Missing "Install Virtual Printer" on "Virtual Machine" pull-down menu (for Win11, Ubuntu, Debian)

[gen843620]

2018 Intel Mac Mini, macOS Sonoma 14.0, VMWare Fusion Player 13.5

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I can't figure out why the Virtual Machines pull-down menu for all 3 VMs I use (Win11 all encrypted / TPM, Debian 11 unencrypted, Ubuntu 22 unencrypted) doesn't list "Install Virtual Printer." It's not there at all (not merely grayed out).

Virtual Machine's Settings for each powered-down VM doesn't even have a Printer icon and Settings / Add Device doesn't list it either.

Did I miss the memo?

In Windows registry I see references to all 3 mirrored printers that worked in previous versions of Fusion (12 or 13.pre5?). Btw, two of the printers are network only and one is USB but no VM shows any printer connected in USB settings.

I don't urgently need to print because I save everything as PDFs to the Mac side and print from there and need the PDFs anyway.

I'm running a licensed copy of Fusion Player 13.5.

In macOS Sonoma System Settings / Privacy & Security, VMWare Fusion has Full Disk Access. I looked for another settings in macOS that might block Fusion from looking at the Mac's installed printers but didn't find any.

I reinstalled VMWare Tools in Windows 11 twice. Didn't help. And like I mentioned, Debian and Ubuntu also lack the print options.

The feature comparison between Fusion 13 Player and Pro doesn't list anything about printing not being included Player.

I also removed Fusion (including its files in Preferences, Application Support, etc) then downloaded 13.5 and reinstalled it. Didn't help.

I've had Fusion for about 15 years and fixed numerous printing issues in various ways, but this one has stumped me so far.

[Technogeezer · Accepted solution]

> Did I miss the memo?

Yes you did. Refer to the Fusion 13.5 release notes. https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Fusion/13.5/rn/vmware-fusion-135-release-notes/index.html

Thinprint was removed in 13.5. I have a bit of criticism for VMware for not giving more advance notice and not providing an alternative or workaround  

However workarounds do exist. The easiest is to switch to bridged networking. Any reasonably modern printer can be configured using wireless printing discovery, or you can use traditional mechanisms to configure printers just as if you were a physical machine. If using NAT networking, enable printer sharing on the Mac. The VM should them be able to discover it as a networked printer. 

[gen843620]

Thank you!

Bridge mode, as you suggested, let me add my network printers to Windows. 

After years of fixing printing issues in Fusion in Windows, maybe Fusion 13.5 dropping its specialized printer features is for the best.

My searches in VMWare support for "missing install virtual printer menu" and related verbiage came up dry.

I prefer NAT for security reasons but not so strongly that I'd sacrifice printing at this point.

Hmmm....Or now that I have printers install in bridge mode, I'll switch back to NAT for security and only switch to bridge mode to print (then switch back to NAT). Windows 11 doesn't require restarting for that. Each switch took about 15 seconds in my Win11 VM.

Ideally, the Fusion 13.5 update would have flashed a dialog box before updating Tools. Something like, "Dedicated printing features no longer exist in Fusion. Configure network printing directly in the guest OS by using bridge mode networking or use USB printing."

This also explains why the vmx file's reference to serial0 thinprint causes an error. How could QA miss that in the testing lab? It's almost inconceivable. 

I wonder if the Fusion development and QA teams rushed 13.5 out before Broadcom's formal ownership takeover of VMWare on Oct 31st and before layoffs on or before Oct 28th (according to a friend who works there).

Fusion 13.5 was one sloppy update. 

[sjordi]

Well switching to bridge in my case breaks everything I need to talk to local servers running on my Mac (for compilers).

Just removing printing capabilities is a non-sens.
I reverted back to 13.n from 13.5 and will stick to this version.
This is non-sense.
Also Wifi from within the VM is not a solution, all Airprint or WiFi printers do not offer as many printing options as the native printer driver. It's a subset of the printer capabilities.

[Technogeezer]

Yes, removing printing was a bone-headed move without any kind of advanced notice or replacement.

But nobody said anything about wifi in the VM. The printers on your wifi network are perfectly reachable from the NAT network if they are reachable from your host

If using the IPP driverless printing available in Windows or Linux doesn't appeal to you, there's nothing stopping you from installing vendor printer drivers in your VM and  manually configuring them to talk to the printer of your choice over the network.

Thinprint wasn't a bed of roses either because it used a generic driver with a ppd file - just like IPP driverless printing. In some cases it didn't give you all the available goodies for the printer either. I remember having to tweak ppd files in order to get some printer feature I wanted in an ThinPrint defined printer

The real problem is physical printer (i.e. direct USB connection) on the host. That style of printer connection seems to be out of style today in favor of network (wired or wi-fi) connections.

I know your situation may be different, but I gave up the hassle of installing and maintaining proprietary printer drivers for my Macs once I got reasonably modern printers that support AirPrint/Window/IPP driverless printing. They've given me all the features that I need and can't think of one that I need that I've missed (and yes, I do some photo printing on my Epson printers).

[gen843620]

I found it works for me to switch back and forth between NAT and bridge mode just to print. 

On Intel Macs I tested, it took 12-13 seconds to switch each way.

So I leave my Win11 VM in NAT and just switch to Bridge Mode when I print, which is not often because I usually save PDFs from the Windows side to the Mac side in order to print and email them.

[dbdonaldson]

I have my setting set to bridge networking and I still cannot print.

[gen843620]

After turning on bridge mode, you have to install the print driver within Windows, just like you would if your VM was an actual PC on the same network as your printer.

Windows, settings, printers, add printer (though it might have automatically added), then Windows will scan your network for printers on the same network, then you can install it. 

(If Windows doesn't find your network printer, it means your network printer isn't on the same network as the Mac or the printer is off.)

Try a test print within Windows Printers settings.

Then within Windows, you'll have to direct any program you want to print from, e.g., Word or Chrome, to print to your newly added printer.