Fusion 10 breaks bluetooth on macbook

[Progressor]

If I close Fusion (after I've been using Windows XP VM for example), sometimes I lose bluetooth. It is lost entirely... bluetooth icon at the right side of my macbook's menu bar says "Bluetooth not available". It will not come back until I restart macos. This is Fusion Pro 10.0.1 on High Sierra supplemental update. It's a real nuissance because I use my macbook in clamshell mode with bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Can't use them without bluetooth.

[Chupacabrasz]

Happening to me too, High Sierra 10.13 with supplemental update and latest Fusion 10.  It just happened again after quitting Fusion.  I was running a few CentOS VMs in my session, and none of my VMs have Bluetooth sharing enabled.

Agree with Progressor, this is a major PITA because the only fix is to reboot the Mac when this happens, and I'm sick of doing this multiple times a day.

[Chupacabrasz]

Just had it happen on my 5K iMac too.  So now this is two Macs where when exiting Fusion there's a chance for the Bluetooth stack to get clobbered with the only resolution being a reboot.

Both running High Sierra. MBP is on the latest .1 release, iMac is still on GM of High Sierra, but updating it now.

[Mikero]

Have you filed a support ticket for this?

We're happy to help, and can also get this data fed back to our developers quickly so we can turn around a code fix.

If you drop us a note we can dig in.  desktop-services@vmware.com

[Progressor]

I did create a support ticket (17601956410). I was instructed to remove USB controller from VM, run the VM once, then put the USB controller back. It seems to work, but I'm not sure as I do not have time to test it properly. It did not break bluetooth every time before, just occasionally, but quite often as to become really annoying. It might mean it just behaves right now, who knows.

[BobTheDog]

I have been having this in version 9 and 10, it is nothing to do with any VM on my system but instead the main VMWare app.

Closing the app disconnects all my usb disks and looses all bluetooth devices nearly every time. You don't even need to run a VM for it to do this.

I was hoping 10 would fix this but unfortunately not.

[jimzon]

I have a similar issue. Running VMWare Fusion 10.0.1 with macOS 10.13.1 on a MacBook Pro (late 2015). As soon as I shut down my Guest OS (in this case Win10) the BT-devices (Magic keyboard and mouse) disconnects. The Bluetooth "B" up in the corner (on macOS) gets a wave instead of the three dots and a reboot is the only option here.

[Progressor]

Just happened to me again, checked for updates and closed Fusion. Bluetooth lost even without starting a VM...

[Chupacabrasz]

I have had that happen once or twice as well.  Launch Fusion, check updates, close Fusion - Bluetooth crashes.  Does't happen every time, but enough to be annoying.

[blueways]

I have the same issue with MacBook Pro 2015 and fusion 8.5.9 and high sierra 10.13.1

It's really annoying and random. It only get bluetooth back when you restart the computer.

[MatthiasE]

Funny thing (I have the same problem: closing VMWare Fusion disables bluetooth keyboard/mouse):

If i restart VMWare Fusion 10.0.1 (with integrated keyboard on MacBook).... Bluetooth comes back and the external keyboard/mouse work again 🙂

[A_Webb]

Has there been any more progress on this issue? I am running into the same problem, macOS 10.13.1 host, VMWare Fusion 10.0.

This issue is very frustrating, to say the least. I have been using VMWare Fusion for about 3 years now, on the same host computer, but I did not encounter this issue until about a week ago, when I upgraded to High Sierra and VMWare 10.

[Spike747]

Same behaviour here, running Fusion 10.0.1 under High Sierra 10.13.2.  The problem bothers me less now that I know I can recover by relaunching Fusion.

I'm also running Lingon X, which is a utility for maintaining launch scripts and daemons.  One of its many features is a monitor which posts a notification whenever a launchd job is added, modified, or deleted.  Since migrating to Fusion 10, I've noticed that Lingon X throws notifications every time Fusion (the app, not a VM within the app) starts or stops.  I've reproduced the notifications below:

Starting Fusion:

New: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vmware.KextControlHelper.plist

New: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vmware.VMMonHelper.plist

Stopping Fusion:

Deleted: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vmware.KextControlHelper.plist

Deleted: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vmware.VMMonHelper.plist

So it looks like Fusion is now creating these launchd jobs from scratch while starting and disposing of them upon exit.  I have no idea if this is related, or if the Bluetooth error is a side effect of this, but I do know that earlier versions neither triggered these notifications nor clobbered Bluetooth.  Correlations does not imply causation, and all that...

If someone still has a Fusion 9 installation handy, it might be worth looking at these job files to see if they persist after Fusion exits.

[bscully]

Just adding to the discussion that this same "Bluetooth:  Not Available" issue happens to me when loading Fusion.  Reboot required after several of these incidents happen.  Had hoped that VMware would have taken care of this by now.  Amusing how difficult it is to even create a Support Request.

VMware, please QA Fusion prior to release.  Please resolve this issue ASAP.  It's clearly happening to "a lot" of people.

[Crematum]

Similar problem here (iMac).  Whenever I start a VM (Windows 10 on High Sierra) the mouse (and trackpad) are disconnected for a few seconds and then reconnected.  My keyboard is wired, but when I had a wireless keyboard it did the same thing.  Sometimes this also happens when I shut down the VM. 

On some occasions, the mouse never reconnects until I turn it off and then back on.  Very annoying!

How do I fix this so it no longer happens?

[bscully]

Hi, I contacted Support and their response last month was:

The engineering team were able to reproduce the issue inhouse and we also have a problem report on this issue.

The last update from the engineering team states that the need a new updated virtual bluetooth stack to get the issue resolved.

However, this may take much more time than expected. We do not have an ETA on the fix as of now.

My workaround has been to leave Fusion running, while only shutting-down my VMs.

[bcrsr]

Here is the response I recieved on Jan 21st.

"The good news is that our developers are able to fix the issue internally and it would be available in future update any time soon. At this moment, we do not have the ETA of the new release, the fix would be available in the coming update and you will be able to find all the resolved issues from the below release notes for the future available updates."

[ScotteZ]

This is great news!  Please push hard to get this fix released.  This bug is costing me 1/2-1hr a day in lost productivity while I wait and see if my bluetooth devices will reattach or I have to do a reboot and then restart everything to get back to where I was.

I had also logged a ticket against this issue (18701719102) but it did appear fixed (only for a couple of days) once I went through AppleCare support.

I appreciate your attention

[bscully]

Hi ScotteZ,

I feel for ya, man.  It was promising news about a month ago, but we're still waiting.  The only successful workaround I have found is to leave Fusion running all the time.  I shutdown my VMs when not in use, but simple leaving Fusion up avoid the Bluetooth error we've been getting.  Does that work for you...until VMware ultimately resolves this issue?

[ScotteZ]

Hmmm, I actually have had the issue quite a few times when I do leave them running as well - sometimes it will disconnect when I come back to the computer and it has gone to sleep.

In any case, I will try some variations on your theme until the release comes.

The good news is I don't have to lug my machine to a Genius Bar for something they ultimately wouldn't be able to help me with.