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tj1234
Contributor
Contributor

"Logging in to your PC and gathering information." goes FOREVER, in migration assistant

I attached a screen shot png file. I'm wondering if i did something wrong? It hasn't finished "logging in" for hours.

I think I wish there were just a way to do this using my external hard drive. I exported my old machine using vmware converter, but I get an error, when I try to import it. I have attached that screen shot, also. I had downloaded vmware converter last week, before fusion 3 was released, and used that to put it on the external hard drive. I wonder if it's simply that it's not compatible with fusion 3.

I really don't care how I do it, I just want to get my PC on my Mac.

note: I have XP Professional SP3 on my pc, and snow leopard on my mac.

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tj1234
Contributor
Contributor

also, when I try to import the machine, from the external hard drive, it doesn't accept any of the files, in the attached screen shot.

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superberg
Contributor
Contributor

I'm having a similar issue when trying to use my boot camp partition as my virtual machine. I left it "preparing" for eight hours. I posted about it on Tuesday. No one seems to have any idea what it means. Or, if anyone does, they're not telling.

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msmiller
Contributor
Contributor

I've made several attempts at getting this to work. No success. Longest I let it run was 12 hours. It never moves past "gathering information" after the login. I've double and triple checked settings on both the PC and the Mac.

There's also no longer any local PC based converter that can be run to create a 3.0 VM.

My overall experience with 3.0 has been awful ... from start to now. I can't say finish, well, because I can't describe the current state as finished. I've invested hours and hours and hours of effort in this and now have a 3.0 XP Pro VM that runs slower and takes more memory than what I had with 2.0.6.

Fortunately I have a cloned image of the drive from right before I upgraded. I'm reverting back to 2.0.6. Just wish I hadn't paid for the upgrade.

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superberg
Contributor
Contributor

Perhaps between the three of us, we can figure out where the problem lies. Let's start with Mac:

I'm running on a MacBook Pro (Early '08, the version just before the unibody). 2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, Mac OS 10.6.1.

On the PC side, I'm running Windows XP Home, Service Pack 3, on a 32GB NTFS partition.

How do we match up so far?

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Pat_Lee
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

I attached a screen shot png file. I'm wondering if i did something wrong? It hasn't finished "logging in" for hours.

I think I wish there were just a way to do this using my external hard drive. I exported my old machine using vmware converter, but I get an error, when I try to import it. I have attached that screen shot, also. I had downloaded vmware converter last week, before fusion 3 was released, and used that to put it on the external hard drive. I wonder if it's simply that it's not compatible with fusion 3.

I really don't care how I do it, I just want to get my PC on my Mac.

note: I have XP Professional SP3 on my pc, and snow leopard on my mac.

You don't use import from an external drive in your case. You can drag over the VMX file to use it.

However, probably the best thing to do is as follows with the VM you have on your external hard drive:

1) In the Virtual Machine Library, click Install Windows or other OS

2) Click Continue without Disk in the New Virtual Machine Assistant

3) Select Use an existing disk in the Installation Media pane

4) Select the file ending in .VMDK (the first disk of the virtual disk)

5) If you want to move this VM to your internal hard drive, select the first radio button "Make a separate copy of the virtual disk" and click Choose

6) It will take a while to make a copy of your VM disks

7) Verify the OS and click Next

😎 In the Summary screen, click on Finish

9) VMware Fusion will power on the virtual machine. Once powered on, you will most likely need to choose "Install VMware Tools" from the virtual machine menu to install VMware Fusion specific tools and drivers and then reboot.

Hope that helps.

Pat

3)

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amiga2pc2mac
Contributor
Contributor

I'm having the same/similar problem using the Fusion 3 demo. I've followed all the directions (created a password for my PC account etc.) and have even uninstalled and reinstalled the demo and restarted both my computers (Vaio desktop, Macbook Core 2 Duo), but whether I use the passcode (passcodes, because I've tried repeatedly since last night) or my PC's IP address, the result is always the same: initially, Fusion gives an error message claiming there's an error in my PC account name or password (not so), then when I try again, it goes into the infamous, endless "gathering information" zone. All of this is happening while my Mac is able to read and write to my PC via Finder and iTunes is able to share my PC and Mac libraries with no hiccups or hassles.

Is there a VMWare rep in the house? I'd love to turn this demo into a purchased product.

UPDATE: Googling for help, I found this page: . It tells me the way to go is by installing VNware Standalone Converter on my PC. Now I have, closing all programs that were using files that needed to be updated and restarting my PC. And now, when I run the Converter, I get this welcoming message:

"The version of the server we connect to is not supported."

It gives me the option to "enter the IP address or host name of the Converter Server." Since it's looking for "localhost," I enter my PC user name and password - and again I get a "failed to connect" message: "Check if the converter server is running on this computer." I thought that's what I just did by installing the program! Oh well, back to the equally frustrating challenges of running XP on my desktop PC.

UPDATE 2: My mistake: The video I linked to was for the "Converter Starter Edition." I've now installed that and will see how it goes.

Message was edited by: amiga2pc2mac

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superberg
Contributor
Contributor

Any tips for someone who wants to keep using their Boot Camp partition as a virtual machine? I want to be able to boot in Windows for more advanced 3D support when needed.

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amiga2pc2mac
Contributor
Contributor

This is an update to my message yesterday.

I followed the Converter procedure as described in the video and a VMware instructional PDF. It took a long time, but all seemed to go well, except for a semi-final step in the new VM creation process inside Fusion on the Mac where I was forced to pick one of three options not documented in the instructions. I chose to (something like) "copy from the existing VM," i.e., not to share with or erase the original. It seemed like the safest option. Having done that, Fusion made the copy, but I'm now stuck on the completion window. It says"The configuration of the virtual machine is now complete," but all the buttons - finish, cancel, go back, customize settings - are ghosted. If I independently click on the .vmwarevm file, I just get this message:

The document could not be opened.

What to do? I hope someone who supports this product is reading.

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tabbas
Contributor
Contributor

I am experiencing the same problems with the migration assistant as everyone here.

My system is almost identical to yours superberg:

Macbook Pro OS X 10.6.1 Snow Leopard. 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. 4 GB, 1067 MHz DDR3

XP Home Edition with SP3

Unlike many of you here, I'm a novice when it comes to VM's - this is my first attempt at getting one to work on my Mac and so far, I'm pretty disappointed that the advertising for Fusion was so far misleading. I hope VMware are going to stand by their money back guarantee.

Any help in plain English (sorry, I'm not up with technical terms :smileymischief:) would be very much appreciated.

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4chrisheuer
Contributor
Contributor

same problem here - so upset I paid for the upgrade and the product does not work as promised

and no vmware people anywhere brave enough to tell the truth or to support the community of users. thats really sad. I had thought better of them until now

calling tomorrow to request a refund

Chris

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Macaroni
Contributor
Contributor

I too have had all the same experiences as tj1234, amiga2mac2pc etc. and I'm hoping that a VM rep is hovering nearby.

I believe this to be a major but fixable bug in Fusion. It can't be a network issue as my home Mac and PC network has been working flawlessly for three years now. While VM was alternately telling me my passwords/username were wrong or "Could not make secure connection..." I had several hard drives from each machine happily mounted on various desktops with full permissions and sharing.

This actually concerned me so I tried migration with no mounted disks or folders. Same thing.

This is a deal breaker for me - I wanted to be able to carry my PC on my MacBook for traveling and business purposes. If VMware can't fix Migration within my 30 day money back period then I'll be asking for it.

I know they need help with this so I made a service request and included the 'Gather info' feature and attached it. I suggest others do as well.

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superberg
Contributor
Contributor

The Mac OS 10.6.2 update fixed the problem for me.

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Macaroni
Contributor
Contributor

Interesting - I'm running OSX 10.6.2 (XP SP3) and am still unable to join the two.

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jayotte
Contributor
Contributor

I am also new to VM, using Mac OS 10.6.2 also, and also experience the same problem, connecting to the PC goes forever...

I would like to see some user from VMware answer to this thread, at least to say "We are aware of this problem and working on a solution" if there is not one ready to be offered.

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Macaroni
Contributor
Contributor

I've completed a support request to resolve this issue and have been contacted by a support person ( 24 hours later - not bad in my experience )who has requested my VM logs and port mappings. There it lies for now - I'm expecting to hear back from them soon. I recommend that everyone does a support request as it could be that it might take more than one incident to figure this out.

I will share any progress with this thread.

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LCubed
Contributor
Contributor

Did you get any response to the review of your log files?

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Macaroni
Contributor
Contributor

Nope ... all quiet so far.

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LCubed
Contributor
Contributor

I reinstalled the PC VM client and retried. It seemed to work this time.

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superberg
Contributor
Contributor

I filed a report with customer support when I was having problems. They collected two sets of support info from me.

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