Starting with Fusion 11, the VMware Tools build bundled with Fusion no longer delivers VMware Virtual Printer functionality. You must install the VMware Virtual Printer application separately to make the printers on the Mac host visible in the virtual machine.
The steps required to make the physical printers on your Mac host available to a virtual machine vary depending on the source and version of the installed VMware Tools.
The following guest operating systems support VMware Virtual Printer.
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The prerequisites provide information for you to determine if the guest you are configuring supports VMware Virtual Printer. If the guest does not support VMware Virtual Printer, you must use another method to connect printers. For example, you can connect a USB printer. See Configuring the USB Controller and Connecting USB Devices. You can also use the network printer to print from within the guest. See Set the Default Printer for a Virtual Machine to get started.
To install VMware Virtual Printer, first perform the prerequisites.
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Start up the virtual machine that you want to add the VMware Virtual Printer application to. | ||||||||||||||
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Enable the Share Mac printers feature. See Set the Default Printer for a Virtual Machine. | ||||||||||||||
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Use the applicable method that follows to check if VMware Tools 10.3.x or later is installed.
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Update VMware Tools to version 10.3.x or later if the VMware Tools version is earlier than 10.3 and was installed from an Open VM Tools file or a VMware Tools OSP downloaded from the VMware website. You need to uninstall the existing VMware Tools or Open VM Tools instance, then install the VMware Tools 10.3.x or later version. See Installing and Using VMware Tools. To uninstall VMware Tools, see Uninstalling VMware Tools. To uninstall Open VM Tools, run the applicable command. | ||||||||||||||
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If the Install Virtual Printer option is not listed or is not selectable in the Virtual Machine drop-down menu, take the appropriate action. The following table provides information about why the Install Virtual Printer option might not be listed in the drop-down menu, and actions you can take to make the option appear. The following table provides information about the statuses of the virtual machine that make the Install Virtual Printer option appear in the drop-down menu dimmed and unselectable, and actions you can take to make the option selectable. |
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In the guest, print to a printer you just added from the host to confirm that the VMware Virtual Printer configuration works. |
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When you upgrade VMware Fusion in the future, to ensure that a guest has the latest version of VMware Virtual Printer, uninstall and reinstall VMware Virtual Printer. See Uninstall VMware Virtual Printer. |