VMware Fusion Support Center FAQs

Designed from the ground up for the Mac user, VMware Fusion leverages the full power of Intel-based Macs to seamlessly run Windows applications side-by-side with your favorite Mac applications.

Yes, VMware Fusion includes a simple Migration Assistant for Windows that allows you to quickly and easily bring your entire PC into a virtual machine on your Mac. Install a simple application on your PC, connect it to your Mac, and VMware Fusion will detect your PC and take care of the rest. The PC Migration agent can be installed from your VMware Fusion 4 DVD or can be downloaded.

For most users, there will be little or no impact on your Mac’s overall performance. The performance of your Mac will depend on what applications you’re running (both on your Mac and in your virtual machine), how many concurrent processes and virtual machines you are running, and how much RAM is available on your system. VMware Fusion 4 is engineered for reduced system overhead and to provide users with the fastest and most reliable Windows-on-Mac experience possible.

While you can use VMware Fusion to manage a Windows boot camp partition, Boot Camp is not required to run Windows on a Mac with VMware Fusion. VMware Fusion can be used to create a new Windows virtual machine without ever installing Windows using Apple’s Boot Camp software. Further, with VMware Fusion, you can run Windows applications side-by-side with Mac applications – without having to reboot your Mac.

Yes. VMware Fusion 4 includes a feature that allows you to easily import both Parallels Desktop for Mac 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 5 and 6 and Virtual PC for Mac 7.0-based virtual machines. Launch VMware Fusion, go to the File menu and select Import, select your virtual machine setting’s file and click Import.

VMware Fusion lets your run more than 200 x86 operating systems as virtual machines including Windows 3.1 through 64-bit Windows 7. Nearly all applications that run on these Windows (or other x86) operating systems on a physical machine will also run on a virtual machine. Programs can range from general-purpose business and productivity applications to graphics or data-intensive Windows games and programs.

Yes, VMware Fusion 4 has 3D accelerated graphics support allowing you to play selected games that require DirectX 9.0c with Shader Model 3 or OpenGL 2.1 in Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 virtual machines. See the VMware Fusion release notes for more information.

Yes, you can use the vast majority of USB 2.0 devices such as video cameras, high-speed hard disks, GPS devices, and much more in a virtual machine – with no additional setup required.

Yes, VMware Fusion allows you to create and run 32-bit and 64-bit virtual machines. However, you can only run 64-bit guest operating systems on Intel Macs with 64-bit processors (Core 2 Duo or Xeon).

Yes, VMware Fusion supports up to 10 displays in your Windows or Linux virtual machines. VMware Fusion supports multiple displays in both full screen and Unity views.

Yes, you can access your FireWire hard drives in VMware Fusion by mapping the hard drive to a VMware Shared Folder. Go to the Virtual Machine menu, select Shared Folders and select Add Shared Folder. Select your FireWire hard drive and click Open to assign your FireWire disk to the shared folder. To access your FireWire hard drive in Windows, go to VMware Shared Folders shortcut on the desktop and select your FireWire hard disk.

No, VMware Fusion does not support virtualizing FireWire devices, so you cannot use your FireWire camera or printer with Windows. If your FireWire printer has Mac drivers, you can use it via printer sharing or VMware Fusion’s driverless printing feature. Also, you can access your FireWire hard drives in VMware Fusion by mapping the hard drive to a VMware Shared Folder. Alternatively, if your device has both a USB and FireWire connections, you can connect the device to your virtual machine as a USB device instead.

You can assign 1, 2, 4 or 8 Virtual CPUs to a virtual machine, so the virtual machine can harness the full power of a Mac with an Intel Core i5 or i7 or Xeon processor. Multiple Virtual CPUs are recommended when you have applications that can take advantage of multiple processor cores and you have a quad-core or octo-core Mac Pro. “4 virtual CPUs” with “8 virtual CPUS”

This is no longer the case. Virtual SMP is now multi-core aware and provides multi-core CPUs to your virtual machines. This allows Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 to use all enabled virtual processors instead of being limited to two.

Yes, you can run as many virtual machines concurrently on VMware Fusion as your system’s RAM will support. In fact, VMware Fusion leverages patented memory-sharing techniques to drastically reduce the memory required to run multiple virtual machines at the same time.

You can create an unlimited amount of virtual machines from a single license. You will need to provide the required operating system software and license for each installation of a virtual machine.

Virtual machines are isolated from each other and don’t have access to the Mac by default. If you enable Mirrored Folders, there is the potential to expose your Mac’s documents, desktop, music and pictures folders to viruses.

However, using anti-virus software for both your Mac and your Windows virtual machine is a best practice and VMware Fusion 4 includes a 12-month complementary subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus to help protect your Windows virtual machine to help avoid problems.

If you don’t want to install Windows security software and are concerned about security, it is advisable to not enable read/write shared folders between your Windows guest virtual machine and the Mac. Read-only shared folders will not allow Windows to change or delete data on your Mac.

The included McAfee VirusScan Plus complimentary subscription is for one virtual machine, for one year. If you want to install it in more than one virtual machine, you can purchase additional licenses of McAfee VirusScan Plus by visiting the McAfee-VMware Fusion web site.

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The VMware Fusion Support Center directs you to many great free self-service resources, including video tutorials, product documentation, knowledge base articles, and community forums.

If you have purchased and registered your license of VMware Fusion 4, you are entitled to 18 months of complimentary e-mail support. Learn more about the benefits of complimentary support.

If you prefer phone support, you may purchase Per Incident support on the VMware online store.

Desktop Standard Support is available for customers who have purchased 10 or more licenses and includes unlimited support requests and subscription services for one or three year periods.

Your complimentary email support starts when you register VMware Fusion. All customers must register the serial / license key (no matter where the product was purchased) to get access to complimentary email support.

If you own 10 or more licenses of VMware Fusion, you can opt to purchase Desktop Standard Support that includes telephone support and subscription services. Desktop Standard Support is tiered pricing, with the price per license contingent on the number of licenses purchased. Contact VMware Sales for more information.

File a Customer Service Request for issues concerning your order, VMware account, downloading issues or product registration assistance. (Requires login)

File a Technical Support Request to resolve technical product questions and issues. (Requires login)

You can track the status of your request once you have the number of your Support Request.

If you need help concerning your order, VMware account, downloading issues or product registration assistance, please do not hesitate to call our Desktop Customer Service Team, available Monday to Friday, 6am to 6pm PT.

If you own 10 or more licenses of VMware Fusion, you can opt to purchase Desktop Standard Support that includes telephone support and subscription services.

For consumer customers, you can purchase Per Incident support which gives you the ability to open a technical support request and have a technical support engineer call you back to discuss your case.

The Desktop Software Lifecycle Policy is the guideline that dictates how long a product’s version will be supported technically.

Evaluation users can get help through the VMWare Fusion Community as no formal VMware technical support is available for evaluation users.

The VMware Fusion Support Center directs you to many great free self- service resources, including video tutorials, product documentation, knowledge base articles, and community forums.

You can request a renewal quote of an existing support contract online: www.vmware.com/support/form/contract_renewal.html.

You can also Contact Support by Phone by using one of our worldwide toll-free numbers to contact VMware Technical Support Contract Renewals. Please have your postal/zip code ready to expedite the transfer to the renewals representative that manages your area.

Your complimentary license has a full support entitlement from McAfee. Contact McAfee for support.

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VMware Fusion is available for purchase on the VMware Online Store and available through Apple's retail stores, Amazon.com, and other authorized retailers.

To purchase from VMware's Online Store, please visit www.vmware.com/go/buyfusion.

The suggested retail price of VMware Fusion is $49.99 USD for a new license. International pricing varies from region to region. Please see a local authorized reseller for more details on pricing outside the U.S.

VMware Fusion requires the installation of an operating system in order to function. The operating system is not included with the purchase of VMware Fusion.

In order to run a Windows virtual machine, you must have a licensed copy of that Windows operating system or purchase a new Windows license.

Windows is available at your local resellers, office chains, electronics retailers, and mail order specialists including (in North America): Best Buy, Office Depot, Amazon.com, PC/MacConnection, PC/MacMall, NewEgg, and CDW.

There are many different versions of Windows operating systems available including academic editions. To find the pricing and version that best suits your needs, we recommend consulting your favorite reseller, office chains, electronics retailers, and mail order specialists.

Your Windows virtual machine behaves just like any Windows physical machine, and any precautions you should take with a Windows physical machine would apply to your virtual machine as well, including the installation of Windows anti-virus software and firewalls for optimum security.

VMware Fusion 4 includes a 12-month complimentary subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus to help protect your Windows virtual machine.

Yes, McAfee Total Protection offers additional protection for your virtual machines. You can upgrade or learn more by visiting the McAfee-VMware Fusion web site.

You can upgrade any time before or after your McAfee VirusScan Plus complimentary license expires. Simply go to the McAfee-VMware Fusion web site to learn more.

When the subscription expires, the McAfee VirusScan Plus install will prompt you to renew the subscription. To renew your subscription of McAfee VirusScan Plus, or upgrade to McAfee Total Protection, visit McAfee-VMware Fusion web site.

VMware Fusion 4 licenses come with 18 months of complimentary email support (in English only).

If you wish to have telephone support, you can purchase a support incident from the VMware Online Store.

Desktop Standard Support (support and subscription) is also available for companies that have purchased 10 or more licenses. Desktop Standard Support is available at time of license purchase on the VMware Online Store or can be purchased by contacting VMware Sales.

There are support options that can be purchased from VMware resellers. You will need to contact the specific VMware reseller in your location for more information.

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