macOS 10.12.4 -- black/blank screen

[virtualpboy]

Since updating to macOS 10.12.4, most of the VMs in VMWare Fusion 8.5.5 start/resume with black/blank screen. I can SSH into the VM and they seem functional, but nothing is rendering in most of these VMs.

[Mikero]

What if the VM reboots?

[virtualpboy]

I've updated to 8.5.6 that was released today and force restarted all the VMs. Except for one Windows Server 2012 VM, all other VMs (Windows 10, Centos) show black/blank screen.

[virtualpboy]

Windows 10 VM started working again but it blanks out every minute or two and is extremely slow.

Centos Linux VMs are no show with totally black screen. I can SSH into them, however.

[Mikero]

Weird... Could you post your .tgz from Help  >Collect Support Information? (Click the tool only after the issue just starts happening if possible)

[virtualpboy]

Where should I email the support file (252 MB)? I've tried Get Support page to open a ticket but my product (registered VMware Fusion Professional 8.5.6) is not listed for getting technical support.

[virtualpboy]

I found some additional information.

It seems the problem is isolated to MacBook Pro with Touch Bar running 10.12.4 and VMware Fusion.

[Mikero]

Interesting... I have the 13", so I'll give things a shot.

[Mikero]

Dropbox link works if you have access to that

[Jerry_G]

Which version of Fusion, 8.5.5 or 8.5.6?

I just tried Fusion 8.5.6 with macOS 10.12.4 and had no blank screen issue on my 2016 MacBook Pro with touch bar.

If you tested with a version of Fusion prior to 8.5.6, can you try 8.5.6 and see if it resolves the problem? I'm hesitant to update my working partition to 10.12.4 until I'm sure Fusion works OK on my MacBook Pro 15 with touch bar.

Perhaps a VMWare person can chime in here.

Thanks

[virtualpboy]

I am running Fusion 8.5.6. The problem happens with command line based VM, such as Centos with macOS Sierra 10.2.4. I have 2016 MacBook Pro 15" with 512GB.

[virtualpboy]

Dropbox - VMware Fusion Problem Report 2017-03-28 at 17.48.56.zip

[JDMOB]

Additional data point -- I too am seeing the same behavior.    MBP 2016 15" touchbar.

Fusion 8.5.5 and 8.5.6 / macOS 10.12.4.

[Jerry_G]

Just updated MBP 2015 15" with touchbar from 10.12.3 to 10.12.4. Using Fusion 8.5.6 with a Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. No video issues.

[solomyster]

I have the  same problem, do you have connect expand display? if you connect expand display then the vm display normal.

But I haven't found a solution yet.

[relajao]

The same problem.... Only work windows machine, but other machine based in linux, no work. Black Screen

[JDMOB]

For me at least, reproducing the issue is simple.   Create a VM -- a quick example is one of type MSDOS.   Boot it -- no video, including BIOs.      I was not able to reproduce the suggested workaround of using a remote display.   But then I normally only use airplay as a 2nd display so this isn't altogether surprising.    However, I did find another workaround - go into power settings and disable automatic graphics switching.    Can someone try this and confirm?

[relajao]

My macbook is 13'' not have option disable automatic graphics switching

[JDMOB]

Correct.   The workaround would only apply to MBP models which contain dual GPUs (Intel HD and AMD Radeon).    It is not a solution in itself, only an attempt to narrow focus to root cause.

[relajao]

Unfortunately I must seek an alternative. I'm going to evaluate which of the other two tools works best for me.