strange thin print error after upgrading to Fusion 13.5

[iFrog]

Hey all, just upgraded today from Fusion 13.0.2 to Fusion 13.5 (pro version) on a late 2015, 27" iMac running Monterey 12.7.  After upgrading my VMs, Linux, and Windows, Windows 10, 11, and Linux Mint, and Ubuntu, when starting the VMs I get the message about serial0 having an invalid filetype"thinprint' and will start disconnected.  This never happened under 13.0.2, or older versions, so I'm suspecting 13.5 dropped support for something.  Anyway,  on the Linux VMs I was able to edit the VMX. file and remove the serial0 lines and the problem is gone.  The problem now is with the Windows 10 and 11 VMs the VMX file is encrypted and I can't edit i.  Is there a way to fix this problem from within the VM, or it's settings?

Thanks.  By the way, I'm not sure why thinprint was even enabled, my printer is a network printer and the guest is able to detect and use it directly as the host does.  Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Tried searching Google and can't find much so that's why I came here to ask.

[Idontwanttobeab]

I am getting the same and it is in the setting file, but since the settings file is encrypted, it cannot be removed unless you make a decrypted copy of the disk file using the ovf tool, edit it out, and then encrypt it back again.

There really needs to be a better way to edit the settings file, and they should also have cleared it out on update as the thinprint function don't seem to be supported any more. 

[BillPa]

I too am here because I am getting this same error message after the update. Host 2017 i7 mac mini, running MacOS 14, now using Fusion 13.5, guest OS is Windows 11 Home edition, had no such issue with previous versions. Any ideas for a fix?

[Idontwanttobeab]

There is a way to fix, see above, but very cumbersome.

[BillPa]

I am able to edit my config file using current method of encrypting VM file.

[Idontwanttobeab]

There are two ways of encrypting the vm.

You can encrypt everything, and then there is possibly a newer option to not encrypt the config file and a few others. (see the encryption settings).

If the entire thing is encrypted, you have to go the long mile...

[iFrog]

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@Idontwanttobeab wrote:

There are two ways of encrypting the vm.

You can encrypt everything, and then there is possibly a newer option to not encrypt the config file and a few others. (see the encryption settings).

If the entire thing is encrypted, you have to go the long mile...

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That was my problem, the whole thing is encrypted because I just went with the defaults when doing Window 10 / 11.  Didn't realize it would also encrypt the .vmx file, but then again, don't usually need to edit those.  I will just dismiss the notice for now because of the encryption.  Maybe VMWare will provide a better fix soon.  It doesn't seem to break anything just an unnecessary notice on vm start.

[BillPa]

I got rid of the error message by editing the config file with the following. For those who can without de encrypting.

serial0.present = "FALSE"

[then I removed the other two serial0. lines referencing "thinprint" as well]

[iFrog]

Corrected below.  Please delete this post "moderators"

[iFrog]

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@BillPa wrote:

I got rid of the error message by editing the config file with the following. For those who can without de encrypting.

serial0.present = "FALSE"

[then I removed the other two serial0. lines referencing "thinprint" as well]

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Hi Bill,

please disregard my first reply, the formatting got screwed up, and now it won't let me edit the post.

What I meant to say was, I was able to edit the lines out of the unencrypted VMs such as the Linux ones.  The windows ones I was able to open the file, but it didn't show me the file contents just some encryption keys.  I used BBedit, how did you open your encrypted vmx file?

[Idontwanttobeab]

You can't open the encrypted settings file.

You have to decrypt the entire disk file to a copy, and only then can you edit it. If you want an encrypted disk file you have to generate a new vm based on the decrypted disk file and then decrypt that one again with the setting that doesn't encrypt the settings file.

[BillPa]

As mentioned above you Fusion now allows only partially encrypting the vmx file.

In Fusion I choose Windows, Virtual Machine Libraries, then option right click the appropriate file, which then offers me the edit configuration file option. After editing I just save and close.

[iFrog]

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@Idontwanttobeab wrote:

You can't open the encrypted settings file.

You have to decrypt the entire disk file to a copy, and only then can you edit it. If you want an encrypted disk file you have to generate a new vm based on the decrypted disk file and then decrypt that one again with the setting that doesn't encrypt the settings file.

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OK, got it, was just clarifying as Bill made it sound like he was able  to open the file.  Anyway, as long as this doesn't break anything from working within the VM it would be easier to wait on a fix from VMware, because my digital code for windows is tied to the VM, so creating a new VM would just generate a bunch of unnecessary steps.  Windows 10 could have been used decrypted but I think there was something I wanted to test that required TPM.  Windows 11, can't be used decrypted.  Not a huge deal since I don't depend on these VMs for daily tasks just a poor oversight on VMware's part I think to leave these line in place if support was dropped.

[Idontwanttobeab]

That only works if the virtual machine disk is created with the newer encryption setting.

The problem is for people who have older virtual machines where everything is encrypted.

[iFrog]

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@Idontwanttobeab wrote:

That only works if the virtual machine disk is created with the newer encryption setting.

The problem is for people who have older virtual machines where everything is encrypted.

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I also think the default is to encrypt the whole thing, which happened to me.  If I had known about the options I would have made sure to not encrypt the whole thing and would have only chosen the option to encrypt only what TPM requires.

[mappoint]

I am getting this same error message but not on all VMs. I have 2 VMs without this error (with the serial0 lines in the VMX file). Strange.

[iFrog]

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@mappoint wrote:

I am getting this same error message but not on all VMs. I have 2 VMs without this error (with the serial0 lines in the VMX file). Strange.

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Which VMs didn't give you the error? what's the guestOS?  I didn't get the error on my windows 98 SE VM, got it on my Linux and Windows 11 VMs, looks like I didn't get it on my windows 10VM but will double check on that one.

[mappoint]

I have 3 W10 VMs (1 without error) and 2 W7 VMs (1 without error).

[iFrog]

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@mappoint wrote:

I have 3 W10 VMs (1 without error) and 2 W7 VMs (1 without error).

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OK, will keep an eye on my W10 VM, it's doing windows updates right now then will upgrade vmware tools, and the VM itself, and watch for hte warning.  Stuff like Linux, i can always just create a clean VM with, if I had to and just attach the existing virtual disk to.

Windows isn't so easy as the activation key is tied to the VM it's installed into.

[BillPa]

I can and others will be able too also, I made that caveat clear in my posts. VMWare provided a method a couple releases back to encrypt while still allow editing the configuration file, unfortunately older encrypted VMs don’t have that recourse. I got hit by this scenario earlier, not fun, fortunately not this time.