"No 3D support is available from the host." in version 5

[luc_j_bourhis]

Hi,

I get that message when starting up or waking up any VM with guest OS for which 3D should be supported (Fedora 17 and Win 7 e.g.). Does it mean my graphic card is too old? I've got an ancient machine indeed, 1st gen Mac Pro!

Best wishes,

Luc J. Bourhis

[AndrewTaubman]

I got this too, despite not getting it under Fusion 4.x . In fact I just paid to upgrade to Fusion 5 precisely because it claimed to have better 3D support, instead it is worse - so far.

ETA: Guest is Windows XP SP3, and 3D support is enabled in the guest's Fusion settings.

[amalthea]

I also run Fusion 5 on a MacPro1,1 and for me its even worse. All WMs come up with completely black screen output. I know they boot correctly, because I can hear the Windows startup chime after a while, but I don’t get any screen output.

[WoodyZ · Accepted solution]

luc_j_bourhis wrote: Does it mean my graphic card is too old? I've got an ancient machine indeed, 1st gen Mac Pro!

From the VMware Fusion 5 System Requirements:

Recommended graphics hardware for Windows Aero support:

• NVIDIA 8600M or better
• ATI 2600 or better

From other information I've read during the Technical Previews, "3D acceleration is not available on Macs with the following GPUs: NVIDIA GeForce 7300, 7600, Quadro FX 4500, Intel 965, X3100 and ATI X1600, X1900." however I do not know how much of this changed in the release version, nonetheless I'd imagine for the most part it's still applicable.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Since that machine won't run 10.8 either...it's probably time to upgrade (assuming that Apple ever releases a new update).

[luc_j_bourhis]

Thanks woodyz, exactly the precise answer I wished to get!

[bigboi00069]

I get the same thing in Fusion 5, along with no aero. I have an early 2008 macbook with x3100 graphics. Is there a workaround/is this going to be fixed? Or am i going to have to go back to Fusion 4 where i had 3d and aero?

[gdwiley]

That'll teach me not to read the fine print.

In other words, I just paid for an upgrade that removes 3 Mac's from my pool of 5. I guess I dig out my Fusion v4 installs and put up with a little bit of slowness...

[WoodyZ]

gdwiley wrote:

That'll teach me not to read the fine print.

In other words, I just paid for an upgrade that removes 3 Mac's from my pool of 5.

VMware provides a free 30 day trial serial number and the product is fully functional during this time and I will never understand why anyone would purchase anything before using the trial to make sure it meets one need/wants, and to not take advantage of the trial before purchasing is IMO just plain senseless!

[gdwiley]

Absolutely true. I have been using VMware products since VMWare Workstation 2.1 and been a beta tester for the past few years. I just got ahead of myself with this release & didn't realize my video cards were listed among the ones that were no longer supported. My bad...

Gerry Wiley

[marcking]

I have an '06 iMac.  Used VM Fusion 2 for a long time...upgraded to iOS 6... VM Fusion no longer worked.

I installed the trial version and it worked fine.  Just ran out of my 30 days and purchased/installed VMF 5... and I'm getting the 'No 3D support from host' message too.  I see the program I last had running when everything worked, but when startup is complete, the screen goes black.

Is there a way for me to get version 4???

[WoodyZ]

marcking wrote: I have an '06 iMac.  Used VM Fusion 2 for a long time...upgraded to iOS 6... VM Fusion no longer worked.

iOS has nothing to do with this and you didn't upgrade to an iOS on your Mac because iOS is for iPhone, iPad and iPod not Mac's!

Is there a way for me to get version 4???

You can still download it from VMware although if you don't have a v4 serial number it won't do you any good.  You could probably still purchase it somewhere online, like Amazon.

[AndrewTaubman]

I had to log a support call with them, they rang me (at home!) and talked me through it.

They said that the cause of the problem was the specific model of video card that's in my Mac Pro, ATI x1900. I'll be buying a new iMac in December and Fusion 5 should worrk fine in that and provide 3D in XP. They say.

[ColoradoMarmot]

You must have an old MacPro 1,1.  It won't run 10.8 anyway, so upgrading is probably a good idea!

[marcking]

@woodyz... you're right!  It was a long day.  I'm running Lion 10.7.5

[marcking]

@dlhotka... I don't think so?  It's an iMac.

I refuse to buy a new computer because apple wants to make mine obsolete.  I'll find a way!!!

[gdwiley]

So I uninstalled Fusion v5 and reinstalled v4 which solved the "No 3D support..." message. Everything was working fine again. Two weeks later my v4 serial number was invalidated.

What gives??

[WoodyZ]

I'm assuming you purchased the upgrade to v5 so it stands to reason that the v4 serial number is invalidated so as not to be able to continue using both.

[gdwiley]

Yup, I did purchase the upgrade. Normally I don't try an upgrade before I purchase it. In this case it would have saved me some money and aggravation.

I don't suppose any of the programmers at VMware could add a switch that allows '3D support in a less efficient mode' to v5 for us older systems that are still perfectly good.

I guess we should be thanking Apple for building computers that outlast the software...

[looter]

I am having an issue with menus disappearing, jittery pointer and pointer redraw only in Unity.

Support is saying that is because I have an ATI X1900.

I recently installed 5.0.2 from 4.1.4. Before that I was running 3.x.

These issues were not present with either 3.x or 4.x

Here are the Recommended graphics hardware for Fusion 3-5. This is ONLY recommended for Windows Aero support. No mention of Unity or Fusion as a whole not working with X1900. And it is not in the system REQUIREMENTS.

Note there is NO CHANGE in the recommended graphics hardware since 3.x.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=200519...

Fusion 5.x

Recommended graphics hardware for Windows Aero support

To experience Windows Aero 3D graphics, you need one of these graphics cards:

• NVIDIA 8600M or better

• ATI 2600 or better

For more information, see Getting Started with VMware Fusion 5.

Fusion 4.x

Recommended graphics hardware for Windows Aero support

To experience Windows Aero 3D graphics, you need one of these graphics cards:

• ATI Radeon 2600 or better
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600M or better

For more information, see Getting Started with VMware Fusion 4.

Fusion 3.x

Recommended graphics hardware for Windows Aero support

To experience Windows Aero 3D graphics, you need one of these graphics cards:

• ATI Radeon 2600 or better
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600M or better

For more information, see Getting Started with VMware Fusion 3.