Download VMware Fusion 4.1 build 529802

VMware has released version 4.1 of Fusion. This program allows the creation of virtual machines on an Intel processor equipped Mac OS X machine. In this way it is possible, for example, to run Windows, Linux or Solaris alongside the existing operating system. Version 4.0 is optimized for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and promises greatly improved performance and faster graphics. In addition, it is now also possible to run OS X as a virtual machine. A license for VMware Fusion now temporarily costs about 45 euros. Below is an overview of the main improvements made in version 4.1:

Smart Full Screen

Full screen mode provides better productivity and consistency with Mac OS X Lion than previous versions.

• The Lion full-screen button is used in virtual machine windows.
• The Lion full-screen keyboard shortcut (Cmd-Control-F) is now supported in addition to Cmd-Control-Return.
• Like other full screen Lion applications, a VMware Fusion virtual machine moves to a new full screen space when using a single display.
• If you are using multiple displays, VMware Fusion intelligently decides whether to use a full screen space or not. If the virtual machine is configured to use all displays in full screen, it moves to a full screen space. If not, full screen takes the whole display in the current space, which enables you to work in other Mac applications while the virtual machine makes full use of the secondary display.
• The VMware Fusion menu bar and toolbar are now accessible from Full Screen mode. A short delay in showing the menu allows access the top of the virtual machine screen, particularly when running Mac OS X Lion in a virtual machine.
• A redesigned, compact minibar that you can drag for quick access to common actions without leaving Full Screen mode.

Automatic virtual machine power on

Virtual machines can now be powered on automatically when VMware Fusion starts. You can override this setting by holding Shift when VMware Fusion starts. This feature was removed in VMware Fusion 4 but is now available in VMware Fusion 4.1 in the General settings for every virtual machine.

Improved animations

Improved animations for full screen mode, unity mode, library and snapshots.

Fast screen resizing and improved startup time

Faster screen resizing (Microsoft Hotfix 2522761 recommended), faster transitions into Unity and Full Screen modes, and improved startup time with Windows 7 virtual machines.

Improved Mac OS X Lion guest operating system support

Improved Mac OS X Lion virtual machine support including smoother mouse movements and support for File Vault 2 when using Mac OS X 10.7.2 or later. Updated VMware Tools disable sleep on older versions of Mac OS X virtual machines.

Improved graphics performance

Improved graphics performance and correctness for Internet Explorer 9 and Solidworks 2012 and improved graphics performance when using Mac OS X 10.7.2.

VMware Fusion 4.1 also resolves the following issues:

• An intermittent problem when plugging in a new USB device that resulted in error 4.
• Improved support for resizing NTFS formatted disks.
• An intermittent issue connecting USB devices attached via a Thunderbolt display.
• An intermittent issue installing Mac OS X Lion from physical media.
• Improved compatibility of shared folders for many applications.
• An issue installing VMware Tools on Ubuntu 11.10 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7.
• A graphics rendering issue on some Mac Pro systems with very large amounts of memory
• A graphics rendering issue specific to some non-English languages.
• An intermittent problem when using the migration assistant on Mac OS X 10.7.2.
• Spurious activation messages when using Boot Camp virtual machines on some systems.