MP 1,1-5,1 VMWare Fusion no more on MacPro5,1

[eksu]

I wanted to let everyone know that Vmware Fusion 12 does not run on a MacPro5,1 anymore, due to the lack of XSave instructions on the CPU & VMware not wanting to support older hardware. https://communities.vmware.com/thread/642875

I had VMware Fusion Tech Preview (Fusion 12 Beta) running on Big Sur Beta 2 running great, but upon upgrade to Big Sur Beta 10 it no longer works (vmmon kext won't load) and the official Fusion 12 doesn't work either.

If we could investigate to find out what the best version of Big Sur Beta is that still works with VMware Fusion Preview, but isn't plagued with other issues like stuck using the VMM flag or SMB being broken, that might be of interest to the community. Alternatively if we could get VMWare to offer an alternative for us on the MacPro5,1 that would also be great.

 

[AidenShaw]

(1000 words)

 

[startergo]

Why not using VirtualBox?

 

[MisterAndrew]

Can you downgrade the license key for Fusion 11? Seems like I read it was possible, but I don’t know.

 

[eksu]

VMWare Fusion 12 & VMWare Fusion Technical Preview both had free personal use licenses.

It looks like I may have been running the DirectX 11 technical preview (June) rather than the Big Sur Technical Preview (July). I am going to be testing 11.5.6, 12.0.0, and both technical previews on a couple of the Big Sur betas to see what is the best functionality I get, starting with Beta 6.

Here are the different Big Sur developer beta's and what issues exist with them for me:

1. n/a
2. Can't connect to iPhone on iOS 14
3. n/a
4. n/a
5. n/a
6. Testing Now
7. VMM Required
8. VMM Required
9. Hardware Accel Broken
10. VMWare Fusion Tech Preview Broken

 

[goMac]

VMWare has been switching over to using Apple's Hypervisor user Big Sur, which is not likely to be maintained by Apple for hardware that is not officially supported. Not likely there is anything that could be done to fix it on the VMWare end, unless maybe you try forcing the VMWare HyperVisor kext to work again.

Parallels will likely run into the same problem, as will VirtualBox and all the others that will be forced onto the Apple HyperVisor.

 

[bsbeamer]

Would not shocked if some of this trickles down to MP6,1 too.

 

[haralds]

Parallels 16 runs on Big Sur using KEXTs. VMware 12 uses KEXTs in Catalina, but disables it on Big Sur. So no go on cMP 5,1.
I am switching.

==> Updated: Parallels 17 STILL works!

 

[startergo]

Can someone test please:

Understanding the OpenCore Data variable settings

So this: Cpuid1Data AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAA== Cpuid1Mask AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAA== enables XSAVE OSXSAVE: sysctl machdep.cpu.features...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[haralds]

Can someone test please:

Understanding the OpenCore Data variable settings

So this: Cpuid1Data AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAA== Cpuid1Mask AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAA== enables XSAVE OSXSAVE: sysctl machdep.cpu.features...

forums.macrumors.com

It's due to missing instructions in the CPU like XSAVE.

 

[startergo]

It's due to missing instructions in the CPU like XSAVE.

This provides a way to spoof the missing instructions XSAVE and OSXSAVE.

 

[eksu]

I will try this to see if / where the apple hypervisor framework trips over itself without those instructions, but I don't expect it to successfully run.

 

[startergo]

No go unfortunately:

 

[Dayo]

No go unfortunately:

Wonder if there is anything actually fooled by the spoofing considering that MacCPUID also doesn't change what it reports

 

[bsbeamer]

Some of you on this thread might find this interesting to read:

Yes, you can have bootable backups on macOS Big Sur | Carbon Copy Cloner | Bombich Software

bombich.com

 

[shadow_999]

Does the 11.5 work on big sur ?

 

[0488568]

Any updates?

Is parallels working?

Can we load VMware images into parallels?

 

[shadow_999]

Parallels is working perfectly. VMWare could use remote VM (from ESX servers) but not local ones.

 

[haralds]

Any updates?

Is parallels working?

Can we load VMware images into parallels?

Parallels can import VMware VMs:

1. Boot under VMware
2. Remove snapshots, if any
3. Remove VMware Tools
4. Shut down
5. Create a full clone. This will remove some frustrating errors
6. Open under VMware as New to initiate migration. Migration will create a full copy and not touch the VMware machine.

 

[0488568]

Just noticed a new version of fusion.

12.1.0​

Anyone tried this one?

 

[startergo]

TECH SPECS​

Fusion 12​

See VMware Fusion system requirements:

Hardware



All Macs launched in 2012* or later are supported, as well as:

• 2010 Mac Pro “Six Core”, “Eight Core” and “Twelve Core”.

*With exception, the following Macs are not supported:

• 2012 Mac Pro “Quad Core” using the Intel Xeon
  W3565 Processor

Software



Fusion 12 supports Macs with macOS 11.0 Big Sur and macOS 10.15 Catalina. Fusion 12 does not function on macOS 10.14 and earlier.

 

[startergo]

So the restriction must be in Big Sur itself. This screenshot is from Catalina.

 

[tsialex]

View attachment 1675889
So the restriction must be in Big Sur itself. This screenshot is from Catalina.

Fusion 12 only runs over Apple Hypervisor on Big Sur. When you run with Catalina, it's the same virtualisation engine as previous versions.

 

[JohnD]

Do you have a link for that information? It's not on VMware's 12.1 release notes. Oh, wait, that's just telling us it'll run in Catalina on a 2010 Mac Pro - probably not in Big Sur. I hope someone figures something out - I'd hate to say goodbye to VMware.

 

[tsialex]

Do you have a link for that information? It's not on VMware's 12.1 release notes.

Linked on the first post from the start, explained on this post:

Home - Broadcom Community - Discussion Forums, Technical Docs, Ideas and Blogs

The site home page

communities.vmware.com

The baseline for Apple Hypervisor processor requirements is now an Ivy Bridge processor, for example late-2013 Mac Pro, where XSAVE is present. This you can read on Apple Hypervisor documentation for Big Sur.