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ghoelzl
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CHR on VMware Fusion 12

Thu Jan 28, 2021 10:23 pm

Since VMware Fusion 12 on MacOS 11 boot time of CHR increased to 5 minutes. After the output "Loading system" the VM gets stuck. I assume there's either a timeout problem or initialising the RAM disk got slower since Fusion 12. After 5 minutes CHR behaves more less without significant performance degradation. I tried to fix the problem by changing the preferences of the VM and the BIOS settings but had no success. Does anybody know how to fix this issue?
 
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Re: CHR on VMware Fusion 12

Fri Jan 29, 2021 4:22 pm

Your issue is most likely with VMware Fusion or MacOS rather than the CHR.

Are you running an intel Mac or a new one with Apple's own CPU?
 
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ghoelzl
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Re: CHR on VMware Fusion 12

Sat Jan 30, 2021 12:18 pm

Your issue is most likely with VMware Fusion or MacOS rather than the CHR.

Are you running an intel Mac or a new one with Apple's own CPU?
  • I‘m running an Intel Mac.
  • CHR worked fine before upgrading to MacOS 11 and VMWare Fusion 12.
  • CHR still works fine on MacOS 11 and VirtualBox 6.1.18.
  • All my other Linux based VMs (Ubuntu Server, Kali Linux, Lubuntu) work fine on Mac OS 11 and VMWare Fusion 12.
 
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Re: CHR on VMware Fusion 12

Fri Nov 12, 2021 1:52 pm

is there any solution to this issue?

I also recently migrated from virtualbox to vmware fusion 12 on macOS. The time it takes to boot CHR on the vmware fusion 12 is annoyingly too much.
 
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Amm0
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Re: CHR on VMware Fusion 12

Fri Nov 12, 2021 3:07 pm

Just tried this since I do have Fusion 12.1.1 with CHR long-term. I also can reproduce the problem - I just never noticed since I don't regular use it and normally just suspect/resume VMs.

Since I do have support on Fusion, opened a case with VMWare. We'll see what VMWare says – this does sound like their bug – since the CHR hasn't changed. I do recall it booting in seconds – not now, it takes several minutes to boot for sure. I tried changing the "Compatibility Version" from latest to level 12 etc to no effect. Even creating a new CHR VM guest still hangs on 12.1.1.
 
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Re: CHR on VMware Fusion 12

Tue Mar 08, 2022 9:44 am

A friend is suffering the same issue... Any news on your support case?
 
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Amm0
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Re: CHR on VMware Fusion 12

Tue Mar 08, 2022 3:43 pm

A friend is suffering the same issue... Any news on your support case?
Well, not really.

VMWare support suggested it's in the Linux kernel boot process, and suggested to talk to the OS vendor. They did suggest "I could try" to install the native VMWare tools, or disable the OSS version of open-vm-tools – obviously you can't do either on ROS.

My solution has been to just never shutdown, and use "resume". Otherwise startup still takes 3-5 minutes to boot, but eventually finishes. But I tried a bunch of things, since this is kinda of annoying and seeming readily reproducible – changed VM compatibility, disabled side-channel, removed "extra" devices like Camera/SoundCard/etc. Nothing fixes this problem – I just reliably hangs every time. and minutes later starts working.

I've just dealt with it since I just use it to test scripts. But based on your question... I tried the Mikrotik's instructions yet again on a fresh v7.2rc4 CHR today, following exactly the steps in:
https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:C ... are_Fusion

But still same 3+ MINUTE boot time issue with v7.2rc4 (and 7.1.3) with VMWare Fusion 12.2.1 on Mac. I opened case with Mikrotik just now, SUP-76441.
 
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Re: CHR on VMware Fusion 12

Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:11 pm

Ok, thanks for details!
Please let us know if the Mikrotik ticket brings useful results.
 
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Re: CHR on VMware Fusion 12

Thu Mar 10, 2022 6:17 pm

Mikrotik got back. They suggested using the "OVA" file, not the "VMDK", to install RouterOS on Fusion 12.2.1. That seem to work! It boots in 30 seconds or less. To use the OVA file in Fusion, you can do File>Import..., then pick the OVA version of CHR downloaded from mikrotik.com.

MT support said:
we tried several scenarios and the conclusion is that there is an issue with the "Virtual machine hardware version".

If you set up CHR using our OVA template, the hardware version is set to 10 and the CHR loads as expected (macOS 12.2.1, VMware Fusion 12.2.1, CHR 7.2rc4).
This refer to the VMWare guest OS settings (e.g. the .VMX file) that contain a "VMWare hardware version". It has to be "Version 10" for CHR – but the Fusion default for new machines is "Version 19". This setting exposed in Fusion as "Compatibility" in the Fusion guest settings. In VMWare, this isn't a big deal – since RouterOS isn't using advance intel CPU operations nor needs access to newer "shared devices" like webcam on the host.

Interestingly enough, on an older machine which supports only macOS 10.15.7 and VMWare Fusion 12.1.2 (the newest supported), the CHR 7.2rc4 runs fine on hardware version 18 (the newest for the particular version of Fusion).

VMware suggests not to upgrade the hardware version unless newer features are required - https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1003746

We will look into how we can support a newer hardware version, but in the meantime we suggest you set up CHR using OVA template and don't upgrade to newer hardware version or manually downgrade it in VM settings - https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1022060
 
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Re: CHR on VMware Fusion 12

Fri Mar 11, 2022 11:44 pm

Thanks for sharing, much appreciated!
 
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Amm0
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Re: CHR on VMware Fusion 12

Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:02 am

Thanks for sharing, much appreciated!
This has been a long mystery.

To be honest, the OVA file is WAY easier since it's really just a couple steps with "Import..." e.g. instead of the document way for Fusion: "New...", custom, pick OS type, switch the disk, etc. etc). That actually used to NOT work in older version of Fusion.

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