Cannot find a Valid Peer Process to Connect To

Cannot find a Valid Peer Process to Connect To – how to fix this?

The users of Mac computers are occasionally reporting a “cannot find a valid peer process to connect to” error when they try to install VMware FUsion on MacOS High Sierra or a newer version. The issue typically occurs when the people are upgrading or resuming a Windows virtual machine. The most probable cause of the “Cannot find a valid peer process to connect to” on MacOS” error is related to some security changes that Apple has implemented to High Sierra. In case that you’ve tried to install VMware Fusion after these changes, the chance is that you might have missed out a prompt, which is telling you that some System Extension has been blocked because certain MacOs security systems have prevented them from running. In order to return the normal functionality of VMware Fusion, you will need to follow a series of steps. However, an installation glitch or a Gatekeeper that might have quarantined the extension may also be the cause for the blockage. That’s why below we have provided you with a couple of troubleshooting methods, that can prove effective in resolving the problem, depending on its particular cause.

Method 1: Allow VMware system software to load from the Security & Privacy menu

If you see the “cannot find a valid peer process to connect to” error when trying to start a virtual machine, it is possible that the security system has blocked the VMware system extension from running. To fix that, here is what you need to do:

1. Select “System Preferences” from the Apple icon in the top-left corner. 
2. Next, go to Apple icon > System Preferences
3. From theSystem Preferences menu, select Security & Privacy. 
4. In the Security & Privacymenu, navigate to General tab and select the “Allow” button associated with VMware Inc. 
5. Next, go to the VMware program and resume the virtual machine. You should no longer see the “cannot find a valid peer process to connect to” 
6. If the “Allow” button is inactive, please see the next method.

Method 2: Set up the ”Anywhere” option in the Security & Privacy menu

In order to avoid the “cannot find a valid peer process to connect to” error when installing the VMware Fusion application , you can use the following steps to set up an “Anywhere” button:

1. From the bottom-right corner use the “search” function and search for Terminal.
2. Next, select it from the “top hit” tab and press Enter. 
3. In the terminal, type the following command and press Enter. This will set up the Anywhereoption in the Security & Privacy tab:

sudo spctl –master-disable

4. Once you run the command successfully, select the Appleicon in the top-left corner and navigate to System Preferences. 
   
5. Next, click on Security & Privacy and go to the General tab. If the command was applied successfully, you will see the “Anywhere” option under “Allow apps to be downloaded from”. Select “Anywhere”.  
6. Finally, run the VMware emulator again to see if the “cannot find a valid peer process to connect to” error is solved.

Method 3: Trigger the System Extension confirmation message to appear again.

In case that, after completing the Fusion installation, you cannot see the prompt, which is telling you that a System Extension has been blocked, here is how to trigger it to appear again:

1. First, ensure that Fusion is completely shut down.
2. Open the Finder app and in the list of applications, find VMware fusion.
3. Next, simply drag and drop the entry into a different folder. For simplicity, you can move it on the Desktop.
4. In order to continue, click Authenticate and then OK.
5. Once the file has been moved, move it back to the Application folder and start it again.
6. When you start the application, you should get the prompt, which is telling you that the System Extension has been blocked. When you see it, use the instructions in Method 1 to fix the issue.

Method 4: Remove the Fusion installation and remove the quarantine flags

Another possible reason that you aren’t able to install the Vmware Fusion Application is, the gatekeeper might have quarantined the downloaded installer. If this is the case, you can run a series of commands and allow the installation to complete by removing the quarantine flags.

Note: This method assumes that you have downloaded the installation .dmg file in the default folder.

1. Open the Terminal as shown on the picture 
2. Copy and paste the following command in the Terminal application and press Enter:

xattr -l ~/Downloads/VMware-Fusion-10.0.1-6754183.dmg

Note: This command will fetch you a list with .dmg files extended attributes. Also, if you’re installing a newer version, replace the last part of the command with the exact name of the .dmg file.

3. To remove the quarantine flags for the installation file, copy and paste the following command:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/VMware-Fusion-10.0.1-6754183.dmg

Note: Don’t forget to replace the last part with the actual name of your .dmg file if you’re installing a newer version.

4. Once the command completes, re-run the installer. You should no longer see the “cannot find a valid peer process to connect to” when trying to complete the installation of VMware Fusion.