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Run Windows, Linux, and BSD virtual machines on a Windows or Linux desktop with VMware Workstation Pro.

Build, test and demo software across a range of different devices, platforms and clouds. IT professionals, developers and enterprises 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 single graphical VM operation, or for command line operation with ‘vmrun’ or ‘ to run another operating system in a secure isolated sandbox on a PC.

Designed for IT professionals and developers, Workstation Pro provides a more complete interface with the ability to run multiple virtual machines simultaneously. Workstation Pro can provision and configure virtual networks, create clones, connect to vSphere, display multiple VMs simultaneously in a tabbed user interface, 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 dual-boot operating system installed on your computer, you can use VMware Workstation to run the other operating system in a virtual machine on the host operating system.

Instead of dual booting, you can run both operating systems at the same time and seamlessly switch from one operating system to another with the click of a mouse.

Characteristics

Run VMs and containers on a single PC

Deploy local OCI containers and Kubernetes clusters with VM isolation, virtual networks and virtual resource options through the new vctl CLI tool.

Develop and test for any platform

Fix more bugs and deliver quality code on time by using Workstation Pro in development and testing. Virtualize almost any x86 operating system available today on a desktop PC.

Enjoy Baked-In vSphere and ESXi Support

Run ESXi and vCenter as desktop virtual machines and connect to a remote vSphere environment for quick VM access and basic management tasks.

Run secure and isolated desktops

Run a secure secondary desktop with different privacy settings, tools and network configurations for online protection, or to take “snapshots” that can be restored later.

Extend the power of your PC with virtualization

Discover the true power and flexibility of your desktop or laptop 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 and test new software or patches in an isolated environment
• Automate software development and testing tasks
• Demonstrate multi-tier configurations on a single PC

Use multiple operating systems simultaneously on the same PC

VMware Workstation makes it easy to create and run multiple virtual machines on your desktop or laptop. You can convert an existing physical PC to a VMware virtual machine, or create a new virtual machine from scratch. Each virtual machine represents a complete PC, including processor, memory, network connections and peripheral ports.

VMware Workstation allows you to use your virtual machines to run Windows, Linux and a variety of other operating systems side by side on the same computer. You can switch between operating systems instantly with the click of a mouse, share files between virtual machines with drag-and-drop functionality, and access all the external devices you depend on.

Take snapshots and 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 restore the virtual machine to a previous, stable system state. Workstation displays thumbnails of all your snapshots on a single screen, making it easy for you to track and return to a previously saved snapshot.

You can even use Workstation 6 to record and play back video files that capture all changes to a virtual machine over a period of time. Exclusive to VMware Workstation, this feature is incredibly useful for software troubleshooting, Help Desk investigation, sales demonstrations, and training.

Run an entire multi-tier system on a single host computer

Run multi-tier business applications on a single piece of hardware by managing networked virtual machines with the Teams feature in Workstation 6. Teams lets you create virtual network environments that include client, server, and database virtual machines.

With Workstation Teams, you can turn an entire multi-tiered environment on and off with a single mouse click. Workstation displays live thumbnails of all connected virtual machines, so you can 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. Clones allow you to create many copies of a virtual machine from a single installation and configuration process. This feature makes it quick and easy to deploy standardized computing environments to staff and students, or to create a basic 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 main benefits of this option package, as it allows users to securely take their desktop with them on portable media devices such as USB sticks.

What is new

Cannot 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 has been resolved.

A host machine with an Intel HD 4600 GPU may crash when using a 3D-enabled virtual machine

When powering on a 3D-enabled virtual machine on a host with an Intel HD 4600 GPU, the host machine may crash. This issue has been resolved.

Previous release notes

• This release contains bug fixes.

Previous release notes:

• This release resolves CVE-2022-22938. For more information about this security issue and its impact on VMware products, 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 resolves the following issue:

• VMware Workstation Player has an uninitialized stack memory usage vulnerability in the vmxnet3 virtual network adapter that could 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:

Support for new guest operating systems. 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 support for multi-sample anti-aliasing (MSAA). DirectX 10.1 also supports Shader Model 4.1 and Cubemap Array.

Hardware version 16

• Support for DirectX 10.1
• Graphics memory up to 3 GB

REST API. You can use the Workstation RESTful API to automate common virtual machine tasks using standard JSON over HTTP or HTTPS. The following virtual machine operations are supported:

• Inventory management of virtual machine
• Virtual machine power management
• Network administration

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 feature only.

High DPI support

• High DPI-related features require the operating system of the host and virtual machine to be Windows 10 version 1703 or later.
• Host Level High DPI Support – The workstation interface automatically detects DPI change at the host level and automatically adjusts the layout to meet the new DPI.
• Guest DPI synchronization 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 problems

• Cannot open a virtual machine on a VMware Workstation Player for Linux host
• On a Linux host, when the file and application usage logging setting is disabled, opening a virtual machine with VMware Workstation Player fails.
• 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.
• Solution: Enable the setting that records file and program usage.