Fusion 13.5 - No window opens

[fortun]

I have just migrated an iMac Intel to a Mac Studio M2. Almost everything works. But When I open VMWare Fusion 13.5.0, I cannot see any window : About, settings, library, etc, none of these menus show a window. They seem to do something, but no window shows. Only 2 things do something : search for an update works, and when I minimise or restore the library window, the animation shows, but not the window itself at the end.

I reinstalled the last version of VMWare fusion with no luck.

Any idea on something to do to solve this?

[Technogeezer]

I'm assuming that you're running on a user account that was migrated over from your Intel Mac with Apple's Migration Assistant. It's likely that you have some cruft in your user's Library folder that's causing this.

Try the following:

With Fusion shut down. go to the Finder. In the Finder's menu bar click Go > Go to folder... and type "~/Library" in the dialog box that appears. A window should open to your user account's hidden Library folder.

In that folder, remove the following if they list

the folder VMware Fusion contained in the Application Support folder

the file com.vmware.fusion contained in the Caches folder

the folder VMware Fusion contained in the Preferences folder

The following files in the Preferences folder

• com.vmware.fusion.LSSharedFileList.plist
• com.vmware.fusion.LSSharedFileList.plist.lockfile
• com.vmware.fusion.plist
• com.vmware.fusion.plist.lockfile
• com.vmware.fusionDaemon.plist
• com.vmware.fusionDaemon.plist.lockfile
• com.vmware.fusionStartMenu.plist
• com.vmware.fusionStartMenu.plist.lockfile

Then restart Fusion. You may need to re-populate the virtual machine library by either opening the virtual machines manually or scanning for virtual machines from the Fusion menu bar File > Scan for Virtual Machines...

By the way, you do realize that Fusion on your Mac Studio M2 will not run virtual machines that were created on your iMac Intel.

[fortun]

Thanks for your answer.

You guessed right, I am using the same account as the main one on the previous Mac. The one used with VMWare Fusion. And yes, I do not plan to use the previous VMs. I plan to create new ones. But I currently cannot because of the problem I have.

I have done what you said : I have removed the indicated files and folders in the 3 folders. Then started VMWare Fusion. With no luck : same issue. No window shows.

FYI, a right click on the VMWare icon shows in the menu the windows that should be opened, the ones I have tried to open, but I don't see them. When I click on "F10" in the keyboard to get the list of windows of VMWare, the Mac says "no window available". When I launch "Quartz Debug", a developer tool to see all the windows known by the OS, there is no window for VMWare.

[Technogeezer]

I'm suspect this is a permissions problem that's occurred because of migration. Let's make sure you have a clean installation of Fusion 13.5.

Perform a full manual uninstall of Fusion per KB article https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1017838

You've already done part of this but I'd suggest nuking the files in your account's Library folder once again, and get all the files in the system-wide Library folder noted in the KB article.

Reboot then reinstall Fusion. Grant all permissions when requested.

[Technogeezer]

I'm suspecting this is a permissions problem that's occurred because of migration. Let's make sure you have a clean installation of Fusion 13.5.

Perform a full manual uninstall of Fusion per KB article https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1017838

You've already done part of this but I'd suggest nuking the files in your account's Library folder once again, and get all the files in the system-wide Library folder noted in the KB article.

Reboot then reinstall Fusion. Grant all permissions when requested.

Go to System Settings, and check the following in Privacy & Security:

Bluetooth:  VMware Fusion should have access

Microphone: VMware Fusion should have access

Camera: VMware Fusion should have access

Accessibility: VMware Fusion should have access to control your computer

Screen Recording & System Audio: VMware Fusion should have access

Automation: VMware Fusion should have access to control Terminal, VMware Fusion Application Menu should have access to System Events

Full Disk Access: I have Fusion as having full disk access.

Files and Folders: If full disk access isn't enabled for Fusion. you may see VMware Fusion being granted access to various folders on your system. 

[fortun]

Still the same. In fact even worse: VMWare is obviously trying to ask me for a license or something like that, but as I don't see any window, I have to kill the app to quit it! Very strange problem...