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VMware Fusion

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VMware Fusion
Developer(s)VMware, Inc.
Stable release
8.1.0 / December 8, 2015 (2015-12-08)[1]
Operating systemOS X
PlatformApple-Intel architecture
TypeHypervisor
LicenseCommercial proprietary software
Websitewww.vmware.com/products/fusion/

VMware Fusion is a software hypervisor developed by VMware for computers running OS X with Intel processors. Fusion allows Intel-based Macs to run operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, NetWare, or Solaris on virtual machines, along with their OS X operating system using a combination of paravirtualization, hardware virtualization and dynamic recompilation.

Overview

Fusion, made possible by the Apple–Intel transition, marked VMware's first entry into Macintosh-based x86-virtualization. Fusion uses Intel VT present in the Intel Core microarchitecture platform. Much of the underlying technology in Fusion is inherited from other VMware products, such as VMware Workstation, allowing Fusion to offer features such as 64-bit and SMP support from the first beta version onward.

Fusion 1.0 was released on August 6, 2007, exactly one year after being announced.[2]

System requirements

  • Any x64 capable Intel® Mac® (Compatible with Core 2 Duo, Xeon, i3, i5, i7 processors or better)
  • 4 GB of RAM (Minimum)
  • 750 MB free disk space
  • 5 GB free disk space for each virtual machine (10 GB or more recommended)
  • Mac OS X 10.9.0 or later[3]
  • Operating system installation media for virtual machines
  • Optional: nVidia GeForce 8600M, ATI Radeon HD 2600 or better graphics for Windows Aero support

Features

Unity view creates a seamless desktop environment between Microsoft Windows and OS X applications. It optionally hides Windows' start menu and taskbar and runs the Windows applications directly from the dock in OS X. Further, users can drag and drop files between Windows and the Mac, and use familiar Mac keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste between Windows and Mac applications. It is (almost) fully compatible with Exposé.[4] Fusion windows that are covered by other Fusion windows don't redraw when switching to Exposé, causing visual anomalies. This feature is later made available in VMware Workstation 6.5 Beta, which is designed to be run on Windows/Linux platforms.

DirectX 9.0 is supported through dynamic recompilation to OpenGL instructions in Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 virtual machines. Hence, users can play supported games through Fusion or run applications which require 3D graphics.[5] VMware Fusion 3 has DirectX 9 Shader Model 3 and OpenGL support.[6]

32-bit and 64-bit guest operating systems are supported by VMWare Fusion.[7] Over 60 operating systems are supported, including Windows Vista, Windows XP, Linux, and Solaris. Additionally, VMWare Fusion 2.0 adds support for Mac OS X Server version 10.5 (Leopard) as a guest on a Mac OS X host. Additionally, Fusion 2.0.1 added experimental support for unreleased developer builds of Mac OS X Server 10.6 (Snow Leopard) – presumably for software developers with Apple-granted access to pre-release builds of Snow Leopard. There is also support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 Boot Camp partitions: a user can use his Windows Boot Camp partition, eliminating the need for two separate Windows installations. In addition, VMWare Fusion offers support of up to 8 GB of memory on guest 64-bit operating systems, and up to 16GB of RAM on Mac Pros and Xserves.[4]

Snapshots enable users to save a stable state of the guest operating system to disk, allowing users to quickly return to their virtual machine without the need of rebooting.

Shared Folders allow the mounting of folders from the host operating system to the guest operating system.

Extensive hardware support is built into VMWare Fusion. For networking, there is support for wired and wireless networks, in NAT or bridged mode (albeit, erratic availability with wireless interfaces).[8] There is access to physical devices from the virtual machine (i.e. read and write CDs and DVDs) as well as access to USB 2.0 devices such as video cameras, iPods, printers, and disks at full speed[citation needed]. Firewire support is still missing in the latest version, although a workaround exists by mounting the device as a shared folder.[9]

Support for multiple CPUs (SMP) or multicore CPUs is built into VMWare Fusion. Fusion also allows the user to assign up to eight CPUs to one virtual machine to gain additional performance for CPU-intensive workloads.[10]

Portability. Virtual machines created with VMware Fusion can be used with other VMware products and vice versa, and are compatible with other VMware virtual appliances.[5]

VMware Fusion 2.0 was released as a free upgrade on September 12, 2008.[11] New features in this release include:

  • Multi-display support – enables the use of up to 10 additional displays by guest operating systems
  • Virtual Machine conversion – allows the conversion of Parallels Desktop and Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machines to VMware
  • Support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2[12]
  • Application sharing between Windows and Mac – users can set certain files to launch with specific Mac or Windows applications
  • Folder Mirroring – allows select folders to be accessible on both the host and guest operating system
  • Keyboard and Mouse shortcut mapping
  • Snapshot improvements – multiple snapshot support, in addition to creating automatic snapshots at set intervals
  • Improved CPU resource utilization
  • Support for 4 processor virtual machines
  • Mac OS X Leopard Server virtualization support
  • Improved Linux support

VMware Fusion 3.0 was released as a paid upgrade on October 27, 2009. Some new features in this release include:

  • Optimization for Mac OS X 10.6 clients, including full 64 bit process support
  • Full support for Mac OS X 10.6 Server clients
  • Improved PC Migration Assistant
  • Improved support for Windows 7 virtual machines, including full Windows Aero support with Flip 3D and Aero Peek
  • Support for DirectX 9.0c with Shader Model 3 and OpenGL graphics libraries (v2.1 in XPDM drivers, v1.4 in WDDM drivers)
  • Improved VM disk and graphics performance under Mac OS X 10.6 clients
  • New "Always-on" Applications Menu provides enhanced start menu functionality in the Mac OS X Finder
  • Improvements to Virtual Machine Library window
  • Automatic software update functionality
  • Improvements to Copy and Paste, Drag and Drop functions on Windows and Linux virtual machines

VMware Fusion 4.0 was released as a paid upgrade on September 14, 2011.[13] Some new features in this release include:

  • Optimization for Mac OS X 10.7 clients, including support for full screen Windows programs, gestures and integration with LaunchPad and Mission Control
  • Updated user interface
  • Support for Time Machine compatible snapshots
  • App Unity feature allows you to integrate Windows programs into Mac OS X 10.7 by adding them to Launchpad, searching them using Spotlight or accessing them directly from the Mac applications folder
  • Improved resume function
  • Support for virtual machine encryption
  • Up to 2.5x faster OpenGL and DirectX 3D graphics performance on Mac OS X 10.7 clients
  • New VMware Fusion Learning Center feature

VMware Fusion 5.0 was released as a paid upgrade on August 23, 2012.[14] Some new features in this release include:

  • Designed for OS X 10.8 clients, including support for running Windows on Mountain Lion, searching Windows programs in Launchpad, using AirPlay Mirroring, and notification center.
  • Windows 8 optimisation
  • Enhanced Mac support, including compatibility with Mountain Lion, retina displays, USB 3.0 and large memory
  • Next generation performance including up to 40% faster general performance, improved power management and faster 3D graphics
  • Additional functionalities, including an updated virtual machine library, one click snapshots, a new Linux graphics driver and embedded learning center

VMware Fusion 5.0 Professional was also introduced. Some features include:

  • OVF support
  • Restricted virtual machines
  • VMware Player 5 commercial license
  • Support and management

VMware Fusion 6.0 was released as a paid upgrade on September 3, 2013.[15] Some new features in this release include:

  • Designed for OS X Mavericks
  • Windows 8.1 support
  • Near-Native Performance
  • Retina Display Optimization

VMware Fusion 7.0 was released as a paid upgrade on September 3, 2014.[16] Some new features in this release include:

  • Designed for OS X Yosemite
  • Advanced Haswell processor features, including AVX2 inside a virtual machine
  • A new virtual webcam, making it easier than ever to use your webcam with Windows applications
  • An updated, virtual USB controller with support for XHCI 1.0
  • A new approach to video memory that enables the VRAM limit to be specified per virtual machine. The amount of VRAM configured is not limited by the VRAM available to the host.
  • The ability to specify a preference for the integrated or discrete GPU On recent Mac Book Pros that contain both GPUs, this can result in increased battery life for lightly used virtual machines.

Version history

Version Released Notes
1.0 August 6, 2007 First release (following 4 betas).
1.1.0 November 12, 2007 Support for Leopard, Boot Camp, and improvements to DirectX support and Unity.
1.1.1 January 24, 2008 Various bug fixes.
1.1.2 April 23, 2008 Support for Time Machine and various bug fixes.
1.1.3 May 30, 2008 Various bug fixes.
2.0 September 12, 2008 Multiple Snapshots with AutoProtect, Improved Unity, DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2 3D, and support for Mac OS X Server guests.
2.0.1 November 14, 2008 Various bug fixes.
2.0.2 February 11, 2009 Import from Parallels, supports Mac OS X Server 10.5.6 host, mounts DMG images, supports Ubuntu 8.10 in Unity mode.[17]
2.0.3 April 2, 2009 Various bug fixes. Adds experimental support for Snow Leopard Developer Builds.[18]
2.0.4 April 9, 2009 Fixed Host code execution vulnerability.[19]
2.0.5 June 23, 2009 Support for Nehalem Mac Pro. Experimental support for Mac OS X 10.6 as guest. Support for Ubuntu 9.04 as guest. Various bug fixes.[20]
2.0.6 October 1, 2009 Fixed issues when running on Snow Leopard. Fixed issues with NVidia graphics cards on Mac OS X 10.6. Various bug fixes.[21]
2.0.7 April 8, 2010 Fixed security issues, accepts VMware Fusion 3 license keys.[22]
2.0.8 December 2, 2010 Maintenance release fixing Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) issue CVE-2010-4297.[23]
3.0 October 27, 2009 Added support for Windows 7 with Aero. Full 64‑bit compatibility with Mac OS X 10.6 host and guest. DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3 3D. WDDM-compatible display driver.
3.0.1 December 10, 2009 Improved 3D & video performance, full support for Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala), 64‑bit networking subsystem, improved VMware Importer, improved VM resume times.[24]
3.0.2 February 18, 2010 Fixes a problem so that the latest release of Mac OS X 10.6 Server (Snow Leopard) can run in a virtual machine.[25]
3.1.0 May 25, 2010 Improved 3D & video performance, improved Unity view performance and integration, USB EasyConnect, improved migration assistant, 8‑core SMP support, increased virtual hard disk size, updated operating system support.[26]
3.1.1 August 12, 2010 Various bug fixes. VMware vSphere 4.1 is now supported as a guest operating system.[27]
3.1.2 December 2, 2010 Fixes various bugs and security issues.[28]
3.1.3 May 31, 2011 Fixes various bugs and security issues.[29]
3.1.4 April 13, 2012 Fixes a bug with starting virtual machines on OS X 10.7.4.[30]
4.0 September 14, 2011 Run Lion, Lion Server, Snow Leopard, Snow Leopard Server, and Leopard Server in virtual machines, up to 2.5x faster 3D graphics, add Windows programs to Launchpad, view in full screen, or in Mission Control.[31]
4.0.1 September 14, 2011 Contains an update that ensures that disk buffering is enabled when set to automatic.[32]
4.0.2 September 27, 2011 Addresses an issue starting virtual machines running a forthcoming version of Mac OS X Lion.[33]
4.1.0 November 17, 2011 Added support for Lion's full screen mode, improved performance, and reintroduced the ability to turn on virtual machines automatically when VMware Fusion is opened.[34]
4.1.1 November 23, 2011 Reintroduces the Mac OS X Server check after it was inadvertently omitted from 4.1.0.[35]
4.1.2 April 12, 2012 Adds early host and guest support in preparation for the future release of OS X Mountain Lion.
4.1.3 June 13, 2012 Various bug fixes[36]
4.1.4 November 8, 2012 Various bug fixes[37]
5.0.0 August 23, 2012 VMware Fusion 5 has been revamped to take advantage of new technologies only available in Mountain Lion, Windows 8 and the latest Macs
5.0.1 August 30, 2012 Improved handling of USB devices[38]
5.0.2 November 8, 2012 Various bug fixes[39]
5.0.3 March 14, 2013 Various bug fixes[40]
5.0.4 December 11, 2013 Various bug fixes[41]
5.0.5 July 3, 2014 VMware Fusion 5.0.5 has been updated to the OPENSSL library version openssl- 0.9.8za where necessary to address CVE-2014-0224, CVE-2014-0198, CVE-2010-5298, and CVE-2014-3470.[42]
6.0.0 September 3, 2013
6.0.1 September 19, 2013
6.0.2 November 5, 2013
6.0.3 April 17, 2014 Maintenance release which resolved some known issues[43]
6.0.4 July 1, 2014 VMware Fusion 6.0.4 has been updated to the OPENSSL library version openssl-1.0.1h where necessary to address CVE-2014-0224, CVE-2014-0198, CVE-2010-5298, and CVE-2014-3470.[44]
6.0.5 October 16, 2014 VMware Fusion 6.0.5 is a maintenance release that resolves some known issues [45]
6.0.6 April 23, 2015 VMware Fusion 6.0.6 is a maintenance release that resolves some known issues [46]
7.0.0 September 3, 2014 OS X Yosemite look and feel, support of OS X 10.10 Yosemite and Windows 8.1, optimized for Haswell Intel processors with performance improvements of up to 43% vs Fusion 6, allocate up to 2 Gb of video memory per virtual machine, improved support for Retina Macs® connected to non-Retina displays, energy impact reduced by 42%, automate GPU switching for dual GPU Macs, virtual web camera compatible with iSight and external webcams, improved guest OS compatibility, over 50 new features.
7.1.1 February 17, 2015
7.1.2 June 15, 2015 VMware Fusion 7.1.2 has been updated to use OpenSSL library version openssl-1.0.1m which addresses several OpenSSL security issues[47]
8.0 August 24, 2015 OS X El Capitan support for both host and guest OS; Windows 10 support for guest OS. New support for Ubuntu 15.04, Fedora 22, CentOS 7.1, RHEL 7.1, Oracle Linux 7.1, VMWare Project Photon. Graphics support updated for DirectX10 and OpenGL 3.3. Improvements for encrypted virtual machines. Improved resolution settings. VMware vCloud Air Integration (Fusion 8 Pro only). Improved remote experience (Fusion 8 Pro only). Support IPv6 NAT network (Fusion 8 Pro only). Support the retina Macs, including iMac 5k and 12" MacBook. Echo cancellation for voice and video calls with Microsoft Lync and Skype. USB 3 support for Windows 7 VM's. Improved Start menu. Improved new VM creator.[48]
8.0.1 October 1, 2015 Maintenance Release. Fixes an issue involving installing El Capitan as a guest OS.[49]
8.0.2 October 29, 2015 Maintenance Release. Fixes issues with virtual machines crashing, and other compatibility fixes.[50]
8.1 December 8, 2015 Maintenance Release. Fixes issues with Windows 10 easy installation and other compatibility improvements.[51]

See also

References

  1. ^ "VMware Fusion 8.1 Release Notes". VMware, Inc.
  2. ^ "WWDC: VMware brings virtual machines to Mac OS X". Macworld. 2006-08-06.
  3. ^ "VMware Official Web Site: System Requirements". VMWare, Inc.
  4. ^ a b "VMware Fusion Features". VMware. 2007-08-06.
  5. ^ a b "VMware Fusion FAQs". VMware. 2007-08-06.
  6. ^ http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/06/21/fusion.beta.version/
  7. ^ "VMware Fusion System Requirements". VMware. 2007-08-06.
  8. ^ "Please review if you are having bridged wireless network issues". VMware. 2007-01-03.
  9. ^ "How to Access a FireWire Hard Drive Using VMWare Fusion". VMware. 2008-08-12.
  10. ^ "VMware Fusion 3.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2010-12-27.
  11. ^ "VMware Fusion 2 (Free Upgrade for All VMware Fusion 1.x Users)".
  12. ^ "Key Features of VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1".
  13. ^ "VMware Fusion 4: Easier. Faster. Designed for Lion. Available Now!".
  14. ^ "VMware Announces VMware Fusion® 5".
  15. ^ "VMware Fusion 6.0 Release Notes".
  16. ^ "VMware Fusion 7.0 Release Notes".
  17. ^ "VMware Fusion 2.02". VMware. 2009-02-11.
  18. ^ "VMware Fusion 2.03". VMware. 2009-04-02.
  19. ^ "VMware Fusion 2.04". VMware. 2009-04-09.
  20. ^ "VMware Fusion 2.05". VMware. 2009-06-23.
  21. ^ "VMware Fusion 2.06". VMware. 2009-10-01.
  22. ^ "VMware Fusion 2.07". VMware. 2009-04-07.
  23. ^ "VMware Fusion 2.0.8". VMware. 2010-12-02.
  24. ^ "VMware Fusion 3.01". VMware. 2009-12-10.
  25. ^ "VMware Fusion 3.02". VMware. 2010-02-18.
  26. ^ "VMware Fusion 3.1". VMware. 2010-05-25.
  27. ^ "VMware Fusion 3.1.1". VMware. 2010-08-16.
  28. ^ "VMware Fusion 3.1.2". VMware. 2010-12-23.
  29. ^ "VMware Fusion 3.1.3". VMware. 2011-05-31.
  30. ^ "VMware Fusion 3.1.4". VMware. 2012-04-13.
  31. ^ "VMware Fusion 4". VMware. 2011-09-14.
  32. ^ "VMware Fusion 4.0.1". VMware. 2011-09-14.
  33. ^ "VMware Fusion 4.0.2". VMware. 2011-09-27.
  34. ^ "VMware Fusion 4.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2011-11-30.
  35. ^ "VMware KB: Upgrading from VMware Fusion 4.1.0 and unsupported versions of Mac OS X". VMware. 2011-11-30.
  36. ^ "VMware Fusion 4.1.3 Release Notes". VMware. 2012-06-13.
  37. ^ "VMware Fusion 4.1.4 Release Notes". VMware. 2012-11-08.
  38. ^ "VMware Fusion 5.0.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2012-09-04.
  39. ^ "VMware Fusion 5.0.2 Release Notes". VMware. 2012-11-08.
  40. ^ "VMware Fusion 5.0.3 Release Notes". VMware. 2013-03-14.
  41. ^ "VMware Fusion 5.0.4 Release Notes". VMware. 2013-12-11.
  42. ^ "VMware Fusion 5 and VMware Fusion 5 Professional Release Notes". VMware, Inc. 2014-07-03.
  43. ^ "VMware Fusion 6.0.3 and VMware Fusion 6.0.3 Professional Release Notes". VMware, Inc. 2014-04-17.
  44. ^ "VMware Fusion 6.0.4 and VMware Fusion 6.0.4 Professional Release Notes". VMware, Inc. 2014-07-01.
  45. ^ "VMware Fusion 6.0.5 and VMware Fusion 6.0.5 Professional Release Notes". VMware, Inc. 2014-10-16.
  46. ^ "VMware Fusion 6.0.6 and VMware Fusion 6.0.6 Professional Release Notes". VMware, Inc. 2015-04-23.
  47. ^ "VMware Fusion 7.1.2 Release Notes". VMware. 2015-06-15.
  48. ^ "VMware Fusion 8.0 Release Notes". VMware. 2015-09-08.
  49. ^ "VMware Fusion 8.0.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2015-10-01.
  50. ^ "VMware Fusion 8.0.2 Release Notes". VMware. 2015-10-29.
  51. ^ "VMware Fusion 8.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2015-12-08.
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