about seven seconds for the app to appear. When I click on a second app, since Fusion is already running, that only takes about 1-2 seconds.

[admin]

Good suggestions all; the signal to noise ratio in this thread is very high!

[JohnSmithx13]

Not sure what you mean: "Some dock icons don't appear

for Unity apps, including Microsoft Office."

I keep the icons for Microsoft Office 2007 Word,

Excel, Powerpoint, and Access in the dock all the

time. To set this up initially, run the app in Unity

then right click on the dock icon and select "Keep in

Dock." Now to launch one of the Office apps from OS

X, I just click on the dock icon, Fusion is launched,

and the app is there in Unity mode. Takes about

seven seconds for the app to appear. When I click on

a second app, since Fusion is already running, that

only takes about 1-2 seconds.

Well this is strange because it's suddenly started working. Dock icons now appear for Office 2003 apps. I don't know what I changed.

I clicked to have them stay in the dock and, provided the virtual machine is either running or has been running already in that session, the app starts very quickly. I can't drag files to its icon in order to open them, however.

It'd also be nice to add the icons to the Applications list within Finder. I guess I want Unity to be taken to its logical conclusion, which is to say that Windows apps are seamlessly integrated into OS X. I already think that my family won't even be aware that they're using a Windows app should they use Word or Excel my Mac.

[Stefsun]

It happened to me once, suddenly the icons for Office 2003 stopped appearing. I just deleted the whole applications folder, restarted the VM, and everything was back to normal, except Lotus Notes which never had an icon through all the betas in to the RC1. I have an icon for Lotus Notes now, by doing the following:

1. Duplicate any program in the Applications folder.

2. Show Package contents.

3. In there open Info.plist

4. In the "DOGuestExecutablePath" I changed it to C:\Program Files\lotus\notes\nlnotes.exe

5. Changed the icon from the Mac version, and now I have a fully functional icon in my Dock for Lotus Notes.

I am sure it can apply to other programs as well which don't show icons in the dock.

[admin]

It'd also be nice to add the icons to the Applications list within Finder.

Since the average Windows VM exports so many applications, and also because you might have more than one VM, we didn't want to overwhelm the OS X system list of applications by adding all Windows applications to it, so we put the Windows apps in an Applications subdirectory of the VM folder, instead of /Applications.

If you want, though, you can copy or alias them into /Applications -- first go where your VM is stored, right-click it and say "show package contents", then look in the Applications folder there, and you'll see the exported Windows apps. Now, you can make a copy or alias in the /Applications folder.

[JohnSmithx13]

See, this is a good example of why Fusion doesn't feel like a complete OS X product. The point of OS X is that you shouldn't hack your system. To use any OS X app, you shouldn't have to right-click. Everything should work intuitively.

In other words, there should be some way of intuitively adding your favourite Unity apps to Applications and Dock.

[thully]

Here's what I'd like to see fixed:

1. Give us a way to stop the VMware Fusion menu bar from appearing when hovering over the top of the screen. GNOME on Ubuntu has a menu bar in the same place, and I'd much prefer to press a key combination to bring up the menu (that could serve double-duty in releasing VM focus).

2. Stop resizing fullscreen VMs to windowed when waking from system sleep (or when doing anything that does NOT include explicitly switching the VM to Windowed mode)

3. Add a GUI option to turn on VMI for paravirtualization and make this the default for guests that support it (basically, most recent Linux distributions). This gives a HUGE speed boost when enabled.

4. Add a GUI option to choose the default startup mode (windowed, fullscreen, Unity) for each virtual machine

[Egonj]

I have used both VMWare and Parallels. Here are some of the things that VMWare is doing right, Some things they don't need to listen to other people Saying, and Some things I think they need to add.

Doing Right:

1. Unity

2. Performance

Don't Listen:

1. Don't integrate the two OSes. The purpose of virtualization is for the two to be SEPARATE! Parallels makes me insane because of the level of integration and there is no way to predict what levels of integration you get with a slider bar. If you are going to give Integration, turn it all OFF by default and have CHECKBOXES to enable the integration that the USER wants. For example, I don't want OS X to see or have anything to do with Windows other than maybe sharing a folder between the two. At the same time, I don't want Windows XP/Vista to know that OS X is even around. I want them separate. The more integrated they become, the more of a security risk is created. At the very least, let us turn it to the level we want.

Things to Add.

1. Resizing Virtual Disks. I think it needs to be easy. I have run into this problem twice now. I have Windows XP that I use for a few things at work. But all of the sudden there are a few more things that I need for work (There will always be a few more things it seems) but I didn't create my Windows XP Hard drive large enough. Now, I want to make it biger, so that I don't have to worry about it. But I can't. Well, I can but I have to image the drive, then create a new drive, then restore the image to the new drive and then pray and hope that it all works right. (already tried this once and didn't get anywhere) I have a copy of Partition Magic and I know there are a few/several free alterantives to this, so just being able to increase the size of the disk would be VERY VERY Helpful.

Thanks and keep up the good work.

[RDPetruska]

>1. Resizing Virtual Disks. I think it needs to be easy.

Use the vmware-vdiskmanager utility (and etung's GUI for it) to expand the max. size of the virtual disk. Then go into the guest and run Partition Magic to increase the size of the partition (or just create a new one) to fill the newly created space.

[admin]

For a step-by-step version with a bunch of pictures, you might want to check out Pat Lee's Resizing a Virtual Disk for Windows Guests with Step by Step Instructions .

[michaelr]

>>3. Being able to choose in Bridged mode networking, which adapter to use, is still a very >>important issue that has not been addressed.

It would be nice if bridged with wireless worked. I have not been able to use it since beta 2 and others have reported similar experiences. Once it works then being able to choose the interface would be a benefit.

[incognegro]

Don't Listen:

1. Don't integrate the two OSes. The purpose of

virtualization is for the two to be SEPARATE!

Parallels makes me insane because of the level of

integration and there is no way to predict what

levels of integration you get with a slider bar. If

you are going to give Integration, turn it all OFF by

default and have CHECKBOXES to enable the integration

that the USER wants. For example, I don't want OS X

to see or have anything to do with Windows other than

maybe sharing a folder between the two. At the same

time, I don't want Windows XP/Vista to know that OS X

is even around. I want them separate. The more

integrated they become, the more of a security risk

is created. At the very least, let us turn it to the

level we want.

I could not agree more. Please keep Windows away from my Mac. At least I can turn it off when I want to. People can get dock icons, and they can drag files there if they really want. I don't want any of my menus being polluted, so please keep everything in VMware Fusion, and away from the rest of the system.

Besides, integration only works for Windows, not for things like Linux or Solaris, and if it is a Windows only feature, then I think you would be beginning to go in the wrong direction ...

1) I would like to see Fusion presenting a Spaces-like experience, with a hot key to swap back and forth from one full screen session to another, something like Alt-Tab or Command-Tab, but for virtual (or actual) machines, not just screen windows.

2) I want Fusion to remember the screen size and keep it that way at all times (when not in full screen mode), even when booting up etc, just keep the window the same size ...

3) There should be a way to access the file system in the VM without having to launch the full blown OS? That would be marginally useful, not earthshaking though.

4) Don't share my home folder by default. At most, maybe my documents only. I don't trust Windows and I don't want it near my Mac stuff.

5) Try customizing the Windows side of things instead of the Mac side? Maybe make a signed theme for XP and make it look a little more Mac like, something tasteful, so we don't have to live with the ugly XP theme and so we don't have to use hacked DLLs. Which don't work well on 64 bit Windows XP in any way ... Or have your installer offer the user the option to 'trim' Windows down by turning off some of the useless services? Instead of the Parallels hell where they try to bring Windows to the Mac, why not try to take the Mac to Windows?

Maybe version 1.1 ... and either there will be a release soon, or there are a couple more release candidates in the works ... polish time

Thanks for a great product. If beta software is this good, then it says a lot about your products ...

[tomcrown1]

I would like better 3d support and direct X 9 support. I also wish that GL support was included along with hardware support for the bulid in video card.

[Li-fan_Chen]

What VMware has done with Fusion is. Wow. Really stable. You have put a lot into this. I was able to set up a virtual office. I didn't have to let go of my "Getting Things Done" workflow--implemented using Office 2003. I was able to bring in files easily thanks to the Virtual Folder linking to /Users/. With that I was able to literally SyncToy.exe my home PC with the Macbook. Basically, thanks to your hardwork. I really do get the cake and eat it too. I am able to enjoy Mac OS X's ability to declutter my personal life. So I can really get into the zone a little bit faster. Punch out that email or organize my photos easily. All the while have my work- and school- related stuff one click away.

The same trademark speed of running x86-OSes like Windows XP on VMware Workstation is again, right there in VMware Fusion. I really appreciate that. I do a lot of work in Microsoft- stack. Macromedia-Adobe- stack. And I think you've made it possible for me to buy a Macbook without hesitation. Much obliged!!

I have been using virtual machines for a while, since VMware Workstation 3 I think, and it's a quirk of mine too to care about their feature set so much. So if you'll excuse me I'll rant about my personal pet peeves seen so far in the 1.0, hopefully adding something to this thread.

My first impressions are (on a Macbook) that there's no way to send a salute (CtrlAltDelete) from the keyboard.

Feels like the Windows and Alt keys are swapped. Messing up my finger memories. If there's a way in Mac OS X to swap behaviors just for when Fusion's running. That'd be awesome.

Lack of multiple snapshots. I realize Fusion is for a smaller market, but the closer it gets to Workstation the more wonderful it is. Don't wait until Parallels leap frogs Fusion!

I also missed the Fit to Window and Fit to screen features from Workstation.

It would be really wonderful if Workstation-built VMs work out of the box. The whole point of VMs is to be able to freeze dry VMs, in essencebottling installation and configuration time. When someone has spent weeks building perfect VMs in Windows or Linux world and want to bring these guest OS to Fusion. It should just work. I realize that's probably a whole new test lab to test against all of the possible VMs in the wildbut can we expect this in the next version?

I am sold on Fusion. I didn't even try Parallels yet. You guys have really done it. Will tell everyone what amazing work you've done.

[admin]

I also missed the Fit to Window and Fit to screen

features from Workstation.

Not sure about exactly which options you're referring to, but Fusion does understand more settings than what's currently exposed in the GUI. For example, I like to add pref.autoFitFullScreen = "fitHostToGuest"[/code] to ~/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/preferences to get the stretch-guest-to-fill-screen fullscreen behavior.

It would be really wonderful if Workstation-built VMs

work out of the box.

They should work. What doesn't?