Windows 10 MUP.SYS BSOD with Catalina using Fusion 11.5.x Shared Drives

[Hallock27]

Running into a very frustrating issue using Shared Drives in Fusion 11.5.x.  

Consistently, when manipulating files, attributes, etc in WIN10 on a VMWare Fusion Share Drive, I get a BSOD with the mup.sys driver indicating SYSTEM SERVICE EXCEPTION.  

This issue can be easily reproduced.  

I have removed and reinstalled VMWare tools -- removed and recreated the drives and still the issue remains.  

My setup:

• Model Name: MacBook Pro
• Model Identifier: MacBookPro16,1
• Processor Name: 8-Core Intel Core i9
• Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz
• Number of Processors: 1
• Total Number of Cores: 8

• System Version: macOS 10.15.7 (19H2)

• VMWare Fusion 11.5.7

I did some digging into the issue and found no matching issues or resolutions.   

What I learned and helped to isolate the issue:  

Mup.sys is a file associated with the Windows Multiple Universal Naming Convention Provider process and is responsible for handling queries for remote file I/O operations.

When an application tries to access a shared resource using a UNC path, the request first goes to the I/O Manager, which forwards it to the Multiple UNC Provider (MUP). The MUP then queries the installed redirectors to determine which one can access the shared resource. It then passes the request to the redirector.

So I am not sure if the issue is Windows or Fusion.... 

Any help would be appreciated.

[wila]

Hi,

Hallock27 said:
"Consistently, when manipulating files, attributes, etc in WIN10 on a VMWare Fusion Share Drive, I get a BSOD with the mup.sys driver indicating SYSTEM SERVICE EXCEPTION.  

This issue can be easily reproduced. "

I'm not vmware, but if I would like to see if I can reproduce this, can you get me some more specific details?

- exact version of Windows used (type: winver from a command line and list the version, windows home/windows professional and language)
- "when manipulating files/attribute".. please provide steps and what to expect? Eg. change 10x hidden attribute and boom, or change 40x ...
- what kind of files? Does it matter? .ico/.txt/...
- how are you manipulating those files.. I take it that you are using Windows explorer, but are you going via the mapped drive or via "\\vmware-host\Shared Folders", are the files you manipulate in a subfolder? 1 level deep, multiple levels deep..
- what kind of antivirus/antimalware product are you using in your Windows 10?
- are you using an antivirus/antimalware product on your host?

Just some questions I have when I read your report...

Also one thing to try is to see if it still happens after you run Microsoft's System File Checker tool:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-o...

--

Wil

[Hallock27]

Thanks for your response --- So to answer your questions....

1) exact version of Windows used (type: winver from a command line and list the version, windows home/windows professional and language)

• Windows Enterprise 10 Version 1809 (OS Build 17763.1577)

2) "when manipulating files/attribute".. please provide steps and what to expect? Eg. change 10x hidden attribute and boom, or change 40x ...

• Usually happens within the 1st 2-3 file copies, file renames or if I am editing a file for some period of time (it does var)

3) what kind of files? Does it matter? .ico/.txt/...

• Nope - doesn't matter

4) how are you manipulating those files.. I take it that you are using Windows explorer, but are you going via the mapped drive or via "\\vmware-host\Shared Folders"

• Usually a mapped drive, but could happen to either.  

4a) are the files you manipulate in a subfolder? 1 level deep, multiple levels deep..

• usually multiple levels deep

5) what kind of antivirus/antimalware product are you using in your Windows 10?

• Symantec
• But could be other other management spyware (Tanium, CrowdStrike Falcon) -- Who knows??

6) are you using an antivirus/antimalware product on your host?

• Yes

Also one thing to try is to see if it still happens after you run Microsoft's System File Checker tool:

• Thanks - I have tried this before, but will try again.  

This all started happening when I moved my VM from my 2017 MB Pro to the 2019 MB Pro.  I let Fusion update the VM to be compatible with 11.5 Fusion on the new machine. Hate to do it, but may have to build a new VM and see if it happens again.   

Just can't figure out if it is an underlying VMware Fusion Issue or a Windows issue.    

Wish I had more.  

[Hallock27]

Anyone else have any thoughts?

Appreciate it.  

[wila]

Hi,

I tested it here with more recent version of Windows 10, but don't see the problem. Don't really have the time to go install an old Win10 version from 2018. Never had the problem when I was still running that version either, nor do I recall others reporting the same.

One side note though is that I have customized my shared folder behavior on my main Win10 VMs with the following option:

isolation.tools.hgfs.notify.enable = "FALSE"

What this does is that it does no longer notify the shared folder to see changes made.
As a result you will have to refresh (press F5) in order to see changes made at host level.

FWIW, here's another post about troubleshooting shared folder issues:
https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Discussions/Shared-Folders-and-Windows-10-November-U...

--
Wil

[Jon231]

Just wanted to add to this thread that I am seeing this as well. Ran older Windows 10 on a MacBookPro with Fusion 11.x for 2 years and never had a problem. Updated Mac to 11 and Fusion 12.1 a couple weeks ago and now get the mup.sys BSOD multiple times a week.  When it happens, there was some update occurring with a shared folder I use to transfer files between my VM and my Mac.   I wish I could back out of the updates now, but that's not possible for me.

My VMWare:  Fusion Profession Version 12.1.0 (17195230)

My Windows: MS Windows 10 Enterprise, 10.0.18363 Build 18363

My Mac: MacBookPro15,1, macOS 11.0.1

Again, 2 years of operation and never a peep.  Used the shared drive constantly between MacOS and W10. Refresh everything and now W10 VM crashes at least once a day.  I now just use a folder under the vm C: for Windows saving, and then do periodic transfers to the shared drive (to limit the pain). 

[sethinest]

This has been happening to me for a while as well. On VMware Fusion 12.1 now, and Win10 (with most if not all the updates applied). Tried the system file checker and it did nothing. Sorry I can't offer anything more than a "me too," post but here it is 🙂 

[cj171]

This has been happening to me with Workstation 15 and 16 for the past YEAR when saving files in Win 10. My host is Ubuntu but seeing this is affecting more than one product of theirs...really need some answers.

[RandyTheMagnifi]

I experience the same problem with VMware® Workstation 16 Pro 16.1.0 build-17198959.

Also happened with version 15.

I have a RHEL 8.3 host and a Windows 10 Enterprise guest with only Windows Defender.

Happens when renaming files on a shared folder.

[RandyTheMagnifi]

I may have fixed this.

I had the same host disk mounted in three different shared folders.

Removed the extra two keeping only the one top level shared folder.

Shared folder now seems stable.

[Hallock27]

Just ran across this post again - I will give it a shot - thank you @RandyTheMagnifi !

[skiltonbiz]

I have this issue too. Brand new Mac, Brand new fusion, windows 10 crashes all the time when using the shared folders like downloads, documents, etc. 

STOP errors , mup.sys, reboots runs for a while, if you use any common folders, crashes every so often.

No solution yet. 

[wila]

Hi,

Please make sure that you don't have any overlapping between shared folders, for more details see this post:
https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/Shared-Folders-in-Win-10-guest-triggering-b...

edit: eh.. just like RandiTheMagnifi already mentioned up in the thread 😉

--
Wil

[LeftyWolverine]

I frequently get the BSOB with a mup.sys error when downloading, saving, or otherwise manipulating files in shared folders.  I spend a great deal of time rebooting.  This is so frustrating I am considering switching to Parallels.  Assistance would be appreciated.  My system info is below.

Model Identifier: MacBookPro 16,1

Processor Name: 8-Core Intel Core i9

Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 8 

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 16 MB

Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled

Memory: 32 GB

System Firmware Version: 1554.50.3.0.0 (iBridge: 18.16.12561.0.0,0)

System Version: macOS 11.0.1 (20B29)

Kernel Version: Darwin 20.1.0

Boot Volume: Macintosh HD

Boot Mode: Normal

Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled

System Integrity Protection: Enabled

Windows

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9880H CPU @ 2.30GHz   2.30 GHz

Installed RAM: 4.00 GB

System type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch: Touch support with 8 touch points

Edition: Windows 10 Pro

Version: 20H2

Installed on: ‎4/‎9/‎2021

OS build: 19042.928

Experience: Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.551.0

VMWare Fusion

Player Version: 12.1.1 (17801503)

[Mikero]

Does the issue persist if you install the latest version of Tools? (11.2.6)

Fusion still ships 11.1.3 tools, iirc.

https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/downloads/info/slug/datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_tools... 

Don't know if this will fix, but if it does we know where the problem is and how to fix.

[LeftyWolverine]

I updated the VMWare tools but am still having issues.  It is most persistent when downloading files.

[Lodec]

I have the same issue with Windows 10 host (latest 21H2, x64, 32GB RAM, i9) and VMware Workstation. VMs used are Windows 7 Pro (x64), Windows 10 Pro (x64) and Windows 11 Pro (x64). 

The problem first occurred after I upgraded to Workstation Pro 16. It never happened with older Workstation Pro 15 or earlier versions on the same host with the same VMs.

What I've tried so far to find a workaround:

• Deactivating hardware acceleration and setting fixed screen resolution -> It still happens.
• Changing the CPU cores to 1 cpu & 1 core, 1 cpu & multi-core, multiple cpus & 1 core -> It still happens.
• Upgrading some of my VMs from Win 7 to Win 10 to Win 11 -> It happens with all of these Windows versions the same.
• Upgrading and downgrading to try all the 16.x versions up to 16.2.3 -> The problem persists with all 16.x versions.
• Manually upgrading the VMware Tools up to current 12.0.0 -> The problem persists with all of the different VMware Tools versions.
• Fully Setting up new, clean VMs with Windows 10 x64 and Windows 11 x64 -> It still happens.
• Set shared folders to the antivirus ignore list in either the host or the guest AV tool (so that only one AV checks the shared folder contents to make sure there is no overlapping av monitoring) -> It still happens.
• Tried Windows Defender and different third-party AV tools -> It still happens with either of them (Windows Defender, Bitdefender, Comodo).
• Checked host OS with sfc /scannow -> No problems on host system.
• Checked that none of the shared folders overlap -> It still happens although no overlapping shared folders.
• I even get the same BSOD, if I completely deactivate shared folders in VMware and instead mount the according folders as network drive inside my VMs (i.e. access via network instead of VMware shared folders).

As of now, there seems to be NO working workaround to this problem. Not having shared folders or at least something equivalent that allows to access folders on the host is not acceptable and for sure not to be considered as a "solution" to this problem.

I'm tired of auto-rebooting VMs all the time and wasting all this time to no avail. I need to share folders between host and guest! Vmware Workstation is not usable for me any longer as long as this problem persists.

I cannot believe that VMware isn't aware of this massive problem. And still they did neither confirm nor fix this problem in all the updates that came out since Workstation 16.0.0. 

[Lodec]

Addon:

Also adding 

isolation.tools.hgfs.notify.enable = "FALSE" 

to the vmx file of the according VMs does not help. The bug persists.

[matb1966]

Seeing all the same as above on Workstation.

Anyone have any luck resolving?

[cndg6]

Same problem for me - driving me crazy.  Windows 11 (Upgraded from 10, which was upgraded from 7) guest on Windows 11 host.

Happens every time when saving a file to shared folders.