What's in the Release Notes

The release notes cover the following topics:

About VMware Fusion
What's New
Prior Releases
Known Issues
Resolved Issues

About VMware Fusion

VMware Fusion 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

VMware Fusion 8.0.2 is a maintenance release that resolves some known issues. It is a free upgrade for all VMware Fusion 8 users.

Prior Releases

Features and Known Issues from prior releases of VMware Fusion are described in the release notes for each release. To view release notes for prior releases of VMware Fusion 8, click the following links:

Known Issues

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

On the Ubuntu 15.10 guest operating system, replacing open-vm-tools with the bundled VMware Tools version, might cause VMware Tools to work improperly
On the Ubuntu 15.10 guest, when you replace open-vm-tools with the VMware Tools version bundled with VMware Fusion 8.0.2, VMware Tools does not work as expected. After you reboot the system, an Ubuntu crash report might appear and one of the services in VMware Tools might stop working.
Workaround: Use either of the following workarounds, depending on which is most appropriate for your situation.

Continue to use open-vm-tools. Do not use the bundled VMware Tools.
If the bundled VMware Tools are installed, perform the following steps:
1. As root, edit the /etc/vmware-tools/vmware-user.desktop file by changing this line:
  Exec=/usr/bin/vmware-user
  To this line:
  Exec=env VMWARE_USE_SHIPPED_LIBS=1 /usr/bin/vmware-user
2. Log out of the guest and log in again.
  This change can prevent the VMware Tools service (vmtoolsd) from crashing.
3. To verify that the preceding steps are effective, issue the following command:
  'ps -aux | grep vmtools'
  The appropriate command return shows both of the following vmtoolsd services running:
  - /usr/sbin/vmtoolsd
  - /usr/lib/vmware-tools/sbin64/vmtoolsd

On an OS X 10.11 host, discontinuing the use of a USB device within a virtual machine might cause the virtual machine to crash
This issue occurs only on an OS X 10.11 host and only when you use a virtual machine with a USB 3 controller. When you stop the use of a USB device, for example by right clicking the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media tray icon and selecting to eject the USB device, the virtual machine might crash.

Workaround: Configure the virtual machine to use a USB 2.0 controller.

When you start an imported Parallels 11 virtual machine in VMware Fusion, the virtual machine crashes
After you import a Parallels 11 virtual machine into VMware Fusion, attempting to power on the virtual machine fails with the error "Inaccessible Boot Device."
Workaround: In Parallels, uninstall Parallels Tools, then reimport the virtual machine into VMware Fusion.

After you install and invoke the NVIDIA Web driver on an OS X host, the virtual machine in Fusion freezes
This issue occurs when you obtain and invoke the NVIDIA Web driver. The issue does not occur with the NVIDIA driver included with an OS X system.
Workaround: Do not invoke the NVIDIA Web driver or uninstall the NVIDIA web driver when using Fusion.

When you attempt to run Windows 10 Boot Camp partition, a message appears requesting reactivation
When switching between running Windows 10 natively from the Boot Camp partition and running it as a virtual machine, Windows requests reactivation. This issue occurs because Windows detects a significant difference between the actual hardware on your Mac and the hardware presented to a virtual machine.
Workaround: The first time you run a Windows 10 Boot Camp partition as a virtual machine, you need to call Microsoft's automated service to reactivate Windows. Instructions can be found in the Windows Settings app under the Activation tab. Subsequently, you must have an Internet connection to reactivate Windows after switching between native and virtual machine modes.

When you use the Easy Install option with the Windows XP SP2 x86 guest operating system, VMware Fusion fails to recognize the completion of the VMware Tools installation
When you install the Windows XP SP2 x86 guest operating system using the Easy Install option, the Virtual Machine drop-down menu in Fusion incorrectly displays the Cancel VMware Tools Installation option and does not enable the Reinstall VMware Tools option, even though the VMware Tools installation is complete.
Workaround: Use one of the following workarounds, depending on if the incorrect options currently appear in the VMware Fusion drop-down menu or if you want to prevent them from appearing.
- After the issue occurs, you can perform the following actions to remove the incorrect options:
  Power off and restart the XP SP2 x86 guest after the Easy Install process finishes.
- You can prevent the incorrect options from appearing by performing the following task:
  Use the Easy Install option with a different guest, such as Windows XP SP3 x86.

Using a USB headset with a Windows 8 or later guest operating system might result in poor audio quality
USB headsets not designed for USB 3.0 controllers might not perform well with Windows 8 and later guests because Windows 8 and later guest operating systems use a USB 3.0 controller by default.
Using USB headsets not designed for USB 3.0 controllers result in poor audio quality in the following situations:
- Windows 8: Poor quality audio occurs when used with audio conferencing software, such as Skype and Lync.
- Windows 10: Poor quality audio occurs in most or all situations.
Workaround:
Use the workaround that is most appropriate for your needs.
- Change the USB controller of the guest from USB 3.0 to USB 2.0.
- Use a USB headset designed to work with USB 3.0 controllers.

Resolved Issues

The following issues were resolved in this version of VMware Fusion.

Repeatedly quitting and restarting Fusion without resizing open windows, might cause Fusion to crash
Any window that is open when you quit Fusion, reopens at a smaller size when you restart Fusion. Repeated quits and restarts without resizing open windows might result in windows reopening at such a small size that Fusion crashes.

This issue is resolved.

On an OS X 10.11.1 host, exiting Full Screen view when multiple monitors are connected, causes Fusion to crash
The following actions cause Fusion to crash:
1. Power on a virtual machine with multiple monitors connected on an OS X 10.11.1 host.
2. Select View > Use All Displays in Full Screen, then switch the virtual machine to Full Screen view.
3. Hover the cursor over the top edge of the screen.
  
  The title bar of the virtual machine window appears.
4. Click the Exit Full Screen button.
  Fusion crashes.
This issue is resolved. Implementing the preceding steps no longer causes Fusion to crash.

Using the Philips SpeechMike USB Pro 3200 on a MacPro system freezes the virtual machine
When you connect the Philips SpeechMike USB Pro 3200 to a virtual machine on a MacPro system, the virtual machine freezes.

This issue is resolved.

Attempting to power on a Boot Camp partition as a virtual machine fails on an OS X 10.11 host
When the failure occurs, an error message about failed writes appears.

This issue is resolved.

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 VMware 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 VMware 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.

This issue is resolved.

The network connection of a virtual machine created on a remote server does not work
When you use Fusion to create a new virtual machine on a remote server, the value in the Networking field on the final panel of the New Virtual Machine wizard is "Unknown." When the installation of the guest operating system is complete, the guest fails to retrieve the IP address and, therefore, cannot connect to the network.

This issue is resolved.

For the MacBookPro Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015, VMware Fusion does not display battery life settings in the Display settings window (
Apple's new MacBookPro Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015, supports automatic graphics switching. VMware Fusion does not show battery life settings in the Display settings window, so it is not possible to configure the high performance graphics options for virtual machines.

This issue is resolved.

In Unity view, the Toggle Start Screen/Menu option is unavailable when the taskbar is hidden
Access to the Toggle Start Screen/Menu option is useful sometimes, even when the taskbar is hidden. However, in Unity view the option is greyed out when the taskbar is hidden.

This issue is resolved. Now, in Unity view, when the taskbar is hidden, the Toggle Start Screen/Menu option is available. When you click the option, the Start Screen/Menu of the guest appears.

Virtual machines fail to start on a host with an Intel Skylake processor
A compatibility issue might prevent a virtual machine from starting on a Mac system with an Intel Skylake processor (such as the 27-inch Late 2015 5K iMac) when the Troubleshooting option in the virtual machine's advanced settings is set to Hang/Crash.

This issue is resolved.

The VMware Fusion user interface crashes when you unencrypt a suspended virtual machine
In certain situations, removing encryption from a suspended virtual machine crashes the VMware Fusion user interface. The virtual machine itself is not affected by the crash, and no data is lost.

The issue that caused the crash is resolved.

Sometimes, copying and pasting text between a Mac host and a virtual machine fails to update the clipboard
When this issue occurs, the pasted text is not the text that was most recently copied.

This issue is resolved.

VMware Fusion crashes on an OS X 10.11 host when a virtual machine with multiple monitors connected enters Full Screen view
On an OS X 10.11 host, when a virtual machine has multiple monitors connected, Fusion crashes if you display the virtual machine in Full Screen view with the Use All Displays in Full Screen option selected in the View drop-down menu.

This issue is resolved.

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.

This issue is resolved.

When 3D acceleration is enabled in a virtual machine on an OS X 10.11 host, VMware Fusion might fail to start the virtual machine
When an OS X 10.11 host is upgraded from 10.8 or 10.9, VMware Fusion might fail to power on the virtual machines if 3D acceleration is enabled in the Display settings. This issue does not occur with fresh-installed OS X 10.11 host machines.

This issue is resolved.

Analysis tools, such as tcpdump, Wireshark, EtherApe, are not available on VMware Fusion host network interfaces
VMware Fusion host network interfaces, such as vmnet1 and vmnet8, do not support the Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF). As a result, analysis tools such as tcpdump, Wireshark, EtherApe, and others are not available on these interfaces.

This issue is resolved. With this release of Fusion, such analysis tools are available for use.