Need help on older version of Fusion (4) to update

[kmclark]

I am trying to update from version 4.1.4 on up to current so I can run updated windows software as well. I had to also update my mac os software as well from 10.7.5 (I believe) to el capitan 10.11.6 (I believe). My plan was to update to el capitan and make sure fusion worked and then keep going. I updated to el capitan and my fusion shows up on the upper menu bar on the mac desktop right beside the network icon and clock. I can click on fusion but it says that the virtual machine is currently suspended. I can't seem to unsuspend it. I am currently stuck. if anyone has some good guidance, please call me at XXXXX*

I would also like to say that I tried making a backup before doing this, but every drive that I connected to my mac didn't show up in the finder or disk utility. I know it was stupid and I surely won't let this happen again. I should have known better. is there a way to update fusion and still work with my virtual machine?

Moderator edit: Please do not post your phone number on the public forum, do that in DM

[wila]

Hi,

For El Capitan you need at least Fusion 6 in order to get your VM to run. Fusion 4 will not work with OS X 10.11, apple simply changed too many things for Fusion 4 being able to run.

If you want to be able to run your VM again then you have to upgrade to a newer version of Fusion. Unfortunately though the current version of Fusion (Fusion 11) is supported on macOS 10.12.5 (Sierra) or newer. So that probably won't work either. You can however buy Fusion 11 and then downgrade it to Fusion 10.

See also:

System Requirements for Fusion 10

However.. as you are talking about rather old versions of OS X, beware that current versions of Fusion (10+) have certain CPU requirements. If your hardware is too old then Fusion 10 won't run either and you would have to downgrade to Fusion 8.5.

Your VM itself should run in any of the above Fusion versions, although you have to be aware that once the virtual hardware is upgrade to a higher Fusion version that you will have to downgrade it again before you can access that VM in an earlier version of Fusion.

Now before you upgrade/downgrade anything, be sure to get some external drive working and make a copy of your VM.

A copy of your VM using Time Machine does not count as chances are too big it is not a complete copy with all required parts.

Hope this helps,

--

Wil

[kmclark]

Thanks for your reply. I now have an ext. drive that shows up on El Capitan. I am currently copying my virtual machine over to it. From here, what do you recommend for upgrading? Do I upgrade VMFusion to 8.5 and will that work on El Capitan and then upgrade mac OS to High Sierra and then back to upgrading Fusion again.

[kmclark]

I also looked and my mac mini is a mid 2011

[kmclark]

It looks like with the Mac Mini that I have, that I can upgrade to version 11

[wila]

Hi,

From the link I posted above:

The following processors are supported.

Processors on all Macs launched in 2011

So Fusion 11 can work.

The one thing you won't have though is metal rendering.

Personally I would upgrade straight to Sierra (or later) and install Fusion 11.

Download VMware Fusion | VMware  (you can download from that page and try for 30 days, after that time you can buy a license to continue using that same installation of VMware Fusion)

You do not have to muck around with an older version of Fusion in order to get your VM to run.

--
Wil

[kmclark]

I am currently downloading Sierra and High Sierra as I'm not sure which to go ahead and install.

[kmclark]

I upgraded Mac to Sierra and installed Fusion 11. All seems to be working properly. The next step will be installing a new VM of probably Windows 7 and transferring stuff over to it and deleting XP.

[wila]

Hi,

Glad to hear you got it working!

While I'm a fan of Windows 7 in comparison to Windows 10, in my opinion starting a new install on Windows 7 does not make a lot of sense.

Windows 7 is End Of Life next year, so you'll end up having to re-install again in a year's time.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet

Windows 10 OTOH should have a new version by that time and be a better alternative for your investment of time spent on configuration and installing software.

Also the amount of updates you would have to install on Windows 7 in order to get it up to date to today's patch level is quite shocking.

--

Wil

[kmclark]

Thanks for the heads up on Windows 7. I guess I'll be looking for a copy of Windows 10.