Windows 7 guest problems under Fusion 6: Unity failures, clipboard sharing broken, Host machine impacted

[Optimyzed]

I have been happily using a Windows 7 Pro guest VM for may weeks under Fusion 5.  Unity worked without issue, clipboards shared between guest and host (and vice versa).  All was well with this VM under Fusion 5.

Over the weekend, I backed up my Macbook and installed Fusion 6.  I upgraded the Win7 VM and installed the new VMWare tools.  After restarting, I noticed that the VMWareTools Icon did not appear in the Task Bar "tray."  I uninstalled VMWare Tools, rebooted, reinstalled the Tools, and rebooted.  This time, the VMWare Tools icon appeared in the tray.

However, when I tried to switch to Unity view, the VM display window disappeared for 5-10 second, then reappeared without switching into Unity mode.  At this point, the VMWare Tools icon also disappeared from the tray.

The clipboard sharing is not working, either from guest to host or from host to guest.

Finally, when this Windows 7 VM is running, I am experiencing performance issues in other programs running on the host.  In some cases, normally smooth animations are "stuttering" and skipping.  This goes away when I shutdown Fusion, and was NEVER and issue with Fusion 5, even running multiple VMs concurrently.  The host is a  Macbook Pro with 8 GB RAM.  The Windows 7 guest is allocated 2 GB and 1 virtual core.

I am sorely tempted to roll everything back to Fusion 5, as Fusion 6 doesn't seem ready for prime time.  Would appreciate any feedback or info on others experiencing similar issues.

[admin]

Hi Optimyzed,

Thanks for using the Fusion. We suggest use the Fusion 6.0.1 (VMware Fusion 6.0.1 and VMware Fusion 6.0.1 Professional Release Notes).

If this issue still reproduced, please attach the log .

How to  collect a support bundle by:

1. Launch Fusion

2. Go to Help menu -> Collect Support Information, and attach the vm-*.zip file on your desktop to the thread

BTW, could you provide your OS version, such as mac 10.8.5 or other version, this may help to investigate this issue. Thanks.

[Optimyzed]

LeoWang18, thanks very  much for the reply!  I have been running 6.0.1 from the start since upgrading from Fusion 5.  The Mac host is running 10.8.5 (12F37) on a 2.5 GHz Core2 Duo with 8 GB RAM.

I have generated the requested log bundle after booting with target Windows 7 guest machine and failing to switch into Unity mode and attempting to copy text from the guest and paste into the host.  I will send the zip file to you via private message.  Thanks again!

[admin]

Hi Optimyzed,

Thanks for providing your environment which Fusion ran. It seemed that the tools may not work properly according to your comment.

Since the Apple release the latest 10.8.5 (12F45), so I suggest that the following steps:

1. Upgrade to 12F45 (Please back up before upgrade if possible)

2. Install the Fusion 6.0.1 (VMware Fusion 6.0.1 and VMware Fusion 6.0.1 Professional Release Notes).

3. Power on your Win7 VM

4. Uninstall the previous version of Tools (Control Panel -> Programs and Feature, select VM Tools and uninstall)

5. Restart the vm

6. Install the Tools and reboot vm, after restart, make sure the VM tools appeared in the tray (that means the tools work properly)

7. Then switch to Unity mode.

It should be fine if you goes smoothly from steps 1-7. If issue still encountered after you do the steps, please Go to Help menu -> Collect Support Information, and attach the vm-*.zip file on your desktop to the thread.

Thanks for that, and hope it is a help for you.

[Optimyzed]

LeoWang18,

Thanks for the guidance.  I agree that it seems the Tools are not working properly.  It will take me another day or so to complete your suggested steps.  I removed Fusion 6.0.1 and reverted to 5.0.3, which was is working well.  I need the stability and Unity desktop for my work.

I ran a backup last night and hope to have an opportunity to apply the Mac OS patches later today, and perhaps reinstall Fusion 6.0.1 tonight to try the rest of your suggested steps.  I am not optimistic that the Mac OS patches will make a difference, but I will do as you suggest in order to provide information that will hopefully lead to getting Fusion 6 working at least as well as Fusion 5 works.

I will post the results here when I've completed your steps.

[Optimyzed]

LeoWang18,

I followed your steps as requested:

1. Upgrade to 12F45 (Please back up before upgrade if possible)

2. Install the Fusion 6.0.1 (VMware Fusion 6.0.1 and VMware Fusion 6.0.1 Professional Release Notes).

3. Power on your Win7 VM

4. Uninstall the previous version of Tools (Control Panel -> Programs and Feature, select VM Tools and uninstall) - Note: this crashed the first time I tried, but succeeded after a VM restart

5. Restart the vm

6. Install the Tools and reboot vm, after restart, make sure the VM tools appeared in the tray (that means the tools work properly)

7. Then switch to Unity mode.

Switching to Unity mode failed.  After the VM window reappeared, the VMWare Tools icon was no longer showing in the taskbar tray. Also, cut-and-paste between guest and host (both directions) did not work either.

Same results as before the 12F45 OS X patch.

I will DM you with info to get the support logs bundle.

[harmv]

I'm a having the same problems.

I Upgraded from vmware fusion 5 prof  to fusion 6.0.1 professional, and copy/paste between   host (mac) and vm (XP)  is broken.

[Duncan_Idaho1]

Had the same problem with an XP SP3 guest after upgrading from Fusion 4 on Mavericks. I tried reinstallation of Tools, leaving the hardware on level 8 instead of new level 10. Nothing worked, so I reinstalled Rel. 4 but that's not a solution of the problem.

[DBNAE]

I'm having the same issue; tried all of the suggestions listed, but copy/paste still do not work between by Windows 7 VM and my Mac OS.  I'm on the latest release of MAC OS 10..8.5, Windows 7 and VMware 6.0.1

[phil2bin]

Same problems running Mavericks 10.9.2 and VMWare 6.02.  Looks like there is really no solution.  Is there an alternative to VMWare that serves the same purpose (runs concurrently with Mac OS)?  I'm willing to migrate.

[DBNAE]

phil2bin

Stay on VMWare 5 or use Parrallels.

[brado77]

Same problem. MBP, OS X 10.9.2 (Mavericks). Copy / Past from/to OS X / Windows 7 host doesn't work. 

[DawidX]

I had some success with Shut down the Win7 VM. Virtual Machine > Settings > Isolation . Uncheck "Enable Drag and Drop" and "Enable Copy and Paste". Start the Win7 VM. Shut down Win7 VM. Check "Enable Drag and Drop" and "Enable Copy and Paste". Start the Win7 VM.

Lets see how long this "fix" lasts

[pambrocio]

i having the same problem on my mbp 8,2

[Droso]

Hello

i had the same problem on a W7 guest machine using VMware fusion 6.0.3. The problem is due to the fact that vmtoolsd crashes at the user login so that VMwaretools is not working properly. I corrected the problem by setting at minimum the cursor in "Contrôle de compte utilisateur" in "Centre de maintenance".

I hope that can help.