VMWare Tools Fusion & Workstation

[xenov_v]

Hoping someone has come across this before and can point me in the right direction.

On moving any Windows VM (10 / Server 2022) from Fusion (Mac) to Workstation (Windows), with VMWare Tools installed, the VM won't reach the login screen. Following the windows boot splash, a black screen loads with the spinning loading symbol - the screen freezes and VM then hangs indefinitely. 

• Fusion v12.2.5 (MacOS)
• Workstation Pro v17.0.1 (Windows 10)

All testing has been done using clones from the same image & both Win10 and Server 2022 appear to display the exact same issue, so have been merged and referenced to as only Windows VM below. VMware Tools installed from iso referred to as VMTools. 

• Windows VM copied with VMTools installed while on Fusion (setup64.exe /S /v "/qn REBOOT=R ADDLOCAL=ALL"), crashes as above on Workstation
• Windows VM copied with VMTools installed while on Fusion (GUI install - "complete" option for all VMware), crashes as above on Workstation
• Windows VM copied without installing VMTools, works, no issues
• Windows VM copied with VMTools installed while on Fusion, then uninstalled before copying to Workstation, works, no issues
• Windows VM copied with VMTools installed while on Fusion, crashes as above on Workstation. Booting to safemode, uninstalling VMware tools, and reinstalling VMWare tools fixes boot issue

Is there a flag I'm missing at install that allows VMWare tools to be compatible with both systems, or is this expected behaviour? Ideally I'd like to be able to configure the VM with VMware tools and have it run on either platform.

Thanks in advance! 

[Technogeezer]

What version of Tools is installed in those Windows VMs?

Did you choose to upgrade the virtual hardware version when you powered on the VM on the Workstation system?

[xenov_v]

Vmware Tools v 11.3.5, build-18557794

Have tried both keeping at HW version 17 (As generated on fusion) and upgrading to 20 (Max supported on Workstation) after importing into Workstation, to no success.

[Technogeezer]

It's never been my experience that there are any kind of "flags" that are available or need to be set to move a VM from Mac to Windows or vice-versa. The VMware Tools packages are the same between Fusion and Workstation (there's no "special" build of Tools for Fusion AFAIK).

As an experiment. to test the theory that tools don't need to be adjusted to move the Fusion VM to Windows.

I just built a Windows 10 Pro 22H2 (19045.2728) VM on Fusion 12.2.6 running on macOS 12.6.3 Monterey. Hardware is a lowly Mac mini 2014.

The VM was built with hardware version 19 - the latest and default supported by Fusion 12.2.6. VMware Tools is reported as 11.3.5. build 18557794. Unity is not being used. 

I shut down the VM and transferred it to a Dell laptop running Workstation 17 under Windows 10 Home 22H2 (19045.2728) using a flash drive. As a note, Hyper-V is disabled on this PC as the CPU isn't new enough, so I'm running on the legacy VMware hypervisor. The VM came over intact.

I opened the copied VM (File -> Open and then located the .vmx file of my copied VM), and changed the settings for the virtual CD (it was pointing to a file path on the macOS system which means nothing to Windows). The VM is still running on HW version 19.

Powered the VM, and it came up with the existing Tools version. No crash or hang.  I was able to log in. Immediately after login it upgraded automatically to VMware Tools 12.1.5, build 20735119. Still no issues with logging in.

As a test, I downgraded the hardware to version 17 and the upgraded VMware Tools. It's still able to start up. No crash.

I also upgraded the hardware version to version 20. No crash.

I'm not seeing any of the crashing/hanging behavior you are seeing. Something else is awry. 

On thing you might want to do is to make sure that 3D support is disabled on first power-up of the moved VM. If it boots, then turn it on and re-check the symptoms.