Migrating VMware Fusion Windows virtual machine to a new Mac

[Stratman351]

I'm running VMware Fusion 6 on a Mac Pro, with Windows 8 installed on its own hard disk. I'm upgrading to a new Mac Pro, and am going to use Apple's Migration Assistant to move all my applications, data and settings to the new Mac Pro. That should include VMware Fusion 6 and its affiliated settings and data. Once I do that, can I just swap the hard drive with Windows to the new machine and run it without further ado, or is some other trick to managing the changeover.

I've searched high and low on the web and in VMware's KB and forums and haven't found anything relevant: just about everything out there seems to deal with porting an installation where there's a Bootcamp partition on the same drive as the Mac OS.

 

[pastrychef]

I did the exact same thing when I migrated from a Mac Pro 3,1 to a Mac Pro 5,1. The only thing I had to deal with was Windows requesting that I call their 800 number to re-activate it. Other than that, it was a smooth transition.

 

[Stratman351]

I did the exact same thing when I migrated from a Mac Pro 3,1 to a Mac Pro 5,1. The only thing I had to deal with was Windows requesting that I call their 800 number to re-activate it. Other than that, it was a smooth transition.

Thanks! That is exactly what I'm doing: 3,1 to 5,1. I figured I might have to reactive Windows, and probably Office too.

 

[pastrychef]

Yes, I would assume that Office will require re-activating too but I don't have it so I can't say for sure…

You need to activate Windows twice. First when booted in to Windows and again when you run it in Fusion.

 

[shortcut3d]

I attempted to copy a Windows 8.1 Professional virtual machine from my previous iMac and 15" MBP to a new Haswell 13" rMBP. The virtual machine initially worked, but since setting up a bootcamp partition and accessing it with Fusion 6, these previous virtual machines no longer work. I removed the bootcamp partition because it did not provide any real performance benefit. I've also re-copied the virtual machine 4 or more times. Windows 8.1 Pro will launch, but at login I receive a host integer divide error, even on a fresh copy. Any suggestions are welcomed.

 

[Quackers]

I installed Windows 8 to a Bootcamp partition a while ago. Last week I imported the Bootcamp partition as a vm in Fusion.
The vm asked for activation and I rang Microsoft and they refused to activate it saying that the product key was already in use for different hardware.
I pointed out that that "different hardware" was in fact the same machine and that I would delete that other installation once the vm was activated.
No go. He just refused to do it.

I wonder why people get so pissed off with them

 

[pastrychef]

I attempted to copy a Windows 8.1 Professional virtual machine from my previous iMac and 15" MBP to a new Haswell 13" rMBP. The virtual machine initially worked, but since setting up a bootcamp partition and accessing it with Fusion 6, these previous virtual machines no longer work. I removed the bootcamp partition because it did not provide any real performance benefit. I've also re-copied the virtual machine 4 or more times. Windows 8.1 Pro will launch, but at login I receive a host integer divide error, even on a fresh copy. Any suggestions are welcomed.

I don't see why setting up a Bootcamp partition would affect your other virtual machines. Maybe you can delete the settings and set it up again then point it towards your existing virtual machines.

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I installed Windows 8 to a Bootcamp partition a while ago. Last week I imported the Bootcamp partition as a vm in Fusion.
The vm asked for activation and I rang Microsoft and they refused to activate it saying that the product key was already in use for different hardware.
I pointed out that that "different hardware" was in fact the same machine and that I would delete that other installation once the vm was activated.
No go. He just refused to do it.

I wonder why people get so pissed off with them

I am always nervous that this could happen to me each time I have to re-activate Windows. Meanwhile, people have told me that pirated copies of Windows does not have these issues... Sigh...

 

[shortcut3d]

I believe the Fusion 6 settings are corrupt. When I access the bootcamp partition through Fusion 6, then deleted it, the other VMs fail. No matter how many copy attempts I make.

Where are the settings that I should try to delete?

 

[pastrychef]

Look in:

~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion

And

~/Library/Preferences/

 

[shortcut3d]

Look in:

~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion

And

~/Library/Preferences/

Standard locations to check. Thanks.

 

[shortcut3d]

I noticed the GPT still had a bootcamp partition although I removed it. I setup another bootcamp partition and removed it again through the assistant. The Fusion preferences also still had helper files for bootcamp. I deleted these files and preferences as well. The legacy VMs are working again.