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Danxity
Contributor
Contributor

VMWare Working Station 16 Pro Translucent windows known issue for all Windows 10

Hi I just reinstalled Windows 10 Pro and running Windows 10 Pro 21H2 on host. I saved a copy of my virtual machine from my old hard drive and copied over to new hard drive. Now when I run Windows 10 Pro in VMWare Workstation 16 Pro on new machine I'm getting translucent windows. This problem was fixed already on my old hard drive due to new upgrade of DirectX and OpenGL from VMWare 15 to 16. But why did this problem come back again and how to I fix it?

I had to format and reinstall Windows 10 Pro again because my computer was messed up before. On my old hard drive VMWare was working perfectly and did not have the translucent windows problem.

Currently running
Host: Windows 10 Pro 21H2
VMWare: Windows 10 Pro 20H2 (VMware tools: 11.2.6, build-17901274)

Example:
https://gyazo.com/95236f56a24f5d4c138ebf1798879d44


OpenGL:

https://gyazo.com/c965e054aa7d6f03e27553146b661bec

https://gyazo.com/3db6d5d8763103d09519e7582ca8b6c9

DirectX:
https://gyazo.com/0502c24584e5460352b32a1f7271196a

https://gyazo.com/82751ebca8746d8907390c2cf3ddb551

The problem is probably coming from that OpenGL 4.4 is not checked. I think I remember before OpenGL 4.4 had check mark. But how do I get that working again?

And please do not suggest me to turn off "Accelerate 3D graphics". I need it otherwise the programs that I use will randomly crash

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17 Replies
Danxity
Contributor
Contributor

I hope VMWare technical expert would look into this?

I found a temp. solution. Not updating VMWare tools seem to have done the trick. So maybe it's the newer versions of the VMWare tools messing it up.

Is there a list of VMWare tools I could test out where it doesn't mess up and not cause the translucent windows?

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Danxity
Contributor
Contributor

I could confirm that if I don't install "VMWare Tools" the problem is solved and I don't get the translucent windows.

What I discovered in OpenGL Viewer:

https://gyazo.com/9805c2a2de675e949b4a97b1a830650e
Did not install VMWare tools, and it's working perfectly
OpenGL showing 2 GL Extensions less total of 159.

https://gyazo.com/e9d888d866940673e957ba5b7f90acec
Installed VMWare tools, and causes certain windows and apps to have translucent windows
OpenGL showing 2 GL Extensions more total of 161.



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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Please make sure that your VM is using the latest virtual hardware (vHW version 18)

I've seen similar translucency problems with Windows 10 when running on the latest VMware Workstation version, but not using the latest virtual hardware version within the VM.

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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Danxity
Contributor
Contributor

Yes I have tried this on different machines as well, and it doesn't fix the problem. My friends are also having the same issue and I have asked them try change to 18 as well and it didn't work for them. 

I thought that changing to 18 was the solution before just like you. Because when I was upgrading from VM 15 to 16 I changed the VHW version to 18 it completely fixed it and I was so happy. But later recently I found out that was only part of the solution. If you install VMWare tools it will just mess up back in your face immediately. I even told my friend before changing to vHW 18 would fix it for sure and they said it didn't work, and I was surprised but now I understand why they said it doesn't work due to the fact that they installed VMWare tools.

so seems like the vmware team didn't test their updates before pushing it out to the public

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

One other thing to check (which you probably already did) is if there's a newer graphics driver for your host GPU and update it if there is one.

What graphics adapter is your host using?

Also if the host has two graphic adapters, can you check if VMware is using the more capable one for the VM? (this type of info can be found in the vmware.log file)

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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Danxity
Contributor
Contributor

I am using only one GPU

GPU: ASUS GeForce 1050 GTX Ti

Yes I have updated to the latest driver provided on NVIDIA site.

ATM I found a work around trick.

1. Back up the VM's on a external or cloud service.

2. Update VMWare Tools so you could use awesome features like Unity Mode. After updating you will get translucent issue 100% but no worries. Delete your VM

3. Copy and paste your back up, and fire it up. And voila I could use both Unity Mode + No translucent problem anymore !!!

And just to prove I am the KING and I made it work

Here is full proof 😄
https://gyazo.com/0ac2fed77cce6ee4e0f84dd7a2ddac45

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Ok. Glad to hear you have a workaround.
The GPU sounds fine to me, that should not be an issue.

Careful with the backup to only make it with the VM shut down, else you might end up with a corrupted vm.

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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Danxity
Contributor
Contributor

I'm sorry my solution actually doesn't work at all. I thought it was working because I applied it to clones that I backed up from the before that had the working clones that don't have the translucent windows.

The current VMWware Workstation Pro 16 VMware Tools Installation is 100% bugged though. I'm not the only one experiencing this problem. All my friends that I have asked also have this problem.

So my question is there a way to only install Unity Mode feature only and ignore all other updates so I don't get the translucent problem with vmware?

I'm not sure but the clones that are working with unity mode and no translucent windows as I checked the vmxf file and it showing the following when I look into with text format...

vmtoolsd installed="TRUE" version="11.1.5.22735

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Danxity
Contributor
Contributor

I finally solved it once and for all !!!

Download VMWare Tools 11.1.1 !!!

I got the help from here https://us.informatiweb.net/member/support/requests/41-recent-vmware-tools-update-causing-translucen...

Thank you so much InformatiWeb !!! You are the best !!!

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Translucent
Contributor
Contributor

I have the same issue and been trying various combinations.

OS Host and Guest: Windows 10 21H1 Enterprise

Host GPU: Intel UHD 630 (driver version 27.20.100.8190)

Guest GPU: VMware SVGA 3D

Guest: 16 GB RAM, 8 GB shared graphics memory

My primary test case was the "..." menu of MS Edge, which was translucent and -- with the default Edge background -- completely unreadable. These were the combinations that I tried:

VMware version

HW version

VMware Tools version

Edge menu

16.2.3

19

11.3.5 (OOB 16.2.3)

translucent

16.2.3

18

11.3.5 (OOB 16.2.3)

translucent

16.2.3

18

11.1.1

translucent

16.2.3

18

12.0.5

translucent

16.2.3

18

11.0.0

translucent

16.0.0

18

11.0.0

translucent

16.0.0

18

11.1.5 (OOB 16.0.0)

translucent

16.0.0

18

11.1.1

translucent

 

Which combination is known to work certainly? Is there any possibility that the host HW / driver influences this?

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

see also: https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/Problem-with-Microsoft-Edge-Windows-11-and-...

The issue you're seeing is a known issue.

It has been discussed many times for the various browsers (google chrome and even Firefox).

The issue has to do with hardware rendering.

The fix is to either turn off 3D for the VM completely, but the better solution is to turn it off in MS Edge.

In order to do so, in MS Edge go to settings -> select "System and Performance" and disable "hardware acceleration".

After doing that, the problems should be resolved.

If you are not able to access settings in MS Edge via the steps above, then you can also open the page "edge://settings/system" to get to the 'Hardware acceleration' settings.

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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Translucent
Contributor
Contributor

Hi, thank you for the reply, but unfortunately it does not help all the way.

Edge was just my primary test case, as it is easily reachable after login. My company is working on an application that heavily uses transparency and video streaming and thus 3D acceleration would be of great benefit for using that app in a virtual machine. The app suffers from the same problems.

If this is a HW rendering issue, are there any HW components that are better supported?

 

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

I don't work for VMware, so can't really make statements like that. There's also no list of "better supported GPU's" that I am aware of.

Having said all that.. an Intel UHD 630 is bottom of the barrel kind of support. It probably misses some of the hardware features that make this issue worse.

As you can read in other replies (in this thread even) about these kind of issues. They are not as bad on hardware such as a NVIDIA 1050 or better once all VM's settings are optimal.

Will that completely fix your issues? That's not something I can answer for you.

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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bluefirestorm
Champion
Champion

If you don't use an Intel UHD, an alternative would be to use OpenGL instead of DX11 for the 3D rendering. Shut down the VM and edit the vmx as follows:

mks.enableDX11Renderer = "FALSE"
mks.enableGLRenderer = "TRUE"

This generally works around the rendering problems seem in Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge) and QT applications such as DropBox, Viber if you have an Nvidia GPU. So I think it is some problem with ANGLE and/or VMware (QT5 looks like uses ANGLE underneath). With GLRenderer for Intel integrated, the problem gets even worse for Windows 10/11 VMs (the logon screen avatar is just a circle, the menus are also not rendered properly); so the workaround is not recommended for Intel UHD 630.

You could try though VulkanRenderer with the Intel UHD 630 but I think this only works for 16.0 and not 16.2.3 for Windows hosts.

mks.enableDX11Renderer = "FALSE"
mks.enableVulkanRenderer = "TRUE"

For Nvidia GPU hardware, probably can get away with the Maxwell Gen 2 (Maxwell Gen 1 does not support DX11.1); but as wila says a Pascal GPU is the better minimum. It is very likely you don't need to apply the GLRenderer workaround for Nvidia Pascal or newer GPUs. GPU memory size is only important if you intend to run many VMs with 3D simultaneously. My VM GPU memory usage rarely go above 400MB (as seen from nvidia-smi on the mksSandbox process) with an Ubuntu host.

I don't have much direct experience in using AMD GPUs with Windows hosts.

Translucent
Contributor
Contributor

I did several changes and finally got it working -- a big thank you to all the support from you guys!

The final change that got it working was bluefirestorm's suggestion to use the OpenGL instead of the DX11 renderer.

Changed also:

- different hardware:
  a) Intel UHD Graphics / Xe / Tiger lake (PIC 8086:9A60)
  b) NVidia RTX A3000 Laptop GPU

- updated NVidia driver (31.0.15.1659)

- in NVidia Control Center, changed 3D settings to use the NVidia card as global default (base profile) and for mkssandbox.exe and vmware-vmx.exe

Used VMware V16.2.3 and virtualHW version 19 for the VM. Furthermore I am making sure that the VMware starts and remains on the external display (as this is supposedly linked to the NVidia GPU on my used laptop).

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Translucent
Contributor
Contributor

For completeness: Using the Vulkan renderer on Intel UHD 630 works in principle (windows are not translucent), but is really heavy on the CPU if doing video replay. (About 50% of an i7-8700 for a full HD video ...)

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Danxity
Contributor
Contributor

The problem is I don't want to turn off 3D. Anyways I have already found the solution. You just need the correct drivers for VMWare. No need to make it so complicated. Just install my suggested solution mentioned above

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