Run Windows, Linux and BSD virtual machines on a Windows or Linux desktop with VMware Workstation Pro.
Build, test and demo software across an array of different devices, platforms and clouds. IT professionals, developers and businesses rely on Workstation Pro every day to support their projects and customers. Workstation Pro makes it easy to run complex local virtual environments to simulate operating systems, platforms and clouds, all from the same desktop PC.
What are the different editions of VMware Workstation?
The VMware Workstation product line consists of two products: Workstation Pro and Workstation Player. Collectively they are referred to as ‘VMware Workstation,’ and when there are differences, they are called out.
What are the differences between Workstation Pro and Workstation Player?
Workstation Pro and Workstation Player share the same hypervisor technology, but with unique user interfaces for different types of use.
Workstation Player is designed for a single graphical VM operation, or for command line operation with ‘vmrun’ or ‘ for running a different operating system in a secure isolated sandbox on a PC.
Workstation Pro is designed for IT professionals and developers, providing a more fully featured interface with capabilities for running multiple virtual machines at the same time. Workstation Pro can provide and configure virtual networking, create clones, connect to vSphere, show multiple VMs at the same time in a tabbed UI and more.
Do I need to dual boot or repartition the disk?
No, VMware Workstation uses your computer’s file system and creates files that map to a virtual machine’s disk drives, so there is no need to create a partition for each operating system. If you already have another OS with dual boot installed on your computer, you can use VMware Workstation to run the other OS in a virtual machine on your host operating system.
Instead of dual booting, you can run both operating systems simultaneously and seamlessly switch from one operating system to another with a click of your mouse.
Features
Run VMs and Containers on a Single PC
Deploy local OCI containers and Kubernetes clusters with VM isolation, virtual networking and virtual resource options through the new vctl CLI tool.
Develop and Test for Any Platform
Fix more bugs and ship quality code on time using Workstation Pro in development and testing. Virtualize nearly any x86 operating system available today on a desktop PC.
Enjoy Baked-In vSphere and ESXi Support
Run ESXi and vCenter as virtual machines on the desktop, and connect to a remote vSphere environment for quick VM access and basic management tasks.
Run Secure and Isolated Desktops
Run a secure second desktop with different privacy settings, tools and networking configurations for online protection, or to take “snapshots” that can be restored later.
Expand the Power of Your PC with Virtualization
Discover the true power and flexibility of your desktop or laptop computer with VMware Workstation. Reduce hardware costs by 50% or more by running multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single PC. Automate and streamline tasks to save time and improve productivity. Join the millions worldwide who use Workstation to:
- Host legacy applications and overcome platform migration issues
- Configure & test new software or patches in an isolated environment
- Automate tasks for software development and testing
- Demonstrate multi-tier configurations on a single PC
Use Multiple Operating Systems Concurrently on the Same PC
VMware Workstation makes it simple to create and run multiple virtual machines on your desktop or laptop computer. You can convert an existing physical PC into a VMware virtual machine, or create a new virtual machine from scratch. Each virtual machine represents a complete PC, including the processor, memory, network connections and peripheral ports.
VMware Workstation lets you use your virtual machines to run Windows, Linux and a host of other operating systems side-by-side on the same computer. You can switch between operating systems instantly with a click of a mouse, share files between virtual machines with drag-and-drop functionality and access all the peripheral devices you rely on.
Take Snapshots & Videos of your Virtual Machines
With Workstation, you can take a “snapshot” that preserves the state of a virtual machine so you can return to it at any time. Snapshots are useful when you need to revert your virtual machine to a prior, stable system state. Workstation displays thumbnails of all your snapshots on a single screen, making it easy for you to track and revert to a previously saved snapshot.
You can even use Workstation 6 to record and play video files that capture all changes to a virtual machine over a period of time. This function is exclusive to VMware Workstation and is incredibly useful for software debugging, Help Desk forensics, sales demonstrations and training.
Run an Entire Multi-tier System on a Single Host Computer
Run multi-tier enterprise applications on a single piece of hardware by managing network-connected virtual machines with the Teams feature of Workstation 6. Teams let you create virtual network environments that include client, server and database virtual machines.
With Workstation Teams, you can turn an entire multi-tier environment on and off with a single click of the mouse button. Workstation displays live thumbnails of all connected virtual machines, enabling you to easily identify and switch between the virtual machines associated with a team.
Clone your Virtual Machines to Accelerate Deployment
Installing operating systems and applications can be time consuming. With clones, you can make many copies of a virtual machine from a single installation and configuration process. This capability makes it fast and simple to distribute standardized computing environments to employees and students, or to create a baseline configuration for testing.
Take Your Virtual Machines With You
New to Workstation is the ability to create and deploy secure virtual machines (called ACEs) with the ACE Option Pack. Mobility is one of the primary benefits of this option pack, as it enables users to securely take their desktops with them on portable media devices such as USB thumb drives.
What’s New
New Security Enhancement
- This release introduces new security enhancement by providing an improved encryption scheme (XTS instead of CBC) for maximum protection with a reduced performance overhead. Please see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/93071 for more information.
- This release resolves CVE-2023-34044. For more information on these vulnerabilities and their impact on VMware products, see VMSA-2023-0022.
Control Virtual Machines using the VMRUN Commands
- You can now control virtual machines using the VMRUN command line utility in Workstation Pro. You can use commands to perform various guest operations such as power on or off, capture snapshots for data backup, manage network adapters, run an executable program, manage files and directories, manage processes running on the operating system, and so on.
Import and Export Virtual Machines with vTPM device
- You can now import or export a virtual machine with a vTPM device enabled using the OVF Tool. You can export a virtual machine with vTPM device into an OVF file, and then use the OVF file to import the virtual machine with a vTPM.
Manage Power Operations of Encrypted Virtual Machines using VMREST API
- You can now power on/off, suspend, pause, unpause, or retrieve the state of an encrypted virtual machine using the VMREST API service.
VMware Hardware Version 21
- Support for up to 256 NVMe devices: 4 controllers and 64 devices per controller
- Support for NVMe 1.3 in the following guest operating systems:
- Microsoft Windows 11
- Microsoft Windows Server 2022
Previous release notes
- This release resolves CVE-2023-20869, and CVE-2023-20870. For more information on these vulnerabilities and their impact on VMware products, see VMSA-2023-0008.
- This release contains bug fixes.
Unable to connect USB devices to a virtual machine
After you create a virtual machine, you cannot connect a USB device to the virtual machine. The issue occurs because the default value of the usb.restrictions.defaultAllow option is configured to FALSE in the VMX configuration file when the virtual machine is created. This issue is resolved.
A host machine with Intel HD 4600 GPU might crash when you use a 3D-enabled virtual machine
When you power on a 3D-enabled virtual machine on a host with Intel HD 4600 GPU, the host machine might crash. This issue is resolved.
Previous release notes
- This release contains bug fixes.
Previous Release Notes:
- This release resolves CVE-2022-22938. For more information on this vulnerability and its impact on VMware products please visit: https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2022-0002.html
Previous Release Notes:
- This release of VMware Workstation Player is a free upgrade for all VMware Workstation 15 Player users.
- Support has been added for the following operating systems as both host and guest.
- Ubuntu 18.10
- Fedora 29
- RHEL 7.6
- This release contains bug fixes and security updates.
Important Fixes:
This release of VMware Workstation Player addresses the following issue:
- VMware Workstation Player has an uninitialized stack memory usage vulnerability in the vmxnet3 virtual network adapter that might allow a guest to execute code on the host. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2018-6981 to this issue.
Previous release notes:
New Guest operating systems support. The following support is new in Workstation 15 Player:
- Windows 10 1803
- Ubuntu 18.04
- Fedora 28
- RHEL 7.5
- CentOS 7.5
- Debian 9.5
- OpenSuse Leap 15.0
- FreeBSD 11.2
- ESXi 6.7
DirectX 10.1
- DirectX 10.1 is an incremental update over DirectX 10.0. It provides higher visual quality through the support of multi-sample anti-aliasing (MSAA). DirectX 10.1 also supports Shader Model 4.1 and Cubemap Array.
Hardware version 16
- DirectX 10.1 support
- Graphics memory up to 3GB
REST API. You can use Workstation RESTful API to automate common virtual machine tasks using standard JSON over HTTP or HTTPS. The following virtual machine operations are supported:
- Virtual machine inventory management
- Virtual machine power management
- Networking management
VCSA 6.7 support
- With Workstation 15 Player, you can import and run VCSA 6.7 (vCenter Server Appliance) in VMware Workstation 15 Player.
USB Auto connect to virtual machine
- USB devices can automatically connect to a powered on virtual machine when you configure Workstation 15 Pro to remember the connection rule.
- This is a Windows host only feature.
High DPI support
- High DPI related features require that the operating system of the host and virtual machine be Windows 10 version 1703 or later.
- Host level high DPI support – The Workstation interface auto detects the host level DPI change and auto adjusts the layout to meet the new DPI.
- Guest DPI synch with host – When there is a DPI change on the host side, the guest operating system adjusts its DPI to match the host DPI. VMware Tools 10.3.2 is required for this feature.
Known Issues
- Unable to open a virtual machine on a VMware Workstation Player for Linux host
- On a Linux host, when the setting that records file and application usage is disabled, opening a virtual machine with VMware Workstation Player does not succeed.
- For example, on Ubuntu 18.04, the setting is Settings > Privacy > Usage & History. For an older version of Ubuntu, such as 16.04, the setting is System Settings > Security & Privacy > File and Applications.
- Workaround: Enable the setting that records file and application usage.
