Bluetooth not enabled on Mac - VMware Fusion

[jaco]

Hi, I wanted to use bluetooth on my virtual machine (tried both CentOS and Kali) but noticed that no bluetooth device was seen. 
I searched on google and I found that I had to go to Virtual Machine > Settings > USB & Bluetooth. The problem is that I only have Virtual Machine > Settings > USB (no Bluetooth). I opened every single setting, but couldn't find bluetooth options anywhere.

[Technogeezer]

From what you're posting it looks like you're running Fusion 13.6.x.

Fusion 13.6 removed Bluetooth hub passthrough (also known as Bluetooth sharing) from the product. This is documented in the Fusion 13.6 release notes.

If you want Bluetooth in a guest you'll need to use a USB Bluetooth dongle and assign it to the VM. Still no sharing, though.

------------------------------
- Paul (technogeezer)
------------------------------

[Nuriel Aminov]

Hi im trying to do that but it doesn't work. I'm on the latest version of VMware and latest Mac OS and have a Bluetooth and WiFi usb adapter and for some reason it doesn't work. It works on regular windows machine. I plug it in and it detects it but not as a Bluetooth adapter or WiFi 

-------------------------------------------

[Technogeezer]

Apple Silicon or Intel Mac?

------------------------------
Paul Rockwell (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
------------------------------

[Nuriel Aminov]

Apple silicon M3 pro

-------------------------------------------

[Technogeezer]

You say that the USB Wi-FI/Bluetooth dongles work on a "regular Windows machine". Would that be a PC with an Intel or AMD CPU?

If so, the issue may be the lack of drivers for the device in Windows 11 ARM. Most dongles require drivers provided by their vendors (in many cases they submit them to Microsoft where they can be downloaded through Windows Update). Windows 11 ARM requires those drivers to be specifically compiled for ARM CPU code (they can't use the x64 translator to run them). Many hardware vendors have not re-built their drivers for Windows 11 ARM. Until they do, the device won't work.

A corollary to this discussion is that finding Wi-FI or Bluetooth dongles that work with Windows ARM may be difficult. Simply saying "64-bit" or "Windows 11" isn't sufficient as vendors assume that the devices are being used on Intel/AMD PCs. Read the fine print and unless it explicitly calls out working with Windows 11 ARM, then it's likely the device won't work. 

------------------------------
Paul Rockwell (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
------------------------------

[Technogeezer]

It's also possible that if you're using a Linux VM that the Linux kernel doesn't have a driver for the chipset contained in the device. Using utilities such as inxi and lspci in the guest, you should be able to figure out what chipset the dongle is using and if the dongle is being claimed by a device driver. 

Verify with the device vendor that the device is supported by Linux, or determine the chipset that the device is using and then see if there's an open source driver for it.

------------------------------
Paul Rockwell (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
------------------------------

[Nuriel Aminov]

The device does require a driver which I tried downloading but I don't know what to do from there

-------------------------------------------

[Technogeezer]

What guest operating system are you using,  what is the device that you're trying to use, and where did you download the driver from?

------------------------------
Paul Rockwell (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
------------------------------

[Nuriel Aminov]

I'm using windows 11 pro on VMware. Downloaded the driver from Google. It worked on a different windows pc that had an intel chip

-------------------------------------------