VMware Fusion 3.1.1 Released for Mac - Free Upgrade for V. 3.x Users

VMware Inc. has released an important update for users of its flagship virtualization software, adding VMware vSphere 4.1 as a supported guest operating system - a feature intended for "educational and demonstration purposes," the company said.

“VMware Fusion 3.1.1 is a maintenance release that resolves the following issues and adds new support,” the software company said in a note published yesterday (August 12). “It is a free upgrade for all VMware Fusion 3.x users,” VMware said.

According to the release notes, VMware vSphere 4.1 is now supported as a guest operating system. The developer elaborates:

“VMware Certified Professionals (VCPs) and virtualization experts can use VMware vSphere 4.1 to install the latest server virtualization software and experiment with server setup, conduct training, show demos, and test production configurations.”

“Running ESX as a guest eliminates the need to have spare hardware available to run ESX natively and enables ESX to run on systems that are not listed on the ESX hardware compatibility list (HCL),” adds VMware.

A document entitled “Considerations for Running an ESX Guest” is available for customers looking to get more information on the supported processors and host operating systems.

However, the new feature is not to be used for business.

“This feature is intended for educational and demonstration purposes only and should not be used in production environments,” VMware said.

Fusion 3.1.1 users will also need to download vSphere 4.1 from the VMware Web site, in order to employ the tool, as well as to follow the installation documentation install ESX. This is provided with the VMware vSphere download.

A number of issues found in the old version of VMware have also been resolved, the changelog indicates.

Issues with accessing some iSight cameras, incorrect disk error messages, and failed audio recordings have been fixed, according to the program’s developers.

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