vmware_workstation_pro
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VMware Workstation Pro
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- VMware Workstation Pro: Now Available Free for Personal Use - https://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2024/05/vmware-workstation-pro-now-available-free-for-personal-use.html
VMware Desktop Hypervisor subscription is sold for $120/year and can be purchased from the new online store located here: https://store.cloudvista.com. The new paid subscription provides entitlement to use Fusion Pro and Workstation Pro for commercial purposes.
Are there any product differences between Free and Paid?
The text “This product is licensed for personal use only” within the product user interface is not present when a commercial license is used. There are otherwise no functional differences.
VMware Workstation Pro is a type of virtualization software developed by VMware Inc.. It allows users to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single physical computer in a secure and isolated environment. This software is commonly used by IT professionals, developers, and power users to test and develop software, create virtual labs, and manage complex network setups. Key features include advanced networking configurations, high-performance 3D graphics, and the ability to create and manage encrypted virtual machines.
VMware Workstation Pro is a powerful virtualization software that allows users to run multiple, isolated operating systems on a single physical machine. Developed by VMware Inc., a subsidiary of Dell Technologies, Workstation Pro was first introduced in 1999, making it one of the earliest commercial virtualization products on the market. It is designed for professionals and developers who need to test applications on different environments without the need for multiple physical machines, offering advanced features such as snapshots, cloning, and virtual networking.
Core Features of VMware Workstation Pro
VMware Workstation Pro offers a range of features aimed at enhancing productivity and providing a flexible development environment. Key features include the ability to run multiple VMs simultaneously, support for 4K displays, and compatibility with a wide range of guest operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and more. It also offers advanced networking features, enabling users to simulate complex network environments and test application behaviors across different network conditions. Workstation Pro’s snapshot and cloning capabilities allow users to save the state of a VM and return to it at any time, making it easier to test different scenarios without the need to set up multiple environments from scratch.
Virtual Machine Compatibility and Portability
One of the strengths of VMware Workstation Pro is its emphasis on compatibility and portability. VMs created with Workstation Pro can be moved and run on other VMware products, such as VMware vSphere, allowing for seamless transitions between development and production environments. This interoperability is crucial for businesses and developers looking for a streamlined workflow across different stages of application deployment. Additionally, VMware’s commitment to supporting a broad range of operating systems ensures that users can virtualize nearly any system for testing or development purposes.
Enhanced Security Features
Security is a critical concern in virtualization, and VMware Workstation Pro addresses this with several built-in features. It includes the ability to isolate VMs and set up encrypted virtual machines, protecting sensitive data and ensuring that development environments are secure from external threats. Workstation Pro also allows for the configuration of VMs to expire at a specified time, an essential feature for temporary projects or demos that require controlled access.
User Experience and Usability
VMware Workstation Pro prioritizes user experience and usability with an intuitive interface that simplifies the management of virtual machines. Its streamlined setup process, comprehensive hardware support, and the inclusion of wizards for creating new VMs make it accessible to both beginners and experienced users. The software’s performance optimization features ensure that VMs run smoothly, even when multiple VMs are operated concurrently, providing a responsive and efficient development environment.
Future Directions and Industry Impact
Since its inception, VMware Workstation Pro has played a significant role in the virtualization industry, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in a virtualized environment. As technology evolves, VMware continues to innovate, with future updates expected to focus on enhancing performance, expanding compatibility with emerging technologies, and integrating with cloud services. Workstation Pro’s ongoing development reflects VMware’s commitment to meeting the needs of professionals and developers, ensuring that it remains a leading solution for virtualization in a rapidly changing technological landscape.
Run KiND on VMware Workstation Pro using vctl — Kubernetes in Docker KiND on VMware Workstation Pro
Importing Virtual Machine from Oracle VirtualBox to VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation, or VMware Player (2053864): https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2053864
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiZMB0tLgLg
https://www.vmware.com/products/workstation-pro/workstation-pro-evaluation.html
https://store-us.vmware.com/vmware-workstation-16-pro-5424176500.html
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 6.2, Version 6.2.0.1
- Release Date: 2017-12-14
Also called: VMware for Windows, VMware Player, VMware Workstation Player
Courses
Premade VM's in the Marketplace
“VMware Workstation Pro takes virtualization to the next level with the broadest operating system support, rich user experience, a comprehensive feature set and high performance. VMware Workstation Pro is designed for professionals that rely on virtual machines to get their job done.”
Features
- Ready for the latest releases of Windows 10 and major Linux distributions
- Move and access your virtual machines easily across VMware infrastructure
- Encrypt and build restricted or expiring Virtual Machines
- Snippet from Wikipedia: VMware Workstation
VMware Workstation Pro (known as VMware Workstation until release of VMware Workstation 12 in 2015) is a hosted (Type 2) hypervisor that runs on x64 versions of Windows and Linux operating systems. It enables users to set up virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical machine and use them simultaneously along with the host machine. Each virtual machine can execute its own operating system, including versions of Microsoft Windows, Linux, BSD, and MS-DOS. VMware Workstation is developed and sold by VMware, which has been owned by Broadcom since November 2023. In May 2024, Workstation Pro became free of charge for personal use, with paid subscriptions available for commercial use, while the free restricted VMware Workstation Player (formerly known as VMware Player) was dropped. In November 2024, VMware Workstation was made free for commercial use, with paid subscriptions and support no longer available.
VMware Workstation supports bridging existing host network adapters and sharing physical disk drives and USB devices with a virtual machine. It can simulate disk drives; an ISO image file can be mounted as a virtual optical disc drive, and virtual hard disk drives are implemented as .vmdk 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.
VMware Workstation Pro is a hosted hypervisor that runs on x64 versions of Windows and Linux operating systems<ref name=“SPPOj”>https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2129859</ref> (an x86-32 version of earlier releases was available);<ref name=“sysreq-hostOS” /> it enables users to set up virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical machine and use them simultaneously along with the host machine. Each virtual machine can execute its own operating system, including versions of Microsoft Windows, Linux, BSD, and MS-DOS. VMware Workstation is developed and sold by VMware, Inc., a division of Dell Technologies. There is a free-of-charge version, VMware Workstation Player, 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 (networking) | bridging existing host network adapters and sharing physical disk drives and Universal Serial Bus | USB devices with a virtual machine. It can simulate disk drives; an ISO image file can be mount (computing) | mounted as a virtual optical disc drive, and virtual hard disk drives are implemented as .vmdk 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,<ref name=“o7klG”>
</ref> 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.
- Workstation contains an out-of-bounds read/write vulnerability and a Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) vulnerability in the virtual USB UHCI (Universal Host Controller Interface). These issues may allow a guest to execute code on the host. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifiers CVE-2019-5518 (out-of-bounds read/write) and CVE-2019-5519 (TOCTOU) to these issues. 1)
- support for 4K resolution.
- support for Direct3D 10 | DirectX 10.1.
- raises the limitation of shared graphics memory to 3GB.
- RESTful API to automate common virtual machine tasks using standard JSON over HTTP/HTTPS.
- improves performance for virtual NVMe storage.
- VMware Workstation 15.5.5 now runs on Windows hosts with Hyper-V features (For example: virtualization based security) enabled.
15 September 2020 - ]] | * This version adds support for new guest operating systems * This version enables support for VMs up to 32 virtual CPUs, 128 GB RAM and 8 GB [[VRAM
- This version enables support for Dark Mode in Windows 10
- This version enables support for vSphere 7.0
- This version enhances VMs security by removing graphics render from vmx and running it as a separate sandbox process
- This version improves file transfer speeds (drag and drop, copy and paste), VMs shutdown time and virtual NVMe storage performance
- This version updates vctl kind to support Kubernetes IN Docker v0.9.0
- This version includes VMware Tools 11.2.6
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 v11.2.5 in January 2021.2). 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 Network card | 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 3). “In Unity mode, virtual machine applications appear on the host system 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 Player, Workstation, and other virtualization software are available ((https://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory - VMware Virtual Machine Marketplace for specific purposes, either for purchase or free of charge; for example free Linux-based “browser appliances” with the Firefox or other browser installed<ref name=“lYGW1”>
</ref><ref name=“ba”>Browser Appliance. Includes brief documentation, including “autoRevert on shutdown”</ref> 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.<ref name=“ba” /> VMs distributed legally only have freely distributable operating systems, 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<ref name=“kmEN8”>
</ref> - 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.
See also
References
External links
vmware_workstation_pro.txt · Last modified: 2025/02/01 06:22 by 127.0.0.1