Every so often I have a problem with the Windows 10 VM that I run on my mac in VMware Fusion, last time I needed to upgrade to Fusion 11.5, before that it was a registry fix. This time I could not access any files or folders on the parent mac.
Network Error
Windows cannot access \\vmware-host\Shared Folders\{Folder-Name}
You do not have permissions to access \\vmware-host\Shared Folders\{Folder-Name}. Contact your network administrator to request access.
Solution
Removing and re-adding the share in VMware Fusion didn’t fix the problem, in the end I had to grant VMware Fusion, ‘Full Disk’ access before the problem ceased.
System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > ‘Unlock’ > Full Disk Access > Tick ‘VMware Fusion.app”.
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While building my new MacBook, I installed VMWare Fusion, (I always run a Windows VM, in case I have to do something on Windows). But no matter what version I tried to install, I could not interface with the VMs, (no mouse or keyboard).
I ran Fusion 11 on my old MacBook, (running Mojave). So I was a bit confused.
Solution
Click the ‘Apple’ (top left) > System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Privacy > VMWare Fusion should already be in the list, (if not you will need to add it) > Unlock > Tick the box next to VMware Fusion > Lock.
Now you should be able to interact with your VMs.
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I keep a Windows 10 VM on my laptop, and last week it lost network connectivity, (it’s set to get its IP from my mac and get network connectivity via NAT). The guest was getting a 169.254.x.x APIPA address so either NAT was down, or there was no network?
Solution
You need to ‘Restart’ the services on the Mac host machine. Execute the following two commands;
I have a bunch of VM’s that I use with GNS3 that are in Virtualbox. I also run VMware Fusion, and since my upgrade to version 1.4.4 I need to run the GNS3 VM in VMware, (I could not get the Virtualbox version to work). So I decided to copy over the remainder of my VMs as well.
Solution
Within Virtualbox > File > Export Appliance.
Select the VM in question > Continue.
Important: Ensure you have selected OVF Version 1.0 (if you use version 2.0 it wont work) > Take a note of where the OVA file is going to be saved > Continue.
There’s no need to add anything else unless you want to > Export.
The VM will export (depending on the size this can take a few minutes).
When complete, open VMware Fusion > File Import.
Browse to, and select the OVA file you just exported > Continue.
Choose a name of the new VM > Save.
Don’t panic! This is normal, simply click retry.
The VM will import.
Finish.
When you first boot the VM it may be a little sluggish (it’s just had its underlying hardware changed after all). If it wants to try and install drivers, cancel the procedure and install the VMware tools.
Now you can remove the original VM from Virtualbox.
Delete all files.
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I use Fusion a lot, and it does what I want and never gives me any problems. I was working for a client this week and had to VPN onto their network (172.16.0.0/16 but all the servers were on 172.16.48.x). When connected I could not RDP to any of their servers? I asked a colleague to try on his laptop and it worked fine? I asked another colleague who also uses a mac, his worked as well.
Solution
I wondered if I had added a strange static route in the past, and maybe that was tripping me up. so I looked at the routing table;
[box]
netstat -nr
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At this point I noticed that 172.16.48.0 was set to send traffic to vmnet8, A quick Google search told me that this was used for VMware Fusion. I quit Fusion, and it started working, which is fine, but I’d rather have Fusion running so how do I change the IP addresses it uses?
VMware Fusion Changing IP addresses
Open a terminal window, and execute the following command;
Tap in your password, and you can edit the file to change the IP addresses VMware Fusion uses;
In case you are thinking, the client was using 172.16.0.0/16 and Fusion was using 172.16.48.0/24 Why did it break? Well, as I said above, the servers were all on 172.16.48.x, and with routing the most specific route ALWAYS WINS.
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I have made the transition to a MAC laptop pretty easily, but theres one thing thats still a pain, VMware ESXi servers! I know these days vCenter has a nice shiny web management portal, but ESXi does not. When I’m working on the test bench I usually connect using the VI client from a virtual machine running inside VMware fusion. Which works, but the performance is not brilliant, things wont move where I want them, and for some reason copy and cut will work, but paste does not (I have no idea either).
So when I’d spend half an hour trying to move some certificates from one VM to another, I lost my temper, and made a monumental discovery. VMware fusion can connect straight to an ESXi host, (why did I not know this!)
Solution
1. With Fusion running > File > Connect to Server (or command+K).
2. Enter the details as if you were using the VI client > Connect.
3. If you are using self signed certificates accept the warning and continue.
4. OK it looks a bit mickey mouse but from here you can open a console, and provided the VMware tools are installed in the VM it performs quite well.
5. Console Session.
6. And you can even change the VM settings, including browsing data stores on the ESXi server for ISO files etc.
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