VMware Fusion running Windows 7 on Mac OS X 10.6 |
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| Developer(s) | VMware, Inc. |
| Stable release | 4.1.1 (build 536016)[1] / November 23, 2011 |
| Operating system | Mac OS X |
| Platform | Apple-Intel architecture |
| Available in | Multi-lingual |
| Type | Virtual machine |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | VMware Fusion |
VMware Fusion is a virtual machine software product developed by VMware for Macintosh computers with Intel processors. Fusion allows Intel-based Macs to run x86 and x86-64 "guest" operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, NetWare and Solaris as virtual machines simultaneously with Mac OS X as the "host" operating system using a combination of paravirtualization, emulation and dynamic recompilation.
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Fusion, made possible by the Apple–Intel transition, marked VMware's first entry into Macintosh-based x86-virtualization. Fusion utilizes Intel VT present in the Intel Core microarchitecture platform. Much of the underlying technology in Fusion is inherited from other VMware products, such as VMware Workstation, allowing Fusion to offer features such as 64-bit and SMP support from the first beta version onward.
Fusion 1.0 was released on August 6, 2007, exactly one year after being announced.[2]
Unity view creates a seamless desktop environment between Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X applications. It optionally hides Windows' start menu and taskbar and runs the Windows applications directly from the dock in OS X. Further, users can drag and drop files between Windows and the Mac, and use familiar Mac keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste between Windows and Mac applications. It is (almost) fully compatible with Exposé.[3] Fusion windows that are covered by other Fusion windows don't redraw when switching to Exposé, causing visual anomalies. This feature is later made available in VMware Workstation 6.5 Beta, which is designed to be run on Windows/Linux platforms.
DirectX 9.0 is supported through dynamic recompilation to OpenGL instructions in Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 virtual machines. Hence, users can play supported games through Fusion or run applications which require 3D graphics.[4] VMware Fusion 3 has DirectX 9 Shader Model 3 and OpenGL support.[5]
32-bit and 64-bit guest operating systems are supported by VMWare Fusion. [6] Over 60 operating systems are supported, including Windows Vista, Windows XP, Linux, and Solaris. Additionally, VMWare Fusion 2.0 adds support for Mac OS X Server version 10.5 (Leopard) as a guest on a Mac OS X host. Additionally, Fusion 2.0.1 added experimental support for un-released developer builds of Mac OS X Server 10.6 (Snow Leopard) – presumably for software developers with Apple-granted access to pre-release builds of Snow Leopard. There is also support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 Boot Camp partitions: a user can use his Windows Boot Camp partition, eliminating the need for two separate Windows installations.[6] In addition, VMWare Fusion offers support of up to 8 GB of memory on guest 64-bit operating systems, and up to 16GB of RAM on Mac Pros and Xserves. [3]
Snapshots enable users to save a stable state of the guest operating system to disk, allowing users to quickly return to their virtual machine without the need of rebooting.
Shared Folders allow the mounting of folders from the host operating system to the guest operating system.
Extensive hardware support is built into VMWare Fusion. For networking, there is support for wired and wireless networks, in NAT or bridged mode (albeit, erratic availability with wireless interfaces)[7]. There is access to physical devices from the virtual machine (i.e. read and write CDs and DVDs) as well as access to USB 2.0 devices such as video cameras, iPods, printers, and disks at full speed. Firewire support is still missing in the latest version, although a workaround exists by mounting the device as a shared folder [8].
Support for multiple CPUs (SMP) or multicore CPUs is built into VMWare Fusion. Fusion also allows the user to assign up to eight CPUs to one virtual machine to gain additional performance for CPU-intensive workloads [9].
Portability. Virtual machines created with VMware Fusion can be used with other VMware products and vice versa, and are compatible with other VMware virtual appliances.[4]
VMware Fusion 2.0 was released as a free upgrade on September 12, 2008.[10] New features in this release include:
VMware Fusion 3.0 was released as a paid upgrade on October 27, 2009. Some new features in this release include:
VMware Fusion 4.0 was released as a paid upgrade on September 14, 2011.[12] Some new features in this release include:
| 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.[13] | |
| 2.0.3 | April 2, 2009 | Various bug fixes. Adds experimental support for Snow Leopard Developer Builds.[14] | |
| 2.0.4 | April 9, 2009 | Fixed Host code execution vulnerability.[15] | |
| 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.[16] | |
| 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.[17] | |
| 2.0.7 | April 8, 2010 | Fixed security issues, accepts VMware Fusion 3 license keys.[18] | |
| 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.[19] | |
| 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.[20] | |
| 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.[21] | |
| 3.1.1 | August 12, 2010 | Various bug fixes. VMware vSphere 4.1 is now supported as a guest operating system.[22] | |
| 3.1.2 | December 2, 2010 | Fixes various bugs and security issues.[23] | |
| 3.1.3 | May 31, 2011 | Fixes various bugs and security issues.[24] | |
| 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.[25] | |
| 4.0.1 | September 14, 2011 | Contains an update that ensures that disk buffering is enabled when set to automatic.[26] | |
| 4.0.2 | September 27, 2011 | Addresses an issue starting virtual machines running a forthcoming version of Mac OS X Lion.[27] | |
| 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.[28] | |
| 4.1.1 | November 23, 2011 | Reintroduces the Mac OS X Server check after it was inadvertently omitted from 4.1.0.[29] |