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!
