Windows 2000 on Fusion 6?

[kavu]

I want to upgrade from Fusion 5.0.3 to 6.0.2 as I am going to be upgrading from Mountain Lion to Mavericks, but see from the list of supported guests that Windows 2000 in no longer supported. As I have a legacy program that can't run under Windows XP or greater I have to use Windows 2000. Has anyone got Windows 2000 to work under Fusion 6? If so any specific instructions?

[WoodyZ · Accepted solution]

If I walk thorough the New Virtual Machine Assistant in VMware Fusion 6.x, under Microsoft Windows, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Advanced Server are still listed and a Virtual Machine of them can be created.  Now while they may no longer be officially supported (and really, why should they since even Microsoft doesn't support them anymore!) nonetheless you can install them.

BTW I have a Windows 2000 Server Virtual Machine that runs fine under VMware Fusion 6.x.

[kavu]

Thanks for confirming that WoodyZ.

Fusion 5 still supported Windows 3.1 and DOS 6.2, so thought that VMware recognised that users had a need to run legacy OSs. Not expecting the OS to be supported, just to have VMware Tools working. Anyway need to think about how to handle this going forward.

[WoodyZ]

Just an FYI...  All the listed OSes in the New Virtual Machine Assistant are not necessarily officially supported however not officially supported doesn't mean it can't be installed and or it will not work.  BTW MS-DOS has not been officially supported in VMware Fusion since VMware Fusion 3.1 however it is still listed in the New Virtual Machine Assistant and can still be installed.

[kavu]

After having done the upgrade I can confirm to anyone interested that indeed Windows 2000 SP4 works perfectly in Fusion 6.0.3. VMWare Tools automatically installed and provide all their functionality. In fact Windows 2000 and the apps *seem* to run a lot faster too.