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Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

  • 1.  Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 17 days ago

    Was running the latest Fusion 13.6.0 and updated to the latest macOS 15.  I have 3 windows VM and all 3 I had to reactive windows so I did and I thought I was goo to go.  Just now I shutdown a windows VM and when I restarted it again asked if I copied or moved the VM.  I answered I copied it and again windows was deactivated.  Not sure what to do here.  Is there a Mac setting that needs changed or an issue with fusion?  Anyone else run into this? 



  • 2.  RE: Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 16 days ago

    What Mac model are you running and what macOS version were you running before the upgrade? I've not seen this on my M1 Mac mini  

    Windows will ask for reactivation when hardware details change "enough" that it thinks it's running on a different machine. For VMs, that's typically the BIOS UUID and networking MAC adderess.  Not sure why you had to reactvate Windows initially, especially if Fusion didn't ask you the "moved or copied question" at first. Those shouldn't have changed if you didn't get asked. One thought, though. Are you running the VM with bridged or NAT networking?

    What's more puzzling is why Fusion asked you about "copied or moved" after you shut it down and restarted it. That means that Fusion thinks the VM resides in a different folder than it did the last time it was powered it on. What folder is the VM stored in? Is it on a mount point that may have changed? Is it on a network drive of folder that's synced to the cloud?

    By the way by answering that question "copied", Fusion changed the VM's BIOS UUID and networking MAC address. That will trigger Windows to ask for reactivation.  (You should have answered "moved").

    Do you have a backup copy of the VM from before the Mac was upgraded? If so, we might be able to compare the VM config files and get an idea on howcwe might go about fixing this.



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    - Paul (technogeezer)
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  • 3.  RE: Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 16 days ago

    I'm on a 2019 Intel MacBook Pro.  This is the first time I've hit this and I've used Fusion for years.  Anyways I'm not sure what's changed in the new macOS to cause this.  As far as networking goes I've always run bridged for all adaptors.  Typically just do Wifi but on occasion I'll connect a wired connection also bridged.  

    My VM's are all located in the Users/MyUserName/Documents folder.  Nothing here has moved or changed.

    I have/use 3 windows VM's two are windows 10 and the other is 11.  My main one I use I had shutdown yesterday and when I reopened it, it again asked if it was copied or moved even though nothing was.  Out of curiosity I went to open the other two and they also asked the same question but I went ahead and closed them without going forward until I figure out what's going on here.  I had reactivated all of them the day before.

    Unfortunately I dont have a backup before the update.  




  • 4.  RE: Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 16 days ago

    I'm grasping a bit at straws here as to what could be causing this.

    My VM's are all located in the Users/MyUserName/Documents folder.

    Could you check to see if your iCloud Drive settings have been set to sync Desktop & Documents folders? Can you move the VMs to the default location of the Virtual Machines folder found in your user account's home folder and see if the symptoms change (of course after the first time you open the VM, and choose "Moved" and not "Copied" - this should prevent Windows from thinking that details of the VM have changed and that it should ask for re-activation).

    Are you running any third-party anti-virus? If so, it needs to be configured to exclude your VMs.

    As far as networking goes I've always run bridged for all adaptors.

    Can you check your host adapters settings and see how "Private Wi-FI address is configured". Sequoia adds a "Rotating" option in additon to "Off" and "Fixed". Mine is set to "Off" for my home's wifi network, and "Fixed" doesn't seem to make a difference.



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    - Paul (technogeezer)
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  • 5.  RE: Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 16 days ago

    Checked the settings you mentioned and mine are the same.  That's how I've had them set.

    So I did start the other 2 VM's selecting the moved choice and those retained their activation.

    I decided to fully shutdown the Mac and restarted and again and I was asked again about the VM being copied or moved.  So again I chose moved and those VM's appeared to keep activation.  If I shutdown the VM and restarted it I wasn't asked the question.  Anyways I reactivated my main VM and decided to fully shutdown the Mac one more time and bring it all back up.  This time when opening the VM's they started as expected.  Will do some further testing but as of now they seem to working as expected.  Not sure what the cause is but hopefully it's past...

    Out of curiosity I have another Mac, my personal home machine with the same software, etc.  When I opened the VM on it for the first time since the macOS update it started as expected.  No issues what so ever.




  • 6.  RE: Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 16 days ago
    Edited by Technogeezer 16 days ago

    Out of curiosity I have another Mac, my personal home machine with the same software, etc.  When I opened the VM on it for the first time since the macOS update it started as expected.  No issues what so ever.

    Interesting. Is there a difference in the software that's on the other machine? Since you say "my personal home machine", that sets off some brain cells that suspect the other machine is a corporate-owned or BYOD work-related machine. If so, is there any corporate "compliance-ware" or MDM configuration profiles that have been forced on that system that might change the way that system behaves?  Also, iis some anti-virus software installed on that machine that's not on your personal system?



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    - Paul (technogeezer)
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  • 7.  RE: Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 16 days ago

    There's actually not much difference between the two software wise.  The other is an 2019 intel iMac.  My work laptop doesn't have any special corporate/security type software installed or configured.  I also work from home so both computers are on the same network, etc.




  • 8.  RE: Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 16 days ago

    Unfortunately I don't have a backup before the update.  

    Hopefully that's an isolated lapse in backups.  



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    - Paul (technogeezer)
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  • 9.  RE: Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 10 days ago

    Yes I do backup but didn't for this round.  Anyways I did do a full reboot of my Mac and all the VM's are now working as expected.  Not sure what was up right after the initial macOS upgrade but everything seems to be business as usual.  Everything that was done is in this thread for those having the same issue.




  • 10.  RE: Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 16 days ago

    Yes, I'm seeing this as well. It started as soon as I updated MacOS to Sequoia. Every time I start the Win11 Pro VM, Fusion Pro asks if I've moved or copied the VM. I choose moved because, well, I believe copied will deactivate the VM while moved should not. I, too, had been running Fusion Pro 13.6 successfully for almost a month prior to the MacOS upgrade.




  • 11.  RE: Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 14 days ago

    Just another data point...

    I'm on a 2019 16in Macbook Pro

    I upgraded to MacOS 15.0 (Sequoia) and VMware Fusion Pro 13.6 yesterday.

    So far, my Win 11 Pro VM has remained activated.  I have not had to reactivate Win 11.

    I too am being prompted to verify that I've Moved or Copied my VMs (all of them) after the MacOS upgrade.




  • 12.  RE: Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 12 days ago

    Have you gotten this to work?  I answered "I copied it" and thought I removed the locked files, but I still can't get the virtual machine to open.

    Any suggestions most appreciated.  If not, I'll delete the virtual machine and start over (but would love a link on how to do that).




  • 13.  RE: Updated to macOS 15 Sequoia now all my windows VM are unactivated

    Posted 12 days ago

    Could you post the vmware.log file from the VM's bundle? You can find that by locating the VM in the Finder, right click on it, then select "Show Package Contents". Zip up and post any files starting with vmware and having a .log file extension.



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    - Paul (technogeezer)
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