Hello,
These type of issues are almost always due to a broken VMware Tools install.
Do not try a repair install from within the Guest OS as it likely will not fix this, unfortunately the "Reinstall VMware Tools" from the drop down menu also falls in that same category.
You really need the guest OS to reboot inbetween uninstall and install to make sure that all the files from VMware Tools are in the correct locations and of the correct version.
In short follow these steps:
- Uninstall VMware Tools
- Reboot guest OS
- Install VMware Tools
- Reboot guest OS.
A bit of a longer description is:
- In Windows, go to Control Panel -> Programs & Features -> Select VMware Tools -> Uninstall
Follow the steps from the installer to completely uninstall VMware Tools
- Reboot the guest (==Windows)
- Then from the Virtual Machine menu select "Install VMware Tools"
If no installer appears, go to the DVD-rom within windows and click "setup" (for 32 bits windows) or "setup64" (for 64 bits windows)
Once you see an installer, click "Next" until Finish, keep the defaults.
- Reboot the guest when done installing (it will ask by itself to reboot)
--
Wil
Hi,
First off, besides installing VMware Tools in your guest there should be no other changes needed.
So when you said "I tried various settings" one of those changes might now bite you.
Without knowing what you tried it is difficult to be specific.
Second if you use any antivirus / antimalware in your host and/or guest beware that it might cause this to fail. If you installed any of those then for finding out if it is causing this side effect you will have to uninstall it temporarily as a troubleshooting step. Disabling often isn't sufficient.
Lastly it is possible that your Fusion did not install correctly. This is pretty rare, but not impossible. So you might try a re-install.
Your other problem on changing RAM that is not detected by the guest is very strange, have never seen it before. I'm afraid though that I don't know what you are looking at when you say "it doesn't update" (Fusion, guest OS .. ) nor do I know HOW you changed the RAM. Hopefully you used the Fusion Virtual machine Settings panel (yes there are other ways).
Hope this helps,
--
Wil
Hi,
On the RAM setting see my answer to your other question in the forum that specifically asked about this issue.
It is because a 32 bit Windows guest OS cannot access the full 4GB or RAM.
You will see the same when installed on physical hardware.
--
Wil
Now that antivirus has been removed try to reinstall VMware Tools as described above (and when that still doesn't help, then try a full reinstall on VMware Fusion)
For the record, uninstalling VMware Fusion will leave your virtual machines alone, it does not touch them.
--
Wil
Well this is getting old and very frustrating... 
There certainly must be something wrong with Fusion 8 for Mac.
I have tried everything suggested here multiple times. I'm about to give up on this. I have gone as far as uninstalling VMWare and reinstalling, but nothing brings about a different result. Here's the latest I've done:
- Uninstalled VMWare Tools
- Rebooted, Installed VMWare Tools
- Rebooted. Copy/Paste still doesn't work
- Uninstalled VMWare completely
- Installed VMWare anew
- Ran the VM, tested copy/paste, still doesn't work
- Uninstalled VMWare Tools
- Rebooted, Installed VMWare Tools
- Rebooted. Copy/Paste still doesn't work
I'm convinced now that it's not a combination of any of these things, it just doesn't work. Especially since I've seen so many people complaining about this.
It would be nice to get some sort of real support from VMWare Technical support, after all this is not a free product and I'm willing to purchase, but not if I can't get it to work properly.
Hi,
Yes I understand it is frustrating. FWIW, the copy&paste feature is supplied via VMware Tools. That of course depends on it not being blocked in the guest OS (think antivirus).
As you want to copy between guest and host, it also depends on a part which is supplied by VMware Fusion install itself at the host.
This part can also be blocked by antivirus at the host.
The other thing is that you can disable it with settings in your virtual machine config file. To rule that out please attach a vmware.log file from your VM to the reply here. (In Finder, select the VM and from right-click menu select "Show package contents" and you'll find the vmware.log file)
The vmware.log file might have additional tips on why it isn't working.
As for others reporting copy&paste problem. It pretty much always is cured by a re-install of vmware tools.
There are also some linux specific issues (not your problem) and that people have to paste 2 times (not your problem either)
--
Wil
Hello,
re. 3GB/4GB discrepancy between your physical laptop and the VMware VM. The BIOS used is different as is the virtual hardware that makes up the motherboard.
You might be able to tweak it a bit in the BIOS and get it to recognize more memory, it might also be possible to get the VM to recognize the full 4GB via some boot parameters.
Going from Windows 7 32 bit to Windows 10 64 bits is possible. However there's no windows upgrade path, Microsoft requires you to do a fresh install.
So for using the free upgrade you would first have to update to Windows 10 32 bits and activate that so that the virtual hardware has been recognized as a fully activated VM.
Then follow that up by a full fresh install wiping out the existing install.
Any applications and data will have to be reinstalled.
--
Wil
Hi,
The log doesn't specifically give much hints on this, or at least I have not seen much.
I do see some redefining on keyboard mapping, but I'm afraid I'm not sure how to read that bit as I don't do much with that myself.
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping0.mappingKey = "0"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping0.enabled = "TRUE"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping0.fromHost = "GUI Z"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping0.toGuest = "CONTROL Z"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping1.mappingKey = "1"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping1.enabled = "TRUE"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping1.fromHost = "GUI X"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping1.toGuest = "CONTROL X"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping2.mappingKey = "2"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping2.enabled = "TRUE"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping2.fromHost = "GUI C"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping2.toGuest = "CONTROL C"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping3.mappingKey = "3"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping3.enabled = "TRUE"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping3.fromHost = "GUI V"
2016-01-17T21:27:01.857-08:00| vmx| I125: DICT pref.keyboardAndMouse.profile1.mapping3.toGuest = "CONTROL V"
So there's some redefining on Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V etc..
Does the clipboard work if you use the context menu (eg. in Notepad, select some text, right click, select "Copy" and then try to paste that in the host OS)?
Your VM being one that ran on a physical machine before however might have something to do with it as well.
It is certainly possible that a former keyboard driver or trackpad software is interfering.
There's plenty of complaints on here about Synaptics drivers interfering with the virtual keyboard for example.
Any installed Synaptic software can be found in the control panel "Programs and features" option, just uninstall it there (reboot of guest OS required to see changes).
Also remove any old hardware drivers that are greyed out in the device manager.
You need to follow the steps as here in order to even see the old hardware drivers:
Remove Old Drivers After Upgrading to New Hardware
PS: A lot of the people here will recommend to install a VM fresh instead of doing a Physical To Virtual (P2V) migration as the VM will be more reliable.
--
Wil
Hi,
Creating a VM from scratch rather than doing the physical to virtual is a problem because then I don't have a valid license. With the P2V I don't have any issues with the license.
Hmm.. your screenshot hints at your P2V being from a Dell PC, which normally comes with an OEM license. A virtual copy of that is AFAIK not a properly licensed one either as an OEM Dell license is tied to the Dell hardware. When the Dell hardware dies.. so does the license...
So I'm not sure if your license -even while activated- is not a problem from a legal point of view.
Having said that.. if your VM is already running Windows 10 then the virtual hardware ID has been activated for Windows 10 and you can actually blow away the install and re-install fresh. If you're uncomfortable with that, take a copy of the VM to an external disk before doing so. On top of that you can take a snapshot before doing the fresh re-install.
If you clone or copy the VM be sure to select "move" and not "copy" on the question "Did you move or copy the VM" question that comes up as otherwise you end up getting the VM a new virtual hardware ID.
--
Wil