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ColinLaney
Contributor
Contributor

Why isn't VMWare recognizing my (authorized and working) product key?

I'm running an older MacBook Pro (OS X 10.11.6 - El Capitan).  This is the newest OS that the laptop will support.  I'm running VMWare Fusion 7.1.3 with a Windows 7 install.  I'm having problems doing file transfers from the Mac drives to the Windows 7 drives in the virtual machine.  I thought that an upgrade to the VMWare Fusion program might enable better functionality.  But when I try to update, the VMWare site says my Fusion key isn't recognized.

So my questions are:

1.  Would updating the version of VMWare Fusion solve my file transfer problems?  If not, then my questions stop here.

2.  If a newer Fusion version WOULD assist in file transfers, what's keeping me from updating my existing Fusion to the latest?

3.  If I need the latest Fusion version, and can't update, should I delete my existing Fusion files prior to downloading and installing the latest Fusion version?

Additional (possibly unhelpful) information:

The two drives I'm trying to transfer data between are an Apple OS-X formatted EXFAT drive  connected to the Mac (can't be read by Windows) and a MBR/EXFAT drive connected to the Windows virtual machine (can't be read by OS-X).  When I copy folders (many of which have nested folders) from the OS-X drive and try to paste them into the Windows drive, I often get a message saying that the virtual machine can't be written to and the copy has failed.  Other times, the folders copy fine.

Things I've done so far to enhance file transfer capability:

Used the "Security and Privacy" settings in OS-X to give VMWare Fusion control of the machine

Used the "Sharing" setting in OS-X to share all drives

Googled my tail off looking for other solutions

All help appreciated - Glenn

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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

All upgrades from 7.1.3 are paid upgrades, so that's why your key isn't working.

In your case, the OSX formatted drive should be ​shared​ with the VM in Fusion sharing preferences.  The Windows formatted drive should be ​attached to the VM as a USB drive.  Then both will be visible inside the guest.

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