Transport (VMDB) error-14: Pipe connection has been broken

[chrilarc]

Hello,

After migrating my MacBook from Catalina to Monterey, I can not open my VMs anymore: Transport (VMDB) error-14: Pipe connection has been broken

- MacBook Pro 16 Intel - Monterey 12.2.1

- VMWare Fusion 12.2.1

 

I tried the following methods stated in the other posts regarding this error and nothing worked.

- sudo kextutil /Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/kexts/vmmon.kext

- go into system preferences, battery, and disable “Automatic Graphics Switching”

- manually edit the .vmx file, modifying the option mks.forceDiscreteGPU="TRUE" to mks.forceDiscreteGPU="FALSE"

- disable 3D accelerator

 

Thank you for your help.

Attachment(s)

vmware.log   149 KB 1 version

crash.txt   31 KB 1 version

[ColoradoMarmot]

Try: Drag Fusion to the trash.  Empty trash.  Reboot.  Empty Trash.  Reinstall fusion using an administrator account.

[chrilarc]

Thank you, but it didn't solve the issue.

I finally solved my problem by enabling SIP.

[coolpontiac]

so you are keepign SIP disabled permanently?

im having the same error but I didnt change anything that could have made this start happening!?!

[chrilarc]

No, it's the other way around. I enabled SIP which was disabled (for testing).

[coolpontiac]

Hi All -  i have tried everything I can find on the communities site but i still have this error

I am running macbook pro 13" 2017,  macOS big sur, Fusion 12

this problem occured 'suddenly' , its not like I modified anything major, just one day I couldnt start my win10 VM

-i have tried toggling SIP

-i have reinstalled fusion 12

-i have even tried reinstalled a fresh win10 vm from .iso  but when it tried to do this, it hits the same error

-the only thing wrong with my machine.. is it will not run well without plugged in, its telling me my battery condition has a fault. but its been this way for a long time without issue

any other suggestions please?

i am reluctant to upgrade macOS to Monterray unless there is a concrete reason to think this might solve the problem

 

[chrilarc]

Hello,

Is there a crash report in your Console?

[Technogeezer]

Also, specifically which minor versions of Fusion 12 and macOS Big Sur do you have installed?

[coolpontiac]

macos big sur 11.6.1

fusion 12.2.3 ( i just upgraded this morning)  but have same problem yesterday and today

[coolpontiac]

Im not sure.  I am trying to find any type of 'console' and dont see one. the only thing i see is when is the black window with the large white arrow (the win10 vm window) and when i click.. it simplly pops up the message box with the error message mentioned... i think click 'ok' to dismiss the message. at this point the win10 vm window still there. i can open up the settings menu          based on my response... am i not understanding what you mean by console?

[chrilarc]

Hello,

Run your Console app and check if there is a crash report concerning vmware-vmx.

In my case the exception was (see the attached crash.txt file):

Exception Type: EXC_GUARD (SIGKILL)

Exception Codes: GUARD_TYPE_VIRT_MEMORY

[coolpontiac]

can you tell me specifically what console app you want me to look at?  I have seached onlline and find no mention of a console or app  .  thx!

[coolpontiac]

 

there was no crash report but here is the log file which at least logs the error and some other information.

is there anything in here that indicates what the problem might be?  thanks!

Attachment(s)

vmware-vmfusion.log   3.22 MB 1 version

[coolpontiac]

   oh... i should also mention that one of the many thhings i tried (2 days ago) was changing priviledges using sudo commands. i enabeled full access to everyone but error still occured.

here im showing hte current settings , after i did fresh install of fusion last night

  do you think my problem has anything to do with the permissions or ownership?

[ColoradoMarmot]

You should never have to use sudo on the mac for anything.  If you've installed and are running Fusion as an administrator, it should be fine.  

whatever you do, don't set a root password!

[Technogeezer]

sudo can get you into a lot of trouble. Apple is not only setting UNIX permissions but ACLs, flags, and other undocumented metadata in the file system these days. Hard to make sure you don't shoot yourself in the foot.

And to setting a root password, I quote the esteemed Egon Spengler responding to why to not cross the streams:  "It would be bad".

[coolpontiac]

i see some ownerships of files as 'wheel' , was that the result of me running sudo commands

should i change ownership back to 'admin'?  not sure if that is related to having a root password set

how can i confirm that i dont have a root password set?   

 

thx

[NedGerken]

Same problem here, too. Is VmWare going to fix this or should I be migrating to some other product? Any recommendations on alternates to VmWare?

[rakeshummat10]

I am having the same issue on my Mac pipe line connection is broken with error 14 can you pls hep and tell me how you fix you issue

[brell]

What is SIP?

[brell]

Ok I am also having the dreadful -14 issue.

I have VMware 12.2.5 and I am trying to make it work on my new MacBook pro Apple M2 with MacOS Ventura 13.1

It worked great on my old MB pro.

Someone wrote that this version of VMware does not run on Apple M2 based computers.  Can anyone verify that?

Is there any newer version of VMware that would work?

Thanks

[RDPetruska]

---

 wrote:

Ok I am also having the dreadful -14 issue.

I have VMware 12.2.5 and I am trying to make it work on my new MacBook pro Apple M2 with MacOS Ventura 13.1

It worked great on my old MB pro.

Someone wrote that this version of VMware does not run on Apple M2 based computers.  Can anyone verify that?

Is there any newer version of VMware that would work?

Thanks

---

Correct - you need version 13.x to work on Apple Silicon processors.

And, more importantly, NONE of your existing virtual machines will work on your new computer... you can only run ARM-based OS's.

[brell]

Wow!  Do you know whether VM is going to fix this?

What other options do I have?  Will Parallels work with old Mac OSes?

[RDPetruska]

---

 wrote:

Wow!  Do you know whether VM is going to fix this?

What other options do I have?  Will Parallels work with old Mac OSes?

---

There's nothing to "fix".  VMware and Parallels are *virtualization* companies - they create a software-based computer framework which exposes the real CPU to the virtual machine.  They are not *emulation* companies - which present a fake CPU to the virtual machine.

[ColoradoMarmot]

To answer your last question, no.  The only thing that remotely does is QEMU (and it doesn't work with MacOS), and performance is so bad that it's unusable.

If you need to run intel guests, keep an intel machine around.  That's doubly true for MacOS - we don't even have a good option for virtualizing Monterey and Ventura yet (the support is rudimentary at best).

You can't modify a diesel engine to run on gasoline!

[VMware Community Member]

HOW does one enable/disable SIP?

[Technogeezer]

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/disabling_and_enabling_system_integrity_protection

Disabling SIP should almost never need to be done if you are runnung macOS on a Apple-supported Mac configurations. Fusion does not need it to be disabled to run, and if you find that you need SIP disabled for Fusion to run on your Mac, you have a problem with your Mac. VMware does not test or support disabling SIP as it’s not recommended by Apple  

It may be needed for OCLP to perform its hacks to get macOS running on unsupported Mac hardware. just remember you are reducing security of your system by disabling SIP. 

[Hetal1]

I am running into the same issue with Mac M1 Mac OS 12.3.1 (Monterey) and VMware Fusion 12.2.3

[RDPetruska]

---

 wrote:

I am running into the same issue with Mac M1 Mac OS 12.3.1 (Monterey) and VMware Fusion 12.2.3

---

Actually, you are not running into the same issue.  The *only* version of Fusion which will run on an M1 Mac is the Tech Preview.  The x86 version will NOT work.  Also, note that you will not be able to run any x86 guest Virtual Machines either, only ARM architecture ones.

[PatRaiford]

Hello, I just upgraded from Catalina to Monterey. VMWare running Windows 10 was working fine before I upgraded. I believe I was on VMware Fusion 11 before and had to upgrade to Fusion 12. Now I am getting the "Transport (VMDB) error -14: Pipe connection has been broken" error message. I have tried a full uninstall of the VMWare fusion by deleting both the App and the supporting files found in the Library section. I still have the same issue. When I ran Fusion 12 the first time, it wanted to updated the virtual drive so I told it to do so. Thinking maybe this was a problem, I restored a previous copy of the virtual drive and tried the fusion again without updating the drive. Still same problem. I will attach the VMware-vmfusion.log file here. Let me know if there is anything else you need. 

Attachment(s)

vmware-vmfusion.log   40 KB 1 version

[Technogeezer]

OK, so I see you're running macOS 12.4 and Fusion 12.2.3 - all latest versions. I don't have to ask questions about latest versions.

Could you also post the vmware.log file that's in the virtual machine bundle?

I'm assuming that when you say you uninstalled Fusion, you followed the uninstall instructions in KB article https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1017838 and uninstalled not only the files in /Library, but also the items in ~/Library (the Library folder contained in your home folder).

Did you reboot after uninstalling the prior version of Fusion?

Can you double check that VMware Fusion is granted the following macOS permissions in System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy

• Microphone
• Camera
• Accessibility
• Screen Recording
• Files And Folders (should reflect folders where VMs reside or devices that contain folders you're sharing via Folder Sharing)

[Technogeezer]

Also, what Mac model are you running this on?

[PatRaiford]

Hello, thank you for your help. Yes, Fusion has been granted access to all those items that you listed. I believe I found the problem but I am also providing the log file you asked for. The problem is I am running on a MacBook Pro 9,2 which is a Mid-2012 MacBook. After doing some more searching, I saw that Fusion 12 may not work with that since its not a supported hardware. I was just hoping that since others were having problems under Monterey that those solutions might work for me as well but they haven't. I just tried Parallels and it works fine for me so if VMWare won't work then I will use Parallels. I can't afford to upgrade my computer at this time. But thank for your time and again I am posting the log file if it helps.

Attachment(s)

vmware.log   153 KB 1 version

[Technogeezer]

Not surprising and yes it does appear that you've found the problem. Monterey isn't supported by Apple on that Mac (which means you're running OpenCore Legacy Patcher to force it to work). Fusion 12 requires macOS to be running on hardware that Apple supports with that macOS version.

Fusion 12 uses the macOS Virtualization Framework on Big Sur and Monterey instead of legacy kernel extensions. Fusion also uses Apple's Metal APIs for graphics rendering. Both of these put a greater dependency on what hardware is supported by macOS and the hardware capabilities that Apple and Fusion expects to be there for those macOS releases.

You won't get much more help in this forum as it's bad etiquette to discuss trying to run Fusion on an unsupported platform. Moderators have been known to shut down those discussions, and VMware folk that frequent here won't touch the conversation. You might want to check with the OpenCore community to see if they have something that gets around this. 

If you want to continue using Fusion, you'll need to drop back to Catalina. You can run Fusion 12.1.2 on that macOS release. (Note that you have to use 12.1.2 because 12.2.x no longer supports Catalina).

Also if and when you consider an upgrade to your computer, remember that Apple is only selling new devices based on  Apple Silicon. Take a look at https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Documents/Running-Fusion-and-upgrading-from-an-Intel-Mac-to-an-M1-Mac-Read/ta-p/2888565 when the time comes...

From a curiosity standpoint, are you running Parallels with their legacy kernel-extension based hypervisor, or are you using it with the "Apple Hypervisor"?

[PatRaiford]

According to the settings, Parallels is using Apple's Hypervisor with Adaptive Hypervisor activated. I thank you for the explanation and the link about the new models if I get a new model in the future. You may close this case. 

[Technogeezer]

 sorry I don't have better news for you. 

FYI there's no "case to close" - this is a user-to-user forum and not an official VMware support vehicle - so there's nothing to "close". 

 

[eldxmgw]

<Message removed by Moderator due to violation of Forum TOS>

[GK17]

I have this same error.  Running Mac BIGSur 11.6.5 with Fusion 12.2.4.  I have tried toggling the graphics, disabling SIP, enabling SIP all with retarts and shutdowns in between.  Fusion has Full Access to drives etc.  This has worked just fine for several months but now I get this error as soon as I try to launch any VM.  Any help for a solution will be greatly appreciated.  

[Technogeezer]

Please post the vmware.log file found in the VM's bundle and let's see if we can figure out why you are getting these errors. The error message has several causes, and the first step to figuring out what's happening is to examine that log.

You may also want to consider upgrading to the latest Big Sur release 11.6.8 and see if symptoms change. We have seen in the past Apple break things that get fixed in later updates.

[GK17]

Thank you for your reply but I cannot find the log file.  I have looked in the contents of VMware Fusion, /var/log and var/tmp.  I guess I need help finding VMware.log.  

[Technogeezer]

To find the vmware.log file:

In the Virtual Machine Library, right click on the VM.

Select "Show in Finder". A window will open for the folder that contains your VM.

Right click on the VM in the Finder window, and select "Show Package Contents".

You will then see all the files that make up your virtual machine. The vmware.log file can be found there (vmware-0.log, vmware-1.log, and vmware-2.log are older versions of the log).  

Make a copy of the vmware.log and then attach it to a post.

[GK17]

Thank you, there are 4:

vmware.log (attached)

vmware-0.log

vmware-1.log

vmware-2.log

Please let me know if you want the other 3

Thank you

Attachment(s)

vmware.log   140 KB 1 version

[GK17]

Well your advise to upgrade my OS worked - it got rid of the Transport error 14.  I thought I had another issue but that cleared up.  Thank you so much for your help, greatly appreciated

 

  

[Technogeezer]

 I took the liberty of examining the vmware.log file. About 1064 lines in, Fusion was complaining about a failure to create a directory in /tmp, the error code was 13 which means a permissions error.

2022-07-27T19:15:30.654Z In(05) mks FILE: File_CreateDirectoryHierarchyEx: Failure on '/tmp/vmware-gerrykistler'. Error = 13
2022-07-27T19:15:30.654Z Wa(03) mks MKSControlMgr: Unable to Create folder /tmp/vmware-gerrykistler/mksctrl.
2022-07-27T19:15:30.654Z Cr(01) mks PANIC: VERIFY bora/mks/main/mksControlMgr.c:594

The panic then got displayed as the VMDB error.

I have seen this cause before in another recent post. As in that other post, it looks to me like something changed the permissions of /private/var/tmp (which is what /tmp is linked to). The permissions of the /private/var/tmp directory should be rwxrwxrwt (1777), owner root, group wheel. In the other instance, the permissions had changed from this according to the OP. Their solution was to drop into a Terminal session and reset the permissions.

In your case, it looks like Installing the macOS update may have fixed this for you.

 

 

[ColoradoMarmot]

I wonder if repairing permissions would solve this?  I know apple removed it from disk utility, but Monterey Cache Cleaner from Northern Softworks can still trigger the process.

[pingmaster]

System Preferences > Battery > Battery > Disable Automatic Graphics Switching 

System Preferences > Battery > Power Adapter > Disable Automatic Graphics Switching 

It will happen again if you enable it even when the VM is powered on, Fusion will crash. I didn't have this problem until today when fusion notified me to update. 

[GK17]

 Well the fix lasted just a month.  I have attached the log file and the current permissions for /private/var/tmp If you still think this is a permissions error, I must admit I am a novice and am not clear exactly what to type in Terminal to fix them.  Thank you.

Attachment(s)

vmware.log   142 KB 1 version

private var tmp perm.pdf   15 KB 1 version

[Technogeezer]

2022-08-29T22:10:26.563Z In(05) mks FILE: File_CreateDirectoryHierarchyEx: Failure on '/tmp/vmware-<username>'. Error = 13
2022-08-29T22:10:26.563Z Wa(03) mks MKSControlMgr: Unable to Create folder /tmp/vmware-<username>/mksctrl.
2022-08-29T22:10:26.563Z Cr(01) mks PANIC: VERIFY bora/mks/main/mksControlMgr.c:594

Seems to be.a similar issue, but please issue the following commands in the terminal to make sure:

ls -ald /tmp
ls -ald /private/tmp
ls -alR /private/tmp/vmware-gerrykistler
umask

 Can you think of anything that's changed on your system since the last time Fusion worked?

[GK17]

I cannot think of anything that changed but that sure worked, I have it open.  Thank you so much.  By the way I had to manually create the folder /tmp/vmware-gerrykistler

 

[Technogeezer]

Manually creating the folder should not be necessary. The default permissions on /private/tmp should have allowed Fusion to create that folder. 

Please run the commands and post the output - I'd like to make sure this doesn't happen to you again.

[GK17]

I have attached the Terminal window after running the commands.  Thank you

Attachment(s)

lThe default interactive shell is now zsh..pdf   12 KB 1 version

[Technogeezer]

 thanks for the post of the permissions.. 

The permissions on your /private/tmp (linked to from /tmp) are still incorrect. Assuming you are logged in as an administrator account, issue the following command to reset the permissions to the correct value:

sudo chmod 1777 /private/tmp

Then re-issue the following to see that the change "took";

ls -ald /tmp /private/tmp

 

[GK17]

 You are correct as this morning I got the error again.  I ran those commands - output attached - and I am back in. Thank you.

[brell]

How do I grant VMware access to the microphone?

[Sam__fr]

I had issues running my VMs once upgraded to Monterey from Big Sur on MBPro 13 mid 2012 using OCLP,  all failed starting with the error message "broken pipe -14".

As a few people said around, the issue is the HD4000 GPU embedded with the Intel Ivy Bridge processor, OCLP installs a root patch to support the macOS METAL framework and speeds up UI. 

I was about to downgrade my Monterey 12.6.3 to Big Sur 11.7.4 but I decided as a last try to remove the OCLP post patch for Intel Ivy Bridge and reboot my MBPro.

Once rebooted, OCLP warns you macOS needs to install a root patch to better run your GUI. This is not false as the GUI becomes less smooth than with the patch. BUT it enables to run your VMs again !!!  And once using Windows10  in full screen mode, you don't feel that much the latency. 

I don't use a lot my Windows / VMs, mainly for an accounting software not running under macOS or to do some testing with Windows only software. Once done, I can very easily re-install the root Intel patch from OCLP and reboot the Mac to have a faster GUI under macOS 12.6.3

 

[bobfesch]

I'm running a test-machine (mid2012 15" MBP9,1) with OCLP_Ventura and also ran into the "Transport (VMDB) error-14: Pipe connection has been broken."

So I upgraded from Fusion12 to Fusion13 without having any success.

After reading Your initial question and description I followed the step, you described and just went into "system preferences/battery, and disabled “Automatic Graphics Switching”
After this, my VMs did launch without any problem.
Installing the app "gfxCardStatus" allows to switch graphics card manually through an icon in the menubar.

Today I read Your posting again. About editing the .vmx file.
The line mks.forceDiscreteGPU="TRUE" was missing in my .vmx files.
After adding that line, the VM did start, even with "Automatic Graphics Switching" was enabled.
(modifying the line to mks.forceDiscreteGPU="FALSE" broke the VM launch)

Thanks for Your inspiration!

[jojo888]

I have same macbook as you. Just upgrade to Ventura and Vmware Fusion 13. Tried all the suggested by you but still has broken pipe error. I need to solve this urgently seems i am conducting training tomorrow...

[Technogeezer]

There are known issues with trying to run Fusion with OCLP. OCLP in its current "production" (and I use the term "production" very loosely) incarnation hacks macOS in a way that breaks Fusion..

The hack that seems to break Fusion and the Apple Hypervisor is the disabling of security checks in the OS (specifically AMFI).  indicates in a prior post that you could try OCLP with AMFIPass, which eliminates the previous requirement to disable Library Validation and AMFI, and is currently in beta (will soon be merged into the main OCLP):

https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/releases/tag/amfipass-beta-test

[jojo888]

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your feedback. I hope you don't mind if I ask a quick question. Have you had the chance to test this workaround? I'm curious to know if implementing AMFIPass would allow me to run/open my VMware Fusion instance successfully.

I truly appreciate your time and assistance.

Best regards,

 

 

[Technogeezer]

---

 wrote:

Have you had the chance to test this workaround? I'm curious to know if implementing AMFIPass would allow me to run/open my VMware Fusion instance successfully.

Unfortunately I can’t answer that question as I don’t run Fusion on unsupported configurations. There are some that have reported that AMFIPass has worked for them. You’ll have to try it yourself to see if it works for you. And be prepared to back out if it in the event that it doesn’t.

There is no way that VMware will test this, so you’ll have to rely on your own testing and that of others. 

[SvenGus]

FYI, AMFIPass - with which Fusion works perfectly - is now integrated in the latest OCLP main release:

https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/releases/tag/0.6.8

[jojo888]

Dear Svengus,

 

Thank you for this. YES. It's really works. I am using 2012 MBP 15". 16GB RAM. Now running Venturas. VMWARe fusion 13 run flawless now!!

God bless you !!

Muntada

[ColoradoMarmot]

The only guaranteed fix for this issue is to downgrade to a support OS/Hardware stack.  Fusion provides no support for unsupported platforms.

[Constantin Manea]

Posting here as I had a similar issue: What worked for me is to allocate less RAM memory to the VM. 32GB did the trick