macOS 10.13.5 or Fusion 10.1.2 or VMware Tools broke macOS on macOS

[kboortz]

Stupidly I did three upgrades at once so I'm not sure which one broke my macOS on macOS

setup in VMware Fusion. I did the upgrades in this order

1. I upgraded from macOS 10.13.4 t to 10.13.5 (host only, not guest)

2. After reboot VMware fusion started and asked if to upgraded from 10.1.1 to 10.1.2 and I accepted.

3. It must have restored the VM I was running as I could do "Install VMware Tools".

4. After rebooting the VM I'm thrown into the macOS installer each time I try, that tells me

macOS could not be installed on your computer

An error occured while loading the installer resources.

Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again.

Any idea what I can do to get back to a normal boot of my VM with macOS?

If not possible, what folders should I restore from Time Machine? I assume I should restore the VM image and "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app", but what other folders? "/Library/", "/System/" and "~/Library/" ?

I tried just restore the VM, it did not help. So I assume it is not the "VMware Tools" upgrade that is causing the trouble.

[ColoradoMarmot]

That's a known bug with the High Sierra updates.  I was able to fix it by:

1) Boot in safe mode (hold down shift key during boot

2) download and install the combo updater (NOT via app store/software update) while in safe mode

[kboortz]

Thank you for your answer.

Could you please clarify, do you mean that running macOS 10.13.5 as host OS will prevent macOS 10.13.4 guest OS from starting correctly in Fusion 10.1.2?

I.e. when starting the macOS 10.13.4 guest OS in Fusion I need to start in safe mode and upgrade the guest OS to 10.13.5?

I will definitely try it, just a bit puzzled

[kboortz]

Ok, went back in time for my whole computer using command-r and a snapshot just before I did my updates. Same problem.

Oh, now I get it I think. I must have accidentally said "yes" to do the macOS 10.13.5 update in the guest OS some time back and now when rebooting it fails like you said.

Now started in safe mode and did the 10.13.5 install from the combo installer in the guest OS. But end up with the same error dialog after it rebooted, "macOS could not be installed on your computer"...

What do I do now... ? ;(

[kboortz]

With the help of Time Machine backups, local snapshots, and being a bit more careful when "upgrading" I kind of got back to some state that is working. I hope.

Some notes, true or not, but what I think I need to remember next time I do an upgrade. Running "macOS on macOS" using VMware Fusion is a bit "sensitive" so extra steps is a good thing

1. Make sure you have Time Machine backups.
2. Make sure you have disk space for multiple local snapshots (I think it silently deletes old ones to make room for new ones).
3. For each upgrade of VMware Fusion and/or the guest OS run "tmutil snapshot" in Terminal to get restore points. You could make a note about what time stamp corresponds to what change. Or make complete Time Machine backups on external media but takes more time.
4. If you need to restore, reboot the host OS with command-r keys down to get into recovery mode, select Time Machine Backup and a local snapshot before your change that broke things.
5. When taking snapshots, taking back a virtual disk from backup, or upgrading VMware Fusion, or upgrading the guest OS, always shut down the guest OS and terminate VMware Fusion. I.e. don't let any state be saved in memory or outside the virtual disk. I corrupted the guest OS multiple times when being too hasty and was too optimistic doing changes.
6. Also if upgrading VMware Tools do the steps, terminate guest OS, exit VMware Fusion, take a snapshot, start VMware Fusion, start the guest OS, do the upgrade. And try it out.