I haven't used VMware Fusion in a while, but this evening I noticed that applications from a Windows installation on Fusion 2.x were showing up in Spotlight. At first Firefox (Windows) was the top hit for Firefox, trumping the OS X installation.
Not exactly what I was after.
It's simple to fix, although not terribly intuitive for someone who doesn't use Spotlight much (like me). Open System Preferences, and then open the Spotlight preference pane. Select the Privacy pane and drag your Virtual Machines folder in. By default this is located at \Documents\Virtual Machines\.
Close System Preferences and you'll find that your virtual machine contents will immediately be excluded from Spotlight.
VMware just announced a public beta of their OS X virtualization product, Fusion. Fusion 2.0 will be a free upgrade to all registered users.
Already it addresses a number of issues I've had including:
- Multiple monitor support
- Correctly handles plugging & unplugging display
- Option to use one or all displays in Full Screen mode
- Handles changes to resolution and display orientation automatically
- Allow USB mice/tablets in a virtual machine without custom configuration
Note: I just barely wrote about how to work around this in Fusion 1.1.2.
- Virtual machines in Bridged networking mode now know when your Mac's network connection is available or becomes unavailable, and will refresh their network address automatically
Note: This is HUGE. When I'm moving between home and my downtown office networking is always an issue.
- DirectX 9.0 with Shader Model 2 graphics
Full release notes are here, lightweight notes and sample videos are here, download Fusion 2 beta here.
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
- Open a new terminal (Finder, Go menu, Utilities, Terminal)
- Change directories to ~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines
cd ~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines
- 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
- Add the following line anywhere in the file
mouse.vusb.enable = "TRUE"
- Save and exit nano
CTRL+o, Enter, CTRL+x, Enter
- Restart the VM
From the Finder
- Browse to your Virtual Machine folder
<your home directory>/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines
- 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)
- Right click on the file and choose Show Package Contents.
- Right click on the .vmx file and choose Open With, and then Other.
- Select TextEdit to open the file.
- Add the following line anywhere in the file
mouse.vusb.enable = "TRUE"
- Save and close the file
- Restart the VM
