WIBU key not recognized in Vista using VMware

[Anonymous]

I am trying to run ArchiCAD in Vista using VMware and my Boot Camp partition. It runs fine in when I boot directly into Windows using Boot Camp, but when I run the same installation through VMware it can't find the hardware key.

I haven't tried this with XP nor Parallels yet.

Any ideas?

I'll bug GS about this on Monday.

[Anonymous]

Update:

Tried it with Parallels. Same problem. Haven't installed XP yet so I don't know about that.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Hi Matthew,

I've got both Parallels (licensed) and Fusion (30 day trial) on different bootable 10.5.2 partitions (thanks to Disk Utility and Carbon Copy Cloner) as I try to track down a Mac Pro OS X reboot-on-wake problem (that is 100% correlated to Parallels - but may be an OS 10.5.2 bug).

But, I haven't installed AC on either VM yet, so this is just an idea, in case you have not tried it:

Each of Parallels and Fusion let you selectively determine if new USB devices are recognized by the VM, the OS X host, or if you want to be prompted for each connection.

Also, once connected, each has a setting in their configuration panel (or most easily at the little icons on the bottom right of the Parallels windowed interface) that lets you turn the USB connectivity for each USB device on or off. By default, Parallels has all USB devices disconnected, at least for me. So, you may simply have to check the WIBU item.

Cheers,
Karl

[David Maudlin]

Matthew:

One other thought: when I was running Virtual PC on my Mac, if ArchiCAD was launched in one operating system, then the key would not be recognized on the other system. Quitting ArchiCAD would release the key to the other system. Are you trying to run ArchiCAD simultaneously on both systems?

HTH

David

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys,

Karl, I'll try what you suggest when I get back to the office tomorrow.

David, I was running "clean" at the time, ie AC only in the guest OS, but if I can get it to work I'll have to try running both and see if they still hang each other up.

Of course I am mostly doing this for some real life performance benchmarks. When I'm running simultaneous OSs I'd rather just run AC on the Mac side anyway.

Thanks again. I'll keep you posted.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Hi Matthew,

I just installed 10 on my VMware Fusion machine, and everything behaved as on a normal PC: I followed the usual steps of unplugging the WIBU key before installing AC, rebooting, installed the latest patch (optional), rebooted, and THEN plugged the WIBU key in.

The VM detected the WIBU key and I went through the Windows driver installation steps. At that point, the VM configured a USB hub (I have the key in a port of my Mac keyboard) and recognized the WIBU key. Here's a screenshot of the active USB connection for it.

After closing AC 10 in the VM, the WIBU key was not visible to OS X with the VM still running. I had to right click the USB icon shown in the screenshot and disconnect the WIBU key from the VM. (Or, I could have shut the VM down.) Then, OS X had access.

I tested a file in AC 10 in Rosetta / OS X and then enabled the WIBU in the VM and tested in Fusion... and Fusion was HUGELY faster than Rosetta. AC 10 (PPC) on the Intel Mac Pro is so slow as to be barely usable (vs native 11). But, AC 10 on XP Pro under Fusion was zippy.

A common Windows installation error is when users plug the WIBU key during installation or before rebooting. You may have to reinstall the WIBU software manually from the installation CD, reboot, and then plug the key in again.

A side thing of this testing involved SketchUp. My Pro license is for Windows. SU under OS X used 20 to 30% of a CPU just sitting there. SU Pro inside the VM used no CPU when idle. Seems like a SU bug. Eventually, I'll figure out how to convert my Windows license to a Mac license, but performance under Fusion was just fine, including 3D rotation and shadow generation.

Fusion is not as user friendly as Parallels, and is missing some features of Parallels, but so far seems more stable and suited to my needs...

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Wow Karl!

Thanks for putting in so much time and energy. It's a big help.

In my case ArchiCAD was already installed in Boot Camp and was running fine. Would this be a problem for running in Fusion? I don't have to reinstall to make it work do I? I did check on reinstalling the WIBU driver in Fusion but the AC installer didn't offer the option (I assume because it was already installed). I haven't tried removing and reinstalling yet.

Have you had a chance to compare AC11 on Fusion v. Boot Camp v. OSX? I'll be doing it when I can get the chance. I'm also going to test Vista 64 once it arrives. I understand it will install in Boot Camp but I'm still not clear whether it will access more than 2GB RAM.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Matthew wrote:
Wow Karl!

Thanks for putting in so much time and energy. It's a big help.

You're welcome. 😉 But, I needed to do this, too. Since there are a variety of features available for the Windows version of AC that are not on the Mac (ODBC, Google Connectivity, SketchUp import, etc.), I wanted to see how this would install. Probably the same reason you're looking at it?

In my case ArchiCAD was already installed in Boot Camp and was running fine. Would this be a problem for running in Fusion? I don't have to reinstall to make it work do I? I did check on reinstalling the WIBU driver in Fusion but the AC installer didn't offer the option (I assume because it was already installed). I haven't tried removing and reinstalling yet.

I wouldn't remove and re-install. Just install the WIBU driver in your Fusion VM. It sounds like the driver for the raw hardware (bootcamp) wouldn't attach itself to the virtual usb port of the VM. Windows installation is quite different than Mac. Just insert your AC CD in Windows/Fusion and browse it...you'll find a folder called WIBU. Install the version for the type OS you have. Or, download an updated version from the GSTR web site or the WIBU web site. Just be sure the key is not plugged in when you install the driver. Reboot. Then plug the key in.

Have you had a chance to compare AC11 on Fusion v. Boot Camp v. OSX? I'll be doing it when I can get the chance. I'm also going to test Vista 64 once it arrives. I understand it will install in Boot Camp but I'm still not clear whether it will access more than 2GB RAM.

Look forward to your 11 results. Should be interesting.

I'm staying away from Vista at all costs. Have wasted some time trying to fix some people's Vista networking problems and I find it an outrageously slow, resource-hogging piece of cr*p.

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Yes, I know, everyone says Vista is a piece of...

I decided to give it a try since I can install multiple OSs at little cost, and want to see how it runs. I am also curious to see if the 64bit version has any advantages. I hear that XP64 is a disfunctional, stepchild of XP so it doesn't make much sense to mess around with that.

I must lead a charmed life (or just haven't hit the cursed part yet ) but so far Vista is running great in all three environments. Maybe it's just because of the top of the line PC I am running it on 😉