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Original Message:
Sent: Dec 18, 2025 07:55 PM
From: Technogeezer
Subject: Version 33 of the unofficial Fusion Companion Guide is now available.
I've been able to build the open-vm-tools-git per your instructions on my Arch Linux ARM VM. The basics seem to be there, but that package doesn't seem to include or build the desktop environment components that are needed to support autofit and copy/paste. Still investigating that but so far things are moving in a positive direction with Arch ARM on a Fusion VM.
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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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Original Message:
Sent: Dec 17, 2025 03:18 PM
From: SvenGus
Subject: Version 33 of the unofficial Fusion Companion Guide is now available.
Thanks…
Maybe it could be possible to compile the Open VM Tools for ARM from the AUR (Arch User Repository)…? This would require to install also the helper tool named yay (*):
(https://github.com/Jguer/yay)
sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel && git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git && cd yay && makepkg -si
… and then use it to build the Tools (only for Wayland):
yay -S open-vm-tools-git
(https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/open-vm-tools-git)
Not so beginner-friendly, perhaps, but better than nothing (if it works)…
(*) BTW, in Manjaro (much more beginner-friendly), it should not be necessary to build yay from source, as it is pre-packaged:
sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel yay
(or simply install everything from the GUI software center (aka Pamac), with AUR enabled: the Tools package is indeed available, there).
(BTW, in the previous web link for instructions to install Manjaro ARM on Parallels Desktop, one thing must be changed for VMware Fusion: instead of /dev/sda, it should be dev/nvme0n1, in the long terminal command to be copied inside the live session.)
Original Message:
Sent: Dec 17, 2025 10:27 AM
From: Technogeezer
Subject: Version 33 of the unofficial Fusion Companion Guide is now available.
@SvenGus - Thanks for the tip. I was able to use the Archboot arm64 ISO you posted to create an Arch Linux KDE VM on Apple Silicon. I'll document and credit you in the next edition of the Companion Guide.
Some things to watch out for:
The VM is configured with an e1000e virtual network adapter by default. That isn't loaded automatically by the Archboot ISO kernel. You have to drop into a shell immediatly after booting the ISO running "modprobe e1000e" to get the driver loaded before starting setup.
The kernel used by Archboot does not contain a driver for the VMware vmxnet3 virtual NIC. That's somewhat curious because the driver source is part of the Linux kernel source distribution -- it just looks like the kernel configuration they're using doesn't enable it.
Note that there are no open-vm-tools packages for Arch Linux ARM out of their repositories. That means no drag/drop/cut/paste, autofit of screen resolution when resizing the VM's screen, and folder sharing between host and guest (you'll have to resort to network file sharing such as NFS or CIFS).
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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
Original Message:
Sent: Dec 16, 2025 08:06 AM
From: SvenGus
Subject: Version 33 of the unofficial Fusion Companion Guide is now available.
About installing Arch Linux on VMware Fusion, on Apple Silicon… it is much easier with Archboot:
https://archboot.com
https://release.archboot.com/aarch64/latest/iso
… which has a guided command line setup, upon which you can then install a desktop environment; for example, KDE Plasma 6:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/KDE
Or, for an easier install and setup experience, there is also Manjaro for ARM, based on Arch, which can be installed in this way (it should work also on Fusion):
https://dev.to/yuizumi/installing-manjaro-on-parallels-with-apple-silicon-e6k
… where anyway it is best to use a nightly developer build (they are probably the only ones that get updated, more or less):
https://github.com/manjaro-arm/generic-efi-images
For the more adventurous, of course… ;-) :-)