FREEDOME VPN not working on a VMware Fusion 12 host on macOS 11 (Big Sur)

This topic explains what to do if the VPN app prevents network access when using VMware Fusion 12 on a host.

Symptoms

When you install the newest VMware Fusion 12 on macOS 11.0 (Big Sur) and there is a VPN app, such as FREEDOME, used on the host computer, the virtual machines under the VMware Fusion 12 will not have network access.

Diagnosis

According to VMware, this is caused by a bug in the macOS Big Sur version.

Solution

VMware's workaround to this issue is to use the VPN app only on the virtual machines, not on the host itself.