Windows 11 Screen Flickers / Goes Black after Upgrading to Fusion 13.5

[MattPackwood]

I am having issues after upgrading an existing Windows 11 Instance to Vmware Fusion 13.5, the "Window" will blank / go back, every few seconds. The Vmware machine is upgraded, security upgraded, Vmware tools upgraded...

[Technogeezer]

Intel or M1/M2 Mac?

macOS version?

[MattPackwood]

Sorry!

M1 iMac

Sonoma 14.0

[Technogeezer]

Try uninstalling the VMware Tools, rebooting the VM, then re-installing the tools.

[joedec · Accepted solution]

I had the same issue, increase Shared Graphics Memory to 8192MB, in VM Settings/Display Accelerate 3D Graphics. Or you can turn off acceleration.

[MattPackwood]

Yep, that appears to fix it!

[yazmeh]

Experiencing screen flickering or blackouts after upgrading to VMware Fusion 13.5 on a Windows 11 instance can be frustrating. Here are a few steps to troubleshoot and potentially resolve the issue:

1. Update VMware Tools: Ensure that VMware Tools is up-to-date within your virtual machine. Outdated tools can sometimes cause compatibility issues with the host system.

2. Check Display Settings: Inside the Windows 11 virtual machine, navigate to Settings > System > Display. Make sure the display settings are compatible with your host system. Try adjusting the resolution and display mode to see if it resolves the flickering issue.

3. Graphics Hardware Compatibility: Verify that the graphics hardware acceleration settings in VMware Fusion are compatible with your Windows 11 instance. You can find these settings in VM > Settings > Display > Accelerate 3D graphics. Experiment with enabling or disabling hardware acceleration to see if it makes a difference.

4. Update Graphics Drivers: If you're running VMware Fusion on a Mac, ensure that your Mac's graphics drivers are up-to-date. Outdated or incompatible graphics drivers on the host system can lead to display issues within virtual machines.

5. Allocate Sufficient Resources: Check the allocated resources for your virtual machine. If the virtual machine doesn't have enough memory (RAM) or CPU resources, it might struggle to render the Windows 11 interface smoothly. Adjust the allocated resources in VM > Settings > Processors & Memory.

6. Rollback VMware Fusion: If the issue persists and started immediately after upgrading to VMware Fusion 13.5, consider rolling back to the previous version that was stable. Sometimes, newly released updates might have unforeseen compatibility issues with specific configurations.

7. Contact VMware Support: If none of the above solutions work, it's advisable to contact VMware support. They can provide tailored assistance based on your specific setup and might be aware of any known issues or patches related to your problem.

Remember to back up your virtual machine before making significant changes or reverting to previous versions of VMware Fusion. This ensures that you can restore your VM if any data loss occurs during troubleshooting.

[MattPackwood]

It was insufficient Video RAM after the upgrade.

[Technogeezer]

@MattPackwood tand @joedec hat's a good tip. I'll include that (and credit you) in the next version of the unofficial companion guidel

[MattPackwood]

Cedit to @joedec only, I was just the one with the issue...

[joedec]

Thanks!

I am really enjoying the 13.5 upgrade, the graphics improvements in Windows are remarkable.

[GOT01]

I have solved this issue by increasing the amount of memory assigned to the parameter "Shared graphics memory"

Thanks lot yazmeh !!!

[YeisonNL]

Same issue. Solved very fast with your solution. Just turned it off the VM, adjusted the Share Graphics memory to 8GB and after starting the VM again issue is not coming back 😃👏