I am pleased to announce that VMware Fusion 3.0.1 is now available.
The team has been working hard since we released VMware Fusion 3 at the end of October to add some a few new features, improve performance, and fix over 50 bugs.
For long time VMware Fusion users, VMware Fusion 3.0.1 is the first opportunity to take advantage of the new automatic updates feature in VMware Fusion 3, which we hope you enjoy!
Some highlights on new features include:
- Improved 3D & Video Performance: Improved WDDM driver and 3D backend improvements speed up 3D applications from 20-80% on Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Video playback with Windows Media Player on Windows Vista and Windows 7 is greatly improved as well. See the updated Windows Experience score for my MacBook Pro below:
- Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala): Full support for Ubuntu 9.10 32-bit & 64-bit editions. Just like other Linux virtual machines, we support copy and paste, drag and drop and even Unity!
- Even More 64-bit Support: Networking subsystem is now 64-bit native to match 64-bit core engine released initially with VMware Fusion 3 (vmware-vmx).
- Easier Move to VMware Fusion: Import standalone VHD virtual disks and Parallels Desktop 5 virtual machines into VMware virtual machines.
- Improved Resume Times: For those users who suspend their virtual machines, we reduced the time required to resume your virtual machines.
In addition to the new and improved features, VMware Fusion 3.0.1 fixes over 50 bugs. Some highlights include:
- Performance Update: Some users encountered slow downs with VMware Fusion 3.0. Thanks to your help, we were able to track down the performance issues to three key areas that we have addressed in 3.0.1 or where we have a recommended workaround:
- Older versions of VMware Tools caused a slowdown and VMware Tools included with VMware Fusion 2.0.5 could not be easily upgraded. The tools upgrade issue has been resolved with VMware Fusion 3.0.1 to make it easier to upgrade to VMware Fusion 3.0.1 tools, which resolves the problem.
- Leaving the Virtual Machine Library open in the background on some machines caused excessive Spotlight searches looking for virtual machines. This has been addressed in VMware Fusion 3.0.1. If you encountered this issue, install VMware Fusion 3.0.1, launch it and then quit it. The next time you launch VMware Fusion 3.0.1, the problem is fixed.
- AVG Free 9 takes lots of CPU and makes the virtual machine sluggish. This is a AVG Free 9 problem that has been reported to them for investigation. We recommend new customers use the included 12-month subscription of McAfee VirusScan Plus or look at other free antivirus solutions such as Microsoft Security Essentials or Panda Cloud Antivirus that do not exhibit this problem.
- Shared/Mirrored Folders Improvements: Incompatibilities with Zone Alarms AV & Outlook 2007 Preview mode resolved.
Click here for a detailed list of bug fixes in VMware Fusion 3.0.1.
Updating to VMware Fusion 3.0.1
VMware Fusion 3.0 will offer to automatically download your update to VMware Fusion 3.0.1 the next time you launch or you can select Check for Updates in the VMware Fusion menu to check for updates immediately. Click on Download and Install and VMware Fusion will download and install VMware Fusion 3.0.1.
After the VMware Fusion 3.0.1 update has been installed, you will need to upgrade VMware Tools in each of your virtual machines to the latest version shipping with VMware Fusion 3.0.1 to see the improvements with Unity, Aero, Shared Folders, and much more.
See below on updating the VMware Tools in your Windows virtual machines:
- Start up your existing VMware Fusion virtual machine.
- Select "Install VMware Tools" or "Update VMware Tools" in the Virtual Machine menu.
- VMware Fusion will display a confirmation dialog with instructions. Click Install.
- Windows should display an “Autorun” dialog. Click Run Setup.exe (published by VMware, Inc.) to start the VMware Tools installer.
- If you do not see VMware Tools begin installing, open the CD-ROM device in Windows Explorer, open VMware Tools and double-click "setup.exe".
- Click Next and follow the prompts to install VMware Tools. Once installation is complete, you will be asked to reboot your virtual machine.
If you don’t wish to use automatic updates or need to get a new installer for deployment, click here to separately download VMware Fusion 3.0.1.
Thanks for your continued support and we hope that you enjoy VMware Fusion 3.0.1!
Installed 3.01 tonight, it has completely hosed my system. I’m still running an evaluation version (build 7100) of Win7 in the guest. I have a MacBook Pro (intel dual core), 4GB ram.
The install vmware tools seems to be in an infinate loop. Win7 has now crashed twice tonight.
How do I back this off?
Great update. However, one feature I’m still hoping will make it in to Fusion is the ability to run “Desktop Effects” (Compiz) in Ubuntu. Since you have support for Aero effects, this should be technically feasible, right? Is this a planned future feature, or not on the horizon?
Finally got the VMWare Tools to install and all seems ok now. The mounting of the image to the cd / rom drive seems like it could use some work.
Installed the 3.01 update and now my Windows 7 Pro installation blue screens constantly. This is a full retail version of the Windows 7 OS, have you had any other users experiencing a blue screen problem with this update?
Seems to have messed up my printing (yet again). I was using printer attached to my mac.. shared the printer, searched for it in XP, found, used.. can no longer do this..
While Windows does seem to run much faster, since upgrading to 3.0.1 I’ve been gotten quite a number of blue screens.
Hmm, continues to cause my Win XP installs to slow down drastically. Back we go to Fusion 2 until it’s fixed
Blue screen at boot on 2009 Mac Mini running VMWare Fusion 3.01 and Windows 7 x64 Native Boot Camp install. Any resolutions?
Unfortunately, 3.0.1 has destroyed my connectivity with Win7 x64 on my MacPro.
On attempting to start Win7, I get a dialog saying:
Could not connect Ethernet0 to virtual network “/dev/vmnet8”.
Win 7 then boots properly but can’t either share the Mac’s network connection (NAT) or connect directly using the Airport.
Help.
Hi Stuart,
I to had the same problem when I installed 3.01. Once I restarted my MacPro the problem was resolved.
Hope it helps you as well.
VMWare dominates the OSX virtual machine market when it comes to the elegance, stability, and ease of use.
However, the lack of OpenGL support on Linux forces me to continue to cater to one of your largest competitors in this market even though I consider their product substandard in almost every other way.
Without OpenGL support, it is impossible for a user of Linux to work with many of the new tools and applications evolving on the Linux Desktop.
Without 3D acceleration that keeps Linux abreast with Microsoft’s proprietary implementations, VMWare effectively casts itself as believing that Windows is more equal than Linux when it comes to supporting desktop environments.
Please consider supporting Linux fully so that I no longer have to support a product I do not believe in (your competition) simply because I need a full feature set for all of my virtualization needs.
Thanks!
PS: I encourage anyone who has similar feelings to endorse this request publicly.
I can’t get the update to install. It notifies me that the update is available, I click to install and it just relaunches again giving me the same notification… I’ve done it three times now.
It seems odd that there is no announcement from VMWare concerning all of the failures mentioned in this comment thread.
Is this silence normal for VMWare?
3.01 will not connect to network interface…. Could not connect Ethernet0 to virtual network “/dev/vmnet0”.
I’d also like to add my support for wanting 3D/OpenGL support for Linux. I don’t see why Ubuntu and others should be a poorer cousin when it comes to desktop effects and graphics applications.
Thanks, Tony.
I just installed the 3.01 update and now I cannot connect my VMs to the net! IS there a workaround for this or have I just wasted my time and can now not do my work?
Updated to 3.0.1 and it resulted in Blue Screen upon booting windows7
THANK YOU VMWARE !
For those with Ethernet0 connect issues, I had the same exact issue. The solution for me was simply to apply all updates to OS X and reboot OS X. Not sure if it was the OS X updates or the fact that I rebooted, but it solved the problem when machine came back up. This install did not request/force a system reboot, but I believe it is necessary. Just my 2c
BTW – I also experienced the blue screens on Win7. Got them a few times, have not seen them in past few days. Not sure if rebooting also addressed those, or what… But they did stop ; so far.
I had the same blue screen on start problem with fusion 3.0.1, boot camp, and windows 7 x64.
The solution here solved the problem for me: http://www.dunnill.com/?p=14
In short, remove the boot camp partition from your vmware libraries (and be sure to “move to trash” when it asks) and re-add it. It will clear your vmware settings, but it doesn’t touch the boot camp drive itself.
Purchased VMWare Fusion Oct 28th. Despite multiple calls to the “contact centre” and 2 temp keys later and I still don’t have a working serial number.
Contact centre informed me today that I needed to complete an upgrade form and that I should receive a new serial number in 2 WEEKS! What do I do in the meantime?
I’m hoping someone from VMWare will recognise the level of support I’ve enjoyed is abysmal and help me enable Fusion without further delay…
THANKS
Using VMWare Fusion 3.0.1 on a new 64 bit iMac quad core 2.8GHz i7 with 8GB ram. On my Windows 7 guest I have to disable the “Use visual styles on windows and buttons” option in Control Panel::Performance Options, otherwise highlighting text in Visual Studio has a noticeable lag to it. Anyone have a similar problem? Pity, because everything else is going great…
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I installed a full version of Windows 7, and for constantly get a blue screen, the first day it happened at least 4 times. Anyone knows how to fix this issue?
After update to 3.0.1 lost webcam capabilities on Live Messenger and on any other program that works with a webcam.
Tried to update vmware tools, downgrade drivers, update drivers from bootcamp 3, nothing seems to work in order to get iSight up and running.
Anyone else got this?
running macbook pro
I mainly use Ubuntu 9.10 as guest OS for work and I also noticed a considerable slow down in comparison with Vmware Fusion 2.
Release 3.01 offers some small performance improvement and only if compared with 3.0. However when I suspend the vm, it becomes really (annoying) slow when I start it up again.
Even if Linux is fully active in a couple of seconds, each application that was opened inside the VM seems like freezed and it takes a (long) while to get it usable. For example the Eclipse SDK takes up to 10min to be ready. In VMware Fusion with Leopard 10.5 and Ubuntu 9.04 this didn’t happen, it was lightning fast! Upgrading to Snow Leopard and VMWare Fusion 3, with a Ubuntu 9.10 VM built from scratch, I notice this heavy performance fall (where I expected a boost).
This happens even if Snow Leopard runs much faster than Leopard on my machine and also after upgrading VMWare tools 3.0->3.0.1.
I also would appreciate full support for Linux, including OpenGL effects which are more evolute and important for the user experience in this OS than the poor ones in Windows.
Thank you!
I thought I had found a way around the constant blue screens by switching Win7 to use the Win 7 basic theme. Unfortunately, beginning yesterday and continuing today, I’ve had several blue screens consuming a large amount of my time. Fortunately, the data doesn’t seem to be corrupted (knock on wood), but strangely enough I have to occasionally re-install VMWare Tools.
It would be nice to hear someone at VMWare that this issue is being investigated.
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X 10.6, Win 7.
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Boy, I wish I had looked at these comments before I upgraded from 2.06 to 3.01. My good old reliable XP vm won’t boot with this version (blue screen with a “CMG SHIELD – error loading CMG SDE keys” message). The VM got all messed up after trying a few times but good thing I had backed up before installing 3.01 and was able to go back to 2.06 and use my VM. I came to expect better quality assurance from VMWare though the years. I hope they realize all of these negative comments will only drive it’s customers to try their competitors products, specially if they don’t come up with a fix soon.
Jorge Campos, I’m also having the same problem, I can not make it work, VMWare, please help us with our webcam! running on MacBook Pro too.
I’m hoping someone from VMWare will recognise the level of support I’ve enjoyed is abysmal and help me enable Fusion without further delay…
Hi Jorge
I’ve got the same problem. I bought 3.0 and upgraded to 3.0.1 immediately and webcam will not work in Live Messenger.
anyone got any ideas?
Thanks
I have installed 3.0.2 and now whenever the VM wakes after being suspended, VMware tools crashes. 100 percent of the time. It works okay if the VM is turned off/on, but the suspend feature kills VMware Tools every time the machine comes out of suspend. Anyone got any ideas?
Have uninstalled VMW Tools, uninstalled 3.0.2 – and then reinstalled .. . . same problem ;-(
Web Cam
Yes, i’ve had the same problem. After to update, my web cam has gone! 🙁
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