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"
Hmm, this information would have been helpful YESTERDAY, perhaps a few hours after the east coast release.
Posted by: REL | May 13, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Does this apply to MacBook Pro laptops that use ATI graphics cards as well, or only the Mac Pro and iMacs mentioned in the blog entry above?
Posted by: Oliver | May 13, 2009 at 01:32 PM
Oliver: all ATI-based systems are affected. Please either not upgrade, or upgrade to 10.5.7 and disable 3D in VMware Fusion (in Virtual Machine > Settings).
Posted by: David Liu | May 13, 2009 at 02:04 PM
What if we already updated Mac OS X to 10.5.7 and then looked on this website for why our games don't run correctly. Is there a way to uninstall the update or are we just out of luck until a fix comes out?
Posted by: John Wood | May 13, 2009 at 03:40 PM
John: unfortunately, there is no easy way to uninstall an OS X update as far as I know. The best place to check is of course Apple. But I think you would have to reinstall 10.5 and then apply the 10.5.6 combo update (and please back up your data before doing any of these).
-David
Posted by: David Liu | May 13, 2009 at 04:22 PM
I have a one month old Mac Pro, and my life lives in my windows applications, for which i bought Fusion. I merrily installed the 10.7 update, and, of course Fusion does not work: "system extension cannot be used. The system extension "library/application support/vmware fusion/kext/vmmon.kext" was installed improperly and cannot be used. Please try reinstalling it or contact the product vendor for an update. I called apple tech support, and they had me reinstall the OS that came with the machine. I had to reboot, but I'm still getting the same error message, my applications will not work: this is mission critical for me...and I believe YOU are the vendor apple suggests I contact. I am NOT a happy camper.
Posted by: Sam | May 13, 2009 at 07:29 PM
@Sam: This vmmon.kext issue you are reporting has nothing to do with ATI and 3D. VMware Fusion works perfectly for me on 10.5.7. Have you tried uninstalling and re-installing VMware Fusion?
Posted by: Regis Duchesne | May 14, 2009 at 12:30 AM
Thanks for your comment. I have not reinstalled. Not really sure how to do it (yet) in a way that won't interfere with the windows programs I have installed (and are in suspension) in a Fusion window. Tried changing settings last night to eliminate the 3D function, but you have to shut down the virtual machine first...which I can't do.
Posted by: Sam | May 14, 2009 at 02:36 AM
Slow -- even with 3D turned off. A little advance notice that this was a problem would have been very appreciated. When will there be an update patch to fix this. Or do I need to do an emergency Boot Camp installation, because as things stand right now Fusion is unuable under 10.5.7
Posted by: JT | May 14, 2009 at 04:44 AM
Already upgraded before I saw this and there seems to be no easy solution. The ATI card has been a problem since I purchased the iMac last month. I assume this is not only the 4850 but all ATI cards? I hope the fix comes soon as I would think this should have been identified in pre-release testing of 10.5.7 and VMware Fusion.
Posted by: Ray | May 14, 2009 at 05:34 AM
Was any thought given to sending a warning email to Fusion users?
Very poor support!
Posted by: Lew | May 14, 2009 at 07:24 AM
Didn't you guys test the beta versions of 10.5.7? Why the heck didn't you warn us about this BEFORE release.
Terrible, terrible, terrible support.
Posted by: Doug | May 14, 2009 at 07:39 AM
Echoing the last couple of comments.
This is extremely poor support from VMware. As a major developer I expect regression testing to be performed on your software with new OS releases. Had testing been performed on the betas of 10.5.7, this bug would have been found and reported - and likely wouldn't have made it out the door.
Now it's likely we will have to wait for 10.5.8 for a fix - that will only be another 3-6 months...
I guess it's time to see what it costs to upgrade my Parallels license.
Posted by: Joshua Ochs | May 14, 2009 at 08:43 AM
Joshua, your comment (3-6 months) scares me. As I mentioned previously, my windows programs are mission critical to me. I just found out that I'm 4 days over my free "30 day support" timeframe, so I can't even get official advice. And I'm very discouraged that VM hasn't responded to this blog.
Posted by: Sam | May 14, 2009 at 08:48 AM
I've been using Fusion for a month or so under 10.5.7 and haven't had any problems. They may have updated the driver after the build I installed, as I missed the last one. I also don't run any applications that use 3D.
Posted by: Randy | May 14, 2009 at 09:12 AM
We are sorry that this is an issue as well.
We found the problem during our pre-release testing of Mac OS X 10.5.7 and have been working with ATI and Apple since we reported it to get it resolved.
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.
We are still working closely with ATI and Apple to resolve the problem and work them so they release their necessary update as soon as possible.
As soon as we have more information we can talk about publicly, we will let you know.
Pat Lee
Director, Personal Desktop Products
VMware
Posted by: Pat Lee | May 14, 2009 at 09:12 AM
Sam,
Your problem is something specific to your install of VMware Fusion and not this issue at all.
As Regis mentioned, you need to uninstall and reinstall VMware Fusion to likely fix your problem.
Uninstalling VMware Fusion does NOT effect your Windows installation.
So, mount the VMware Fusion image or CD, run the Uninstall VMware Fusion program. After it is done, restart your Mac. Mount the VMware Fusion image or CD and reinstall VMware Fusion, that should most likely resolve your problem.
This is also documented in VMware Fusion's Online Help.
Hope that helps you.
Pat
Posted by: Pat Lee | May 14, 2009 at 09:16 AM
Thank you Pat. I just visited my retailer, and he advised trying to save the virtual machine (folder?) that contains all my settings and programs. Or do I have to reinstall all my windows applications? In any event, I will try it tonight.
Posted by: Sam | May 14, 2009 at 09:50 AM
Sam,
Your Virtual Machine is a self contained folder that includes applications and everything.
The Virtual Machine will NOT be touched by the uninstall/reinstall. Only the VMware Fusion application is affected.
Pat
Posted by: Pat Lee | May 14, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Guess I don't have much of a choice in the Mac Pro 2008 with an ATI 4870. Card requires 10.5.7. Hopefully the fix will come before 10.5.8, as this impacts people on the 2009 Mac Pros with a 4870 as well.
Posted by: Tom C, | May 14, 2009 at 11:55 AM
Really terrible news. An terrible support. You could have posted the issue, at least, yesterday.
Posted by: David Sanchez | May 14, 2009 at 01:11 PM
I am unclear on what is advised. If I turn off the 3D setting for my Windows XP virtual machine before updating to 10.5.7, does Fusion and XP run OK under 10.5.7, OR is VMWare advising not to install 10.5.7 even if no 3D is used on an iMac with ATI,RadeonHD2600?
thanks
Larry
Posted by: Larry Nolan | May 14, 2009 at 01:21 PM
Larry: as far as we know, the ATI driver bug only affects 3D functionality. So if your Windows application does not use 3D, or if you turn off the 3D setting, VMware Fusion should run fine under 10.5.7.
For a more technical discussion, check out this VMware Fusion forum thread http://communities.vmware.com/thread/209752?tstart=0
Posted by: David Liu | May 14, 2009 at 01:30 PM
Help!! Per instructions I uninstalled Fusion by moving it to trash. Signed into the website and downloaded the newest version. Upon installation, it recognized my serial number, but at conclusion of install, gave me message: Install failed, run postflight script for vmware fusion. contact software vendor for support.
Note: I did download the version that includes McAfee, which I assume I lost when I deinstalled the first version. What do I do now?
Posted by: Sam | May 14, 2009 at 02:54 PM
Sam,
The instructions were to run the Uninstaller.
Please go and post this in the communities to get better support at:
http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/desktop/fusion
This will allow for a better conversation.
Pat
Posted by: Pat Lee | May 14, 2009 at 03:00 PM