Mac VMs in VMware crash when accessing shared folders

[howie_isaacks]

I've been having this problem for the last few weeks but it has gotten worse. When I try to open shared folders from one of my Mac VMs the VM immediately kernel panics. When this first started happening, I was able to get shared folders working by shutting down the VM and then removing the shared folders from the settings. I would then add them back. Now this is not working. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling VMware Fusion. On the Mac VMs I have uninstalled and reinstalled the VMware tools and rebooted. Nothing I do seems to work. My Windows 11 VM has no issue with sharing. Has anyone else seen this behavior? I would appreciate some suggestions. VMware's support is not easy to reach, unlike Parallels. I'm at a point where I'm ready to just go back to Parallels. I had to start using VMware when Parallels was not ready for Big Sur. Since switching to VMware I have never been fully happy with it.

[malhal]

Yes I'm also experiencing this problem. I have a shared folder for accessing the host's Applications folder and the VM kernel panics as soon as I attempt to open it.

• VMWare Fusion 12.2.3
• Host is macOS 11.6.2
• VM is macOS 12.4

panic(cpu 1 caller 0xffffff800dbd0d53): Kernel trap at 0xffffff800d901057, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x000000008001003b, CR2: 0xffffffa55753a000, CR3: 0x0000000011d13000, CR4: 0x00000000003606e0
RAX: 0xffffffb08f1dd008, RBX: 0x0000000000001018, RCX: 0x0000000000000d30, RDX: 0x0000000000001018
RSP: 0xffffffb091afbdb8, RBP: 0xffffffb091afbde0, RSI: 0xffffffa55753a000, RDI: 0xffffffb08f1dd2f0
R8: 0x000ffffffffff000, R9: 0xfffffeb87b4c0e01, R10: 0x0000000000000000, R11: 0x0000000000000007
R12: 0x80000000000002c8, R13: 0xffffffa08aaf67e8, R14: 0xffffffa557539d18, R15: 0xffffffb08f1dd008
RFL: 0x0000000000010a02, RIP: 0xffffff800d901057, CS: 0x0000000000000008, SS: 0x0000000000000010
Fault CR2: 0xffffffa55753a000, Error code: 0x0000000000000000, Fault CPU: 0x1 VMM, PL: 0, VF: 10

Panicked task 0xffffffa08aeec670: 185 threads: pid 0: kernel_task
Backtrace (CPU 1), panicked thread: 0xffffff9bbc57caa0, Frame : Return Address
0xffffffb091afb760 : 0xffffff800da81c8d 
0xffffffb091afb7b0 : 0xffffff800dbe1596 
0xffffffb091afb7f0 : 0xffffff800dbd0963 
0xffffffb091afb840 : 0xffffff800da21a70 
0xffffffb091afb860 : 0xffffff800da8205d 
0xffffffb091afb980 : 0xffffff800da81816 
0xffffffb091afb9e0 : 0xffffff800e315163 
0xffffffb091afbad0 : 0xffffff800dbd0d53 
0xffffffb091afbc50 : 0xffffff800dbd0a36 
0xffffffb091afbca0 : 0xffffff800da21a70 
0xffffffb091afbcc0 : 0xffffff800d901057 
0xffffffb091afbde0 : 0xffffff7fa7af85ac 
0xffffffb091afbe90 : 0xffffff7fa7af88e2 
0xffffffb091afbed0 : 0xffffff7fa7af8112 
0xffffffb091afbf20 : 0xffffff7fa7afd2a7 
0xffffffb091afbf60 : 0xffffff7fa7af970d 
0xffffffb091afbfa0 : 0xffffff800da2119e 
Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
com.vmware.kext.vmhgfs(1855.77.94)[DC7C1F90-9466-33B9-A091-3B58E7FB387A]@0xffffff7fa7af6000->0xffffff7fa7afefff

Process name corresponding to current thread (0xffffff9bbc57caa0): kernel_task

[howie_isaacks]

I was working on this trying to figure out how to stop the crashing. There are two VMware folders in ~/Library/Application Support/. In the folder called "VMware Fusion Applications Menu" I cleared out the contents and then booted the VM back up again. After the VM got fully booted, the crashing no longer happens when I open a folder shared from the host. This has worked on both of my Macs with VMware Fusion installed. I don't know why the contents of this folder would affect the VM accessing shared folders but doing this seems to work. The VM needs to be shut down first before the contents are deleted.