A Message to VMware Fusion Users with Macs that have ATI Graphics Cards about Apple's Mac OS X Update 10.5.7
Apple released the Mac OS X 10.5.7 Update yesterday, and I know many of you are eager to try it out. However, if your Mac has an ATI graphics card (MacPro or iMac), and you rely on VMware Fusion's 3D Acceleration feature to run either Windows games or other Windows 3D applications in your virtual machines, we recommend that you do not upgrade your Mac to 10.5.7.
We are making this recommendation because the ATI driver in Mac OS X 10.5.7 breaks the 3D acceleration feature in VMware Fusion. You will likely see issues ranging from slow performance, to incorrect rendering, and even crashes, when you run your 3D applications in a Windows virtual machine on Mac OS X 10.5.7.
Both Apple and ATI are aware of this problem and are working to correct it in a future software update. In the meantime, if you have an ATI graphics card in your Mac and need VMware Fusion's 3D features to work, we recommend that you do not upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5.7.
Stay tuned to the Team Fusion blog and follow us on Twitter for the latest updates.
Update May-14: many of you asked this so I thought I would clarify. The ATI driver issue only affects 3D functionality in VMware Fusion. If your Windows applications do not need 3D, it will run just fine under VMware Fusion on Mac OS X 10.5.7. If you are sure you do not need 3D, you can turn off 3D Acceleration in Virtual Machine Settings and upgrade to 10.5.7. To turn off 3D in Fusion:
- Power off your Virtual Machine
- Select "Settings" under Virtual Machine menu
- In the Settings window, click "Display"
- Uncheck "Accelerate 3D Graphics"
Pat, I'm a 25 year PC user. I searched for an uninstall button and didn't find one. So I did what I thought I was supposed to do. Is there someone who can give me a call and help me get out of this mess? I've done what I've done, please don't leave me in limbo. I went to your link, but don't see a thread that seems appropriate. Call me dumb, but I'm currently out of contact with my company (accessible only on pc software.)
Posted by: Sam | May 14, 2009 at 03:07 PM
"We found the problem during our pre-release testing of Mac OS X 10.5.7...We really wanted to see it fixed before Mac OS X 10.5.7 was released, but unfortunately it was not resolved for Mac OS X 10.5.7."
Are you kidding me! That is absurd. You knew about the issue but didn't warn your customers? And even if people didn't immediately install 10.5.7 how are they supposed to know about the problem, or do you expect all your customers to view some obscure blog first before installing OS software. I guess you expect other new services (like the excellent Accelerate Your Mac (www.xlr8yourmac.com)) to do your support job for you.
Very poor support.
Posted by: Jim | May 14, 2009 at 03:46 PM
I've disabled 3d acceleration (I don't run 3d apps in Fusion anyhow), but I am still running into some horrible performance issues. The vmware-vmx process is taxing my CPU (101%!), which was not occurring before the 10.5.7 upgrade; the result is a horribly laggy Windows XP experience. This performance issue seems to contradict everything I've read thus far. Anybody else experience this?
Posted by: Ivan | May 14, 2009 at 04:00 PM
Thanks for the heads up. Granted it was a bit late for me. I turned off 3D support and my VM is stable again. Please post when you have an update.
Mike
Posted by: Mike | May 14, 2009 at 04:52 PM
Pat, thank you for your responses. It's good to know that testing was done and this was reported, but I'm mystified as to why it was not fixed prior to 10.5.7 prior to release. I would think killing 3D in a major product like VMware would be enough to block release - but clearly I don't know enough about the situation.
Other virtualization products are unaffected - is there any chance that it could be worked around on the application side?
(Oh, and as for my 3-6 months comment - that was based on Apple's history on time between point releases. They could release it tomorrow for all I know, but they don't frequently release point updates quickly, and they also don't tend to release driver updates and bug fixes - except security - outside of those point updates.)
Posted by: Joshua Ochs | May 14, 2009 at 07:32 PM
Not installing the 10.5.7 update is a VERY BAD IDEA, considering that there are at least 40 critical security vulnerabilities fixed in it! I would suggest the other workaround (temporarily disabling 3D support)...
Posted by: Tom H. | May 14, 2009 at 09:20 PM
Everyone needs to stop blaming the developer. If you're smart, you should ALWAYS wait a few days or even weeks to install the latest release because there are ALWAYS bugs. If you're gonna be the first to install an update, you're taking a risk. Backup your data beforehand and stop blaming everyone else for your own stupidity.
Posted by: Nobody | May 15, 2009 at 06:05 AM
So far, Autodesk Inventor 2008 & Autocad seems to be running OK. Upon coming out of 'Suspend', a blink of pink and other colours appear diagonally on screen - but I think that may be a normal occurrence.
Posted by: Manuel | May 15, 2009 at 05:13 PM
I am considering purchasing a MacBook Pro so I can broaden my base of support. I already support the windows environment and is considering supporting Mac. I was considering VMware Fusion because it has been reported to be faster than Parallels.
With all of the comments stated above, maybe VMware Fusion is not the best way to go or I should stick with Windows.
Any comments?
Posted by: Alonza | May 16, 2009 at 08:09 AM
Hi folks, just upgraded Mac OS to 10.5.7, Fusion crashes every time, and guess what? I own a MacBook !! Surely it does not have nothing to do with ATI graphics. Can someone give me a help?
Posted by: Marcel | May 18, 2009 at 03:55 PM
Mac OS 10.5.7 crashed my Fusion too, but on Macbook with Intel GMA950 graphics chip. What can I do?
Posted by: Marcel Mendes | May 19, 2009 at 05:35 AM
Help!! Fusion is crashing after installing 10.5.7 update on Macbook black. Turning off 3D feature does not help.
Posted by: Marcel Mendes | May 19, 2009 at 01:15 PM
Marcel, may I suggest posting your issue on the VMware Fusion community forum? You will likely get better help from other VMware Fusion users and often VMware engineers in the forum:
http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/desktop/fusion
Posted by: David Liu | May 19, 2009 at 02:05 PM
Hey, why are you erasing my complaint??
Posted by: Marcel Mendes | May 20, 2009 at 07:18 AM
For those with the conflict, if you cannot wait for the fix to appear from VMWare, obtain Parallels Desktop. Parallels Desktop with Windows XP runs smoother and faster the VMWare Fusion with Windows XP.
If you do not want to try Parallels (again, it does run faster and smoother) uninstall VMWare 2.04, re-install the previous version.
Posted by: Larry | May 20, 2009 at 01:47 PM
1. Since you admit that you knew there were problems with ATI and 10.5.7, why not post something in advance of its release?
2. For those that cannot wait for a solution and must have 3D acceleration, you can do an OS X Archive and Install (PRESERVE settings) then download the 10.5.6 combo updater to put your computer back where it was. Or, go to Time Machine and do a restore but that will take a VERY long time. Unlike windows, that reinstall should only have minor effects.
Posted by: Bill Graefe | May 21, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Any further information on ATI and Apple getting this resolved?
Posted by: Ray | May 30, 2009 at 10:38 AM
I was just about to purchase VMware Fusion for my new MacBook Pro to run 3D flight sim but it already has the software update from Apple. Can I be informed when the fix will be ready before purchase?
Thanks
Dan
Posted by: Dan Kuriloff | May 30, 2009 at 01:50 PM
Hi all, I am new with Mac and VMware however I thought not to have any installation problem at least. I can not install the VMware fusion application..basically I double click on the install file .app but nothing happen..nothing at all! Any advise? have any of you had this experience before? Mac 2.4ghz OS10.5.7. Thanks to all
Posted by: Nik | June 11, 2009 at 11:45 AM
Hi Nik, I would suggest posting your question in the Fusion community forum where many power users and VMware employees frequent:
http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/desktop/fusion
Posted by: David Liu | June 11, 2009 at 11:51 AM
No solution yet? Really? Come on, it's been a month.
Posted by: Ian Williamson | June 13, 2009 at 04:14 PM
Have the bugs in the ati drivers been corrected yet,i
i tried to load world @ war
call of duty windows program
and only get the sound and no picture ;when i tried to load an old microsoft combat flight simulator ,the joystick failed to respond
and the scenery outside the
plane except when sitting
still was solid black the
inside of the cockpit and the
sound seemed intact
Posted by: Howard | June 17, 2009 at 01:12 AM
Any word on whether this issue has been corrected? Will it ever be corrected?
Posted by: DiscoDamon | June 17, 2009 at 07:09 AM
Ian, Howard, DiscoDamon: the fix has to go into the ATI driver and likely will be released in form of an update from Apple/ATI. Please be assured that this is actively being worked on. We will let you know here on the blog when a fix becomes available.
-David
Posted by: David Liu | June 17, 2009 at 01:25 PM
Hm. Is there really *still* no fix for this over a month later? I'd really like to keep my Mac up to date with the latest OSX release without hosing VMWare Fusion.
Posted by: Brian Duff | June 21, 2009 at 08:15 PM