All VMware Fusion Documents posts

Re: w11arm_esd2iso - a utility to create Windows 11 ARM ISOs from Microsoft ESD releases

Technogeezer — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 02:31:19 GMT

@boingolover I've taken your advice and am in the process of setting up a GitHub repository for this.. The new version that you'll find there will be more generic and have a few more goodies... (how'd you like to run this on Linux or Intel Macs?).

Stay tuned to this document as I expect to have the new location posted by Nov 15th.

Re: The Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

Technogeezer — Sat, 28 Oct 2023 22:55:47 GMT

It looks like there's a bug that keeps the VMware tool in the GUI from working. I've heard that reported for French, but it may be a problem for other languages.

You can generate the ISO using the command line version of the utility. Drop into a terminal session and use the following commands to mount the VMware Tools ISO from the Fusion application (that's where the video and network drivers are found that are used in the ISO build process), download the French version of the Professional ESD, generate the ISO based on the downloaded ESD, and clean up everything except the ISO when finished.

cd Desktop
hdiutil attach /Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/isoimages/arm64/windows.iso
/Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmw_esd2iso getesd --edition "Professional" --lang "fr-fr"
/Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmw_esd2iso generateiso --esd ./22621.1702.230505-1222.ni_release_svc_refresh_CLIENTCONSUMER_RET_A64FRE_fr-fr.esd --drivers "/Volumes/VMware Tools/svga,/Volumes/VMware Tools/vmxnet3"
hdiutil detach "/Volumes/VMware Tools"
rm  ./22621.1702.230505-1222.ni_release_svc_refresh_CLIENTCONSUMER_RET_A64FRE_fr-fr.esd

The ISO file should be on your desktop.

fr-ca (Canadian French) would be a similar process, except use fr-ca instead of fr-fr in the above commands.

Re: The Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

Fontair — Sat, 28 Oct 2023 19:24:31 GMT

Great guide. I am using VMWare Fusion Player the French version. When I tried to create a Windows 11 VM with the VMWare tool the download doesn't work. I receive the following message:

L'outil Esd2iso n'a pas pu obtenir l'URL ESD et l'algorithme SHA pour la version Professionnel de Windows 11 pour la langue en-us à partir de Microsoft.

The same message appears when I choose the fr-ca language.

I have a Visual Studio M2 Mac running Ventura 13.5.2.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Re: The Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

3rawmv — Sun, 22 Oct 2023 20:57:56 GMT

No worries, I luckily managed to download the desktop image a few days before they pulled it, so for now I'm good. As a sidenote, one thing I noticed is that the choppy audio (which was mentioned in the tech preview under point 2.16) can also be fixed in Ubuntu by setting the audio to 4.0 in audio settings in Ubuntu without having to modify any config files.

As for Win11 issue with encryption, it's a shame VMware completely abandoned the subject. I noticed that not only was I unable to upgrade the encryption but also couldn't change the password for encryption even under 13.0.2 (which was also mentioned as one of the complaints on here). The only option was to build a completely new VM and do a fresh Windows install, which lead to another issue of being unable to activate Windows. Eventually I found a useful hint online which allowed me to copy two parameters from old VM (with the encryption problem) to the new one and make the new VM seem like it's an old one, from hardware perspective. Massive ballache to be honest, but you don't look a gifted horse in the mouth, I guess (that said I believe that paying customers of VMware products have the same issue, so...).

The parameters, in case anyone wonders, are:
uuid.bios
uuid.location
I also copied over the MAC address (directly under VM settings, not in the config), just to be on the safeside.

Once the VM is started you'll get a prompt asking if you moved or copied the VM, "moved" does the trick and makes Windows think it's the same "PC".

Re: The Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

Technogeezer — Sun, 22 Oct 2023 01:23:53 GMT

Drat and thanks for the heads up on the Mantic daily development build.

Canonical just doesn't seem to care about arm64 Desktop except for one special build for a Lenovo X13s Gen 1 PC t(hat appears to have a Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU) and Raspberry Pi's. I tried the Lenovo build on Fusion and it won't boot - so there's something that they've done with it (something with secure boot keys for that specific hardware perhaps)

If you want the equivalent of Ubuntu Desktop. install Server and then use the procedures in the Companion Guide to "convert" to Desktop. All of my Ubuntu "Desktop" VMs have been created in that manner and they've all worked and updated without problems.

Re: The Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

3rawmv — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 22:38:00 GMT

@Technogeezer

Thank you for taking time to maintain these guides. You're a legend.

A couple of points to note regarding recent release:

1) the link to Ubuntu 23.10.1 (Mantic Minotaur) Desktop daily development build stopped working when they officially launched during this month. I can't find any links to daily builds for desktop Mantic Minotaur so to me it looks like there's no way to install desktop for arm at all anymore.

2) this issue https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Fusion-2023-Tech-Preview/quot-Unable-to-reencrypt-the-virtual-machine-Disk-problem-quot/td-p/2977309 HAS NOT BEEN FIXED. So anyone with W11 hoping that the final release of 13.5 is safe to use, should think again and consider not upgrading since the only way to correct this is to build a new W11 machine, apparently if we keep declining that will cause other issues (as per one of the posts in the quoted thread).

Re: The Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

Technogeezer — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 00:48:08 GMT

Heads up - According to @Mikero the next version of Fusion (a free update to Fusion 13 users) should be released to the public starting at 20:30 PDT on 2023-10-19. I would not at this point attempt anything new with Fusion 13.0.2. The 2023 Tech Preview is also on the cusp of becoming obsolete when the new version is released, so I'd avoid any new installation of it.

I personally don't expect any major hiccups with the new Fusion version since the Tech Preview it's based on has been very stable. Hopefully the (relatively few) issues found by the testers of the Tech Preview have been addressed.

I'm in the process of editing the Companion guide for the new version of Fusion. For you early adopters, use the 2023 Tech Preview Companion Guide as an interim guide since the next Fusion version is based on the features found in the Tech Preview.

No guarantees, but my goal is to get the new, improved Companion guide out the door on Sunday 2023-10-22. At which time the Tech Preview Companion Guide will be removed.

Re: The Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

LongTimeMacGuy — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 18:28:04 GMT

New to this list. Mac Guy since 1984. VMWare user since 2017.

Thanks for publishing this document, IMHO it is rather exceptional support by the VMWare organization and especially the people contributing!

I have gone thru the process and successfully installed Windows 11 ARM on a 2023 MacBook Pro M2... and will also install on an early Mac mini M1.

I have limited Windows experience and would appreciate some guidance on what to install, what to test, and how to provide feedback.

Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

Unofficial Fusion 2023 Tech Preview

Mmm... Which list would would best help advance VMWare?

Re: The Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

LongTimeMacGuy — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 17:43:01 GMT

New to this list. Mac Guy since 1984. VMWare user since 2017.

Thanks for publishing this document, IMHO it is rather exceptional support by the VMWare organization and especially the people contributing!

I have gone thru the process and successfully installed Windows 11 ARM on a 2023 MacBook Pro M2... and will also install on an early Mac mini M1.

I have limited Windows experience and would appreciate some guidance on what to install, what to test, and how to provide feedback.

Re: w11arm_esd2iso - a utility to create Windows 11 ARM ISOs from Microsoft ESD releases

Technogeezer — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 20:36:18 GMT

if you do a get info on that external drive what file system does it say is formatted with? If it’s FAT, NFS, or ExFAT you will have problems. External drives formatted as APFS or HFS+ work fine.

Re: w11arm_esd2iso - a utility to create Windows 11 ARM ISOs from Microsoft ESD releases

randalstout — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 20:10:27 GMT

Weird problem. I was saving the file to an external SSD and it may need to be scanned and fixed. Saved internally and it works fine.

Re: w11arm_esd2iso - a utility to create Windows 11 ARM ISOs from Microsoft ESD releases

Technogeezer — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 20:03:26 GMT

@randalstout what type of ISO (home/pro or pro/enterprise) and language did you try to download?

At what point in the installation are you getting the failures?

Do you have any anti-virus utilities installed on the host Mac?

On what type of file system did you elect to save the VM? It needs to be on an HFS+ or APFS file system. - not on NTFS, FAT32, ExFAT, or any networked file system).

Does your VM reside on a location that's being synced to a cloud service (e.g. OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud (either iCloud Drive, or having your Desktop and Documents folder synced to iCloud). DON'T DO THAT. With iCloud, make sure that if you're saving to the Desktop or Documents folders, that Apple hasn't silently turned on managing those folder to iCloud.

Re: w11arm_esd2iso - a utility to create Windows 11 ARM ISOs from Microsoft ESD releases

randalstout — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 19:04:09 GMT

I used both methods yesterday: downloading via w11arm_esd2iso and then again trying to download with Crystal Fetch.

Neither produced an error, so thought it would work properly.

Attempted to install using the ISO and received random errors during installation from the ISO:

One error simply said "the installation has been aborted". Another error was 0x80070570, which translates to a file corruption error.

Not sure whether this is a problem with me, with Fusion 13, or the source which is currently posted. Very frustrating.

I'm on Sonoma.

Script to check if all remnants of VMware Fusion are gone from your Mac

Technogeezer — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 19:32:11 GMT

The documented method of removing Fusion from a Mac only removes the Fusion application. There are other files that will remain on the system that sometimes can cause issues when upgrading or re-installing Fusion.

There is a VMware KB article that discusses how to manually remove these Fusion files from your Mac: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1017838

But what if you want to run a quick check to see if any of these files are still there?

The script is_fusion_installed.sh (zipped and attached to this article) is based on the above KB article and provides a quick way to tell if any of the Fusion files are still remaining on your Mac.

The script:

does not require admin privileges
does not locate any virtual machines you have installed
does not touch any of your virtual machines
does not delete any files (sorry, you'll need to do that yourself)

Instructions:

Download the attached zip file
Extract the file (either using the command line unzip utility or the macOS Archive Utility). The script (is_fusion_installed.sh) should be extracted.
In a Finder window, find the script.
Open a Terminal window, and drag the script from the Finder window into the Terminal window,
Type return in the Terminal window and the script will execute.

You should see something like this if you have any Fusion files installed (in this example, I have Fusion fully installed)

% /xxxxxx/is_fusion_installed.sh

This script checks to see if files belonging to VMware Fusion are installed
using information from VMware KB article https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1017838

Checking for VMware Fusion application

[WARNING] VMware Fusion application still exists

Checking for other Fusion files...

[WARNING] Fusion folder "/Library/Application Support/VMware/VMware Fusion" still exists
[WARNING] Fusion file "/Library/Application Support/VMware/Usbarb.rules" still exists
[WARNING] Fusion folder "/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion" still exists
[WARNING] Fusion folder "~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion" (full path "/Users/xxxxxx/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion") still exists
[WARNING] Fusion folder "~/Library/Caches/com.vmware.fusion" (full path "/Users/xxxxx/Library/Caches/com.vmware.fusion") still exists
[WARNING] Fusion folder "~/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion" (full path "/Users/xxxxxx/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion") still exists
[WARNING] Fusion file "~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.plist" (full path "/Users/xxxxxx/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.plist") still exists
[WARNING] Fusion file "~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusionStartMenu.plist" (full path "/Users/xxxxxx/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusionStartMenu.plist") still exists

Your Mac has files from a Fusion installation.
Please delete them manually to clean your Mac of all traces of Fusion

Re: The Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

Technogeezer — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 19:10:19 GMT

@tazzmania

That error message shouldn't appear with Fusion 13. It will appear with Fusion 12 as it's not built to run on M1/M2 Macs. Really double check what Fusion version you have installed. What does it say when you open Fusion and then click VMware Fusion -> About VMware Fusion from the menu bar?

Delete all vestiges of Fusion from your laptop by using the information in KB article https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1017838. Don't just drag the Fusion application to the trash, there's more to get rid of than just the application for a complete uninstall. Pay special attention to where the files are located:

/Library is the system-wide Library folder. Use the Finder Go -> Go to Folder.. and then type in "/Library" to find the files starting with /Library
~/Library is the user's "Personal" library folder located in the user's home folder. Use the Finder Go -> Go to Folder.. and then type in "~/Library" to find the files in the KB article starting with ~/Library

Then, re-install Fusion 13.0.2 or (preferably) the Tech Preview available at VMware Fusion Tech Preview 2023 Universal DMG.

If you have verified that you are running on Fusion 13 or the 2023 Tech Preview and the license key isn't working, then you may not have a Fusion 13 license key. You can sign up for a free Fusion 13 Player personal use license key at https://customerconnect.vmware.com/en/evalcenter?p=fusion-player-personal-13

A license key for Fusion 13 will work on both Fusion 13 or the 2023 Tech Preview.

Re: The Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

tazzmania — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 18:00:59 GMT

Hi,

Sorry if this has been mentioned elsewhere but I've been trying to get VMware to work on my M1 MacBook Pro for the past week (I am completely new to VMware and accessing vms in general, I'm normally used to using my university's vms). I keep getting the same error message of "

This version of VMware Fusion is for Intel-based Macs, but is being run on an Apple silicon based Mac via Rosetta-2.

See KB-84273.

Then after clicking 'ok',

Transport (VMDB) error -14: Pipe connection has been broken

I have reinstalled v13.0.2 countless times, used v13.0.0 and v13.0.1 countless times, still nothing.

I have tried to use the 2023 tech preview, however it never accepts my license key so I don't even get past the installation wizard.

Really stuck on what to do, not sure if its VMware or my iso i am trying to use (Ubuntu v20.04.5)

Re: w11arm_esd2iso - a utility to create Windows 11 ARM ISOs from Microsoft ESD releases

Technogeezer — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 18:05:46 GMT

Very interesting indeed. i tried to reproduce what you're seeing. I enabled German keyboard support into my host Mac, and switched the macOS keyboard input method to German. In both macOS and the VM I installed from the generated de-de ISO, the keyboard seems to generate the right characters (I have the macOS soft keyboard enabled so I can see the mappings and the @ and \ characters are generated in both the host and VM with the keystrokes you indicate).

Its funny as a touch typist in English to find that the keys are not in the places that you expect them...

Re: w11arm_esd2iso - a utility to create Windows 11 ARM ISOs from Microsoft ESD releases

stefantimm — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 03:57:05 GMT

Hi Paul,

let me first thank you for your excellent work providing the unofficial companion guide and the esd2iso script. All I wanted to do is use PowerPivot on my new Mac mini (this will in all likelihood never make it to the macOS version of Excel) and with your help I was able to accomplish that.

About the keyboard issue: I mainly wanted to document it to spare others some time. At first I thought this was related to the Fusion Tech Preview, but I did a complete removal and installed Fusion 13.0.2 with the same result.

To your point: Yes, I selected de-de when using w11arm_esd2iso. I will take a closer look at the 2 different ISOs and will report my findings back here.

I also hope that at some point Microsoft comes to reason and makes the Windows 11 ARM ISO available to all of us.

Re: The Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

mweholt — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 02:59:56 GMT

Thank you!

Re: The Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide

Technogeezer — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 00:58:48 GMT

@mweholt In general I would not rely on in in-product notification. Past major versions of Fusion would let you know that a new major version had been released, and if memory serves me a minor update just may be offered for installation. I'd keep watch of the forums and VMware's Fusion product page for the official announcement. Then download the release installer from VMware and run it when you're ready. And that means when you've read the release notes and have all your virtual machines shut down and copied to another media. These are best practices for any software upgrade, and no negative comment intended on the quality of the next Fusion release - which I think will be pretty solid based on the Tech Preview.

The version should install on top of your existing Fusion implementation (just like other updates/patch releases). The contents of your VMs won't be touched until you open them on the next Fusion version. You may be asked to upgrade the encryption algorithm (I'd do that) and the virtual hardware version to 21 (I'd do that). Then upgrade the VMWare Tools with the version included with the release and Windows 11 should now have copy/paste/drag/drop and other goodies missing from Fusion 13.