VMware Fusion
Developer(s) | VMware, Inc. |
---|---|
Initial release | August 6, 2007 |
Stable release | 12.1.2[1]
/ May 18, 2021 |
Written in | C, x86 Assembly, C++ (GUI)[2] |
Operating system | macOS |
Platform | Apple–Intel architecture |
Type | Hypervisor |
License | Commercial proprietary software |
Website | Official website |
VMware Fusion is a software hypervisor developed by VMware for Macintosh computers. VMware Fusion allows Intel-based Macs to run virtual machines with guest operating systems—such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, NetWare, Solaris, or macOS—within the host macOS operating system.
Overview
VMware Fusion, which uses a combination of paravirtualization and hardware virtualization made possible by the Mac transition to Intel processors in 2006, marked VMware's first entry into Macintosh-based x86 virtualization.[3] VMware Fusion uses Intel VT present in the Intel Core microarchitecture platform.[4] Much of the underlying technology in VMware Fusion is inherited from other VMware products, such as VMware Workstation, allowing VMware Fusion to offer features such as 64-bit and SMP support.[5]
VMware Fusion 1.0 was released on August 6, 2007, exactly one year after being announced.[6]
VMware Fusion can run any of hundreds of operating systems provided by the user,[7] including many older versions of macOS, which gives users a way to run older Mac application software that can no longer be run under the current version of macOS, such as 32-bit apps[8] and Rosetta (PowerPC) apps.[9]
System requirements
- Most Apple Macs launched in 2012 or later for VMware Fusion 12,[10][11] most Macs launched in 2011 or later for VMware Fusion 11,[12] any x86-64 capable Intel Mac for VMware Fusion 8[13]
- 4 GB of RAM (minimum)
- 750 MB free disk space
- 5 GB free disk space for each virtual machine (10 GB or more recommended)
- macOS Catalina or later for VMware Fusion 12,[10] Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan or later for VMware Fusion 11,[12] Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks or later for VMware Fusion 8[13]
- Operating system installation media for virtual machines
- Optional: nVidia GeForce 8600M, ATI Radeon HD 2600 or better graphics for Windows Aero support
Version history
Version | Released | Notes |
---|---|---|
1.0 | August 6, 2007 | First release (following 4 betas). |
1.1.0 | November 12, 2007 | Support for Leopard, Boot Camp, and improvements to DirectX support and Unity. |
1.1.1 | January 24, 2008 | Various bug fixes. |
1.1.2 | April 23, 2008 | Support for Time Machine and various bug fixes. |
1.1.3 | May 30, 2008 | Various bug fixes. |
2.0 | September 12, 2008 | Multiple Snapshots with AutoProtect, Improved Unity, DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2 3D, and support for Mac OS X Server guests. |
2.0.1 | November 14, 2008 | Various bug fixes. |
2.0.2 | February 11, 2009 | Import from Parallels, supports Mac OS X Server 10.5.6 host, mounts DMG images, supports Ubuntu 8.10 in Unity mode.[14] |
2.0.3 | April 2, 2009 | Various bug fixes. Adds experimental support for Snow Leopard Developer Builds.[15] |
2.0.4 | April 9, 2009 | Fixed Host code execution vulnerability.[16] |
2.0.5 | June 23, 2009 | Support for Nehalem Mac Pro. Experimental support for Mac OS X 10.6 as guest. Support for Ubuntu 9.04 as guest. Various bug fixes.[17] |
2.0.6 | October 1, 2009 | Fixed issues when running on Snow Leopard. Fixed issues with NVidia graphics cards on Mac OS X 10.6. Various bug fixes.[18] |
2.0.7 | April 8, 2010 | Fixed security issues, accepts VMware Fusion 3 license keys.[19] |
2.0.8 | December 2, 2010 | Maintenance release fixing Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) issue CVE-2010-4297.[20] |
3.0 | October 27, 2009 | Added support for Windows 7 with Aero. Full 64‑bit compatibility with Mac OS X 10.6 host and guest. DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3 3D. WDDM-compatible display driver. |
3.0.1 | December 10, 2009 | Improved 3D & video performance, full support for Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala), 64‑bit networking subsystem, improved VMware Importer, improved VM resume times.[21] |
3.0.2 | February 18, 2010 | Fixes a problem so that the latest release of Mac OS X 10.6 Server (Snow Leopard) can run in a virtual machine.[22] |
3.1.0 | May 25, 2010 | Improved 3D & video performance, improved Unity view performance and integration, USB EasyConnect, improved migration assistant, 8‑core SMP support, increased virtual hard disk size, updated operating system support.[23] |
3.1.1 | August 12, 2010 | Various bug fixes. VMware vSphere 4.1 is now supported as a guest operating system.[24] |
3.1.2 | December 2, 2010 | Fixes various bugs and security issues.[25] |
3.1.3 | May 31, 2011 | Fixes various bugs and security issues.[26] |
3.1.4 | April 13, 2012 | Fixes a bug with starting virtual machines on OS X 10.7.4.[27] |
4.0 | September 14, 2011 | Run Lion, Lion Server, Snow Leopard, Snow Leopard Server, and Leopard Server in virtual machines, up to 2.5x faster 3D graphics, add Windows programs to Launchpad, view in full screen, or in Mission Control.[28] |
4.0.1 | September 14, 2011 | Contains an update that ensures that disk buffering is enabled when set to automatic.[29] |
4.0.2 | September 27, 2011 | Addresses an issue starting virtual machines running a forthcoming version of Mac OS X Lion.[30] |
4.1.0 | November 17, 2011 | Added support for Lion's full screen mode, improved performance, and reintroduced the ability to turn on virtual machines automatically when VMware Fusion is opened.[31] |
4.1.1 | November 23, 2011 | Reintroduces the Mac OS X Server check after it was inadvertently omitted from 4.1.0.[32] |
4.1.2 | April 12, 2012 | Adds early host and guest support in preparation for the future release of OS X Mountain Lion. |
4.1.3 | June 13, 2012 | Various bug fixes[33] |
4.1.4 | November 8, 2012 | Various bug fixes[34] |
5.0.0 | August 23, 2012 | VMware Fusion 5 has been revamped to take advantage of new technologies only available in Mountain Lion, Windows 8 and the latest Macs |
5.0.1 | August 30, 2012 | Improved handling of USB devices[35] |
5.0.2 | November 8, 2012 | Various bug fixes[36] |
5.0.3 | March 14, 2013 | Various bug fixes[37] |
5.0.4 | December 11, 2013 | Various bug fixes[38] |
5.0.5 | July 3, 2014 | VMware Fusion 5.0.5 has been updated to the OPENSSL library version openssl- 0.9.8za where necessary to address CVE-2014-0224, CVE-2014-0198, CVE-2010-5298, and CVE-2014-3470.[39] |
6.0.0 | September 3, 2013 | |
6.0.1 | September 19, 2013 | |
6.0.2 | November 5, 2013 | |
6.0.3 | April 17, 2014 | Maintenance release which resolved some known issues[40] |
6.0.4 | July 1, 2014 | VMware Fusion 6.0.4 has been updated to the OPENSSL library version openssl-1.0.1h where necessary to address CVE-2014-0224, CVE-2014-0198, CVE-2010-5298, and CVE-2014-3470.[41] |
6.0.5 | October 16, 2014 | VMware Fusion 6.0.5 is a maintenance release that resolves some known issues[42] |
6.0.6 | April 23, 2015 | VMware Fusion 6.0.6 is a maintenance release that resolves some known issues[43] |
7.0.0 | September 3, 2014 | OS X Yosemite look and feel, support of Yosemite and Windows 8.1, optimized for Haswell Intel processors with performance improvements of up to 43% vs Fusion 6, allocate up to 2 Gb of video memory per virtual machine, improved support for Retina Macs® connected to non-Retina displays, energy impact reduced by 42%, automate GPU switching for dual GPU Macs, virtual web camera compatible with iSight and external webcams, improved guest OS compatibility, over 50 new features. |
7.1.1 | February 17, 2015 | |
7.1.2 | June 15, 2015 | VMware Fusion 7.1.2 has been updated to use OpenSSL library version openssl-1.0.1m which addresses several OpenSSL security issues[44] |
7.1.3 | November 12, 2015 | Maintenance release[45] |
8.0 | August 24, 2015 | OS X 10.11 El Capitan support for both host and guest OS; Windows 10 support for guest OS. New support for Ubuntu 15.04, Fedora 22, CentOS 7.1, RHEL 7.1, Oracle Linux 7.1, VMware Project Photon. Graphics support updated for DirectX10 and OpenGL 3.3. Improvements for encrypted virtual machines. Improved resolution settings. VMware vCloud Air Integration (Fusion 8 Pro only). Improved remote experience (Fusion 8 Pro only). Support IPv6 NAT network (Fusion 8 Pro only). Support the retina Macs, including iMac 5k and 12" MacBook. Echo cancellation for voice and video calls with Microsoft Lync and Skype. USB 3 support for Windows 7 VM's. Improved Start menu. Improved new VM creator.[46] |
8.0.1 | October 1, 2015 | Maintenance Release. Fixes an issue involving installing El Capitan as a guest OS.[47] |
8.0.2 | October 29, 2015 | Maintenance Release. Fixes issues with virtual machines crashing, and other compatibility fixes.[48] |
8.1 | December 8, 2015 | Maintenance Release. Fixes issues with Windows 10 easy installation and other compatibility improvements.[49] |
8.1.1 | April 21, 2016 | Maintenance Release. Fixes issues with nat and port forwarding and other compatibility improvements.[50] |
8.5 | September 8, 2016 | Maintenance Release. Full support for macOS Sierra, including Tabs and Siri support and Windows 10 Anniversary edition.[51] |
8.5.1 | October 27, 2016 | Maintenance Release. Fixes a hang/crash issue on Linux kernel 4.7 (and above), Intel-based hosts, as well as other issues.[52] |
8.5.2 | November 13, 2016 | Maintenance Release. Addresses an out-of-bounds memory access vulnerability related to the drag-and-drop feature. This may allow a guest to execute code on the operating system that runs VMware Fusion. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project has assigned the identifier CVE-2016-7461 to this issue.[53] |
8.5.3 | November 29, 2016 | Maintenance Release. Addresses an issue that could cause Fusion on mac OS 10.12 to encounter an error.[54] |
8.5.4 | March 9, 2017 | Maintenance Release. It contains bug fixes, security updates, and performance improvements.[55] |
8.5.5 | March 14, 2017 | Maintenance Release. Addresses an out-of-bounds memory access vulnerability related to the drag-and-drop feature. This vulnerability might allow a guest to execute code on the operating system that runs VMware Fusion. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project assigned the identifier CVE-2017-4901 to this issue.[56] |
8.5.6 | March 28, 2017 | Maintenance Release. It contains bug fixes and security updates.[57] |
8.5.7 | May 18, 2017 | Maintenance Release. Day 0 support of the Windows 10 Creators Update (version 1703) as a guest operating system and contains bug fixes and security updates.[58] |
8.5.8 | June 22, 2017 | Maintenance Release. It contains bug fixes and security updates.[59] |
8.5.9 | November 16, 2017 | Maintenance Release. It contains bug fixes and security updates.[60] |
8.5.10 | January 9, 2018 | Maintenance Release. This update of VMware Fusion exposes hardware support for branch target injection mitigation to VMware guests. This hardware is used by some guest operating systems to mitigate CVE-2018-5715 (also called by the name "Spectre").[61] |
10.0 | September 26, 2017 | In addition to supporting macOS 10.13 High Sierra as both Host and Guest, Fusion 10 supports Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and the latest updates for Server 2016.[62] |
10.1.0 | December 21, 2017 | Improved guest support of Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (Version 1709)[63]
Includes VMware Tools 10.2.0 |
10.1.1 | January 9, 2018 | Maintenance Release. This update of VMware Fusion exposes hardware support for branch target injection mitigation to VMware guests. This hardware is used by some guest operating systems to mitigate CVE-2018-5715 (also called by the name "Spectre").[64] |
10.1.2 | May 21, 2018 | Maintenance Release. It contains bug fixes and security updates.[65] |
10.1.3 | August 14, 2018 | Maintenance Release. It contains bug fixes and security updates.[66] |
10.1.4 | November 9, 2018 | Maintenance Release. It contains bug fixes and security updates.[67] |
10.1.5 | November 22, 2018 | Maintenance Release. It contains bug fixes and security updates.[68] |
10.1.6 | March 28, 2019 | Maintenance Release. It contains bug fixes and security updates.[69] |
11.0 | September 25, 2018 | In addition to supporting macOS 10.14 Mojave as both host and guest, Fusion 11 supports Windows 10 October 2018 Update and the latest updates for Server 2016. Other notable features include: Enhanced Metal Graphics Rendering Engine with Direct3D 10.1, updated user interface and application menu, improved Fusion REST API, one-click SSH, new vSphere view, VMware Virtual Hardware Platform version 16.[70] |
11.0.1 | November 9, 2018 | Maintenance Release. It contains bug fixes for a compatibility issue with other hypervisor software.[71] |
11.0.2 | November 22, 2018 | Maintenance Release. Improves support for Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809)[72] |
11.0.3 | March 28, 2019 | Maintenance Release. It contains bug fixes and security updates.[73] |
11.1.0 | May 14, 2019 | Maintenance Release. Contains bug fixes and security updates, added support for Windows 10 19H1 Ubuntu 19.04 RHEL 8.0 Fedora 30 ESXi 6.7 U2.[74] |
11.1.1 | August 8, 2019 | Maintenance Release. Mitigates a virtual machine performance issue.[75] |
11.5 | September 16, 2019 | Support for Dark Mode, Sidecar, and more.[76] |
11.5.1 | November 12, 2019 | Several security fixes.[77] |
11.5.2 | March 12, 2020 | Security and bug fixes.[78] |
11.5.3 | March 24, 2020 | Patches a privilege escalation vulnerability.[79] |
11.5.5 | May 28, 2020 | Added support for containers and more guest OSs and implemented performance improvements and security fixes.[80] |
11.5.6 | August 6, 2020 | Resolved bug fixes.[81] |
11.5.7 | November 19, 2020 | Performance improvements, bug fixes and security updates.[82] |
12 | September 4, 2020 | VMware Fusion Player is introduced. Similar to its Workstation counterpart, VMware Workstation Player, it is released for free for non-commercial use. Fusion 12 adds support for macOS Big Sur, DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.1, an external GPU, USB 3.1, and more. Security fixes were also introduced.[10] |
12.1.0 | November 19, 2020 | Optimized for macOS 11 Big Sur as host and guest. New guest operating system support, such as Windows 10 20H2, Ubuntu 20.10, RHEL 8.3, and Fedora 33. Fusion health check. Includes docker-machine-driver-vmware. Performance improvements, bug fixes and security updates.[83] |
12.1.1 | April 1, 2021 | Security updates.[84] |
12.1.2 | May 18, 2021 | Security updates. Updates VMware Tools to version 11.2.6.[1] |
See also
References
- ^ a b "VMware Fusion 12.1.2 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
- ^ Virtualization Software - https://stackoverflow.com/q/7884548
- ^ Griffiths, Rob (May 2007). "VMWare: New kid on the block". Macworld Australia (112): 36–37.
- ^ "Change the Preferred Virtualization Engine". pubs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- ^ "VMware Fusion Capabilities". pubs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- ^ Cohen, Peter (2006-08-06). "WWDC: VMware brings virtual machines to Mac OS X". PCWorld. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- ^ "Fusion – Run Windows on Mac". www.vmware.com. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- ^ Mendelson, Edward (2019-10-12). "How to Run 32-Bit Apps in macOS Catalina". PC Magazine. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- ^ Snell, Jason (2011-11-18). "VMware Fusion update lets users virtualize Leopard, Snow Leopard". Macworld. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- ^ a b c "VMware Fusion 12 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
- ^ "macOS Catalina is compatible with these computers". Apple Support. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
- ^ a b "VMware Official Web Site: System Requirements". VMware, Inc. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- ^ a b "VMware Official Web Site: System Requirements". VMware, Inc. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 2.02". VMware. 2009-02-11.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 2.03". VMware. 2009-04-02.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 2.04". VMware. 2009-04-09.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 2.05". VMware. 2009-06-23.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 2.06". VMware. 2009-10-01.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 2.07". VMware. 2009-04-07.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 2.0.8". VMware. 2010-12-02.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 3.01". VMware. 2009-12-10.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 3.02". VMware. 2010-02-18.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 3.1". VMware. 2010-05-25.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 3.1.1". VMware. 2010-08-16.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 3.1.2". VMware. 2010-12-23.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 3.1.3". VMware. 2011-05-31.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 3.1.4". VMware. 2012-04-13.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 4". VMware. 2011-09-14.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 4.0.1". VMware. 2011-09-14.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 4.0.2". VMware. 2011-09-27.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 4.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2011-11-30.
- ^ "VMware KB: Upgrading from VMware Fusion 4.1.0 and unsupported versions of Mac OS X". VMware. 2011-11-30.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 4.1.3 Release Notes". VMware. 2012-06-13.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 4.1.4 Release Notes". VMware. 2012-11-08.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 5.0.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2012-09-04.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 5.0.2 Release Notes". VMware. 2012-11-08.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 5.0.3 Release Notes". VMware. 2013-03-14.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 5.0.4 Release Notes". VMware. 2013-12-11.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 5 and VMware Fusion 5 Professional Release Notes". VMware, Inc. 2014-07-03.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 6.0.3 and VMware Fusion 6.0.3 Professional Release Notes". VMware, Inc. 2014-04-17.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 6.0.4 and VMware Fusion 6.0.4 Professional Release Notes". VMware, Inc. 2014-07-01.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 6.0.5 and VMware Fusion 6.0.5 Professional Release Notes". VMware, Inc. 2014-10-16.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 6.0.6 and VMware Fusion 6.0.6 Professional Release Notes". VMware, Inc. 2015-04-23.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 7.1.2 Release Notes". VMware. 2015-06-15.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 7.1.3 Release Notes". VMware. 2015-11-12.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.0 Release Notes". VMware. 2015-09-08.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.0.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2015-10-01.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.0.2 Release Notes". VMware. 2015-10-29.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2015-12-08.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.1.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2016-04-21.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.5 Release Notes". VMware. 2016-09-13.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.5.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2016-10-27.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.5.2 Release Notes". VMware. 2016-11-13.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.5.3 Release Notes". VMware. 2016-11-29.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.5.4 Release Notes". VMware. 2017-03-10.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.5.5 Release Notes". VMware. 2017-03-14.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.5.6 Release Notes". VMware. 2017-03-28.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.5.7 Release Notes". VMware. 2017-05-18.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.5.8 Release Notes". VMware. 2017-06-27.
- ^ liz. "VMware Fusion 8.5.9 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 8.5.10 Release Notes". VMware. 2018-01-09.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 10.0 Release Notes". VMware. 2017-09-26.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 10.1.0 Release Notes". VMware. 2017-12-21.
- ^ liz. "VMware Fusion 10.1.1 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
- ^ liz. "VMware Fusion 10.1.2 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
- ^ liz. "VMware Fusion 10.1.3 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
- ^ djohn. "VMware Fusion 10.1.4 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
- ^ djohn. "VMware Fusion 10.1.5 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
- ^ djohn. "VMware Fusion 10.1.6 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.0 Release Notes". VMware. 2018-09-24.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.0.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2018-11-09.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.0.2 Release Notes". VMware. 2018-11-22.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.0.3 Release Notes". VMware. 2019-03-28.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.1.0 Release Notes". VMware. 2019-05-14.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.1.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2019-08-08.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.5 Available Now". VMware. 2019-09-16.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.5.1 Release Notes". VMware. 2019-11-12.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.5.2 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.5.3 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.5.5 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.5.6 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 11.5.7 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 12.1.0 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
- ^ "VMware Fusion 12.1.1 Release Notes". docs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
Further reading
- Griffiths, Rob (June 2008). "Best of BOTH Worlds: OS X and Windows". Macworld. 25 (6): 66.
- Roy, Michael (2014). Instant Getting Started with VMware Fusion. Birmingham, UK: Packt Publishing. ISBN 9781782177883. OCLC 871189802.
- Silverman, Dwight (2008). "Using VMware Fusion". Running Windows on your Mac. Berkeley, Calif.: Peachpit Press. pp. 77–108. ISBN 9780321535061. OCLC 213384303.
- Taylor, Dave (May 2008). "Running Ubuntu as a Virtual OS in Mac OS X". Linux Journal (169): 80–83.