Fusion

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  • 1.  Windows 11 ARM failing at Wifi setup

    Posted Sep 08, 2023 07:04 PM

    I have VMware Fusion Player 13 for personal use, only to run exe apps that I can't natively run on Mac. I'm on an Apple Macbook Air with an M2 chip, so I need to use an Arm build of Windows in order to run it. Windows successfully installed itself, so I'm in the setup sequence of Windows 11, like setting region and keyboard settings. However, once I get to the Wifi setup screen, it looks for Wifi for a fraction of a second and then goes to a troubleshooting message right where the available networks would be. I've been checking the network settings for the VM, and I've tried rebooting with each different network option and each has failed at the same point on that Wifi screen. All of the options in network settings had a green dot, so VMware could tell my laptop is connected to Wifi and knows what the Wifi is, but it runs into some issue when relaying that to Windows 11 ARM. My Wifi is a university private network that requires login as a security measure (it automatically connects each time after logging in), but I did try booting on the public network instead and that still failed. For what it's worth, I tried booting from all three of hard drive, disc, and network adapter, and they once again all failed in the same way. For the Bridged Networking options, I tried going into my Mac's network preferences to set up the Thunderbolt Bridge, but I could not get it active. The Bridged Networking options still were marked green despite that, however. The Wifi menu also failed on the alternate "Why Did My PC Restart?" screen I got one time and said it was on Airplane Mode. In a nutshell, I've tried a plethora of network adapter settings and all have failed thus far, so I'm wondering if there's more setup I'll need to do.



  • 2.  RE: Windows 11 ARM failing at Wifi setup

    Posted Sep 08, 2023 11:48 PM

    There's no WiFi adapter for a VMware virtual machine. The VM does not know whether it's connected through a host's WiFi connection or a wired Ethernet connection. It only thinks it has a wired Ethernet NIC.

    Any connection to WiFi is done through the configuration of the virtual networking through Fusion's GUI.

    What you're seeing is normal if you did not follow the unofficial VMware Fusion for Apple Silicon Companion Guide ( https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Documents/The-Unofficial-Fusion-13-for-Apple-Silicon-Companion-Guide/ta-p/2939907 ) to install your Windows 11 ARM VM. The failure to discover a network is because Windows 11 ARM does not natively contain a driver for the VMXNET3 virtual networking adapter that Fusion provides. The guide tells you to install the network and video drivers right after the VM reboots after the Windows files have been copied to the hard drive and just before you start answering the questions about region and keyboard settings. 

     Follow the instructions in the  Companion Guide ( https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Documents/The-Unofficial-Fusion-13-for-Apple-Silicon-Companion-Guide/ta-p/2939907 ) to install the required driver for the Fusion virtual NIC. You can do that from where you are by dropping into a command prompt with Shift-Fn-F10 and executing the commands that are in the guide.

    And hopefully you are NOT using an installation ISO obtained from uupdump.net or from a Windows Insider converted VHDX file. You should be using an retail channel installation ISO built using the procedures in the guide. Other installation methods tend to have a few warts and sometimes flaky behavior.



  • 3.  RE: Windows 11 ARM failing at Wifi setup

    Posted Sep 11, 2023 03:34 PM

    Honestly, don't use Fusion 13 for windows guests anymore.  Build a new VM from scratch using the instructions in the unofficial guide on the Tech preview.