strange thin print error after upgrading to Fusion 13.5

[iFrog]

Hey all, just upgraded today from Fusion 13.0.2 to Fusion 13.5 (pro version) on a late 2015, 27" iMac running Monterey 12.7.  After upgrading my VMs, Linux, and Windows, Windows 10, 11, and Linux Mint, and Ubuntu, when starting the VMs I get the message about serial0 having an invalid filetype"thinprint' and will start disconnected.  This never happened under 13.0.2, or older versions, so I'm suspecting 13.5 dropped support for something.  Anyway,  on the Linux VMs I was able to edit the VMX. file and remove the serial0 lines and the problem is gone.  The problem now is with the Windows 10 and 11 VMs the VMX file is encrypted and I can't edit i.  Is there a way to fix this problem from within the VM, or it's settings?

Thanks.  By the way, I'm not sure why thinprint was even enabled, my printer is a network printer and the guest is able to detect and use it directly as the host does.  Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Tried searching Google and can't find much so that's why I came here to ask.

[ColoradoMarmot]

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@gen843620 wrote:

All our Macs run FileVault. 

Good choice!

What are the security risks of running an unencrypted Windows 11 VM in a FileVault environment?

Essentially none, since the files are encrypted on the host.  This is my recommendation - encryption on encryption is a substantial performance hit.

FileVault protects against the risk of physical theft (along with our locked Mac Mini cage mounts). 

The only risk I can imagine for an unencrypted Windows 11 VM in that environment is if a hacker or in-person rogue user gained access to the Mac side, then copied the VM over the internet or onto a flash drive. They'd be able to open the VM copy later and access the content.

Is that correct? Are there other security risks in that environment?

Correct, but if they have that access to your machine, the can also get anything off the host, and you have much larger problems.

All our TimeMachine backups are encrypted. 

I've already decided to only switch to network bridge mode to print then switch back to NAT mode to keep any remote intruder in either system from using the network to access the other (especially any intruder in the Windows VM accessing anything on the LAN).

We don't web browse at all from the Windows side. If we need any a Windows program, we download it onto the Mac side then drag it over to the Windows VM or place it in a small VM-shared folder -- both rare.

It seems bridge mode is more of a security threat than an unencrypted VM in a macOS FileVault environment. What do you think?

For secure networks, it's negligible.  For public networks, NAT provides an additional level of protection, in that the entire VM network stack is also behind the Mac firewall.  Regardless, make sure the windows firewall is on.  If you're in a data center environment, there really isn't a big difference between the two, unless you're worried about east/west movement through the VM's.

I have to decide if I'm going to train users to switch back and forth between bridge mode and NAT. The switch in either direction takes 12 seconds on Intel Macs I've tested so far and doesn't require restarting Windows.

It's practical if users rarely print, which is our case. But I don't want to handle calls for print failure because someone forgot to switch to bridge mode, though a simple text reply would straighten them out. I'm probably going to leave them in bridge mode since they don't web browse from Windows and the risk of infection is very low. But I'm not thrilled with the risk of Windows and existing Windows programs probing the LAN. C'est la vie.

One other option, similar to install, is to print to PDF in the VM, then drag/drop to the desktop and print from the mac.

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[ColoradoMarmot]

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@iFrog wrote:

I wanted to find out,  if right clicking on a VM in the Virtual Machine Library, and then holding option bypasses the encrypted  VMX file.  Since VMware Fusion stores the password so the VM can start.

Just a note - it's actually stored in the mac keychain, not in Fusion.

[iFrog]

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@ColoradoMarmot wrote:

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@iFrog wrote:

I wanted to find out,  if right clicking on a VM in the Virtual Machine Library, and then holding option bypasses the encrypted  VMX file.  Since VMware Fusion stores the password so the VM can start.

Just a note - it's actually stored in the mac keychain, not in Fusion.

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I know, and I should have said that.  It's in keychain so Fusion can access it without asking.

[rudydevolder]

The solution is actually EXTREMELY simple.

1. Shutdown the virtual machine.

2. Go to settings.

3. Remove the virtual printer.  You will see a remarque that you must remove it because it's not supported anyway anymore.

I find it cumbersome for the people that went through all the difficult steps. 

[gen843620]

Can you provide a screenshot?

No where in my VM settings for 13.5 does it show an option for a virtual printer. Mine doesn't show "virtual printer" anywhere in VMWare Fusion settings or Virtual Machine/Settings (in Windows VM). And "Virtual Printer" is completely missing from 13.5's Virtual Machine menu.

The actions you mention were in 13 before 13.5 but I don't see them.

[Technogeezer]

I'd like to see those screen shots as well.  Like you, @gen843620 I'm not seeing any settings for thinprint/virtual printing are no longer in the Fusion 13.5 GUI. And there are no printer devices in the VM's settings. 

The best case is to remove the virtual printing device from your VM  before upgrading to Fusion 13.5. The settings can still be accessed in the older releases. 

Barring that, you'll need to edit the vmx file of the VM with Fusion shut down to remove the warnings about thinprint in Fusion 13.5. Deleting the 3 lines with "serial0" will do the trick. Although that's easier said than done if you have your VM encrypted with the older full encryption, or made the mistake of using the Fusion 12 "experimental" partial VM encryption. 

Or, just live with the warning. After all, it is just a warning and doesn't stop the VM from running on Fusion 13.5. 

[gen843620]

Last week one of the Fusion 13 to 13.5 updates I worked was on a customer's Mac. He thought he'd updated to 13.5, so I told him I need to fix the printing and startup error. 

After I connected to his Mac, I saw that he hadn't updated to 13.5. He thought he did he never completed the update prompts.

So I updated his Fusion to 13.5 then did the fixes.

I suspect the Fusion that let you "remove virtual printer" in settings wasn't actually 13.5, but a previous version. Maybe I'm wrong.

I'd love the easier solution, and look forward to your screenshot(s) and learning any easier post-update method.

Pre-update, removing the virtual printer first then updating to 13.5 seems like the best way for mass updating, but that's not practical with my scattered users with my intermittent contact.

[iFrog]

Guys, that was the first thing I looked for when encountering the error after the upgrade.  There was no printer, or any reference to printing in the GUI part of the settings.  It seems to be VMX only.  If there had been a simpler fix, I would have provided it, and people could have avoided the rest of this.

The other piece of hardware that didn't show up in the GUI was the serial port.  That too was only accessible through editing the .vmx file.

[rudydevolder]

I don't know in Fusion but I had exactly the same error in WmWare workstation. So I presumed the solution would be the same. 

This is my screenshot in VmWare workstation on my Windows machine.

[Dr_Dave]

Thank you for saving my bacon! I too had the same problem, but I could not figure out the VM encryption password and could not remember setting one. I did not realize that when i encrypted Windows 11, that the whole VM was encrypted. Since I did store the Windows encryption password, I'm back in business as that was the VM encryption password.

[iFrog]

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@rudydevolder wrote:

I don't know in Fusion but I had exactly the same error in WmWare workstation. So I presumed the solution would be the same. 

This is my screenshot in VmWare workstation on my Windows machine.

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You can't use workstation in this situation as a Fusion solution because they are different products, and have different UIs.  Functionally as far as running a VM, they are pretty much the same, but I've never used Workstation.  However, keep in mind, a few here (myself included) never had a printer / serial port listed in the VM Settings (GUI) and that's why we had to either   decrypt the VM to edit the vmx file, or just edit the vmx file because that's the only place the settings were referenced.

Here are a couple screenshots of Fusion 13.5.0 to show there are NO printer options in settings for a VMhttps://flic.kr/p/2pdkdZ5

Add Device settings window

https://flic.kr/p/2pdkdYZ

I tried to add directly to the post, and it didn't work so you need to use the links to see photos.

[msacks3]

I am not a vmware guru. In fact I wasn't even aware of the encryption issue. For whatever reason, my .vmx file was unencrypted. I was able to edit it with a text editor, remove the two lines that referenced serial0, and save the file. Upon restarting fusion, the error message was gone. My vm running Windows 10 seems to be working fine.

I am running on a 2018 Mac Mini on Sonoma 14.1