VMware Fusion 8 | 24 AUG 2015 | Build 2985594

Last updated: 8 SEP 2015

Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

What's in the Release Notes

The release notes cover the following topics:

About VMware Fusion

VMware Fusion 8 is the easiest, fastest, and most reliable way to run Windows and other x86 based operating systems on a Mac without rebooting.

For more information, see the broader VMware Fusion documentation or specifically the VMware Fusion 8.0 Documentation Center.

What's New

  • Full support of Windows 10
    VMware Fusion provides the following support for Windows 10:
    • Run Windows 10 as a virtual machine
    • Windows 10 Auto Detect and Easy Install
    • Unity support for Windows 10
    • Migrate Windows 10 PC to a virtual machine
    • Import Windows 10 Boot Camp virtual machine
  • Support OS X El Capitan
    • Run OS X El Capitan as a virtual machine
    • Run OS X El Capitan as a host operating system
  • New Guest Operating Systems Support
    • Ubuntu 15.04
    • Fedora 22
    • CentOS 7.1
    • RHEL 7.1
    • Oracle Linux 7.1
    • VMware Project Photon
  • Advanced graphics
    Support has been added for the following standards: 
    • DirectX 10
    • OpenGL 3.3
  • Performance improvements for suspending and resuming encrypted virtual machines
  • Advanced resolution settings
    • Ability to set global preference of resolution change upon window resizing and more
    • Ability to set per virtual machine override preference of resolution change upon windows resizing and more
  • VMware vCloud Air Integration (Fusion 8 Pro only)
    • Ability to connect to VMware vCloud Air Service OnDemand (subscription service not supported)
    • Ability to view remote virtual machine inventory
    • Remote display, keyboard and mouse control
    • Upload a local virtual machine to VMware vCloud Air
    • Power operation on remote virtual machines
    • Enhanced user experience
  • Improved remote experience (Fusion 8 Pro only)
    • Ability to create a remote virtual machine on a VMware vSphere, VMware ESXi, and VMware Workstation
    • View health summary of multiple ESXi hosts on a single dashboard
  • Support IPv6 NAT network (Fusion 8 Pro only)
  • Support the latest Macs
    • Ability to run Windows virtual machines on an iMac 5K in full-screen mode with native resolution
    • Support the new MacBook
  • Echo cancellation for voice and video calls with Microsoft Lync and Skype
  • Added USB 3.0 support to Windows 7 virtual machines (with the latest Intel USB driver)
  • Optimized user experience
    • Improved Start menu
    • Improved new VM creator
  • New warning text has been added to the UI for the option “Open your Windows files and web links using Mac Applications” to make it clearer that choosing to enable this feature might reduce the isolation of the virtual machine.

Known Issues

The following issues might occur in this version of VMware Fusion.

  • A UAS device connected to a USB 3.0 port on a Mac OS X 10.9 or later host might fail to successfully connect to the guest
    When a UAS device that is connected to a USB 3.0 port on a Mac OS X 10.9 or later host is connected to the guest, the device might fail to successfully connect to the guest. The device might appear as connected in the removable devices list, viewable by selecting VM > Removable Devices, but the guest operating system might fail to recognize the device.

    Determine if the device is a UAS device by performing the following steps:

    1. On the host machine, open a terminal and type the following command:
         >> system_profiler SPUSBDataType
    2. Scan through the list and locate your device under USB 3.0 Super speed bus.
      If your device says USB3-SATA-U3, then your device is an UAS device.

    Workaround:
    1. Shut down the virtual machine.
    2. Add the following entry to the config file (virtual-machine-name.vmx) of the virtual machine, which has a default location of /Users/username/Documents/Virtual/Machines.localized/​virtualMachineName.vmx:
      usb.generic.keepStreamsEnabled = "FALSE"

      NOTE: This procedure makes the device function as a USB 3.0 mass storage device and not as a UAS device, which might result in a slight degradation in performance while reading and writing to the device.

  • USB headsets connected to a Windows 7 virtual machine might not work
    The following behaviors are indicative of this issue:

    • When you connect a USB headset to a Windows 7 virtual machine, the headset does not work.
    • When you open the Sound dialog box, for example by opening the Control Panel and clicking Sound, the entry in the Playback tab for the USB headset flickers.

      Workaround: Connect the USB headset to the Mac host.

  • On an OS X 10.11 Beta host with multiple monitors connected, specific full-screen related actions might cause Fusion to crash
    When multiple monitors are connected to an OS X 10.11 Beta host and a virtual machine is set to use all displays in Full Screen view, which is configured by selecting View > Use All Displays in Full Screen, the following actions might cause Fusion to crash:

    • Set the virtual machine to Full Screen view by selecting View > Full Screen.
    • Set the virtual machine to Full Screen view by selecting View > Full Screen and unplug an external monitor while the virtual machine is running in Full Screen view.

    Workaround:
    When using an OS X 10.11 Beta host with multiple monitors connected, set the virtual machine to use a single display in Full Screen view by choosing View > Use Single Display in Full Screen.

  • The Network Connection drop-down menu of a remote virtual machine cannot display the name of the distributed virtual switch port group
    When the remote virtual machine is configured to connect to a distributed virtual switch, the Network Connection drop-down menu cannot obtain the name of the distributed switch port group and therefore shows a blank entry item.
    Workaround: To determine which distributed switch port group the remote virtual machine is using or to configure the remote virtual machine to use a different distributed port group, use vCenter Server.

  • After upgrading to Windows 10 on a Boot Camp partition, Windows 10 cannot be reactivated when running as a virtual machine
    The following results are indicative of this issue:

    • You successfully upgrade an earlier version of Windows to Windows 10 on a Boot Camp partition.
    • You successfully activate the Windows 10 when running Boot Camp partition in native mode.
    • Windows 10 is unactivated when running as virtual machine and cannot be reactivated.

      Workaround: This is a Microsoft issue. Often, the issue corrects itself and Windows 10 eventually activates without any intervention, if you leave the virtual machine on.

  • When the Full Screen Minibar is hidden at the edge of the screen, hovering the cursor over it does not make it appear
    This issue occurs in Full Screen mode when the Full Screen Minibar is hidden at the edge of the screen. After you select View > Full Screen Minibar > Automatically Hide And Show, hovering the cursor over the Minibar does not make it appear.
    Workaround: Press Command-Control to release the mouse.
    The Minibar appears.

  • The drag & drop and copy & paste operations might not work consistently between the host and Mac OS virtual machines
    Attempts to drag and drop files and copy and paste files between the host and a Mac OS virtual machine occasionally fail.
    Workaround: Restart the Mac OS virtual machine or copy files through a shared folder or a USB device.

  • You cannot change the plug-in action for a USB device when the virtual machine is running
    In Fusion, on the USB & Bluetooth window, the USB plug-in action for each of the listed USB devices is stuck to its original setting and cannot be changed after the virtual machine is powered on. For example, if the plug-in action for a USB device is set to "Ask what to do," you cannot change the action to any other setting.
    Workaround: To change the plug-in action of the USB device, suspend or power off the virtual machine.
    The "Plug In Action" field then becomes editable.

  • On a Windows 7 virtual machine with a single processor core assigned, Word 2013 might hang when you insert tables

    Workaround:
    • The workaround for this issue after it occurs is to terminate the Word 2013 process manually in Task Manager.
    • The workaround to prevent the issue from occurring is to increase the number of processor cores. Access the Fusion processor settings by selecting Settings > Processors & Memory.

  • After installing VMware Tools version 10.0.0 on a FreeBSD 10.x virtual machine, the guest might not shut down properly when performed from the Workstation Pro or Fusion interface
    When you install VMware Tools version 10.0.0 on a FreeBSD 10.x virtual machine, the VMware Tools service, vmtoolsd, might not launch. The VMware Tools service runs in the background and is responsible for a variety of operations. A symptom you might encounter is that the guest operating system does not shout down as intended when performed from the Workstation Pro or Fusion interface. For example, the first attempt to shutdown the guest from the interface might fail while the second attempt from the interface is converted into a virtual machine power off operation instead of a graceful shutdown.
    Workaround: Use the VMware Tools version included with a previous version of Workstation Pro or Fusion.

  • New Uploading a virtual machine larger than 10GB to VMware vCloud Air might fail
    Attempts to upload a virtual machine that is larger than 10GB to VMware vCloud Air might take several hours before failing, resulting in an error message.
    Workaround: None

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