Unable to retrieve kernel symbols

[admin]

Have just uploaded my iMac to the latest Software version i.e. 10.5.8.

Trying to start up my VM fusion ware Version 1.XXX with no luck, but alarm messages appear as follow:

Unable to retrieve kernel symbols

Failed to initialize monitor device

Cannot find a valid peer procces to connect to

Tried to restore from Time Machine same problem as above.

Any suggestion to fix this problem?

[admin]

I would suggest updating to the newest version of VMware Fusion which is 2.0.5. It is a free upgrade for 1.x users

You can download it from

You will also need to update your virtual machine to 2.0 hardware. Instructions to do this are located here

[admin]

Unable to retrieve kernel symbols

This is probably the root cause and everything else is a result of it. If you reinstall Fusion, do you get any errors in the process? Does /mach_kernel exist?

[admin]

Your quick response is mostly appreciated.

In regard to your question "<span class="jive-thread-reply-body-container">If you reinstall Fusion, do you get any errors in the process?"

Re-installed Fusion Version 1.x from time machine only. No I did not get any message "<span class="jive-thread-reply-body-container">Does /mach_kernel exist?"

However I will try to upload Version 2.x and advise of outcome.

Thanks for your help so far

[admin]

Re-installed Fusion Version 1.x from time machine only.

What do you mean? If you mean you restored a Time Machine backup, this very definitely doesn't count and could cause problems.

[admin]

Thanks for feedback,

Sequence of event in regard to the above noted problem

• Used VM Fusion Version 1.x for the past 2 years with absolutly no problems

• updated iMac on sunday 9th Aug to version 10.5.8

• After update to version 10.5.8. above noted kernel problem was noted

• tried to fix problem by upload VM fusion ware from the time machine prior to my iMac update i.e. Vmware Fusion Friday 7 Aug

• Unfortuantly same problem appeared

What is the best solution to fix this problem?

"Khogan" recommedet that I should upgrade to VMware Fusion 2.

By upgrading to VMware fusion 2, will that fix the problem with kernel ?

Any feedback is appreciated

[admin]

Thanks, for your prompt response

As I am not a IT specialist I would need your help in regard to your suggestion to upload to the latest VMware Fusion and 2.05 and hardware.

reading the Technical notes on "Updating an older Virtual Machine to VMware fusion2" it making the assumpion that my VMWare 1 is running i.e operational.

However in my case VMware is not operational.

Please advise what steps are neccesary to update my system.

your technical help expertise is appreciated

[admin]

With regards to the part of the document that says to start your virtual machine in Fusion 1 and make sure its shutdown before upgrading, I believe you can do that with Fusion 2 as well, but make a duplicate before you try just incase. To make a duplicate follow step 4 and the virtual machine is most likely located at /Users/&lt;username&gt;/Documents/Virtual Machines/.

Once you have your duplicate reboot your Mac and download the latest version of Fusion from here. Run the installer which will uninstall the old version of Fusion and install 2.0.5.

Once you have done that start following the steps in the guide to update your virtual machine

Let me know if you have any additional questions.

[WoodyZ]

• Used VM Fusion Version 1.x for the past 2 years with absolutly no problems

• updated iMac on sunday 9th Aug to version 10.5.8

• After update to version 10.5.8. above noted kernel problem was noted

• tried to fix problem by upload VM fusion ware from the time machine prior to my iMac update i.e. Vmware Fusion Friday 7 Aug

• Unfortuantly same problem appeared

Well the first mistake you made was trying to fix this with Time Machine! TM does not properly backup/restore Virtual Machines in many cases and should not be used to tyr and repair the VMware Fusion application.

What is the best solution to fix this problem?

In my professional opinion the best and most proper solution to try first in a case such as this is to uninstall/reinstall the exact same version of Fusion from MD5 Checksum vetified .dmg disk image downloaded directly from VMware or optical media if that was the original source.

"Khogan" recommedet that I should upgrade to VMware Fusion 2.

By upgrading to VMware fusion 2, will that fix the problem with kernel ?

Any feedback is appreciated

No disrespect toward Khogan intended however I have to say that unless and issue is an absolute know issue that requires a version upgrade in a case such as this one should first attempt to correct it with the version that is currently installed. As a general rule upgrading to a newer full version is not the best protocol in cases such as this and that's not to say that one shouldn't upgrade at all but major version upgrading in the middle of an issue where the issue is not an absolute know issue that requires a version upgrade is not the best way especially if one isn't properly prepared to make that upgrade at that time. Also while upgrading may indeed fix the issue I'd like to know if uninstalling/reinstalling the currently installed version will fix the issue first and then upgrade to a newer version at a time when not in the middle of an issue.

[admin]

Thanks for feedback and advise on how to upgrade Fusion 1 to Fusion 2.

Due to the uncertainty of the underlying problem (at leased on my part) i.e. Was it a iMac upgrade problem or or some incompatibility between the iMac upgrade Version 10.5.8. Therefore I took the following steps to fix the problem:

• One of my concern was not to loss any critical data

• I also knew that my Fusion VM ware was working before the iMac upgrade

• I therefore took the step to revert the iMac to the previous version where I knew the Fusion VMware was working. This was done via the MacOS X Archive and install feature.

• My iMac is now at Version 10.5 and my Fusion VMware (Version1.1.3) is also up and running with no data loss.

Here-is the critical Question:

1. Do we have a compatibility problem between Fusion VMware 1.1.3 and iMac upgrade Version 10.5.8?

2. As my VMware is now fully functional should I now update to Version 2.0.5 and than upgrade my iMac to version 10.5.8?

3. What assurance do we have that Fusion VMware Version 2.0.5 is fully compatible with iMac version 10.5.8?

Any feedback mostly appreciated

[admin]

Thank you for your constructive feed back.

Defiantly, I will not use Time Machine for future Virtual Machine restore.

I total agree with your comments that an upgrade, may have not fixed the underlaying issue in regard to the kernel problem.

I therefore took the following steps:

• One of my concern was not to loss any critical data

• I also knew that my Fusion VM ware was working before the iMac upgrade

• I therefore took the step to revert the iMac to the previous version where I knew the Fusion VMware was working. This was done via the MacOS X Archive and install feature.

• My iMac is now at Version 10.5 and my Fusion VMware (Version1.1.3) is also up and running with no data loss.

There one thing I am still unclear about:

You talk about uninstall / reinstall VMware.

• Where is this uninstall feature located ?

• By uninstall / reinstall would I loss any Data and setting?

• Do you have to save any data before uninstalling? if yes How do I save and re-install data

For your information my original source data was optical media i.e. VMware CD Version1.0

However the critical question still remains:

1. Do we have a compatibility problem between Fusion VMware 1.1.3 and iMac upgrade Version 10.5.8?

2. As my VMware is now fully functional should I now update to Version 2.0.5 and than upgrade my iMac to version 10.5.8?

3. What assurance do we have that Fusion VMware Version 2.0.5 is fully compatible with iMac version 10.5.8?

Your constructive feedback is appreciated

[WoodyZ]

VMware Fusion can be uninstalled using the uninstaller in the .dmg downloaded from VMware or in the /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion folder.

Uninstalling/reinstalling the same version of Fusion does not touch your Virtual Machine's however upgrading from 1.x to 2.x does touch them and why you should backup the Virtual Machine's manually before upgrading from 1.x to 2.x. User Data that resides in the Virtual Machine should alway be backed up on a regular basis regardless of what is happing overall on your Mac.

I have not upgraded to 10.5.8 yet or Fusion 2.0.5 so I can't answer questions in this particular scenario.

FWIW if you had not rolled back then I would have Uninstalled/reinstalled Fusion 1.1.3 to see if that would have fixed it after upgrading to OS X 10.5.8 before doing anything else however that issue is moot since you've recovered. As to upgrading to Fusion 2.x I'd at least go to 2.0.4 if not 2.0.5 after backing up user data and the virtual machine itself and then after upgrading OS X if there are any Fusion issues uninstall/reinstall Fusion from the .dmg.

[admin]

VMware Fusion can be uninstalled using the uninstaller in the .dmg downloaded from VMware or in the ~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion folder.

Minor nit: It's /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion, not ~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion

[WoodyZ]

Yeah I'm on a Windows PC at the moment and not near the Mac to double check.

[admin]

     thank you for your help problem has been fixed