Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Software Update
VMware Fusion 1.1 released
Even though Leopard ships with Boot Camp, lots of Mac users still get their virtual groove on with VMware Fusion, and its super-slick window display tool Unity. Today VMware announced Fusion 1.1, an upgrade that sports some cool new features and improvements:- As expected, the upgrade now supports Leopard
- Better 3D graphics via the "experimental support" for DirectX 9.0
- Full Vista and XP support
- A beta version of VMware Importer, a tool that allows users to quickly import virtual machines (including Boot Camp)
- Overall better speed and performance
Lee says that, unlike Boot Camp, it's not necessary to shut down your Mac and reboot into Windows every time you want to get to a Windows app. Instead, just use the Unity tool to co-mingle your Windows and Mac apps right on the same screen.
On the other hand, if dual-booting is your thing, you can always use Importer to create a virtual machine.
The upgrade is free for existing customers. If you're ready to try it out for the first time, snag a free 30-day evaluation from the company Web site or purchase it for $59.99 with a $20 rebate (US only).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
lu said 10:32AM on 11-12-2007
actrully i don't use widows at all when i swich to mac
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Ish said 10:29AM on 11-12-2007
what does it mean by "experimental support"? did they port direct x?
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Nick said 10:36AM on 11-12-2007
Good to see that they now automatically exclude the Virtual Machines folder from Time Machine backups. I hadn't anticipated that issue when using Fusion 1.1 RC1 and my entire system (Fusion and Mac OS X itself) locked up pretty bad when Time Machine attempted to back up a VM file when the VM was running. Actually, I think that's the only time I've had an application crash bring down my entire Mac since I switched to Macs about a year ago. :)
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Guillaume said 10:37AM on 11-12-2007
Do you know if there is a virtualization solution that allows the guest OS to access the physical graphic card of the machine, or at least that allows to run XGL - Compiz on virtualized Ubuntu (the famous 3d cube effect) ?
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JD said 10:45AM on 11-12-2007
Since it's OLPC day, perhaps it's apropos to post that there is a VMware image for said device: http://dev.laptop.org/pub/virtualbox/
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Johnny Thrash said 10:48AM on 11-12-2007
I don't see how people work around the stupid Windows Activation.
I tried Fusion and had to activate Windows to run it in a VM from my Boot Camp partition, then when I booted into Windows on-startup, I had to Activate again.
Is there a way to work around all that activation shit?
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timeswift said 11:07AM on 11-12-2007
Johnny Thrash: No way "around" it. Activate twice. Then make a back-up of the clean, activated VM for later so you don't have to mess with being interrogated to use something you bought.
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Andrew said 11:07AM on 11-12-2007
Can anyone comment on the relative memory footprint of Fusion vs. Parallels?
I've noticed that Parallels keeps choking back memory just running the basic MS Office tools; it starts off at 1GB but then quickly grows to consume all my available memory (I have 3GB loaded into a 2.0 GHz Macbook).
At $60 it might be worth switching if the VMWare guys are managing the memory better.
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j l said 11:15AM on 11-12-2007
@Johnny Thrash
Yes, I worked around the activation crap. I bought an XP Pro OEM version, which especially sucks when it comes to activation because the serial number is bound to the motherboard. However, in Fusion, the motherboard is virtualized, so you can't use it with BOTH BootCamp and Fusion. I first installed it in BootCamp, and fired up Fusion only to find the message that said my hardware has changed and to enter a new activation code.
To work around this, I called up the Microsoft Activation number (automated, not a real person), and it gave me options for why I need a new activation. I chose mobo replacement. Then, they read back like a 60 digit number (different than the activation code), and I put this into my Fusion XP, and XP was activated.
However, I then got the message in BootCamp that the hardware changed. I was PO'ed. It forced me to go through the activation screens again, but this time, I chose "Activate Windows online now". And somehow, it worked.
So now I have the same OEM copy of Windows running on both BootCamp and Fusion just fine. Long story short, call Microsoft Activation, enter the code they give you (in Fusion), then activate your other install (BootCamp) online. Works great.
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Greg G said 11:21AM on 11-12-2007
Ugh, it isn't so easy to update. Not to mention the fact that it hasn't supported my gfx card in the past, no 3d games, etc.
I wish I had used bootcamp instead, and used this just when I needed small compatibility things.
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ChillyWilly said 12:06PM on 11-12-2007
As a new user of Fusion, I'm liking this so far.
I did Boot Camp once, but decided that I didn't like having to restart every time I needed to do something in Windows (which isn't much lately).
I tried Parallels and didn't like the slow response times and other issues I cam across. Found VMware Fusion and it's been great. This is so much faster than having to power up my old Windows box just to do a few things.
As for XP, I use a corp. licensed copy (the Windows stuff I do is for my work) and it avoids all of the activation B.S.
Did the upgrade to 1.1 just a few mins ago and it's working without issue. Just had to update the VMWare tools under the Windows install.
As far as pricing goes, Amazon has the best, including a $20 rebate that makes it almost $20 cheaper than buying it direct from VMware.
http://www.amazon.com/VMware-Inc-VMFUSMBX2-Fusion-Mac/dp/B000UK3GVA/ref=pd_bbs_3/103-6059803-9451853?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1194886621&sr=1-3#productPromotions
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Ian said 12:32PM on 11-12-2007
I should point out that the $20 rebate is also for Canadian customers.
I know it says on the site that it's US only, but the actual rebate form says US and Canada. I confirmed this with a VMware rep.
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Ziv Kitaro said 12:44PM on 11-12-2007
maybe it's just me... but how do we registered users get the update?
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Tony F said 1:06PM on 11-12-2007
Ziv, all you need to do is download the new update from VMware's website and your current Fusion 1.0 serial number will work with it
http://www.vmware.com/download/fusion/
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Lisa Hoover said 2:06PM on 11-12-2007
@ Ish: Great question. I checked with Pat Lee and this is what he had to say,
"Experimental support for DirectX 9.0 3D graphics shows our continued commitment 3D. It allows customers to take advantage of the enhancements we continue to work on and allows VMware to get feedback from customers about potential issues with real world applications. A great example of a game that can be played now with experimental support for DirectX 9.0
is Microsoft Flight Simulator X. We look forward to hearing what customers find as well."
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PK said 2:24PM on 11-12-2007
Re: Win XP activation with Bootcamp and VMware
After reading through the VMware forums, I followed their instructions and had no problems:
1. Run Bootcamp and set up partition
2. Install Win XP on Bootcamp partition
3. Activate Win XP (I did mine online)
4. Install VMware on Mac OS
5. Create virtual machine based on Bootcamp partition
6. When the partition boots, do *not* activate it when the first notice comes up. Instead, decline to activate at that moment and proceed with installing VMware tools on the partition (VMware will prompt you to do so).
7. After installing VMware tools on the partition, activate XP (I called the automated 1-800 number and got my long code.)
8. Reboot partition - you're done! Two activations total, and I can run Win XP by itself or I can fire it up from the partition in Leopard.
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Chris Niles said 2:39PM on 11-12-2007
I don't know about other people who have installed it, but after installing I discovered that 51 GB of space on my HD had been eaten up. The culprits were a number of files located here /private/var/vm named "swap file 0" through "swap file 52" and one file named "sleep image" all of them averaging 1 GB in size (a few were 512 MB, 256 MB, or 128 MB). All of these files were created after I had installed Fusion 1.1, and all I did was try to create a new 10 GB Ubuntu VM (I couldn't, because Fusion said that I didn't have enough free space on my HD, there being just a little more than 8 GB available at the time).
Yes, I have emailed VMware tech support to find out what the heck is going on. I had the offending directory open (/private/var/vm) and brought up Time Machine, and there have been no files in this directory until after I installed Fusion 1.1)
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The H said 2:40PM on 11-12-2007
Well, 6, there is 'getting round' activation, and that involves being around piracy.
9, XP Pro, if I remember from my forum trawling regarding activation on Parallels, has virtualisation in the EULA, whereas Home doesn't, meaning Pro you can virtualise, and Home you can't (although "can't" because it doesn't say you "can"). Now Vista I think may be adverse to virtualisation in the EULA, or maybe it's into it; can't remember.
7, you can't "activate twice", windows is tied to one computer generally.
And 16, probably the best solution for someone having trouble with the activation on Boot Camp not appearing to have been noticed whatsoever by Parallels or Fusion (and vice-versa) is that you have to look at the two profiles. If what Windows sees as the computer when using a virtual machine is sufficiently different to what it sees when it uses Boot Camp, it will think that they are separate machines (Correct logic, if a little flawed). What you want to do is try to get them as close as possible. I think in many cases (including my own) this will be purely to do with the RAM allocation. All that needs to be done is for the Virtual RAM to be at least half the Boot Camp RAM (or rather the computer's ram). So, in my case, all I needed to do was increase my Parallels' (now Fusion) RAM from 768MB to 1024MB).
Anyway, maybe that will help people with their Activation woes.
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SirPavlova said 3:25PM on 11-12-2007
Johnny Thrash,
A little program called AntiWPA 3 might help you out a bit. I had the same troubles with Boot Camp/Parallels, using the copy of WinXP I used on my last laptop before its mobo burnt out (may it rest in peace). Since that laptop's fried, installing the copy of Windows elsewhere is free game, but the activation guff got in the way. AntiWPA fools Windows into not checking whether it's activated, & I believe it also works with Vista. It's certainly supposed to; I just haven't verified it myself.
This might be against the DMCA, but I'm not in the US, & Australian copyright law doesn't forbid this. YMMV with regard to law.
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Ben Gertzfield said 5:07PM on 11-12-2007
@Chris Niles (17),
/private/var/vm contains swap files created by Mac OS X. These are not files that VMware Fusion creates.
Please don't delete these files. :) They're owned by the operating system, and they're used to manage virtual memory.
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