Thanks for your reply. It sounds as if it might be helpful.... if I could figure out what it all means - specifically, I mean!
"if your were running the BootCamp partition as a Virtual Machine then you can still access the files from Finder on the BOOTCAMP Volume"
I was running Windows both solely under BootCamp - that is, booting into Windows from OS X, AND by invoking Fusion to provide a virtual machine from a running OS X. Mostly, I used the second way, and that is where the files I want would be. Is that what you call "a normal file based Virtual Machine"? As per your words, I can't see the folder.
Following on from your reply, "Here is what I'd try... Locate the Virtual Machine Package, by default it's in the "~/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized" folder noting that the .localized extension is hidden by default." - how do I *safely* un-hide the folder?
I'll stop the path at this point until I have the information to enable me to proceed.
Meantime, to explore something else you suggested "Another option is to download the latest version of VMware Fusion 5.x and install it using the free 30-day trial serial number, run the Virtual Machine and copy the User Data to the Macintosh HD or use a USB drive. You can then uninstall VMware Fusion and delete the Virtual Machine if you no longer need it."
... would installing the latest version of Fusion open up the user data from the old version that is now defunct? If so, I am happy to pay the upgrade cost as it would still be good to run Windows occasionally in a virtual machine. It might also save a lot of hassle.
I had considered doing that, but was concerned that it might in some way overwrite my files from Fusion 3.
Any ideas gratefully received!
.... in anticipation.....