Containers and container images in VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1 cannot migrate to VMware Fusion 11.5.5 or later

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• vctl commands that worked in VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1 are no longer available after installing VMware Fusion 11.5.5 or later.
• Containers and container images that were created and used in VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1 no longer exist after installing VMware Fusion 11.5.5 or later.

Environment

VMware Fusion 11.x

Cause

Since VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1, changes have been made to the vctl CLI bundled in VMware Fusion 11.5.5, including changes to:

1. Some vctl command names, command options and command formats
2. The default mount name for container storage
3. The default container storage location

Resolution

This issue has no resolution.


Workaround:

For upgraded Environments

To resolve this issue download container images, and re-create containers 
For command changes, run vctl --help to see the updated vctl commands.

Pre-upgrade procedure

To smooth the transition from the vctl CLI in VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1 to the vctl CLI in VMware Fusion 11.5.5 or later releases, please follow below steps:

1. While VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1 is installed:
   1. Open Terminal and run: vctl system stop -f to stop all running containers and terminate the container runtime. 
   2. Run cat /Users/username/.nautilus/config.yaml 
   3. Make note of the vmnet value from the command output, run VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1.
   4. Select VMware Fusion > Preferences > Network, remove the virtual network that you just recorded
   5. Run vctl system status command in Terminal, make a note of the DMG file value from the command output, remove the dmg file
   6. Remove the /Users/username/.nautilus folder
2. Quit and remove VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1 application
3. Run VMware Fusion 11.5.5 or later release
4. Close the Terminal window where you used the vctl CLI from VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1. 
5. Open a new Terminal window, run vctl system start to start the container runtime, use the vctl CLI from VMware Fusion 11.5.5 or later release for container operations.

If you did not stop the running containers and terminate the container runtime before removing VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1 application, you can get rid of all the residual processes left by the vctl CLI from VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1 either by restarting your host or by the following steps:

1. Launch Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.app, select View > All Processes menu to show all processes
2. In Activity Monitor, first find and stop all vmware-vmx-debug processes, then find and stop the containerd process launched by the vctl CLI from VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1
3. Launch VMware Fusion 11.5.5 or later release then quit it, so that all residual Fusion services launched by the vctl CLI from VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1 can quit cleanly
4. From Finder, eject the mounted nautilus volume
5. Close the Terminal window where you used the vctl CLI from VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1, open a new Terminal window.
6. Run vctl system start to start the container runtime and start using the vctl CLI from VMware Fusion 11.5.5 or later release for container operations.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:
Due to these changes, some vctl commands as well as the containers and container images used in VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1 are not available after installing VMware Fusion 11.5.5 or later releases. The containers and container images in VMware Fusion Technology Preview 20H1 cannot be migrated to VMware Fusion 11.5.5 or later.