There is a USB compatibility issue with some older macOS versions when run as a guest in recent versions of VMware Fusion. I encountered this with my OS X 10.10 Yosemite VM and I've heard of others running into the same issue with OS X 10.11 El Capitan.
The solution: switch the VM to USB 2.0 instead of USB 3.0.
In a somewhat older version of VMware Fusion I have handy, the steps to do this are:
- Shut down the VM.
- Open the settings for the VM.
- Click on the USB & Bluetooth category.
- Near the bottom, click on the triangle next to "Advanced USB options" to reveal those.
- Change the USB Compatibility pop-up from "USB 3.0" to "USB 2.0".
- Close settings and start up the VM again.
