VMware Fusion Blog

The latest update for VMware Fusion fixes over 20 bugs, many reported by users, and is available for free for all VMware Fusion 4 users via the auto-update feature. 

Among the list of bug fixes are,

• Resolved an issue that caused the following message when you resumed a suspended virtual machine: The Virtual Machine is unable to reserve memory.
• The McAfee Virus Scan software is updated.
• Resolved an intermittent problem that caused printing to fail on Mac OS X Lion.
• Resolved an issue that occurred when copying and pasting information from newer Linux distributions.
• Improved compatibility with certain versions of Mac OS X.
• Improved the behavior of the minibar when placed at the top of the display.
• Fixed mapping of comma on numeric keyboard mapping of a French keyboard.
• Resolved an intermittent problem when removing a CD device from a virtual machine.

To download the free update start VMware Fusion, select the “VMware Fusion” menu and click on “Check for Updates.”

If you would like to find out more about this update, click here.

Interested in VMware Fusion 4?

Try it for free for 30-days by clicking here.

If you have additional content that you would like to see from a System Administrator perspective we would love to hear your suggestions. Drop us a comment below. 

If you would like to download the VMware Fusion 4 Mass Deployment Guide click here.

MusicBrainz is an open-source encyclopedia of music information, created by Robert Kaye in 2000 in response to Gracenote’s purchase and commercialization of the original database of user contributed album information CDDB. Essentially, Musicbrainz is like a wikipedia for music. All data is collected and corrected by its users.

Robert Kaye (far right) at the Last.FM headquarters.

Musicbrainz uses an application called Picard, which takes a music collection loaded with inaccurate or missing information, and performs a metadata tag analysis and acoustic finger printing analysis of the sound file that underlies the music, identifying the music information and writes corrected metadata tags and directory structures for the users files. In short, Musicbrainz cleans up your music library with factual album and artist information including ratings and tags. The only request they make is that once the cleanup is performed, the user devote one hour to going back through their library and make any further corrections and make the same corrections in Musicbrainz database. 

Here’s where VMware Fusion becomes an important part of the process. The rate limit to access the main site is one request per second, which is much longer than some users with large music libraries want to wait. Musicbrainz makes their software and data available for users to download and run locally, but it's over a GB of data, and in order to run the software, users must install Linux, web servers and hundreds of modules. “It’s just painful,” says Kaye in an interview with the VMware Fusion team. The solution was to prepare a virtual machine image and offer that for people to download. Initially they recommended Virtual Box to run the virtual machine, but users found a frustrating number of problems and error messages. “I have an inbox of complaints about Virtual Box not working, so we now strongly encourage users to use VMware Fusion as a more realistic alternative as it seems to be much more stable,” says Kaye. 

If you would like to learn more about the Musicbrainz project, or to try out Musicbrainz Picard for yourself go to musicbrainz.org.

One last piece of VMware Fusion news, Techworld.com released their review of VMware Fusion 4 in which they stated, “VMware Fusion is, then, a highly attractive choice for running multiple guest OSs on a single hardware platform.” Click here to check out the full article.

This is part 1 of a re-recording of the presentation that Simon Bennett Senior Product Manager for VMware Fusion delivered at the 2012 Mac IT event in January. In part 1 Simon will go through an introduction to VMware Fusion 4, speak to some of the new features and the key highlights for Business interested in Running Windows on the Mac.

Stay Tuned for Part 2, where we take a technical deep dive into VMware Fusion 4.

Today Microsoft released its much anticipated Windows 8 Consumer Preview. VMware Fusion 4 is a great choice if you want to try Windows 8 for yourself.  By running in a virtual machine you can remain isolated from your documents and other important applications, and simply roll back using snap shots in the event something goes wrong. If you’d like a walkthrough of installing Windows 8, checkout todays post by Arstechnica detailing the installation of Windows 8 in VMware Fusion.

Everyone here on the VMware Fusion team is amped about this new release, and what it means for VMware Fusion.  Stay tuned for more updates in the future!

Want to get in on the Windows 8 Action? You can download it from Microsoft at this link.

In other VMware Fusion news, PCPRO.CO.UK released their review of VMware Fusion 4. Calling VMware Fusion “shinier, faster, better and more efficient…” You can check out the full review here.

To download a 30 Day trial of VMware Fusion 4 click here

Save 10% when you enter promo code ‘FUSIONLOVESLION’ at checkout!

Recently chosen by Macworld as the best way to run Windows
on a Mac, VMware Fusion® 4 roars on OS X Lion!

Whether you would like to add your favorite Windows programs to Launchpad, experience them in Mission Control, view them in Lion full screen or switch between them using Mac gestures, VMware Fusion 4 is designed to give you the best Windows experience on
OS X Lion.

Hurry! Offer ends on February 16, at 11:59 PM (PST)

We are constantly hearing from developers that VMware Fusion is an essential tool in their development process. So we thought it would be cool to invite a few of them to share their stories. In this post we spoke to Shawn Hart, Lead Developer for Bullet Proof Orange. 

I live in a Mac world, but work in web design where my audience can be using any number of browsers working on any number of systems. Although browser compatibilities are slowly becoming a thing of the past (fingers crossed), the legacy of the browser wars is still very much present and when I build a site I have to keep this in mind. As a freelancing designer/developer, I'm very much a one man shop for my client's needs and don't have a  dedicated QA department that can use different machines running different OS's. Instead I use Vmware Fusion 4 on a regular basis to test my product and make sure that my clients are reaching the largest possible audience, and looking good in the process (even in Explorer 7). Having the flexibility to just open up a window and have another operating system there at my beck and call, has made life so much easier and has streamlined my workflow considerably. I love that VMware Fusion gives guys like me the ability get the most out of the Mac. Thanks VMware Fusion!

You can check out Bullet Proof Orange at bulletprooforange.com

Over the past couple of weeks, the VMware Fusion team has hit the road to meet face to face with VMware Fusion users.  It’s always exciting for us to get the chance to meet more of the VMware Fusion community and to hear about all the cool things our users are doing with VMware Fusion 4.

Mac IT 2012

The Mac IT event takes place during Mac World and is centered on all things Apple in the Enterprise. We are all huge Apple enthusiasts, so it is thrilling to speak to companies and education institutions from all over the world that are deploying Macs in their businesses and schools. The message we heard was clear. VMware is synonymous with stability and reliability in these environments, so naturally VMware Fusion 4 is a perfect fit for businesses that are using Macs and need to ensure maximum compatibility. We are excited to be so closely tied to the journey that Apple is taking into the Enterprise and look forward to continuing to help lead the charge of Macs in the Enterprise.

Apple Advance Camp 2012

The Apple advance camp is an event geared toward Apple Resellers and Apple Consultants. It was an amazing opportunity to share all the new features of VMware Fusion 4, as well as get feedback directly from some of the most knowledgeable Apple Consultants in the country. The response we received was incredible!  Hearing all the amazing stories of VMware Fusion 4 being deployed into everything from high schools to music studios was awesome!  

We truly feel that we have some one of the most loyal and creative user communities out there, and its a real pleasure to get out and speak directly to even just a small portion of you. We look forward to having more chances to meet with many more of you in the near future.

We are very excited to share that Macworld, the world’s Mac leading publication, has chosen VMware Fusion 4 as “the best way to run Windows on a Mac” highlighting its fast performance, easier installation and general operation, more Mac-like behavior and better value for money.

“So which virtualization solution should you purchase? In my comparison, Fusion comes out ahead“

 MacWorld 16^th of January 2012

We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this comparison and are excited to share some of the highlights of the article:

General performance: VMware Fusion 4 is faster than Parallels Desktop 7 in 9 out of 11 of the general performance tests!

Virtualization: “If you want to explore operating systems other than Windows, Fusion offers a much broader universe of alternatives”. VMware Fusion 4 offers the ability to virtualize more than 200 operating systems including Windows 7, Windows XP, OS X Lion as well as dozens of versions of Linux. VMware Fusion 4 also benefits from VMware’s broad ecosystem of “virtual appliances” which is 19 times larger than Parallels’. 

Price: At $49.99 for unlimited personal use, VMware Fusion 4 is far more affordable than Parallels Desktop 7 ($79.99SRP) which requires one license per machine. For example, if you have 3 Macs and would like to install a virtualization solution on your Macs for personal use, VMware Fusion 4 will cost you $49.99 while Parallels Desktop 7 will cost you more than 4 times that. (More on price below)

Installation and general operation: “Installing Fusion 4 is surprisingly simple […]. Parallels, by contrast, is installed via an installer, its extensions are installed in the System folder and are always present, even when Desktop isn’t running. In addition, two background processes continue to run after you quit Parallels.”

Mac Integration: “[…] if you’re going to the trouble of using an integrated mode, chances are you want your Windows apps to behave just like your Mac ones. And in that case it makes more sense to treat the windows the way Fusion does.”

So it’s been four months since we released VMware Fusion 4 and we have been thrilled with the response from our customers and the VMware Fusion community. With more than 150 customer reviews on Amazon averaging 4.5 out of 5 stars it shows our customers and leading publications believe that VMware Fusion 4 delivers the value they are looking for in running Windows on their Mac.

To continue the momentum in 2012, we have decided to make $49.99 the permanent price for VMware Fusion 4 moving forward.

That’s right, one edition, one price to switch to Mac and run Windows without rebooting.

VMware Fusion 4 makes it a breeze to run Windows and Mac Applications side by side with incredible speed and the reliability users need. Optimized for today’s multi-core Macs and OS X Lion, VMware Fusion 4 is the best way to run Windows on a Mac!

Try VMware Fusion 4 for free today!

Justin Holman, Senior Developer for Las Vegas Association of Realtors says, “VMware Fusion 4 is the clear choice for real estate agents.” 

A Must Have for Real Estate Agents

Working at the Las Vegas Association of Realtors as the head of Technology, Justin Holman is in charge of helping real estate agents in the Las Vegas area gain access to MLS (Multiple Listing Service) on their Mac. “MLS is the single most important tool for real estate agents, and you need Windows in order to view the site. I tell every agent that has a Mac that they absolutely need VMware Fusion.” 

Simplicity is key

 “Alot of real estate agents are not super tech savy, so they are naturally drawn to the ease of use of a Mac. We use VMware Fusion for the exact same reason. It is the simplest, easiest way to gain access to Windows programs. Every agent you talk to just wants the most reliable solution possible. A Mac running VMware Fusion is perfect for that.”

 Why VMware Fusion over Parallels?

I did a lot of research into the two programs before I purchased and every bit of information I read said that VMware Fusion had the edge in turns of reliability and ease of use.  The simplicity of VMware Fusion is so great, We have a lot of users here that are really new to Mac, so we really need a program that can get out of the way and just work.