How to Troubleshoot Fusion startup issues

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

This resource provides troubleshooting steps for common Fusion startup issues such as:

• A license expiration message appears
• Asked to register VMware Fusion every time it is started.
• Errors similar to the following are seen:
  • "Could not open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory"
  • "Failed to connect to peer process"
  • "Cannot find a valid peer process to connect to"
  • "Failed to lock main memory file"
  • "The following install step failed: run postflight script for VMware Fusion. Contact the software manufacture for assistance"
  • "Error: Module version mismatch 4 != 5. Please update host. Failed to connect virtual device Ethernet0"
  • "Cannot find a serial number to unlock this version of VMware Fusion"
  • "Version mismatch with vmmon module"

Note: This article applies only to Fusion start-up issues. It does not discuss Windows or Linux start-up issues. The steps described here help if it is unable to open the Fusion application itself. If Fusion starts, but a virtual machine cannot be started, see
Troubleshooting Fusion virtual machine startup issues

If Fusion itself cannot start, there may be a problem with the application.
For more information, see Supported host operating systems for VMware Fusion and VMware Fusion Pro

Environment

• VMware Fusion

Resolution

To troubleshoot this issue, attempt each of the following steps, and then try to open Fusion again:

1. Restart the Mac :-
   

   To begin troubleshooting this issue, restart the Mac. If, after the Mac restarts, Fusion still presents the same error, manually reinstall Fusion.
   
   

2. Reinstall Fusion :-
   

   To manually reinstall Fusion:

   1. Uninstall VMware Fusion. For more information, see How to Uninstall VMware Fusion Manually
      
      Note: This procedure does not affect the contents of the virtual machine.
      
      
   2. Download and install the latest version of Fusion from the VMware Fusion Download Center. For more information, see Download and Install VMware Fusion
      
      Note: A VMware Fusion serial number obtained from VMware is required to complete installation. If the Fusion serial number (license key) is not there, see License keys for Broadcom products.
       
   3. Install or update VMware Tools in all of the virtual machines. For more information, see Overview of VMware Tools for VMware Fusion

    

3. Repair the disk permissions (First Aid) :-
   
   If VMware Fusion start-up problems persist, run the first aid on the Mac hard disk using OS X Disk Utility, then restart the Mac again.
   
   To run first aid:

1. 1. Open the /Applications/Utilities folder.
   2. Double-click Disk Utility.
   3. Select the system hard drive (usually called Macintosh HD).
   4. Click First Aid.