VMware Workstation Pro (known as VMware Workstation until release of VMware Workstation 12 in 2015) is a hosted (Type 2)

hypervisor A hypervisor (also known as a virtual machine monitor, VMM, or virtualizer) is a type of computer software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines. A computer on which a hypervisor runs one or more virtual machines is called ...

that runs on x64 versions of Windows and Linux operating systemshttps://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2129859 (an

x86-32 IA-32 (short for "Intel Architecture, 32-bit", commonly called i386) is the 32-bit version of the x86 instruction set architecture, designed by Intel and first implemented in the 80386 microprocessor in 1985. IA-32 is the first incarnation o ...

version of earlier releases was available); it enables users to set up

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/ emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized h ...

s (VMs) on a single physical machine and use them simultaneously along with the host machine. Each virtual machine can execute its own

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

, including versions of Microsoft Windows,

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

, BSD, and

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

. VMware Workstation is developed and sold by VMware, Inc. There is a free-of-charge version, VMware Workstation Player (known as ''VMware Player'' until release of VMware Workstation 12 in 2015), for non-commercial use. An operating systems license is needed to use proprietary ones such as Windows. Ready-made Linux VMs set up for different purposes are available from several sources. VMware Workstation supports bridging existing host

network adapter A network interface controller (NIC, also known as a network interface card, network adapter, LAN adapter or physical network interface, and by similar terms) is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to a computer network. Ear ...

s and sharing physical

disk drive Disk storage (also sometimes called drive storage) is a general category of storage mechanisms where data is recorded by various electronic, magnetic, optical, or mechanical changes to a surface layer of one or more rotating disks. A disk drive is ...

s and USB devices with a virtual machine. It can simulate disk drives; an

ISO image An optical disc image (or ISO image, from the ISO 9660 file system used with CD-ROM media) is a disk image that contains everything that would be written to an optical disc, disk sector by disc sector, including the optical disc file system. ...

file can be

mounted Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, Co ...

as a virtual optical disc drive, and virtual

hard disk drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...

s are implemented as

.vmdk VMDK (short for Virtual Machine Disk) is a file format that describes containers for virtual hard disk drives to be used in virtual machines like VMware Workstation or VirtualBox. Initially developed by VMware for its proprietary virtual appl ...

files. VMware Workstation Pro can save the state of a virtual machine (a "snapshot") at any instant. These snapshots can later be restored, effectively returning the virtual machine to the saved state, as it was and free from any post-snapshot damage to the VM. VMware Workstation includes the ability to group multiple virtual machines in an inventory folder. The machines in such a folder can then be powered on and powered off as a single object, useful for testing complex client-server environments.

2016 company changes and future development

VMware Workstation versions 12.0.0, 12.0.1, and 12.1.0 were released at intervals of about two months in 2015. Download site for VMware Player 7.x and Workstation Player 12.x In January 2016 the entire development team behind VMware Workstation and Fusion was disbanded and all US developers were immediately fired. The company said that "the restructuring activities will not impact the existence of any current product lines", that "roles and responsibilities associated with particular businesses will be moved to other regions and office locations", and that investment would continue "with emphasis on our growth products". The future of Workstation and Fusion became uncertain. On 24 April 2016 maintenance release 12.1.1 was released. In September, same year, the company announced that "we’re very much alive and well". Consequently, on September 13 Workstation 12.5 and Fusion 8.5 were released as free upgrades which added support for Windows 10 Anniversary edition and

Windows Server 2016 Windows Server 2016 is the eighth release of the Windows Server Server (computing), server operating system developed by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It was developed concurrently with Windows 10 and is the su ...

. Since then versions 14 (in 2017, skipping number 13), 15 (in 2018) and 16 (in 2020) were released.

Version history

Host OS support

Variants

There was a free VMware Player distinct from Workstation, with similar but reduced functionality, until VMware Player v7, Workstation v11. In 2015 the two packages were combined as VMware Workstation 12, with a free VMware Workstation Player version which, on purchase of a player license key granted commercial use. However, purchase of a pro license key became the higher specification VMware Workstation Pro.VMware Web site, VMware Workstation Player Pro
/ref> VMware Workstation Player, like VMware Player before it, is free of charge for non-commercial use, or for distribution or other use by written agreement. VMware Workstation v14 (September 2017) continued to be free for non-commercial use. Workstation ''Pro'' is also available for download for a 30 day free trial period, and is easily confused with Workstation Player, which is an unlimited-time restricted-functionality version. * VMware Workstation Player (formerly known as Player Pro), free for non-commercial use; a license may be purchased for commercial use, also providing eligibility for paid support. Version archived 11 October 2016 compares Workstation 12 Player to Player 7 Pro; Workstation 12 Player (Unlicensed) to Workstation 12 Player (Licensed); and Workstation 12 Player to Workstation 12 Pro. Page is updated; as of October 2017 compares Workstation Player and Workstation Pro, only * VMware Workstation Pro, available for a 30-day free trial before purchase but distinct from the permanently free version. The features of the versions are compared on the VMware web site.

VMware Tools

VMware Tools, a package with drivers and other software available for the various guest operating systems VMware products support, installs in guest operating systems to add functionality. Tools is updated from time to time, with v12.1.5 in 29 November 2022. It has several components, including the following: * Drivers for emulated hardware: ** VESA-compliant graphics for the guest machine to access high screen resolutions ** Network drivers for the vmxnet2 and vmxnet3 NIC ** Ensoniq AudioPCI audio ** Mouse integration * Support of shared folders and drag-and-drop file transfer between host and guest. This functionality is described as HGFS (Host Guest File System), and may be disabled by default for security; it may be enabled by changes to the .VMX configuration file * Clipboard sharing between host and guest * Time-synchronization capabilities (guest synchronizes with host machine's clock) * Support for Unity, a feature that allows seamless integration of applications with the host desktop by hiding virtual monitor and drawing the windows of applications running in the virtual machine on the host. Unity support was added for Windows 10 and removed for Linux in Workstation 12.

Third-party resources

Ready-to-use virtual machines

Many ready-made virtual machines (VMs) which run on VMware Workstation Player, VMware Workstation Pro, and other virtualization software are available for specific purposes, either for purchase or free of charge; for example free

-based "browser appliances" with the

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...

or other browser installedBrowser Appliance
Includes brief documentation, including "autoRevert on shutdown" which can be used for safe Web browsing; if infected or damaged it can be discarded and replaced by a clean copy. The appliance can be configured to automatically reset itself after each use so personal information and other changes are not stored. VMs distributed legally only have freely distributable

s, as operating systems on VMs must be licensed; ready-to-use Microsoft Windows VMs, in particular, are not distributed, except for evaluation versions.

Other tools

* PowerWF - Provides a visual representation of VMware VIX scripts, converting them into workflows, or converting workflows into Powershell cmdlets and modules. VIX is VMware's addition to Microsoft's Powershell for automation of the VMware Player.

References

External links

*
VMware Workstation product page

VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix

VMware Workstation Free
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vmware Workstation

Workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

Virtualization software Windows software Proprietary cross-platform software 1998 software