Knowledge Base

To downgrade from Fusion 5.x to Fusion 4.x:

1. Fusion 5.x uses a different hardware version than Fusion 4.x. Ensure to change the hardware version of your virtual machine to version 8.
   
   To downgrade your virtual hardware:  
2. 1. Shut down the virtual machine. If the virtual machine is in a suspended state, resume it and then shut it down.
   2. Right-click the virtual machine and click Settings.
   3. Click Compatibility.
   4. Select Compatible with VMware Fusion 4 or higher. For more information, see Virtual machine hardware versions for Fusion (1022060).
   5. Click Close.  

2. Manually uninstall Fusion 5.x completely and ensure to remove the additional files and folders, if any. For more information, see Manually uninstalling VMware Fusion (1017838).
3. Download and install the most recent Fusion 4 version available from the VMware Download Center. For more information, see Downloading and installing VMware Fusion (2014097).
4. Start the virtual machine.
5. Uninstall VMware Tools and then reinstall VMware Tools for Fusion 4.x. For more information, see Uninstalling and manually installing VMware Tools in VMware Fusion (1014522). 

If your Fusion 5 trial period is over and you are unable to change the compatibility level from within Fusion, contact VMware for a temporary key to extend your trial period, so that you can downgrade your virtual machine. You can contact VMware Support at 1-877-4-VMWARE.