Lately I've been working a few days a week downtown using my MacBook Pro running Leopard and VMware Fusion. The MBP is off to the right on an iFold stand, and Fusion is full-screen in front of me on a 30" monitor. For input devices I'm using a generic HP USB keyboard and a Logitech MX900 mouse.

By default VMware emulates a generic PS/2 mouse with two buttons and a wheel, which meant that the mouse software I'm using in OS X, ControllerMate, was essentially useless in Fusion.

Luckily there is a hidden setting available for VMware Fusion version 1.1.2 and newer that will enable a virtual USB mouse that passes through up to 6 buttons. The same setting works with VMware Workstation 6, but I'm not sure about older versions. According to VMware this device will be preferred over the PS/2 mouse by the VM.

Edit your Virtual Machine Config

Before making any changes, shut down the virtual machine and quit VMware Fusion. Virtual Machines may be stored in ~/Documents/Virtual Machines.

Command Line

1. Open a new terminal (Finder, Go menu, Utilities, Terminal)
2. Change directories to ~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines
   cd ~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines
3. Begin editing the .vmx file. With my Boot Camp configuration this is inside of Boot Camp/%2Fdev%2Fdisk0/Boot Camp partition.vmwarevm
   nano Boot Camp/%2Fdev%2Fdisk0/Boot Camp partition.vmwarevm/Boot\ Camp\ partition.vmx
4. Add the following line anywhere in the file
   mouse.vusb.enable = "TRUE"
5. Save and exit nano
   CTRL+o, Enter, CTRL+x, Enter
6. Restart the VM

From the Finder

1. Browse to your Virtual Machine folder
   <your home directory>/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines
2. Open the folder for your VM and drill down through folders until you see a single file (in my case it's called Boot Camp Partition)
3. Right click on the file and choose Show Package Contents.
   
4. Right click on the .vmx file and choose Open With, and then Other.
   
5. Select TextEdit to open the file.
6. Add the following line anywhere in the file
   mouse.vusb.enable = "TRUE"
7. Save and close the file
8. Restart the VM

 

Tags: Apple, Tips, VMware

Posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 2:47 pm | Filed under Software
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