Fusion 12 w/ Big Sur Display Flicker

[erikread]

Just upgraded to Big Sur and, among other issues, my Windows 10 VM flickers in full screen mode. It did not do this in Catalina using the same version of Fusion.

My system is 2019 15" Macbook Pro i9 with 32GB RAM.

In full screen my display flickers but not in windowed mode. My display is a Dell U3818DW running at 3840X1600. Again this worked yesterday before upgrading to Big Sur.

[tonycurtis]

I am seeing similar after Big Sur upgrade with Fedora 33 and FreeBSD 12 VMs.  Every time there's any activity, e.g. move mouse; I type into a terminal, or it outputs text; the background brightens and dims repeatedly.

 

[ColoradoMarmot]

Have you verified that it's on the latest virtual hardware?

[erikread]

Hardware version for the vm is 18. That is the latest I believe.

[MaxEtere]

Same issue on MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with Big Sur and Fusion 12!

 

[jowy]

Any fix ?

[frkl]

very same here...

[misterbell]

Me too. Happens whether I'm using the Retina display or external monitor.

I tried the usual suspects, like disabling graphics acceleration, reinstalling VMware tools, without success.

It's almost like the computer is trying to do True Tone colour adjustment whenever you move the mouse about. It's very distracting.

16" MBP 2019, Windows 10 VM

[JawaTheHut]

Just upgraded to Big Sur with same flicker in full screen.

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)

[eirannejad]

Just upgraded to Big Sur and same issue here with Fusion 12 and Windows 10 and other VMs. Please please suggest a fix. I really need to get work done on Windows.

TEMP FIX: I ended up opening the VM Settings window and overlapping it with the fullscreen VM window and that removed the flicker. The moment the overlapping window leaves the full screen, the flicker comes back on!

[HSomb]

I managed to get it to stop flicker by having the mini-bar always visible (just add it to where it bothers you the least)... but that is a hack that I don't want to use for an extended period and hope VMWare fixes this asap!

[ingsings]

Me too, full screen flickering on a 2020 13" 4 port MacBook Pro with 32 GB of memory, running Big Sur / Windows 10 2H20.

 's workaround (keep the mini-bar visible) so far seems to be working - thanks!

[tonycurtis]

Well, that worked here.  How weird.

[tonycurtis]

Yeah, having the mini-bar on-screen worked.  How strange.

[winonmac]

Thanks minibar always visible on left, right, bottom worked for me - no more flicker on full-screen.

[raitosan]

Also encountered this issue, Always Show Minibar also fixed the issue for me. Very irritating bug. Thanks!

[lakewash]

thanks for this tip.  I am using three monitors so can't figure out how to employ this fix and still use all three because if I take out of full screen I cannot extend the VM beyond the main monitor. thanks

[rix34]

I experienced similar issues. I turn off True Tone and everything works fine.

MBP 15 2019 i9 running Win7 on VMWare 12.0

[rob59]

Same problem here, Macbook Pro 13 Early 2015 - Win10 VMware Fusion 12

[ekinney]

How do you turn off True Tone?   Is the in the VM or the Mac?

[dpankov]

I have disabled the color profile for the monitor and this issue does not occur at this time.

This also occurred when working in full screen through the RDP client.

[umnz]

I found turning off True Tone fixed this issue for me, too. MBP 16" 2019 / 8C / 16T / 32GB / 5500M w/ 2 x 4K 27" Displays (not in clamshell mode).

[pdanford]

I found turning off True Tone and Night Shift to be the fix for me using Fusion 12.1.2 on macOS Ventura with a Windows 7 Guest OS VM. This works regardless of which color profile I have selected on the Host.

Enabling True Tone and/or Night Shift again will cause flicker in the Guest OS to return.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Fusion 12 isn't supported on Ventura - upgrade to 13 and see if it resolves this (and other issues that will definitely arise).

[pdanford]

Fusion 12 runs fine on Ventura as Host. It just doesn't support Ventura as a guest OS.

[HSomb]

Same problem on all my VMs, regardless of the OS.

Tried with and without graphics hardware acceleration, same result, the flicker persists.

Every single time Apple updates MacOS, Fusion breaks in some way. It's becoming annoying.....

[AndyWard]

I'm getting this problem too on fusion 12.0.0, mac os big sur. It seems to be OK if the mac is using the discrete gpu. With the integrated gpu the colour flickers. Windows 10 x64 guest.

[AndyWard]

Another weird problem is the colour of the cursor in windows guest (mac os big sur host) - when night shift is activated the windows cursor still appears in brilliant white sometimes.

[bpcoelho]

Same here. Mac mini 2018.

[gsena]

Temporary fix for me is turning off Night Shift schedule.

[JerryHuang007]

Hi, In the VMware Fusion menu bar, click View > Full Screen Minibar > Always Show fixed my issue, enable 3d and Retina doesn't matter.

[cordvarty]

I wasn't having an issue with display flicker but my screen was freezing every 1-2 seconds for about 200ms. This would only happen while in full screen mode. Enabling the Always Show option for the Full Screen Minibar resolved the issue. Thanks!

[icefrogik]

It's worked for me

[GavGold]

 Full Screen Minibar > Always Show seemed to fix it for me too thanks!

[JonathanWickens]

I'm getting the same but only on my external Benq monitor - the retina display on the MacBook Pro seems unaffected. It started when I upgraded to Big Sur but only happens for VMware, all other Mac applications are fine. It seems to relate to how much is going on, for example when the VM is booting up the Windows "Window Pane" graphic pulses about once a second and when I move the cursor or hover over things like shut down it also flickers. Seems to reduce a lot if I don't do anything (not a solution!). The full screen minibar fix didn't work for me

[Tomasz1]

I am using: 

Big Sur 11.5.2, with VMWare 12.1.2.

Guest platforms are macOS 10.15  and MS Windows 10…

Blinking exists on all guest systems…

My computer is: MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)

[pdanford]

I had a color profile selected that was not the "Color LCD" in System Preferences -> Displays -> Color. Selecting "Color LCD" fixed the flickering in my full screen Win7 guest.

In fact, if "Show profiles for this display only" is checked, "Color LCD" is the only one in the list.

Late 2019 16" Macbook Pro Big Sur

pdanford

[JonathanWickens]

Hi, I have only “Colour LCD” selected and “show profiles for this display only” is ticked but I still get the flicker. 

[KlausRuesch]

Same thing worked for me too: Select the "right" profile and the flickering is gone, even on the seconds monitor.

[HSomb]

That doesn't solve it for me. I will still need the mini-bar.

[JonathanWickens]

The mini-bar fixed it for me once I'd manage to do it properly

[solenoglypho-2]

This resolve my issue

[Robertlec]

From reading the replies and my own problem, it seems that it doesn’t matter what the platform is. The problem resides with big and fusion 12. None of this flickering appeared before. 

[eirannejad]

Just upgraded to Fusion 

Professional Version 12.1.0 (17195230)

The flickering issue is still there.

[Robertlec]

The mini bar trick works for me but I would prefer to see a real patch.

[DIRIT]

I have something similar.  Seems to start off okay then will randomly blank a couple of times then come back within about 5 seconds.  I have tried some one the fixes.  LCD Colour profile.  Mini toolbar on top.  No it continues.  This is with Windows 10 Pro.  Probably should have waited a few months to update in hindsight.  Hopefully they are working on this as to get the Fusion 12 Pro upgrade, well you really would have thought they would have tested it.  Worked just fine before Fusion 12 with Big Sur.

Oh and I can't install the latest windows update or I get the BSOD.

[Victoria9]

Still flickering after VMWare 12.1.0. I have an iMac. Updated to Big Sur and VMWare 12 (not commercial). Then yesterday installed VMWare 12.1.0 update, and the flicker is still there. Actually, it is more than a flicker sometimes. It can be like lightening shooting across the screen.

[zhus]

Hi all,

If you are using multiple displays in full screen mode, could you check the spaces in Mission Control? (Press Ctrl+Up to show Mission Control, then move mouse to the top to show the Desktops) Are there 2 VM spaces in the same display? If yes, it may caused by a known issue that mentioned in Release Notes. 

" If you are using multiple displays in Full Screen mode and the external display is unplugged and re-plugged, multiple full screen spaces will be created in the same display

The guest OS screen can't be refreshed to the expected screen topology and the user is unable to interact with guest OS using keyboard and mouse after unplugging and re-plugging an external monitor.

Workaround: Go back to Single Window mode, then switch to Full Screen again."

[Victoria9]

Thanks for the info, but it doesn't apply to me. Only one VM space open. The flickering continues.

[bpcoelho]

Same here.

[DIRIT]

Occurs in single window mode and full screen mode.  Makes no difference.

[DIRIT]

Interestingly enough it gets a lot worse when the VM passes through sound.

[DIRIT]

Also closed my laptop to make my 1 VM display only have the option of one display.  Still flickers whether in a window or full screen.

[JonathanWickens]

I only have one VM space, and haven't plugged and unplugged while running the VM. I don't think this issue applies. Like most people here this issue has only arisen since using VM Fusion 12 on Big Sur. I was running VM Fusion on Catalina no problem (and no flickers) and this issue appeared directly after the upgrade to Big Sur, without any other changes to VMFusion version

[StevieSteve]

Same here, running a Windows 10 or Ubuntu 18.04 VM, on v16 or 18 hardware. Screen flickering when using the VM. It's OK when not in full screen.

[robkersey]

Same here, seems to be worse when I have MS Teams running on a call inside the guest.

Memory issue maybe? 

[Hutchi07]

Same symptoms here with Big Sur and Fusion Player 12.  Windows 10 VM. MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) - i7/16GB.

 

[zhus]

Could you please provide the logs as below if convenient?

  Fusion UI log: /Users/YOUR_ACCOUNT_NAME/Library/Logs/VMware\ Fusion/vmware-vmfusion.log

  VMX log: PATH_OF_.vmwarevm/vmware.log

It would be better if someone could attach a short screen recording.

Thanks a lot.

[robkersey]

Hey  any way to message you or email them direct rather than posting to a forum?

 

[robkersey]

Even More strange behaviour today... seems to be related to running Microsoft Teams.

Resolution seems to resize after Teams meeting has been running for some time with another user presenting. Looked like it went to 800x600.

I've then been logged out of windows and all apps closed, this happened twice.

 

[zhus]

My email: [e-mail]

Thanks for reporting.

I failed to reproduce the flicker issue locally, so the logs or support bundle(better) could be helpful.

[ChrisSmithIT]

here you go logs and video... I also am experiencing same issue only in full screen mode and without dock... all VM display settings have not made a difference.

Attachment(s)

Archive.zip   6.67 MB 1 version

[zhus]

 Got it, I'll forward it to team. Thanks a lot.

[DIRIT]

Just realised that my problem may be different.  That in my mind is way worse.  Mine is annoying but semi-usable.  My screen had been going black for a few seconds and then coming back.  As of late it seems to make the windows program I am running disappear showing only the background and then coming back usually requiring some sort of input.  Very interesting.  If people could let me know if  's video is typical of what they are experiencing and if I am the only one where it either goes to black or background for a couple of seconds then comes back.  I will create my own discussion.   very good to see your video as I thought of mine as a flicker but yours seems to be illness inducing from what I can tell.

[robkersey]

 My problem is similar to yours, screen goes black for a second and then comes back. This seems to be the start of things going south. 

it’s way worse when viewing another persons screen in MS Teams. Eventually it gets worse and worse and then drops to 800x600 res in the guest and then logs me out. pretty annoying part way through a customer call!

I will collate logs and send in. 

[JonathanWickens]

Hi, as far as I can tell my issue is the same as or similar to  . When I shut down my VM or start it up I see a flicker which seems to pulse once a second, but I don't get the screen going black. Once the VM is up and I've logged in to Windows then I see slight brightness changes which are much more intermittent and seem in many cases to happen in response to a change in what's being displayed, e.g. a mouse pointer movement, output from a program, the dock appearing etc. I'm assuming  the regular change in focus on  video is the phone getting thrown off by the flicker

[ChrisSmithIT]

 Yes this was the phone, like you suggest auto focus reacting to the flicker, but equally could be my camera skills!!! The resolution and screen remains in focus on the VM. I've tinkered with all settings to try and overcome but the only workarounds are coming out of full screen mode and or having the dock in view. Def was not having this issue with 12.1 Fusion running on Catalina.

[robkersey]

I can't recreate this issue using MS teams on my mac sharing the screen to the teams on my Guest VM... all day I have had problems with screen share and remote call to someone else? NOw I try to recreate in a controlled inevironment and it doesn't play up?

I wonder if it's got something to do with network latency?

[ChrisSmithIT]

 does sound like your issue is slightly different to mine. I've enabled the dock in the full screen mode and it is fine but I find the dock a little irritating as it obscures view in some apps.... Prefer to have no dock but the constant screen flicker dimming brightening over and over again is indeed illness inducing! 

[JonathanWickens]

I've also sent the two log files requested, in case it helps. I recorded the screen using quick time and shift-ctrl-5 and in both cases the flickering refused to appear. As soon as I stopped recording it came back. I updated Fusion to 12.1 this morning but am still getting the flicker. For me displaying the fullscreen minibar still fixes the flicker which reappears as soon as I hide the minibar. The flicker also seems to be a small increase or decrease in brightness sometimes separated by several seconds depending on how much you move the cursor or where it hovers. For example if I move my cursor to the bottom of the screen to display the Mac dock, the dock displays and the brightness changes and then when I move the cursor away and the dock disappears there's another change in brightness. However I've had it flipping very quickly when hovering over the windows start icon.

[JonathanWickens]

Hi  , as an VMware employee are you able to give us any indication of when this might be fixed?

I see a steady stream of people adding to this thread with the same flicker symptoms and also one or two who seem to be getting the screen temporarily going black issue. Most appear to benefit from the minibar workaround but obviously it continues to incovenience VMware users and there are probably many more who don't report their issues here.

Please let me know if I can supply any more traces, logs etc. to help get it resolved.

[Toms_Mac_Pro]

The Flicker happens in Full Screen mode with all guest OS on the Intel iGPU. On the Radeon Vega it is not Flickering.

The Mini-Bar Trick is working and choosing a  different Colour Profile in "System Preferences - Displays - Color" also works.

[misterbell]

I've been working with the workaround (always display the minibar in full screen) for quite a while - no flicker.

This morning, I had a weird one where the minibar wasn't actually showing for some reason. I was alerted to this because my screen started flickering again.

Once I'd convinced the minibar to display again, the flickering stopped.

[JonathanWickens]

Same here, the minibar is a reliable work round. I had an email conversation with Shan Zhu (@zhus) in last day or so, after sending my logs, who asked me to create a config file with a line which forced VMware to use OpenGL renderer rather than the Metal renderer and that also fixed the issue so seems to be something with the way the app uses Metal. Maybe .. I'm not an expert. However the minibar fix allows the app to use whichever renderer it wants and has the same effect so is still probably the least impact workaround - I hardly notice it now on the right. I assume the full fix will appear when the developers have worked out what's happening with the Metal Engine.

[demky]

Minibar workaround fixed the flicker for me as well on a 2018 Mac Mini

[eestar]

Same symptoms with mbp16, Big Sur and Fusion Pro 12.1.0. The default color profiles for macOS and Windows (yes, I used a custom color profile for both) fixed the issue. The mini bar is disabled.

[DIRIT]

For those that are having a problem of their screen flashing as if VM is changing resolutions intermittently and Windows 10 is redrawing:  I created a separate subject after viewing one of the videos as to what was meant by "flicker".  Mine ended up not being the same symptom so I wanted to separate out the symptoms I was having.  So I apologise to  if I mistakenly hijacked your thread.  I have created a new thread at "Fusion 12 Big Sur - Screen going black for a few seconds".

Sounds like  is having an issue more like my issue.

[eirannejad]

I'm not impressed that after this much reporting, from so many users, still hasn't pushed a fix for this.

[Victoria9]

I only use one app on my VMware, and I only have one display. I rarely go online because I can do that from my iMac side. I don't have the complicated set up that most of you have. I can pull the dock up, and yes, the flickering stops. But, I am unable to leave the dock up because it obscures information I need to see at the bottom of my screen. I hope VMware is working on this and it's fixed soon. They are usually pretty good at keeping this app clean and running smoothly.

[JonathanWickens]

Hi,

The dock is not the same as the minibar. If you click the View menu item in the VMFusion menus you can see an option for minibar which includes always hide and always visible. If you select always visible you get a small toolbar at one edge of the screen which is hardly noticeable and that will stop the flickering for now.

[Victoria9]

Thanks so much for the clarification, Jonathan. Problem solved.

[maximusgeekus]

Spot on Jonathan, worked perfectly; flickering gone, thank you! Actually the minibar when dragged to the top of the screen is also quite useful indeed! This is of course a workaround and hopefully the VMWare team will include a proper fix soon.

[Tomasz1]

No help...

no solution...

VMWare is completely ignoring clients...

[jwpro]

I just did an upgrade to VMware Fusion 12.1.0 and I have the same issue on macOS Big Sur as well.

[Toms_Mac_Pro]

Yes, I am using Big Sur 11.0.1 and VMware 12.1.0

[Sandaman]

Same here. Big Sur host running Win10 in Fusion 12. flickering in every Win 10 guest I have.

Even when creating new Win10 guest, the Windows installer shows the same already.

Tried reverting "Use hardware version" from 18 back to 16 again in Fusion Compatibility settings: no luck

Tried reinstalling screen driver in Win10 (safe mode - remove driver - restart - run updates): no luck

Tried different Win 10 graph driver settings: no luck

Thanks to suggestions here, resolved for now:

Full Screen Minibar - Always Show  - BUT NOT WHEN POSITIONED AT TOP OF SCREEN - showing on left side works for me.

[Toms_Mac_Pro]

Read the post 3 positions above yours.

[jowy]

same here, Big Sur, fusion 12 , all guests ... 

[RickB_Lanboss]

I have the same, New MacBookPro, Big Sur, VMware 12 latest, Win 2016 (Server) guest... flicker on window create or any mouse movement.  

Wanted to add that the flickering also manifested as a change of colour of my backdrop, which was set to white.  During a flicker, it would temporarily go to blue then back to white, reminscent of a monitor colour adjustment.

[widmerkarl]

Hi there,

Same issue here. The background brightens and dims repeatedly. It's not that annoying at the moment because I just installed a VM, but it might get really annoying when I'm going to work on that VM.

Setup:

• MacBook Pro 15" Retina, Late 2013
• macOS Big Sur 11.1
• VMware Fusion 12.1.0
• Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit, 20H2 (19042.746)
• VM HW version 18

Cheers,

Karl

[RickB_Lanboss]

I gave up and reverted my MacBook to Catalina, far too many issues with Big Sur.  Not just Fusion, but many other apps too. 

One word of caution, if you have a recent Mac of any sorts with the T2 security chip, you MUST remember to turn on the ability to boot from external media, before you zap the partitions in Disk Utility.  Otherwise you will be in for a very frustrating time, as the tools you need to use is in the recovery partition you just erased.

[Toms_Mac_Pro]

Try reading some postings. The issue has been solved. There 2 workarounds available.

I have no problems with Big Sur. On the contrary, Big Sur is much more stable and has less bugs than Catalina.

[ockarl]

I tried the workarounds, like trying to disable 3D support or switching the renderer. Unfortunately, dimming & brightening is still there.

[ockarl]

I tried the workarounds, like trying to disable 3D support or switching the renderer. Unfortunately, dimming & brightening is still there.

PS: I'm sorry, wasn't logged in when posted the answer... Didn't know that works...

[Toms_Mac_Pro]

The workaround is to chose a different colour profile for your Monitor.

go to -> System Preferences / Display / Color

[widmerkarl]

I'm currently working only with the integrated MacBook screen, I only have one color profile, and this is active.

[bpcoelho]

This fixed my issue!

[JonathanWickens]

Another workaround which seems to do it for most people is having the Full Screen Minibar set to Always Show in the View menu. I think for me I had to reboot before it took effect. 

[widmerkarl]

I think the workaround with the full screen minibar set to always show will actually help.

I had to restart / shutdown the Windows VM and I also restarted my Macbook, and until yet it seems that there is no flickering. Weird.

 

[misterbell]

The full screen minibar workaround has been reliable for me for quite some time now.

I normally work with my VM on an external monitor. This might help someone... Yesterday, the annoying flicker returned (which does appear to be an intermittent cycling change in colour & brightness), and the minibar was not showing for som reason. Changing the menu setting back and forth so that the minibar should always appear, or show in a different location on the screen did not persuade it to reappear, and the flicker continued. It wasn’t until I moved the mouse pointer from the external monitor to the laptop display and clicked there that the minibar suddenly returned, and the flicker was gone.

[Powershell_Guru]

Same here unfortunately. 

• MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)
• 2.9 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
• 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
• Radeon Pro 460 4GB
• 1 Kensington TB3 dock station with 2x Dell 24" displays. 

As mentioned in a comment below, the problem was rectified by disabling Nightshift so perhaps macOS is trying to apply dark mode or something?  Not sure but my fans are screaming and this Radeon setup is killing me softly.

[ryrij]

I'm also affected by this bug. I'm on 2018 Macbook Pro, latest big sur 11.1 and VM on latest hardware version. 

Enabling full screen mini bar overlay fixes it or disabling night shift schedule in Mac OS settings. 

[joaodmoradei]

I have a 2019 16 inches model and was having problems with the external Acer display (flashing and flickering) but the problem was using an external USB-C hub from Satechi with an HDMI port. After I changed the connection to a direct USB-C-HDMI cable the display problems went away. Are you seeing the problem only when using Fusion or does it also happen with other heavy tasks?

[Jeer007]

I resolved the same issue with my external Dell U2715H monitor by selecting Mac OS-->System Preferences-->Display and then select Color-->Calibrate... for the Dell monitor.

 

I'm running Fusion 12.1 on Big Sur and Windows 10 as guest OS.

[stefanovesa]

Hello,

problem seems solved for me updating Video Driver as suggested today by Windows Update:

 

 

[Tomasz1]

not working for me...

[thedevdad]

Same issue here gets resolved by always displaying the minibar, but would love a true fix. Bummer that I paid to upgrade in order to keep working with VMs on Big Sur just to have this bug be such a nuisance.

Specs:

• MacBook Pro 13-inch, 2020
• 2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
• 32 GB 3733 MHz LPDDR4X
• Intel Iris Plus Graphics 1536 MB
• VMware Fusion Player Version 12.1.0 (17195230)

This is happening on my built in display as well as on an LG Monitor

[vadim_zayka]

Macbook Pro 2020. Display flickers in full screen mode in both VMware Horizon Client and VMware Fusion. I tried different solutions to the problem. And not sure what exactly solved this problem. But my last steps were as follows:

1. In "System Preferences"- "Displays" I unchecked two settings "Automatically adjust brightness" and "True Tone". Also I disabled "Night Shift Schedule". But these settings didn't work for me. Display flickers.

2. Then I did an SMC reset (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252132103). It didn't help either.

3. But then I checked the settings "Automatically adjust brightness" and "True Tone", run VMware Horizon Client and It worked for me.

[alstsmith1]

This is definitely to do with color profiles in the host. For me, the default color profiles for my monitor (dell U3219Q) don't trigger the flickering.

Custom color profiles generated by a third party app immediately cause the VM to cycle between the assigned profile and presumably the defaults.

The mini-bar workaround solves the issue, although with a split screen PDP mode on the Dell (2 distinct monitors recognised by macOS and the Win 10 VM) only one can have the mini-bar

 

[ofries]

The origin of the problem is a bad management of the switching mode between the high graphic resolution processor and the low graphic resolution processor. I have forced the use of the high graphic resolution processor (parameters --> screen --> 3D acceleration --> always use high performs graphic) and the problem shine to be resolved!

[Toms_Mac_Pro]

Where is that setting? I cannot find it.

[MichBensto]

I tried now every idea provided in this thread and nothing helped

While Windows VMs run perfect,

all my macOS VMs do flickering, the flickering depends on the amount of cores I give to the vm.

It looks like the display of the VMs is provided by the CPU.

Tested on my MacPro 6.1 (12core, 128GB RAM) and my 16" MacBook Pro (8core, 32GB RAM)

both with Big Sur 11.2.3 and VMware fusion pro 12.1.1

 

[Toms_Mac_Pro]

Which methods exactly did you try?

[MichBensto]

- Color profile -> no change

- minibar (windowed and full screen) -> no help

- change GPU (not usable on Mac Pro) -> but did not help anyway

- reduce screen size or add more cpus helps a bit but is far away from the performance of older VMware versions

 

[hanksterr7]

The minibar trick worked for me. Without it, the mouse (when showing an arrow) would toggle between a thick black border, to a thinner border, every few seconds, showing the thick version for about half a second, and then the thin version for a few seconds. Also, my whole laptop screen would get extra bright once every few minutes, for about a quarter of a second.

I upgrading the vmware display driver (via Windows Update - driver updates) to

VMware, Inc. - Display - 8.17.2.14

This changed the behavior, so now the mouse flickering is happening a bit less frequently, and with a different pattern. The cycle is now not consistent. I will see the thick border for maybe 10 seconds, then the thin border for maybe a second or two, and then maybe a thick for a second and a thin for a second. Very strange

Keeping the full screen minibar always visible, with the new driver (or the old) made the issue go away

Very strange

[riordanmr]

View | Full Screen Minibar | Always Show significantly reduced the problem for me on my iMac Pro.  But there was occasionally still flickering.

In VM Settings | Display I turned off Accelerate 3D Graphics and rebooted.  Afterwards, the flickering was completely gone.

[RoyceTheBiker]

Running MacOS 11.4, Fusion 12.1.2, and Fedora 33. Fedora guest screen flickers on external monitor and when on MacOS display in full screen, no noticeable flicker when in windowed mode. I will review the recommendations in this thread and reply with results if anything works.

[AnotherAlias]

This bug still exists in the release version 8 months later. Why do we even pay for this software?

[RoyceTheBiker]

In MacBook Pro Big Sur 11.4 -> System Preferences -> Display Colors and Calibration: I was able to run a color calibration and the flicker seems to be gone. Before it was very noticeable and extremely irritating after only a few seconds and now I cannot see the problem. 

[Mallenge]

People, looks like you're not reading past messages and blaming VMware where I don't think it applies.

Have you tried another connection? I was having this flickering problem using a Satechi USB -C hub and an HDMI cable to an external display. but using many other applications as well. The problem was solved using an USB-C - HDMI cable, connecting the display directly. Has anybody else tried it?

[eestar]

The issue occurs on macbooks and imacs without external monitors.

[AnotherAlias]

---

 wrote:

People, looks like you're not reading past messages and blaming VMware where I don't think it applies.

Have you tried another connection? I was having this flickering problem using a Satechi USB -C hub and an HDMI cable to an external display. but using many other applications as well. The problem was solved using an USB-C - HDMI cable, connecting the display directly. Has anybody else tried it?

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I can't connect the internal display of my MacBook differently.

The flickering we're experiencing is only present in VMware, and only when the VM is full screen without any macOS UI visible. It's a VMware bug and they need to fix it. This thread is full of goofy workarounds like changing the ColorSync profile and showing the minibar all the time, but these are workarounds, not solutions.

Fusion Pro is a $199 USD license. The fact that this bug is still in the release version almost a year and a six-page forum thread later is absurd.

[Toms_Mac_Pro]

It is right, that people are not reading past messages. There are 3 workarounds, like chosing a different colour profile. But another cable is not the solution. It is VMwares fault.

[vmrfreitas]

Using Big Sur 11.5.2 and VMware Fusion Professional Version 12.1.2 (17964953) and still having this flickering issue. I'm using an external display connected through HDMI.

What "fixed it" for me was going into System Preferences -> Displays -> Color (on the display I am using the VMware with) -> Calibrate...
I say fixed it with quotes because I still get the feeling that a small flicker is occurring when I move my mouse. Would love to get an actual fix for this from VMware...

 

[atoth]

View -> Full Screen Minibar -> Always show did the trick.

[Drumski]

Has a solution already been found for this screen flicker? I just upgraded to the latest Fusion version 12.2 0 and the problem is still there! Every time I connect the big screen to my MacBook Pro (13 "2020 with Big Sur 11.6) the flashing starts. This is really annoying because I can't use my big display, instead I have to use the small 13" screen. Between MacBook Pro and 27" Dell display is Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro.

I can't found solution from here. Can anybody help?

[atoth]

View -> Full Screen Minibar -> Always show stops the flickering

[Drumski]

At first I thought it helped. Then it flashed again and then I got a black screen with a white arrow cursor. If I exit Full Screen mode, Fusion will work. Hope WMvare fixes this problem!

[Toms_Mac_Pro]

Chose a different color profile in System Settings / Displays

[Drumski]

I tried different color profiles. But again, it first I thought it helped. Then it flashed again and then I got a black screen…

I think that this is not my broblem. I really hope that VMware will solving this and do some bug fixes…

And yes, this broblem is only when I use Full Screen mode.

[Neil_Erskine]

Using Fusion 12.2 on Big Sur now.  The problem is worse than ever. Where before I would have to use the VM for a while before it started to malfunction, it now fails almost immediately.  When the VM issues sound (or tries to if I disconnect the sound adaptor in settings) the whole machine stops, blacks out and slowly redraws.

 

This happens both in full-screen and single-screen modes.

[Toms_Mac_Pro]

VMware Fusion Player 12.2.0 on macOS Big Sur 11.6. No problems, everything is working.

[modhelius]

For me it is flickering more than ever after updating to 12.2.0 if I run full screen without having the "Full Screen Minibar" set to "Always show". VMWare is currently completely unusable in full screen if you want to run it without the minibar.  It would be nice to see a fix for this, because this problem has been present for quite a while now

[Drumski]

I installed the Fusion Player 12.2.1 update today. The problem is still here. The screen still flickers! I can't use an external monitor! Amazing, VMware can't fix this problem that has been going on for a long time! I'm really disappointed…

[EDevil]

I can't believe it's been more than a year and we still don't have a fix for this issue. Instead we have to go with workarounds...

[mscoxoh]

Adding to the pile... though it appears after 7 pages, over a year, and nothing from VMWare, it won't help. My screen looked like someone was hitting the contrast up/down buttons constantly. I thought turning off the "Automatically Adjust Brightness" would fix it, but it did not. My workaround, as others have mentioned, was to turn off True Tone, though enabling the Full Screen Minibar works if I really wanted to leave True Tone on. 

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)
  internal display
Big Sur 11.6.2
Fusion 12.2.1
Windows 10 Guest

Has anyone checked to see if it still happens after Monterey update?

[robkersey]

All I wil say is:

https://www.parallels.com/

I've had no issues with this!

[JWMJR]

I still have the same flicker problem that I had with Big Sur after updating to Monterey.

[Toms_Mac_Pro]

I don't have any flicker on Monterey on VMware, but on Parallels.

[MichBensto]

After years of waiting for a solution. "There is no display driver for macOS VMs in vmware fusion".

This means it will flicker and will be very slow, because the CPU has to draw the screen.

And I never got a helpful answer from VMWARE on all the tickets I wrote,

Since VMWARE V1.0 (Windows) VMWARE Server 2.0 on Linux and since years now on VMWARE Fusion as a developer and IT consultant 

I stopped, because there is no interest of VMWare for the small macOS Workstation and no support at all. 

Parallels macOS as vm is working perfect and fast and the migration of my Windows and Linux VMs worked seamless.

 

[TysonSean]

Adding to Page 7
Vm version 12.2.4
Mac OS 12.1.4

scanned thru 7 pages trying different stuff.
nothing has worked yet.

[ShaneMeck]

Same issue, Ventura 13.2.1, Fusion 12.2.5, Macbook Pro 2020 Intel Core i7 with retina display. I've tried the following, but none of them worked: Always Show Fullscreen Minibar, True Tone off, Auto adjust brightness off, changing color profiles.

I only get the flicker when my external display has an application in fullscreen mode. This causes the Fusion window on my Macbook's retina display to flicker. It's only the VMware window that flickers (in both Unity and Single Window), not the whole display.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Fusion 12 isn't supported on Ventura.  Upgrade to Fusion 13 and see if that fixes it.

[ShaneMeck]

No change with Fusion 13, the whole VM window randomly goes black. For some reason in 13 it stays black longer than it did in 12. Should I just pay for Parellels? I'd love not to...