VMware Fusion FAQs

Designed from the ground up for the Mac user, VMware Fusion leverages the full power of Intel-based Macs to seamlessly run Windows applications side-by-side with your favorite Mac applications.

Yes, you can convert a Windows PC to run as a virtual machine with VMware Fusion with free VMware Converter. There is an online video tutorial that walks you through how to convert a PC to a virtual machine as well as information on possible licensing implications to keep in mind.

While you can use VMware Fusion to manage a Windows boot camp partition, Boot Camp is not required to run Windows on a Mac with VMware Fusion. VMware Fusion can be used to create a new Windows virtual machine without ever installing Windows using Apple’s Boot Camp software.

When you install VMware Fusion, it will automatically recognize your existing Boot Camp partition, and give you the option to manage your Boot Camp partition. You will not be able to snapshot or suspend your Windows install, though, because it is not a true virtual machine.

If you would like to take your existing Boot Camp partition and convert it to run exclusively as a virtual machine to take advantage of snapshots and suspend/resume, select the Import option for your Boot Camp partition in the Virtual Machine Library.

VMware Fusion 2 imports both Parallels Desktop for Mac 2.5 and 3.0 and Virtual PC for Mac 7.0-based virtual machines. Launch VMware Fusion, go to the File menu and select Import, select your virtual machine setting’s file and click Import.

You can uninstall VMware Fusion by opening the disk image or CD that you installed VMware Fusion from and running “Uninstall VMware Fusion”. To delete your virtual machines, in the Finder go to the Documents folder and move the Virtual Machines folder to the Trash.

This depends on what you’re running in your virtual machine, what you’re running on your Mac, if you’re running many concurrent processes, how many virtual machines you’re running with VMware Fusion at once, and how much RAM your machine has. For most users, there will be little or no impact on your Mac’s overall performance.

To send the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keystroke combination to a virtual machine, do one of the following:

• From the Virtual Machine menu, select Send Ctrl-Alt-Delete.
• If you are using an external PC keyboard, press Ctrl-Alt-Delete.
• On a full-sized Mac keyboard, press Control-Option Forward Delete . The (Forward Delete) key is below the Help key.
• On a MacBook or MacBook Pro keyboard, press Fn-Ctrl-Option-Delete.

By default in VMware Fusion, you can use Control-click to enable a right click with the Apple Mighty Mouse. In addition, you can also enable the secondary button for the Apple Mighty Mouse by going to System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Mouse and selecting Secondary Button in the drop-down menu for the right side of the mouse.

By default in VMware Fusion, you can use Control-click to enable a right click with the trackpad button. In addition, the MacBook and MacBook Pro trackpad can be configured to right-click by using two fingers to click. To enable this on a MacBook or MacBook Pro trackpad, go to System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Trackpad. You have two options to enable the two-fingered right-click:

1. If "Clicking" is selected, ensure "Tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click" is selected.
2. Otherwise, ensure "Place two fingers on trackpad and click button for secondary click" is selected.

A: The delete key on Apple keyboards is actually the backspace key to all other operating systems. To send the DEL key to a virtual machine, do the following:

• On a MacBook or MacBook Pro keyboard, press Fn-Delete
• On a full-sized Mac keyboard, press the Forward Delete key. The (Forward Delete) key is below the Help key.

A: Mac keyboards do not have an obvious INSERT key. To send the INSERT key to a virtual machine, do the following:

• On a MacBook or MacBook Pro keyboard, press Fn-M.
• On a full-sized Mac keyboard, press the Help key.

A: Mac keyboards do not have a PRINT SCREEN key. To send the PRINT SCREEN key to a virtual machine, do the following:

• On a full-sized Mac keyboard, press the F13 key.

If you use a non-English keyboard layout on your Mac, configure the same non-English keyboard layout in your virtual machine's keyboard settings.

Mac keyboards do not have an AltGr key. To send the AltGr key to a virtual machine, do the following:

• On a full-sized Mac keyboard, press the right Option key.
• On a European MacBook or MacBook Pro keyboard, the Enter key next to the right Command key (otherwise known as the numeric pad Enter key) is remapped to Alt-Gr on Mac laptops. This is overridden when Num Lock is used to enable numeric keypad support.

Yes, VMware Fusion has experimental 3D graphics support allowing you to play select DirectX 9.0c with Shader Model 2 games in Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Microsoft Vista virtual machines. See the VMware Fusion release notes for more information.

Yes, you can use the vast majority of USB 2.0 devices such as video cameras, high-speed hard disks, GPS devices, and much more in a virtual machine.

Yes, VMware Fusion allows you to create and run 32-bit and 64-bit virtual machines. However, you can only run 64-bit guest operating systems on Intel Macs with 64-bit processors (Core 2 Duo or Xeon).

Yes, VMware Fusion supports up to 10 displays in your Windows or Linux virtual machines. VMware Fusion supports multiple displays in both full screen and Unity views.

Yes, you can access your FireWire hard drives in VMware Fusion by mapping the hard drive to a VMware Shared Folder. Go to the Virtual Machine menu, select Shared Folders and select Add Shared Folder. Select your FireWire hard drive and click Open to assign your FireWire disk to the shared folder. To access your FireWire hard drive in Windows, go to VMware Shared Folders shortcut on the desktop and select your FireWire hard disk.

No, VMware Fusion does not support virtualizing FireWire devices, so you cannot use your FireWire camera or printer with Windows. If your FireWire printer has Mac drivers, you can use it via printer sharing or VMware Fusion’s driverless printing feature. Also, you can access your FireWire hard drives in VMware Fusion by mapping the hard drive to a VMware Shared Folder. Alternatively, if your device has both a USB and FireWire connections, you can connect the device to your virtual machine as a USB device instead.

You can assign up to 4 virtual CPUs to a virtual machine, so the virtual machine will harness the full power of a Mac with an Intel Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, or Xeon processor. Multiple Virtual CPUs are recommended when you have applications that can take advantage of multiple processor cores and you have a quad-core or octo-core Mac Pro.

Due to the aggressive power management features of the MacBook Air that disable processor cores to save power, it is recommended you only enable the default single virtual processor for virtual machines on your MacBook Air.

While VMware Fusion can assign up to 4 virtual CPUs to a virtual machine on a quad-core or octo-core Mac Pro, Windows XP and Windows Vista are limited to two processor sockets only and virtual CPUs are socket-based. So, assign no more than 2 virtual CPUs to a Windows XP or Windows Vista virtual machine.

Yes, you can run as many virtual machines concurrently on VMware Fusion as you have RAM to support. In fact, VMware Fusion leverages patented memory-sharing techniques to drastically reduce the memory required to run multiple virtual machines at the same time.

VMware Fusion supports more than 60 x86 operating systems from Windows 3.1 through Windows Vista Ultimate, various flavors of Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and Novell Netware. View complete list of support operating systems

Yes, VMware Fusion supports all versions of Microsoft Vista from 32-bit Home Basic to the 64-bit Ultimate edition with full support for Unity, copy and paste of styled text, drag and drop of files, shared folders, and screen resizing.

Yes, VMware Fusion offers full support for more than 60 operating systems including a wide variety of Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris distributions. See the Getting Started Guide for more details.

Yes, Apple licensing now allows running Mac OS X Leopard Server in a virtual machine and VMware Fusion 2 offers support Mac OS X Leopard Server virtual machines.

No, Apple licensing prohibits running Mac OS X client in a virtual machine and VMware Fusion 2 cannot support Mac OS X clients at this time. Contact Apple if you would like to see Mac OS X client officially supported in a virtual machine.

Yes, VMware Fusion 2.0 is fully supported on Mac OS X Leopard.

Yes, VMware Fusion will run on any Intel Mac running Mac OS X 10.4.11 and later.

Yes, VMware Fusion will run on any Intel Mac running Mac OS X Server 10.4.11 and later.

The CD/DVD sharing features does not support the necessary requirements needed to install Windows over the network. You need to create a CD/DVD image of your Windows installation media to install Windows on your MacBook Air. To create a CD/DVD image of Windows installation media, do the following:

1. Launch the Apple’s Disk Utility by going to Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility on your Mac.
2. Insert the Windows installation CD/DVD, select the CD/DVD disk and click New Image.
3. In the Image Format pop-up menu, choose DVD/CD Master, In the Encryption pop-up menu, choose None.
4. Save the Windows installation CD/DVD image to the MacBook Air or to a network location available to the MacBook Air.

You can convert your physical PC to run as a virtual machine using VMware Converter. Whether you can legally use a copy of Windows from an existing physical machine depends on the licensing surrounding that copy of Windows. Please consult the license agreement that came with the version of Windows included with your PC for more details.

Many OEM Windows CDs are tied to specific hardware and will not work. Whether you can legally use a copy of Windows from an existing physical machine depends on the licensing surrounding that copy of Windows. Please consult the license agreement that came with the version of Windows included with your PC for more details.

VMware Fusion lets your run over 60 x86 operating systems as virtual machines including Windows 3.1 through 64-bit Windows Vista Ultimate. Nearly all applications that run on those Windows or other x86 operating systems installed on a physical machine will run on a virtual machine running that operating system. Programs can range from general-purpose business applications to applications that require access to your favorite USB devices for voice recognition or device updates.

In order to run a Windows virtual machine, you must have a licensed copy of that Windows operating system or purchase a new Windows license.

Windows is available at your local resellers, office chains, electronics retailers, and mail order specialists including in North America: Best Buy, Office Depot, Amazon.com, PC/MacConnection, PC/MacMall, NewEgg, and CDW.

There are many different versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista available including academic editions. To find the pricing and version that best suits your needs, we recommend consulting your favorite reseller, office chains, electronics retailers, and mail order specialists including in North America: Best Buy, Office Depot, Amazon.com, PC/MacConnection, PC/MacMall, NewEgg, and CDW

Your Windows virtual machine behaves just like any Windows physical machine, and any precautions you should take with a Windows physical machine would apply to your virtual machine as well, including the installation of Windows anti-virus software and firewalls for optimum security.

VMware Fusion 2 includes a 12 month complementary subscription for McAfee VirusScan Plus to help protect your Windows virtual machine.

Virtual machines are isolated from each other and don’t have access to the Mac by default. If you enable Mirrored Folders, there is the potential to expose your Mac’s Documents, Desktop, Music and Pictures folders to viruses.

However, using anti-virus software for both your Mac and your Windows virtual machine is a best practice and VMware Fusion 2 includes a 12 complementary subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus to help protect your Windows virtual machine to help avoid problems.

If you don’t want to install Windows security software and are concerned about security, it is advisable to not enable read/write shared folders between your Windows guest virtual machine and the Mac. Read-only shared folders will not allow Windows to access your Mac data.

Yes, VMware virtual machines are fully compatible across the product line. Virtual machines created with Workstation, Server or VMware Infrastructure can run on VMware Fusion.

VMware virtual machines created with VMware Fusion 2 are fully compatible with VMware’s latest products including VMware Workstation 6.5, VMware ACE 2.5, and VMware Player 2.5.

Yes. VMware Fusion allows you to run any of the over 700 virtual appliances available in the marketplace. Virtual appliances are pre-installed and preconfigured applications that are packaged along with an operating system in a self-contained virtual machine that is ready to run on any hardware.

Your Windows virtual machine behaves just like any Windows physical machine, and any precautions you should take with a Windows physical machine would apply to your virtual machine as well, including the installation of Windows anti-virus software and firewalls for optimum security.

VMware Fusion 2 includes a 12-month complimentary subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus to help protect your Windows virtual machine.

Virtual machines are isolated from each other and don’t have access to the Mac by default. If you enable Mirrored Folders, there is the potential to expose your Mac’s Documents, Desktop, Music and Pictures folders to viruses.

However, using anti-virus software for both your Mac and your Windows virtual machine is a best practice and VMware Fusion 2 includes a 12-month complementary subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus to help protect your Windows virtual machine to help avoid problems.

If you don’t want to install Windows security software and are concerned about security, it is advisable to not enable read/write shared folders between your Windows guest virtual machine and the Mac. Read-only shared folders will not allow Windows to change or delete data on your Mac.

The included McAfee VirusScan Plus complimentary subscription is for one virtual machine, for one year. If you want to install it in more than one virtual machine, you can purchase additional licenses of McAfee VirusScan Plus by visiting the McAfee-VMware Fusion web site.

Your complimentary subscription covers one McAfee VirusScan Plus install on one virtual machine, for one year. You can purchase more licenses of McAfee VirusScan Plus for your additional virtual machines by visiting the McAfee-VMware Fusion web site.

Yes, McAfee Total Protection offers additional protection for your virtual machines. You can upgrade or learn more by visiting the McAfee-VMware Fusion web site.

You can upgrade any time before or after your McAfee VirusScan Plus complimentary license expires. Simply go to the McAfee-VMware Fusion web site to learn more.

When the subscription expires, the McAfee VirusScan Plus install will prompt you to renew the subscription. To renew your subscription of McAfee VirusScan Plus, or upgrade to McAfee Total Protection, visit McAfee-VMware Fusion web site.

Your complimentary license has a full support entitlement from McAfee. Contact McAfee for support.

You can restart your virtual machine by holding down the option key on your keyboard, going to the "Virtual Machine", and selecting "Reset."

In some cases, VMware Fusion is unable to automatically detect which is the default CD/DVD drive to install Windows from. To tell VMware Fusion which CD/DVD drive to use, shut down your virtual machine, and click on the Settings button. Click on CD/DVD and change the setting from Automatically Detect to Specify drive. Choose a specific drive and click OK. Click on the Play button to start the VM and begin the install. If that fails, use Apple’s Disk Utility to make a CD/DVD master of the Windows CD and attach this image to the virtual machine as a virtual CD/DVD. Refer to the VMware Fusion Help for details on creating a CD/DVD disk image.

Type the Eject key on the keyboard or right click the CD in your virtual machine, and click "Eject." Also, you can disconnect the CD/DVD drive by going to the "Virtual Machine menu" click "CD/DVD" and selecting "disconnect."

View the online tutorials, which walk you through setting up printing and learning more about other features. Go to vmware.com/go/VMware Fusion tutorials to view all product tutorials.

The easiest way is to instead add a second virtual hard disk. Shut down the virtual machine, go to "Virtual Machine" click "Settings". Click the "+" button and then "Add hard disk." Specify the details of your hard disk. When you start your virtual machine again, you need to reformat that new virtual hard drive, using Windows Disk Management: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000

If your Mac is able to get online (with Safari, for example), then you need to repair your virtual machine’s network connection. The best thing to do is to disable and then re-connect networking on your virtual machine. Go to the "Virtual Machine" menu, click on "Network" and click "Disconnect Network." Then, go back to the "Virtual Machine" menu, click on "Network" and click "Connect Network." This will reconnect networking, and your virtual machine will reconnect. This will likely solve your problem most of the time.

If you are not able to get online with Safari on your Mac, then you likely need to repair your Airport connection.

Your virtual machine’s networking is likely having an issue. The best thing to do is to disable and then re-connect networking on your virtual machine. Go to the "Virtual Machine" menu, click on "Network" and click "Disconnect Network." Then, go back to the "Virtual Machine" menu, click on "Network" and click "Connect Network." This will reconnect networking, and your virtual machine will reconnect. This will likely solve your problem most of the time.

The easiest way to do this is to set up a shared folder to your Mac file system, and put a shortcut to that shared folder on your Windows desktop.

To set this up, start your Windows virtual machine, go into the Virtual Machine Settings, select Sharing, click the + button, and add a shared folder.

To access this Shared Folder, go to the Desktop of your virtual machine and open VMware Shared Folders.

VMware Fusion is available for purchase online and available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, Amazon.com, Buy.com, CompUSA, and MicroCenter and available worldwide through Smith Micro’s international distributors.

The suggested retail price of VMware Fusion is $79.99 USD.

Yes, there is a $30 competitive rebate for customers who are switching from Parallels Desktop for Mac or Virtual PC 7 for Mac. You can learn more at http://www.vmware.com/mac

VMware Fusion costs $79.99 retail, which compares favorably to Parallels Desktop. In addition, VMware Fusion costs $39.99 for academic users.

Yes, VMware started at Stanford University and we strongly support enabling students. Academic pricing for VMware Fusion is $39.99 and it can be purchased from the VMware Online Academic Store, select campus book stores, and online at Apple Store for Education and CDW and from other select academic resellers.

Smith Micro, our exclusive retail publisher that sells VMware Fusion into retail stores, offers a 30 day money back guarantee on VMware Fusion when bought from a Smith Micro reseller including Apple retail stores, Apple.com, Amazon.com, Buy.com, Best Buy, Office Depot, Frys, or Microcenter. Contact Smith Micro Customer Service at (831) 761-6200 to return the product within 30 days of purchase if not satisfied.

Yes. If you purchased VMware Fusion from the VMware Online Store, CDW, MacConnection, MacMall, or MacZones and you are not completely satisfied with the VMware Fusion for any reason, you may return VMware Fusion, together with your receipt, to the vendor from which you have acquired it for a refund of the money you paid for the software (less shipping, handling, and any applicable taxes) at any time during the thirty (30) day period following the date of purchase. If you have purchased the VMware Fusion directly from VMware, please see our return policy for VMware Fusion for further instructions.

If you purchased VMware Fusion from an Apple retail store, Apple.com, Amazon.com, Buy.com, Best Buy, Office Depot, Frys, or Microcenter and wish to return VMware Fusion, you need to contact Smith Micro our retail channel publisher. Contact Smith Micro Customer Service at (831) 761-6200 to return the product within 30 days of purchase if not satisfied.

Please see our document on Purchasing and Downloading VMware Fusion for a tour of the purchase and download process.

You should first uninstall the Beta version first with the included Uninstall VMware Fusion application before upgrading to the release version.

No. When you uninstall the beta version and install the shipping version of VMware Fusion, all of the virtual machines you created using the beta will remain intact.

From the VMware Fusion menu, select About VMware Fusion, and the version and build number will be displayed in the about box.

You can download the latest version of VMware Fusion at http://www.vmware.com/go/downloadVMware Fusion

VMware Fusion 2.0 is a free, downloadable upgrade for all customers as our thanks to the early adopters who supported VMware Fusion in it’s first year on the Mac. You can download the free downloadable upgrade from: http://www.vmware.com/go/downloadVMware Fusion

VMware Fusion 2.0 is a free upgrade for all VMware Fusion 1.x users.

No. VMware Fusion 2.0 is a free upgrade for all users and a new license is not required. An existing VMware Fusion 1.x license will work with VMware Fusion 2.0.

Your license key should be input by going to the "VMware Fusion" menu and select "License"

When you input your purchased serial key into your software, it will override the trial serial key.

Go to http://www.vmware.com/info?id=724, create a VMware Store account and enter your VMware Fusion license key to register VMware Fusion.

You can retrieve your serial number through the "Account" page on STORE:
http://www.vmware.com/vmwarestore/newstore/account.jsp

Click on "Manage Order"

Click on "OrderID" and enter in your order

Go to highlighted "Serial Number" click there and that will provide your serial number

Please contact our retail distribution partner, Smith Micro, for assistance at http://www.smithmicro.com or (949) 362-8461.

From the VMware Fusion menu, select License…, and the serial number will be displayed in the software licensing dialog.

The support section on the VMware Fusion web site that has many great resources at:
http://www.vmware.com/products/VMware Fusion/support.html

There are online tutorials that provide walkthroughs of common questions. You can view the online tutorials at http://www.vmware.com/go/Fusiontutorials

The VMware Fusion community forums provide support from the VMware Fusion community and can help with common questions and resolving of many issues at http://www.vmware.com/go/Fusionforums

Finally, if you need general assistance with VMware Fusion installation, you are entitled to 30 days of complimentary web-based support. To receive your complimentary support you must first register your product. You can do this using your existing VMware account or by creating a new account in our VMware Store. If you are outside of the 30-day complimentary support period, fee-based per incident web support is available to you.

Customers who wish to purchase single-incident email-based support after the initial 30-day complementary support can purchase it from here: http://www.vmware.com/support/policies/VMware Fusion_per_incident.html

To help you start navigating the knowledge base, please see our document.

For general assistance with VMware Fusion installation, you are entitled to one month of complimentary web-based support. To receive your complimentary support you must first register your product. You can do this using your existing VMware account or by creating a new account in our VMware Store. If you are outside of the 30-day complimentary support period, fee-based per incident web support is available to you.

Your 30 days of complimentary web-based support starts when you register VMware Fusion.

Please see our document on filing a support request.

VMware Fusion support is available web-based support in addition to our online user community. If you have questions after the initial 30-day complementary support period, you can purchase per incident support or utilize the VMware Fusion community forums at http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/desktop/fusion

Yes, VMware Fusion Site Support and Maintenance is an available purchase option for organizations with 50 or more VMware Fusion licenses. Contact VMware Sales for more information.

We will send you a serial number to complete your installation process that you will need to enter on your Account page.

The 30-day complimentary support period is available only to customers who purchase and register VMware Fusion as a new product.

Yes. Per incident support will cover all versions of VMware Fusion.

Please be sure that VMware Fusion is fully shut down before upgrading to 2.0. Restarting your Mac, then installing the software, can ensure that VMware Fusion is not running when you install the update.