VMware Workstation - 12.0 Player User’s Manual

Using VMware Workstation Player for

Windows

Workstation 12 Player

This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

EN-001871-00

Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:

http://www.vmware.com/support/

The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:

docfeedback@vmware.com

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3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows 7

Introduction and System Requirements 9

Host System Requirements for Workstation Player 9

Virtual Machine Features and Specifications 12

Installing and Using Workstation Player 15

Install Workstation Player on a Windows Host 15

Start Workstation Player 18

Use the Workstation Player Window 18

Transferring Files and Text 19

Download a Virtual Appliance in Workstation Player 21

Remove a Virtual Machine from the Library in Workstation Player 21

Email Address Collection in Workstation Player 21

Uninstall Workstation Player 21

Changing Workstation Player Preference Settings 23

Configuring Close Behavior Preference Settings 23

Configuring Virtual Printers on Windows Hosts 24

Configuring Software Updates Settings 24

Sending System Data and Usage Statistics to VMware 25

Creating Virtual Machines in Workstation Player 29

Understanding Virtual Machines 29

Preparing to Create a Virtual Machine 29

Create a Virtual Machine 33

Use Easy Install to Install a Guest Operating System 34

Install a Guest Operating System Manually 35

Importing Virtual Machines 36

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Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools 39

Installing VMware Tools 39

Upgrading VMware Tools 40

Configure Software Update Preferences 41

Configure VMware Tools Updates for a Specific Virtual Machine 42

Manually Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools 42

Start the VMware User Process Manually If You Do Not Use a Session Manager 48

Uninstalling VMware Tools 48

Starting and Stopping Virtual Machines in Workstation Player 51

Start a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player 51

Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

Start an Encrypted Virtual Machine in Workstation Player 52

Download a Virtual Appliance in Workstation Player 52

Power Off a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player 52

Remove a Virtual Machine from the Library in Workstation Player 53

Use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to Shut Down a Guest 53

Suspend and Resume a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player 53

Reset a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player 54

Stream a Virtual Machine from a Web Server 54

Enable Autologon in a Windows Virtual Machine 56

Set Workstation Player Preferences for Virtual Machine Closing Behavior 56

Changing the Virtual Machine Display 59

Configure Display Settings for a Virtual Machine 59

Use Full Screen Mode in Workstation Player 60

Use Unity Mode 61

Use Multiple Monitors for One Virtual Machine in Workstation Player 63

Using Removable Devices and Printers in Virtual Machines 65

Use a Removable Device in a Virtual Machine 65

Connecting USB Devices to Virtual Machines 66

Mount the USB File System on a Linux Host 69

Add a Host Printer to a Virtual Machine 69

Using Smart Cards in Virtual Machines 70

Setting Up Shared Folders for a Virtual Machine 75

Using Shared Folders 75

Enable a Shared Folder for a Virtual Machine 77

View Shared Folders in a Windows Guest 78

Mounting Shared Folders in a Linux Guest 78

Change Shared Folder Properties 79

Change the Folders That a Virtual Machine Can Share 79

Disable Folder Sharing for a Virtual Machine 80

Mapping a Virtual Disk to the Host System 80

Configuring and Managing Virtual Machines 83

Change the Name of a Virtual Machine 83

Change the Guest Operating System for a Virtual Machine 84

Change the Working Directory for a Virtual Machine 84

Change the Virtual Machine Directory for a Virtual Machine 85

Change the Memory Allocation for a Virtual Machine 85

Configuring Video and Sound 85

Moving Virtual Machines 89

Configure a Virtual Machine as a VNC Server 92

Delete a Virtual Machine 95

View the Message Log for a Virtual Machine 95

Using the VIX API 95

Install New Software in a Virtual Machine 96

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Configuring and Managing Devices 97

Configuring DVD, CD-ROM, and Floppy Drives 97

Configuring a USB Controller 99

Configuring and Maintaining Virtual Hard Disks 101

Configuring Virtual Ports 107

Configuring Generic SCSI Devices 112

Configuring Eight-Way Virtual Symmetric Multiprocessing 115

Configuring Keyboard Features 116

Modify Hardware Settings for a Virtual Machine 124

Contents

Configuring Network Connections 125

Understanding Virtual Networking Components 125

Understanding Common Networking Configurations 126

Configuring Bridged Networking 127

Configuring Network Address Translation 128

Configuring Host-Only Networking 129

Changing a Networking Configuration 130

Configuring Virtual Machine Option Settings 133

Configuring General Option Settings for a Virtual Machine 133

Configuring Power Options for a Virtual Machine 135

Configuring VMware Tools Options for a Virtual Machine 135

Configuring Unity Mode for a Virtual Machine 136

Configuring Autologon for a Virtual Machine 136

Configuring Virtual Machine Hardware Settings 139

Adding Hardware to a Virtual Machine 140

Removing Hardware from a Virtual Machine 141

Adjusting Virtual Machine Memory 141

Configuring Virtual Machine Processor Settings 142

Configuring and Maintaining Virtual Hard Disks 143

Configuring CD-ROM and DVD Drive Settings 146

Configuring Floppy Drive Settings 148

Configuring Virtual Network Adapter Settings 148

Configuring USB Controller Settings 151

Configuring Sound Card Settings 152

Configuring Parallel Port Settings 152

Configuring Serial Port Settings 153

Configuring Generic SCSI Device Settings 154

Configuring Printer Settings 154

Configuring Display Settings 154

Installing a Guest Operating System on a Physical Disk or Unused Partition 155

Index 157

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows describes how to use VMware Workstation Player™ to create, configure, and manage virtual machines on a Windows host.

Intended Audience

This information is intended for anyone who wants to install, upgrade, or use Workstation Player on a Windows host.

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

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Introduction and System

Requirements 1

Workstation Player is a desktop application that lets you create, configure, and run virtual machines. You can also use Workstation Player to download and run virtual appliances.

Host computers that run Workstation Player must meet specific hardware and software requirements. Virtual machines that run in Workstation Player support specific devices and provide certain features.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Host System Requirements for Workstation Player,” on page 9

“Virtual Machine Features and Specifications,” on page 12

Host System Requirements for Workstation Player

The physical computer on which you install Workstation Player is called the host system and its operating system is called the host operating system. To run Workstation Player, the host system and the host operating system must meet specific hardware and software requirements.

Processor Requirements for Host Systems

You must install Workstation Player on a host system that meets certain processor requirements.

Supported Processors

The host system must have a 64-bit x86 CPU that meets the following requirements.

LAHF/SAHF support in long mode

1.3GHz or faster core speed

Multiprocessor systems are supported.

When you install Workstation Player, the installer performs checks to make sure the host system has a supported processor. You cannot install Workstation Player if the host system does not meet the processor requirements.

Processor Requirements for 64-Bit Guest Operating Systems

The operating system that runs inside a virtual machine is called the guest operating system. To run 64-bit guest operating systems, the host system must have one of the following processors.

An AMD CPU that has segment-limit support in long mode

An Intel CPU that has VT-x support

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If you have an Intel CPU that has VT-x support, you must verify that VT-x support is enabled in the host system BIOS. The BIOS settings that must be enabled for VT-x support vary depending on the system vendor. See the VMware knowledge base article at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003944 for information about how to determine if VT-x support is enabled.

When you install a 64-bit operating system, Workstation Player performs checks to make sure the host system has a supported processor. You cannot install a 64-bit operating system if the host system does not meet the processor requirements.

Processor Requirements for Windows 7 Aero Graphics

To support Windows 7 Aero graphics, the host system should have either an Intel Dual Core 2.2GHz or later CPU or an AMD Athlon 4200+ or later CPU.

Supported Host Operating Systems

You can install Workstation Player on Windows and Linux host operating systems.

To see a list of the supported host operating systems, search the online VMware Compatibility Guide on the VMware Web site.

Workstation Player is not listed, but the information for Workstation Pro is applicable to Workstation Player. Operating systems that are not listed are not supported for use in a virtual machine.

Memory Requirements for Host Systems

The host system must have enough memory to run the host operating system, the guest operating systems that run inside the virtual machines on the host system, and the applications that run in the host and guest operating systems.

The minimum memory required on the host system is 1 GB. 2 GB and above is recommended.

To support Windows 7 Aero graphics in a virtual machine, at least 3 GB of host system memory is required. 1 GB of memory is allocated to the guest operating system and 256 MB is allocated to graphics memory.

See your guest operating system and application documentation for more information on memory requirements.

Display Requirements for Host Systems

The host system must have a 16-bit or 32-bit display adapter. Use the latest graphics driver recommended for the host system.

To support Windows 7 Aero graphics, the host system should have either an NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT or later or an ATI Radeon HD 2600 or later graphics processor.

IMPORTANT 3D benchmarks, such as 3DMark '06, might not render correctly or at all when running Windows Vista or Windows 7 virtual machines on some graphics hardware.

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Chapter 1 Introduction and System Requirements

Disk Drive Requirements for Host Systems

Host systems must meet certain disk drive requirements. Guest operating systems can reside on physical disk partitions or in virtual disk files.

Table 1‑1. Disk Drive Requirements for Host Systems

Drive Type Requirements

Hard disk

Optical CD-ROM and DVD

Floppy Virtual machines can connect to disk drives on the host computer. Floppy disk

IDE, SATA, and SCSI hard drives are supported.

At least 1 GB free disk space is recommended for each guest operating system

and the application software used with it. If you use a default setup, the actual disk space needs are approximately the same as those for installing and running the guest operating system and applications on a physical computer.

For installation, approximately 200 MB free disk space is required on Linux

and 250 MB free disk space is required on Windows. You can delete the installer after the installation is complete to reclaim disk space.

IDE, SATA, and SCSI optical drives are supported.

CD-ROM and DVD drives are supported.

ISO disk image files are supported.

image files are also supported.

Solid-State Drives

If your host machine has a physical solid-state drive (SSD), the host informs guest operating systems they are running on an SSD.

This allows the guest operating systems to optimize behavior. How the virtual machines recognize SSD and use this information depends on the guest operating system and the disk type of the virtual disk (SCSI, SATA, or IDE).

On Windows 8, Windows 10, Ubuntu, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtual machines, all drive types

can report their virtual disks as SSD drives.

On Windows 7 virtual machines, only IDE and SATA virtual disks can report their virtual disks as SSD.

SCSI virtual disks only report as SSD when used as a system drive in a virtual machine, or as a mechanical drive when used as a data drive inside a virtual machine.

On Mac virtual machines, only SATA virtual disks are reported as SSD. IDE and SCSI virtual disks are

reported as mechanical drives.

Use the virtual machine operating system to verify your virtual machine is using SSD as its virtual disk.

Local Area Networking Requirements for Host Systems

You can use any Ethernet controller that the host operating system supports.

Non-Ethernet networks are supported by using built-in network address translation (NAT) or by using a combination of host-only networking and routing software on the host operating system.

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Virtual Machine Features and Specifications

Workstation Player virtual machines support specific devices and provide certain features.

Supported Guest Operating Systems

A guest operating system can be Windows, Linux, and other commonly used operating systems.

To see a list of the supported guest operating systems, search the online VMware Compatibility Guide on the VMware Web site.

Workstation Player is not listed, but the information for Workstation Pro is applicable to Workstation Player. Operating systems that are not listed are not supported for use in a virtual machine.

See the VMware Guest Operating System Installation Guide for information on installing the most common guest operating systems.

Virtual Machine Processor Support

Virtual machines support certain processor features.

The same as the processor on the host computer.

One virtual processor on a host system that has one or more logical processors.

Up to eight virtual processors (eight-way virtual symmetric multiprocessing, or Virtual SMP) on a host

system that has at least two logical processors.

NOTE Workstation Player considers multiprocessor hosts that have two or more physical CPUs, singleprocessor hosts that have a multicore CPU, and single-processor hosts that have hyperthreading enabled, to have two logical processors.

Virtual Machine Memory Allocation

The total amount of memory that you can assign to all virtual machines running on a single host system is limited only by the amount of RAM on the host.

On 64-bit hosts, the maximum amount of memory for each virtual machine is 64GB. On 32-bit hosts, the maximum amount of memory for each virtual machine is 8GB. Workstation Player prevents powering on virtual machines that are configured to use more than 8GB of memory on 32-bit hosts. Memory management limitations on 32-bit operating systems cause virtual machine memory to overcommit, which severely affects system performance.

Compatible Virtual Machines and System Images

Workstation Player can run virtual machines and system images that other VMware products create and some non-VMware products.

VMware virtual machines

Workstation Player runs virtual machines that were created by using Workstation 4 and later, GSX Server 3.x, VMware Server, and ESX Server 2.5 and later. Workstation 4 virtual machines run in legacy mode. You must use another VMware product to upgrade virtual machines created in versions earlier than Workstation 4 before you can run them in Workstation Player.

Microsoft Virtual PC and Virtual Server virtual machines

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On Windows hosts, Workstation Player can run Microsoft Virtual PC and Virtual Server virtual machines. When you open a Virtual PC virtual machine in Workstation Player, Workstation Player creates a configuration file that is VMware product compatible and that has a .vmx file extension.

Chapter 1 Introduction and System Requirements

Workstation Player preserves the original Virtual PC configuration file and gives the file a .vmc file extension. You can save the VMware productcompatible virtual machine without changing the original Virtual PC configuration file.

Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery system images

On Windows hosts, Workstation Player can run system images that were created by using Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery, formerly Symantec LiveState Recovery. When you open a Backup Exec System Recovery system image in Workstation Player, Workstation Player creates a configuration file that is VMware product compatible and that has a .vmx extension. Workstation Player preserves the original Backup Exec System Recovery system image file and gives the file a .sv2i file extension.

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

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Installing and Using

Workstation Player 2

Installing Workstation Player typically involves running a standard GUI wizard.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Install Workstation Player on a Windows Host,” on page 15

“Start Workstation Player,” on page 18

“Use the Workstation Player Window,” on page 18

“Transferring Files and Text,” on page 19

“Download a Virtual Appliance in Workstation Player,” on page 21

“Remove a Virtual Machine from the Library in Workstation Player,” on page 21

“Email Address Collection in Workstation Player,” on page 21

“Uninstall Workstation Player,” on page 21

Install Workstation Player on a Windows Host

You install Workstation Player on a Windows machine by running the installation wizard.

Prerequisites

Verify that your Windows machine meets the host system requirements. See “Host System

Requirements for Workstation Player,” on page 9.

Download the Workstation Player installer file to your Windows machine. You can obtain the

Workstation Player installer file from the VMware Web site.

If you are installing the purchased version of Workstation Player, verify that you have a license key.

You can use Workstation Player free of charge for non-commercial use. When you use Workstation Player for the first time, you can enter your email address and use it free of charge, or you can enter your purchased license key to use Workstation Player and have access to additional features.

Procedure

1 On your Windows machine, double-click the Workstation Player installer file.

The installer filename is similar to VMware-player-xxxx-xxxx.exe, where xxxx-xxxx is the version and build numbers.

2 Follow the prompts to finish the installation.

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

3 (Optional) To activate Workstation Player features, start Workstation Player and enter your license key.

a Double-click the Workstation Player icon or select Start > All Programs VMware Player to start

Workstation Player.

b Select Enter a license key to allow commercial use:.

c Type your license key and click Continue.

Run an Unattended Workstation Player Installation on a Windows Host

You can use the unattended installation feature of the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) to install Workstation Player on Windows host systems without having to respond to wizard prompts. This feature is convenient in a large enterprise.

Prerequisites

Verify that the host system meets the host system requirements.

Obtain the Workstation Player software and license key.

Verify that the host computer has version 2.0 or later of the MSI runtime engine. This version of the

installer is available in versions of Windows beginning with Windows XP and is available from Microsoft. For more information, see the Microsoft Web site.

Familiarize yourself with the installation properties. See “Installation Properties,” on page 17.

Procedure

1 Log in to the host system as the Administrator user or as a user who is a member of the local

Administrators group.

If you log in to the host system as the Administrator user or as a user who is a member of the local Administrators group.

2 Extract the administrative installation image from the setup file.

The setup filename is similar to VMware=player-xxxx-xxxx.exe where xxxx-xxxx is the version and build number.

For example, if you enter setup.exe/?, the flag displays a windows message box with the command line usage for the installer.

3 Enter the installation command on one line.

Some examples are:

VMware-player-x.x.x-xxxxxx.exe /s /pass /v/qn REBOOT=ReallySuppress "EULAS_AGREED=1 INSTALLDIR=""path_to_program_directory"" ADDLOCAL=ALL SERIALNUMBER=""xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx"" "

VMware-player-x.x.x-xxxxxx.exe /s /v/qn EULAS_AGREED=1 SERIALNUMBER="xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx"

You can use the optional INSTALLDIR property to specify a file path for the installation that is different from the default location.

NOTE The double quotes around the file path are important. All the MSI arguments are passed with the /v option. The outer quotes group the MSI arguments and the double quotes put a quote in that argument.

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Chapter 2 Installing and Using Workstation Player

You can use the optional REMOVE property to skip the installation of certain features. See “REMOVE

Property Values,” on page 17.

You can also run an unattended Workstation Player uninstallation on a Windows host. The following example uninstalls Workstation Player and removes the license from the host.

VMware-player-x.x.x-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn REMOVE=ALL"

Installation Properties

When you perform an unattended installation of Workstation Player, you can customize the installation by specifying installation properties in the installation command.

To specify an installation property in the installation command, use the format property="value". A value of 1 means true and a value of 0 means false.

Table 2‑1. Installation Properties

Property Description Default Value

AUTHD_PORT

AUTOSOFTWAREUPDATE

DATACOLLECTION

DESKTOP_SHORTCUT

ENABLE_VIRTUAL_PRINTING

EULAS_AGREED

INSTALLDIR

KEEP_LICENSE

KEEP_SETTINGFILES

SERIALNUMBER

SIMPLIFIEDUI

SOFTWAREUPDATEURL

STARTMENU_SHORTCUT

SUPPORTURL

Specifies which port the "VMware Authorization Service" communicates through.

Enables automatic upgrades for Workstation Player or Workstation Player when a new build becomes available.

Sends user experience information to VMware. 1

Adds a shortcut on the desktop when Workstation Player is installed.

Enables support for ThinPrint virtual printing on the Windows host after installing.

Allows you to silently accept the product EULAs. Set to 1 to complete the installation or upgrade.

Install Workstation Player in a directory that is different from the default Workstation Player location.

Specifies whether to keep or remove license keys when Workstation Player is installed.

Specifies whether to keep or remove settings files when Workstation Player is uninstalled.

Lets you enter the license key when Workstation Player is installed. Enter the license key with hyphens, for example, xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx.

Turn on or off certain UI features of Workstation Player. 0

Specifies a custom URL for managing software updates (separate from vmware.com).

Adds a Start menu item when Workstation Player is installed. 1

Set a support URL or email alias specifically for your users to contact with product issues through the Workstation Player or Workstation Player Help menu.

902

C:\Program Files (86)\VMware\VMwar e Player

REMOVE Property Values

When you perform an unattended installation of Workstation Player, you can skip the installation of certain features by specifying the REMOVE property in the installation command.

To specify a REMOVE property value in the installation command, use the format REMOVE=value. To skip multiple features, separate each value with a comma, for example, REMOVE=value,value.

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

Table 2‑2. REMOVE Property Values

Value Skipped Feature

Networking

USB

Keyboard

ParPort

Networking components, including the virtual bridge and the host adapters for host-only networking and NAT networking. Do not remove this component if you want to use NAT or DHCP.

The virtual USB driver.

The virtual keyboard driver.

The parallel port driver.

Start Workstation Player

When you start Workstation Player, the Workstation Player window opens.

You might have a desktop shortcut, a quick launch shortcut, or a combination of these options in addition to a Start menu item.

You start Workstation Player from the command line. On some Linux distributions, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1, you can also start Workstation Player from the System Tools menu under Applications.

Procedure

Select Start > Programs > VMware Player.

Type the vmplayer command.

Option Description

/usr/bin is in your default path

/usr/bin is not in your default path

vmplayer &

/usr/bin/vmplayer &

Use the Workstation Player Window

You interact with Workstation Player and virtual machines through the Workstation Player window. The best way to learn how to use Workstation Player is to use it. The Workstation Player window is designed to be intuitive and easy to use.

Procedure

Use the icons on the Home tab to create a new virtual machine, open an existing virtual machine,

download a virtual appliance, or view the Workstation Player help system.

Select a powered-off virtual machine in the library see the summary view.

The summary view shows a summary of configuration information and the virtual machine state. You can start the virtual machine and edit virtual machine settings from the summary view.

Select a powered-off virtual machine in the library and click Play virtual machine to start the virtual

machine and see the console view.

The console view is like the monitor display of a physical computer.

Select a virtual machine in the library and use the Virtual Machine menu on the menu bar to perform

all virtual machine operations for the selected virtual machine.

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Chapter 2 Installing and Using Workstation Player

When a virtual machine is powered on, use the icons on the status bar to perform actions on virtual

devices such as hard disks, CD/DVD drives, floppy drives, and network adapters.

You can click or right-click on a removable device icon to connect or disconnect the device or edit its settings.

Use the About VMware Player window to access information about your installation of

Workstation Player, including license key information.

Click Player > Help > About VMware Player.

Click Help > About VMware Player.

If you have an individual license for Workstation Player, the key is displayed in the License

Information section in the Type field. It is labeled Individual and is followed by your license key.

If you have a version of Workstation Player licensed for multiple users, the Type field displays

Volume and your license key is not displayed.

If you did not enter a license for Workstation Player, the Type field displays Not applicable and a

license key is not displayed.

If you have an evaluation license key for Workstation Player, the Type field displays Not applicable.

The date the evaluation license key expires is also displayed.

NOTE The evaluation key does not activate Horizon FLEX features.

Transferring Files and Text

You can use the drag-and-drop and copy and paste features, shared folders, and mapped drives to transfer text and files between the host system and virtual machines.

Using the Drag-and-Drop Feature

You can use the drag-and-drop feature to move files and directories, email attachments, plain text, formatted text, and images between the host system and virtual machines.

You can drag files or directories between the following locations.

File managers, such as Windows Explorer, on the host system and virtual machines.

A file manager to an application that supports drag-and-drop.

Applications, such as zip file managers, which support drag-and-drop extraction of individual files.

Different virtual machines.

Dragging email attachments is especially useful in Unity mode.

When you drag a file or folder between the host and a virtual machine, Workstation Player copies the file or folder to the location where you drop it. For example, if you drop a file on the desktop icon of a word processor, the word processor opens a copy of the original file. The original file does not include changes that you make to the copy.

Initially, the application opens a copy of the file that is stored in the temp directory. On Windows, the temp directory is specified in the %TEMP% environment variable. On Linux and Solaris, the temp directory is /tmp/VMwareDnD. Save the file in a different directory to protect changes that you make.

Drag-and-Drop Requirements and Restrictions

The drag-and-drop feature has certain requirements and restrictions.

You must install VMware Tools in a virtual machine to use the drag-and-drop feature.

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

The drag-and-drop feature requires Linux hosts and guests to run X Windows and Solaris 10 guests to

run an Xorg X server and JDS/Gnome.

You can drag images between applications on Windows hosts and applications on Windows guests

only. Dragging images is not supported for Linux hosts or guests.

You can drag files and directories, email attachments, plain text, and formatted text between Linux and

Windows hosts and Linux, Windows, and Solaris 10 guests only.

Dragging email attachments is restricted to images or files smaller than 4MB.

Dragging plain text and formatted text (including the formatting) is restricted to amounts less than

4MB.

Dragging text is restricted to text in languages that can be represented by Unicode characters.

Workstation Player uses the PNG format to encode images that are dragged. Dragging images is

restricted to images smaller than 4MB after conversion to PNG format.

On Windows 95 and Windows 98 guests, the drag-and-drop feature is supported only for files and

directories.

Using the Copy and Paste Feature

You can cut, copy, and paste text between virtual machines and between applications running in virtual machines.

You can also cut, copy, and paste images, plain text, formatted text, and email attachments between applications running on the host system and applications running in virtual machines.

Copying and pasting email attachments is especially useful in Unity mode. Use the normal hot keys or menu choices to cut or copy and paste.

Copy and Paste Requirements and Restrictions

The copy and paste feature has certain requirements and restrictions.

You must install VMware Tools in a virtual machine to use the copy and paste feature.

The copy and paste feature works with Linux and Windows hosts and Linux, Windows, and Solaris 10

guests only.

The copy and paste feature requires Linux hosts and guests to run X Windows and Solaris 10 guests to

run an Xorg X server and JDS/Gnome.

Copying and pasting email attachments is restricted to images or files smaller than 4MB.

Copying and pasting plain text and formatted text (including the formatting) is restricted to amounts

less than 4MB.

Copying and pasting text is restricted to text in languages that can be represented by Unicode

characters.

Workstation Player uses the PNG format to encode images that are copied and pasted. Copying and

pasting images is restricted to images smaller than 4MB after conversion to PNG format.

You cannot copy and paste files between virtual machines.

On Windows 95 and Windows 98 guests, copying and pasting is restricted to plain text in amounts less

than 64KB.

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Chapter 2 Installing and Using Workstation Player

Download a Virtual Appliance in Workstation Player

You can download a virtual appliance in Workstation Player. A virtual appliance is a prebuilt, preconfigured, and ready-to-run software application that is packaged with the operating system in a virtual machine.

Procedure

Select File > Download a Virtual Appliance.

Select Player > File > Download a Virtual Appliance.

A Web browser opens to the Virtual Appliance Marketplace page on the VMware Web site. You can browse to and download virtual appliances from this page.

Remove a Virtual Machine from the Library in Workstation Player

When you open a virtual machine in Workstation Player, it is added to the virtual machine library. You can remove a virtual machine that you are not using from the library.

Removing a virtual machine from the library does not delete the virtual machine or any of its files from the host file system. The virtual machine is removed only from the library. If you open the virtual machine again, the virtual machine is added back to the library.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

Select the virtual machine, right-click, and select Remove VM from the Library.

The virtual machine is removed from the library without any confirmation.

Email Address Collection in Workstation Player

The trial version of Workstation Player prompts you for your email address when you use it for the first time.

Uninstall Workstation Player

You must uninstall the previous version of Workstation Player before you can install the latest version.

Procedure

Use the Windows uninstall feature.

For example, on Windows 7, select Start > Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Uninstall a program.

Type the command vmware-installer -u vmware-player.

The uninstall program lets you specify whether to preserve your configuration files.

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Changing Workstation Player

Preference Settings 3

Workstation Player preference settings are global configuration settings that apply to Workstation Player and the virtual machines that you run in Workstation Player.

To change Workstation Player preference settings, select File > Player Preferences.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Configuring Close Behavior Preference Settings,” on page 23

“Configuring Virtual Printers on Windows Hosts,” on page 24

“Configuring Software Updates Settings,” on page 24

“Sending System Data and Usage Statistics to VMware,” on page 25

Configuring Close Behavior Preference Settings

Close behavior preference settings control what Workstation Player does with virtual machines when you close them.

To configure close behavior preference settings, select File > Preferences.

Table 3‑1. Close Behavior Preference Settings

Setting Description

Suspend the virtual machine The virtual machine is suspended when you close it. The

next time you start Workstation Player, the virtual machine resumes operation from the point at which it was suspended.

Power off the virtual machine The virtual machines is powered off when you close it. The

next time you start Workstation Player, the virtual machine is in a powered off state.

Leave the virtual machine running The virtual machine remains running in the background

when you close it. The next time you start Workstation Player, the virtual machine is in a powered on state.

Confirm before closing a virtual machine Workstation Player prompts you for confirmation when

you close a virtual machine.

Return to the VM Library after closing a virtual machine Workstation Player returns the virtual machines to the

library after you close it. You can open another virtual machine or edit virtual machine settings.

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Configuring Virtual Printers on Windows Hosts

On Windows hosts, you can configure Workstation Player to support virtual printing on all printers configured on the host.

Virtual printing is disabled by default on Windows hosts. To enable or disable virtual printing on a Windows host system, select File > Preferences > Devices. Select the Enable virtual printers checkbox to enable virtual printers. VMware Tools must be installed on the virtual machine to enable printing. You must have administrator privileges to enable or disable virtual printers.

The Workstation Player printer feature uses ThinPrint technology to replicate the host system printer mapping in the virtual machine. When you enable the virtual machine printer, Workstation Player configures a virtual serial port to communicate with the host printers.

See “Add a Host Printer to a Virtual Machine,” on page 69

Configuring Software Updates Settings

Software updates settings control when Workstation Player downloads software updates to the host system and whether it uses a proxy server to connect to the VMware Update Server.

To configure software updates settings, select Edit > Preferences > Updates.

To configure software updates settings, select Player > File > Preferences.

Table 3‑2. Software Update Preference Settings

Setting Description

Check for product updates on startup Check for new versions of the application and installed components

when you start Workstation Player. This setting is selected by default.

Check for new software components as needed Check for a new version of a component when a component, such as

VMware Tools, is required. When this setting is selected, Workstation Player verifies if a new version is available to download and install.

Download All Components Now Manually download all of the available software components to the

host system. Click this button if you are planning to use a virtual machine at a later time when you do not have access to the Internet.

Connection Settings Click this button to configure a proxy server to connect to the

VMware Update Server.

Configuring Connection Settings for a Proxy Server

You can use configure connection settings to use a proxy server to connect to the VMware Update Server.

To configure proxy connection settings, select Edit > Preferences > Updates and click Connection Settings.

To configure proxy connection settings, select Player > File > Player Preferences and click Connection Settings.

Table 3‑3. Connection Settings

Setting Description

No proxy Do not use a proxy server.

Windows proxy settings (Windows hosts only) Workstation Player uses the host proxy settings from the

Connections tab in the Internet Options control panel to access the VMware Update

Server.

Click Internet Options to set the guest connection options.

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Chapter 3 Changing Workstation Player Preference Settings

Table 3‑3. Connection Settings (Continued)

Setting Description

System proxy settings (Linux hosts only) Workstation Player uses the host proxy settings to access the

VMware Update Server.

Manual proxy settings Select an HTTP or SOCKS proxy, specify the proxy server address, and designate a

port number to access the VMware Update Server.

Username and Password The username and password to use for proxy server authentication. On Windows

hosts, if either the Username or Password text box is blank, Workstation Player does not use either value. On Linux hosts, if either the Username or Password text box is blank, Workstation Player uses the username and password set in the gnome settings.

You must restart Workstation Player for proxy setting changes to take effect.

Understanding the Automatic Software Update Process

When you enable automatic software updates, you are always aware of the latest releases from VMware.

By keeping your software up-to-date, you can take advantage of new product features and performance improvements, ensure that your system includes the latest patches, and obtain timely support for new guest operating systems. You can enable the automatic software update feature when you install Workstation Player or by configuring Workstation Player preference settings. You can disable the feature at any time.

To determine if software updates are available, the VMware software updates feature securely sends the following anonymous information to VMware.

A universal unique identifier (UUID), which it uses to identify each individual system

The product name, the product version, and the build number

Your host operating system name, version, and the locale setting

The VMware software updates feature does not collect any personal data, such as your name, address, telephone number, or mail address. Your product license key and MAC address are not sent to VMware, and VMware does not store your IP address with the data that it receives from you.

VMware might use the information it receives from the software update feature for product planning purposes. VMware limits access to your data and uses industry-standard controls to protect your information, including physical access controls, Internet firewalls, intrusion detection, and network monitoring.

The information collected by the VMware software updates feature is handled in accordance with VMware

Sending System Data and Usage Statistics to VMware

The User experience improvement program setting controls whether you participate in the VMware User Experience Improvement Program.

To participate in or opt out of the program, select or deselect the Help improve VMware Player check box.

When you participate in the program, Workstation Player sends anonymous system data and usage statistics to VMware. Workstation Player creates log files for the collected data and stores the data on the host computer.

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

Table 3‑4. User Experience Improvement Program Log Files

Host Operating

Filename

playerUploadedData .log

System Log File Location Description

Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10

Linux

\Users\ user \AppData\Local\VMware

~/.vmware

NOTE The data collection process does not affect the performance of your computer.

Participating in the User Experience Improvement Program

When you participate in the VMware User Experience Improvement Program, your computer sends anonymous information to VMware. Participation in the program is voluntary and you can opt out at any time.

Types of Data Collected

The most recent data uploaded to the VMware server.

The data collected by the VMware User Experience Improvement Program might include product data, product usage information, product performance information, and system configuration information.

Product data typically includes information such as the product name, version, build number, and configuration settings. This information helps VMware compare data from identical installations and determine popular configurations.

Product usage information might include menu items selected, toolbar buttons pressed, virtual machines run, and virtual machine configuration settings. This information helps VMware identify usage patterns, such as the most popular features, how many virtual machines users create, how many virtual machines are run concurrently, which operating systems are the most popular, and what virtual machine settings are typically selected.

Product performance data might include errors that occur and measurements, such as virtual machine suspend and resume times, uptime, or application startup time.

System configuration information might include the operating system that your computer is currently running, how many processors are in your computer and the processor models, how much memory is installed, how many network connections are available, the video cards and video drivers that are installed, and screen resolutions for display devices. This information helps VMware identify the system configurations that best match customer environments during testing and to plan future development based on hardware industry trends and the adoption of new technologies.

Not all of the available information is collected from every system every time data is sent to VMware. Some information is included only from select installations and certain information, such as error messages, is collected only when it is generated.

VMware uses a universal unique identifier (UUID) to identify information from different machines.

When the Data Is Transmitted to VMware

Data is typically collected on your system and transmitted to VMware when you start Workstation Player. If your computer does not have access to the Internet, the information is collected and sent to VMware the next time you start Workstation Player. Data might also be sent to VMware at other times, such as during a check for software updates. Data is encrypted and transmitted over a secure SSL connection so that it cannot be read by other Internet users.

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Chapter 3 Changing Workstation Player Preference Settings

Workstation Player stores all of the information that it sends to VMware on your system in clear text. The files are located in the same directory as your log files and are named productnameUploadedData.log.

Privacy Protection

VMware does not collect any personal data, such as your name, address, telephone number, or mail address. Your product license key and MAC address are not sent to VMware, and VMware does not store your IP address with the data that it receives from you.

VMware limits access to your data and uses industry-standard controls to protect your information, including physical access controls, Internet firewalls, intrusion detection, and network monitoring. The information collected by the VMware User Experience Improvement Program is handled in accordance with

VMware Privacy Policy.

NOTE The User Improvement Program is not Spyware. Spyware collects information or acts on your computer without your full knowledge or consent.

Opting Out of the Program

You can join or end participation in the VMware User Experience Improvement Program at any time by changing Workstation Player preference settings.

See “Sending System Data and Usage Statistics to VMware,” on page 25 for more information.

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

28 VMware, Inc.

Creating Virtual Machines in

Workstation Player 4

You use the New Virtual Machine wizard to create virtual machines. The New Virtual Machine wizard guides you through the steps for setting up a new virtual machine, helping you set options and parameters.

To start the New Virtual Machine wizard, select File > Create a New Virtual Machine, or click Create a New Virtual Machine on the welcome page.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Understanding Virtual Machines,” on page 29

“Preparing to Create a Virtual Machine,” on page 29

“Create a Virtual Machine,” on page 33

“Use Easy Install to Install a Guest Operating System,” on page 34

“Install a Guest Operating System Manually,” on page 35

“Importing Virtual Machines,” on page 36

Understanding Virtual Machines

A virtual machine is a software computer that, like a physical machine, runs an operating system and applications. A virtual machine uses the physical resources of the physical machine on which it runs, which is called the host system. Virtual machines have virtual devices that provide the same functionality as physical hardware, but with the additional benefits of portability, manageability, and security.

A virtual machine has an operating system and virtual resources that you manage in much the same way that you manage a physical computer. For example, you install an operating system in a virtual machine in the same way that you install an operating system on a physical computer. You must have a CD-ROM, DVD, or ISO image that contains the installation files from an operating system vendor.

Preparing to Create a Virtual Machine

When you create a virtual machine, you specify or accept defaults for a few basic virtual machine settings.

How you want to install the guest operating system.

A name for the virtual machine and a location for the virtual machine files.

The size of the virtual disk and whether to split the disk into multiple virtual disk files.

Whether to customize hardware settings, including memory allocation, number of virtual processors,

and network connection type.

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Selecting a Guest Operating System

The New Virtual Machine prompts you to select the source media for the operating system that will run inside the virtual machine. You can specify an installer disc inserted in a physical drive, an ISO image file, or you can instruct the New Virtual Machine wizard to create a virtual machine that has a blank hard disk.

If you select an installer disc or an ISO image file and the operating system supports Easy Install, the guest operating system installation is automated and VMware Tools is installed. If the installer disc or ISO image file contains a product key number and is already set up to perform an unattended installation, the only benefit of using Easy Install is the automatic installation of VMware Tools.

If you instruct the New Virtual Machine wizard to create a virtual machine that has a blank hard disk, the wizard prompts you to specify an operating system and version and you must install the guest operating system manually after the virtual machine is created. Workstation Player uses this information to set the appropriate default values, name files associated with the virtual machine, adjust performance settings, and work around special behaviors and bugs in the guest operating system. If the operating system you plan to install is not listed in the wizard, select Other for both the operating system and version.

If you are installing an operating system that supports Easy Install but you do not want to use Easy Install, you can instruct the wizard to create a virtual machine that has a blank disk and install the guest operating system manually.

Supported Guest Operating Systems

A guest operating system can be Windows, Linux, and other commonly used operating systems.

To see a list of the supported guest operating systems, search the online VMware Compatibility Guide on the VMware Web site.

Workstation Player is not listed, but the information for Workstation Pro is applicable to Workstation Player. Operating systems that are not listed are not supported for use in a virtual machine.

See the VMware Guest Operating System Installation Guide for information on installing the most common guest operating systems.

Providing Easy Install Information

When the New Virtual Wizard detects an operating system that supports Easy Install, the wizard prompts you for information about the guest operating system. After the virtual machine is created, the guest operating system installation is automated and VMware Tools is installed.

For Windows guest operating systems, you must provide the following Easy Install information.

Table 4‑1. Easy Install Information for Windows Guests

Easy Install Prompt Description

Windows product key (Optional) Type a product key unless the installation media contains a volume

license product key. If you provide a product key here, you are not prompted to provide a product key when you install the guest operating system.

Version of Windows to install select the Windows operating system edition to install.

Full name The name to use to register the guest operating system. Do not use the name

Administrator or Guest. If you use one of these names, you must enter a different name when you install the guest operating system.

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Chapter 4 Creating Virtual Machines in Workstation Player

Table 4‑1. Easy Install Information for Windows Guests (Continued)

Easy Install Prompt Description

Password (Optional) The password to use for an account with Administrator permissions

on Windows operating systems other than Windows 2000. On Windows 2000, this is the password for the Administrator account. On Windows XP Home, an Administrator account without a password is created and you are automatically logged in to the guest operating system.

Log on automatically (requires a password)

(Optional) Save your login credentials and bypass the login dialog box when you power on the virtual machine. You must enter a name and password to use this feature.

For Linux guest operating systems, you must provide the following Easy Install information.

Table 4‑2. Easy Install Information for Linux Guests

Prompt Description

Full name The name to use to register the guest operating system, if registration is

required. Workstation Player uses the first name to create the host name for the virtual machine.

User name Your user name. You can use lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes, but avoid

using user names that begin with a dash. Do not use the name root. Some operating systems set up sudo access for this user and other operating systems require this user to use su to obtain root privileges.

Password The password for the User name and the root user.

See “Use Easy Install to Install a Guest Operating System,” on page 34

Specifying the Virtual Machine Name and File Location

The New Virtual Machine wizard prompts you for a virtual machine name and a directory for the virtual machine files.

The name of the default directory for virtual machine files is derived from the name of the guest operating system, for example, Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit).

For standard virtual machines, the default directory for virtual machine files is located in the virtual machine directory. For best performance, do not place the virtual machines directory on a network drive. If other users need to access the virtual machine, consider placing the virtual machine files in a location that is accessible to those users.

For shared virtual machines, the default directory for virtual machine files is located in the shared virtual machines directory. Shared virtual machine files must reside in the shared virtual machines directory.

Virtual Machines Directory

Workstation Player stores standard virtual machines in the virtual machines directory.

The default location of the virtual machines directory depends on the host operating system.

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Table 4‑3. Default Virtual Machines Directory

Host Operating System Default Location

Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows 7

Windows 8

Windows 10

Linux

C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Virtual Machines

username is the name of the currently logged-in user.

C:\Users\ username \Documents\Virtual Machines

username is the name of the currently logged in user.

homedir/vmware

homedir is the home directory of the currently logged in logged in user.

Specifying Disk Capacity for a Virtual Machine

If you instruct the New Virtual Machine wizard to create a new virtual disk during a custom configuration, the wizard prompts you to set the size of the virtual disk and specify whether to split the disk into multiple virtual disk (.vmdk) files.

A virtual disk is made up of one or more virtual disk files. Virtual disk files store the contents of the virtual machine hard disk drive. Almost all of the file content is virtual machine data. A small portion of the file is allotted to virtual machine overhead. If the virtual machine is connected directly to a physical disk, the virtual disk file stores information about the partitions that the virtual machine is allowed to access.

You can set a size between 0.001 GB and 8 TB for a virtual disk file. You can also select whether to store a virtual disk as a single file or split it into multiple files.

Select Split virtual disk into multiple files if the virtual disk is stored on a file system that has a file size limitation. When you split a virtual disk less than 950 GB, a series of 2-GB virtual disk files are created. When you split a virtual disk greater than 950 GB, two virtual disk files are created. The maximum size of the first virtual disk file is 1.9 TB and the second virtual disk file stores the rest of the data.

Disk space is not preallocated for the disk. The actual files that the virtual disk uses start small and expand to their maximum size as needed. The main advantage of this approach is the smaller file size. Smaller files require less disk space and are easier to move to a new location.

After you create a virtual machine, you can edit virtual disk settings and add additional virtual disks.

Disk Size Compatibility

The size of a virtual disk is limited to 8 TBs. However, your hardware version, bus type, and controller type also impact the size of your virtual disks.

Workstation Hardware Version Bus Type Controller Type Maximum Disk Size

10, 11, 12 IDE ATAPI 8192 GB (8TB)

10, 11, 12 SCSI BusLogic 2040 GB (2TB)

10, 11, 12 SCSI LSI Logic 8192 GB (8TB)

10, 11, 12 SCSI LSI Logic SAS 8192 GB (8TB)

10, 11, 12 SATA AHCI 8192 GB (8TB)

9, 8, 7, 6.5 All All 2040 GB (2TB)

6.0, 5 All All 950 GB

To discover your controller type, open the virtual machine .vmx file. The value of the setting

scsi0.virtualDev determines your controller type.

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Chapter 4 Creating Virtual Machines in Workstation Player

Value Controller Type

Blank or not present BusLogic

lsilogic LSI Logic

lsisas1068 LSI Logic SAS

Customizing Virtual Machine Hardware

You can click Customize Hardware on the last page of the New Virtual Machine wizard to customize the virtual machine hardware.

You can change the default hardware settings, including memory allocation, number of virtual CPUs, CD/DVD and floppy drive settings, and the network connection type.

Worksheet for Creating a Typical Virtual Machine

You can print this worksheet and write the values to specify when you create a typical virtual machine.

Table 4‑4. Worksheet: Typical Virtual Machine

Option Write Your Value Here

Guest operating system source

Guest operating system type for manual installation

Easy Install information for Windows guests

Product key

Operating system version

Full name

Password

Credentials for automatic login

Easy Install information for Linux guests

Full name

User name

Password

Virtual machine name

Virtual machine location

Disk capacity

Create a Virtual Machine

You create a virtual machine in Workstation Player by running the New Virtual Machine wizard.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have the information the New Virtual Machine wizard requires to create a virtual

machine. See “Preparing to Create a Virtual Machine,” on page 29.

Verify that the guest operating system you plan to install is supported. See the online VMware

Compatibility Guide, which is available on the VMware Web site.

See the VMware Guest Operating System Installation Guide for information about the guest operating

system you plan to install.

If you are installing the guest operating system from an installer disc, insert the installer disc in the CD-

ROM drive in the host system.

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If you are installing the guest operating system from an ISO image file, verify that the ISO image file is

in a directory that is accessible to the host system.

Procedure

1 Select File > Create a New Virtual Machine.

2 Select Player > File > New Virtual Machine.

3 Select the source of the guest operating system.

Option Description

Use a physical disc

Use an ISO image

Install the guest operating system later

4 Specify information about the guest operating system.

Option Description

You are using Easy Install

You are not using Easy Install

5 Type a virtual machine name and type or browse to the directory for the virtual machine files.

Select the physical drive where you inserted the installation disc.

Type or browse to the location of the ISO image file.

Create a virtual machine that has a blank disk. You must install the guest operating system manually after the virtual machine is created.

Type the Easy Install information for the guest operating system.

Select the guest operating system type and version. If the guest operating system is not listed, select Other.

6 Select the virtual disk size and specify whether the disk should be split into multiple files.

7 (Optional) Click Customize Hardware to change the default hardware settings.

You can also modify virtual hardware settings after you create the virtual machine.

8 (Optional) Select Power on this virtual machine after creation to power on the virtual machine after it

is created.

This option is not available if you are installing the guest operating system manually.

9 Click Finish to create the virtual machine.

If you are using Easy Install, guest operating system installation begins when the virtual machine powers on. The guest operating system installation is automated and typically runs without requiring any input from you. After the guest operating system is installed, Easy Install installs VMware Tools.

If you are not using Easy Install, the virtual machine appears in the library.

What to do next

If you used Easy Install and the virtual machine did not power on when the installation finished, power on the virtual machine to start the guest operating system installation. See “Use Easy Install to Install a Guest

Operating System,” on page 34.

If you did not use Easy Install, install the guest operating system manually. See “Install a Guest Operating

System Manually,” on page 35.

Use Easy Install to Install a Guest Operating System

When you use Easy Install, you usually do not need to provide information during guest operating system installation.

If you did not provide all of the Easy Install information in the New Virtual Machine wizard, you might be prompted for a product key, username, or password.

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Chapter 4 Creating Virtual Machines in Workstation Player

Also, if the guest operating system installation consists of multiple discs or ISO image files, the installer might prompt you for the next disk.

Procedure

If the installer prompts you for a product key, username, or password, click in the virtual machine

window and type the required information.

Mouse and keyboard input are captured by the virtual machine.

If you are using physical discs and the installer prompts you for the next disk, use the CD-ROM or DVD

drive on the host system.

If you are using multiple ISO image files and the installer prompts you for the next disk, select the next

ISO image file.

Option Description

Windows host

Linux host

Click Change Disk and browse to the next ISO image file.

a Select Virtual Machine > Removable Devices > CD/DVD > Settings

and browse to the next ISO image file.

b Select Connected.

c Click Save.

Install a Guest Operating System Manually

Installing a guest operating system in a virtual machine is similar to installing an operating system on a physical computer. If you do not use Easy Install when you create a virtual machine in the New Virtual Machine wizard, you must install the guest operating system manually.

You can install a guest operating system from an installer disc or ISO image file. You can also use a PXE server to install the guest operating system over a network connection. If the host configuration does not permit the virtual machine to boot from an installer disc, you can create an ISO image file from the installer disc.

Prerequisites

Verify that the operating system is supported. See the online VMware Compatibility Guide on the

VMware Web site.

See the VMware Guest Operating System Installation Guide for information on the guest operating system

that you are installing.

Procedure

1 If you are installing the guest operating system from an installer disc, configure the virtual machine to

use a physical CD-ROM or DVD drive and configure the drive to connect at power on.

a Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

b Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

c On the Hardware tab, select CD/DVD drive.

d Select Connect at power on.

e Select Use physical drive and select a the drive.

f Click OK to save your changes.

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2 If you are installing the guest operating system from an ISO image file, configure the CD/DVD drive in

the virtual machine to point to the ISO image file and configure the drive to connect at power on.

a Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

b Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

c On the Hardware tab, select CD/DVD drive.

d Select Connect at power on.

e Select Use ISO image file and browse to the location of the ISO image file.

f Click OK to save your changes.

3 If you are installing the guest operating system from an installer disc, insert the disc in the CD-ROM or

DVD drive.

4 Power on the virtual machine.

5 Follow the installation instructions provided by the operating system vendor.

6 If the operating system consists of multiple installer discs and you are prompted to insert the next disc,

insert the next disc in the physical drive.

7 If the operating system consists of multiple ISO image files, select the image file for the next CD.

a Select Virtual Machine > Removable Devices > CD/DVD > Disconnect and disconnect from the

current ISO image file..

b Select Player > Removable Devices > CD/DVD > Disconnect and disconnect from the current ISO

image file..

c Select Virtual Machine > Removable Devices > CD/DVD > Settings and select the next ISO image

file.

d Select Player > Removable Devices > CD/DVD > Settings and select the next ISO image file.

e Select Connected and click OK.

8 Use the standard tools in the operating system to configure its settings.

What to do next

Install VMware Tools. You should install VMware Tools before you activate the license for the operating system. See “Installing VMware Tools,” on page 39.

Importing Virtual Machines

You can import virtual machines in other formats into Workstation Player.

Import a Windows XP Mode Virtual Machine

You can import a Windows XP Mode virtual machine and run it in Workstation Player. When you import a Windows XP Mode virtual machine, Workstation Player creates a new virtual machine in VMware runtime (.vmx) format.

You can power on only one Windows XP Mode virtual machine at a time in Workstation Player. If you move a Windows XP Mode virtual machine to another host system, it becomes a new virtual machine and you must activate it.

NOTE Changes made to the original Windows XP Mode virtual machine through Virtual PC do not affect the virtual machine imported in Workstation Player.

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Chapter 4 Creating Virtual Machines in Workstation Player

Prerequisites

Verify that the Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate edition operating system is running on

the host system. Importing Windows XP Mode virtual machines is not supported on Linux host systems or on host systems that are running other versions of Windows.

Download and install the Windows XP Mode virtual machine on the host system.

Procedure

1 Select File > Import Windows XP Mode VM, or select File > Open and browse to the virtual machine

configuration (.vmc) file.

If you have never virtualized a physical machine or imported a third-party virtual machine in Workstation Player, you need to download and install VMware vCenter Converter Standalone. After the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone installation is finished, you must restart the import.

2 Select Player > File > Import Windows XP Mode VM, or select File > Open and browse to the virtual

machine configuration (.vmc) file.

3 Type a name for the new virtual machine, type or browse to the directory for the virtual machine files,

and click Import.

Workstation Player begins importing the Windows XP Mode virtual machine.

After Workstation Player successfully imports the Windows XP Mode virtual machine, a new virtual machine appears in the virtual machine library.

Import an Open Virtualization Format Virtual Machine

You can import an Open Virtualization Format (OVF) virtual machine and run it in Workstation Player. Workstation Player converts the virtual machine from OVF format to VMware runtime (.vmx) format. You can import both .ovf and .ova files.

OVF is a platform-independent, efficient, extensible, and open packaging and distribution format for virtual machines. For example, you can import OVF virtual machines exported from VMware Fusion™ or Oracle VM VirtualBox into Workstation Player. You can import OVF 1.0 and later files only.

You can also use the standalone OVF Tool to convert an OVF virtual machine to VMware runtime format. The standalone version of the OVF Tool is installed in the Workstation Player installation directory under

OVFTool. See the OVF Tool User Guide on the VMware Web site for information on using the OVF Tool.

Procedure

1 In Workstation Player, select File > Open a Virtual Machine.

2 In Workstation Player, select Player > File > Open.

3 Browse to the .ovf or .ova file and click Open.

4 Type a name for the virtual machine, type or browse to the directory for the virtual machine files, and

click Import.

Workstation Player performs OVF specification conformance and virtual hardware compliance checks. A status bar indicates the progress of the import process.

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5 If the import fails, click Retry to try again, or click Cancel to cancel the import.

If you retry the import, Workstation Player relaxes the OVF specification conformance and virtual hardware compliance checks and you might not be able to use the virtual machine in Workstation Player.

After Workstation Player successfully imports the OVF virtual machine, the virtual machine appears in the virtual machine library.

Import a Windows Virtual PC Virtual Machine

You can import a Windows Virtual PC virtual machine and run it in Workstation Player. Workstation Player converts the virtual machine from Virtual PC (.vmc) format to VMware runtime (.vmx) format. This feature is supported only on Windows host systems.

Prerequisites

Download and install the Virtual PC virtual machine on the Windows host system.

Procedure

1 Select File > Open a Virtual Machine.

2 Select Player > File > Open.

3 Browse to the .vmc file and click Open.

4 Type a name for the virtual machine, type or browse to the directory for the virtual machine files, and

click Import.

After Workstation Player successfully imports the Virtual PC virtual machine, the virtual machine appears in the virtual machine library.

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Installing and Upgrading VMware

Tools 5

Installing VMware Tools is part of the process of creating a new virtual machine. Upgrading VMware Tools is part of the process of keeping virtual machines up to current standards.

For the best performance and latest updates, install or upgrade VMware Tools to match the version of Workstation Player that you are using. Other compatibility options are also available.

For more information about using VMware Tools, see Installing and Configuring VMware Tools at

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware-tools-installation-configuration.pdf .

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Installing VMware Tools,” on page 39

“Upgrading VMware Tools,” on page 40

“Configure Software Update Preferences,” on page 41

“Configure VMware Tools Updates for a Specific Virtual Machine,” on page 42

“Manually Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools,” on page 42

“Start the VMware User Process Manually If You Do Not Use a Session Manager,” on page 48

“Uninstalling VMware Tools,” on page 48

Installing VMware Tools

Although your guest operating systems can run without VMware Tools, many VMware features are not available until you install VMware Tool. When you install VMware Tools, the utilities in the tools suite enhances the performance of your virtual machine’s guest operating system and improves the management of your virtual machines.

Installing VMware Tools is part of the process of creating new virtual machines, and upgrading VMware Tools is part of the process of keeping your virtual machine up to current standards. For information about creating virtual machines, see the Virtual Machine Administration Guide.

The installers for VMware Tools are ISO image files. An ISO image file looks like a CD-ROM to your guest operating system. Each type of guest operating system, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, and NetWare, has an ISO image file. When you select the command to install or upgrade VMware Tools, the virtual machine’s first virtual CD-ROM disk drive temporarily connects to the VMware Tools ISO file for your guest operating system.

You can use the Windows Easy Install or Linux Easy Install feature to install VMware Tools as soon as the operating system is finished installing.

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The most recent versions of the ISO files are stored on a VMware Web site. When you select the command to install or upgrade VMware Tools, the VMware product determines whether it has downloaded the most recent version of the ISO file for the specific operating system. If the latest version has not been downloaded or if no VMware Tools ISO file for that operating system has ever been downloaded, you are prompted to download the file.

For information about installing or upgrading VMware Tools in Windows virtual machines, see

“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine,” on page 43 and Automate VMware Tools Installation for Multiple Windows Virtual Machines.

For information about installing or upgrading VMware Tools in Linux virtual machines, see “Manually

Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine,” on page 44.

For information about installing or upgrading VMware Tools in Mac OS X virtual machines, see

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Mac OS X Virtual Machine.

For information about installing or upgrading VMware Tools in Solaris virtual machines, see

“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Solaris Virtual Machine,” on page 46.

For information about installing or upgrading VMware Tools in NetWare virtual machines, see

“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine,” on page 45.

For information about installing or upgrading VMware Tools in FreeBSD virtual machines, see

“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Virtual Machine,” on page 47.

Upgrading VMware Tools

You can upgrade VMware Tools manually, or you can configure virtual machines to check for and install newer versions of VMware Tools.

The guest operating system checks the version of VMware Tools when you power on a virtual machine. The status bar of your virtual machine displays a message when a new version is available.

In Windows virtual machines, you can set VMware Tools to notify you when an upgrade is available. If this notification option is enabled, the VMware Tools icon in the Windows taskbar includes a yellow caution icon when a VMware Tools upgrade is available.

To install a VMware Tools upgrade, you can use the same procedure that you used for installing VMware Tools the first time. Upgrading VMware Tools means installing a new version.

For Windows and Linux guest operating systems, you can configure the virtual machine to automatically upgrade VMware Tools. Although the version check is performed when you power on the virtual machine, on Windows guest operating systems, the automatic upgrade occurs when you power off or restart the virtual machine. The status bar displays the message Installing VMware Tools ... when an upgrade is in progress.

IMPORTANT After you upgrade VMware Tools on Linux guest operating systems, new network modules are available but are not used until you either restart the guest operating system or stop networking, unload and reload the VMware networking kernel modules, and restart networking. This behavior means that even if VMware Tools is set to automatically upgrade, you must restart or reload network modules to make new features available.

This strategy avoids network interruptions and allows you to install VMware Tools over SSH.

Upgrading VMware Tools on Windows guest operation systems automatically installs the WDDM graphics drivers. The WDDM graphics driver makes the sleep mode available in guest OS power settings to adjust the sleep options. For example, you can use the sleep mode setting Change when the computer sleeps to configure your guest OS to automatically go to sleep mode after a certain time or prevent your guest OS from automatically switching to sleep mode after being idle for some time.

40 VMware, Inc.

Some features in a particular release of a VMware product might depend on installing or upgrading to the version of VMware Tools included in that release. Upgrading to the latest version of VMware Tools is not always necessary. Newer versions of VMware Tools are compatible with several host versions. To avoid unnecessary upgrades, evaluate whether the added features and capabilities are necessary for your environment.

Configure Software Update Preferences

You can configure Workstation Player to automatically download software updates, including new versions of VMware Tools. When you select automatic software updates, Workstation Player always includes the latest support for guest operating systems and virtual machines always have the latest version of VMware Tools.

Procedure

1 Select File > Preferences.

2 Select Player > File > Preferences.

3 Select when Workstation Player checks for software updates.

You can select one, both, or neither option. If you deselect all of the software update options, automatic software updates are disabled.

Chapter 5 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

Option Description

Check for product updates on startup

Check for software components as needed

Download All Components Now

Checks for new versions of Workstation Player available to download and install when you start Workstation Player. This option is enabled by default. If you do not select this option, your system does not get the latest product updates.

When a software component is required, for example, when you install VMware Tools, Workstation Player checks for a new version of the component.

Immediately download all of the available software components to the host system. This option is useful if you are planning to use the virtual machine at a later time when you do not have access to the Internet.

4 If you use a proxy server to connect to the VMware Update Server, click Connection Settings to

configure the proxy settings.

Option Description

No proxy

Windows proxy settings

System proxy settings

Manual proxy settings

Select this option if you do not use a proxy server. This is the default setting.

(Windows hosts only) Workstation Player uses the host proxy settings from the Connections tab in the Internet Options control panel to access the VMware Update Server.

a Click Internet Options to set the guest connection options.

b Type a user name and password to use for proxy server

authentication.

If you leave either the Username or the Password text box blank, Workstation Player does not use either value.

(Linux hosts only) Workstation Player uses the host proxy settings to access the VMware Update Server.

a Select HTTP or SOCKS, specify the proxy server address and designate

a port number to access the VMware Update Sever.

b Type a username and password to use for proxy authentication.

If you leave either the Username or the Password text box blank, Workstation Player does not use either value (Windows hosts) or it uses the username and password set in the gnome settings (Linux hosts).

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

5 Click OK to save your changes.

Configure VMware Tools Updates for a Specific Virtual Machine

You can configure virtual machines that have Windows or Linux guest operating systems to update VMware Tools automatically. For other guest operating systems, you must manually update VMware Tools.

Automatic VMware Tools updates are supported for versions of VMware Tools included in Workstation 5.5 and later virtual machines only. Automatic updates are not supported for versions of VMware Tools included in virtual machines created with VMware Server 1.x.

IMPORTANT If you update VMware Tools in a Windows virtual machine that was created with Workstation 4 or 5.x, some new components are not installed. To install the new components, you must uninstall the old version of VMware Tools and install the new version of VMware Tools.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Options tab, select VMware Tools.

4 Select a VMware Tools update setting.

Option Description

Update manually (do nothing)

Update automatically

Use application default (currently update manually)

You must update VMware Tools manually. The virtual machine status bar indicates when a new version of VMware Tools is available.

VMware Tools is updated automatically. The virtual machine status bar indicates when an update is in progress. If you are logged in to a Windows guest, a restart prompt appears after the update is complete. If you are not logged in, the operating system restarts without prompting. An autoupdate check is performed as part of the boot sequence when you power on the virtual machine. If the virtual machine was suspended and you resume it or restore it to a snapshot during the boot sequence before this check, the automatic update occurs as planned. If you resume the virtual machine or restore it to a snapshot after the check, the automatic update does not occur.

Use the default VMware Tools update behavior. The default behavior is set in Workstation Player preferences.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

Manually Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

You can manually install or upgrade VMware Tools on Windows, Linux, NetWare, Solaris, and FreeBSD virtual machines.

If you are installing VMware Tools in a number of Windows virtual machines, you can automate its installation by using the VMware Tools setup.exe at a command prompt in the guest operating system. See Installing and Configuring VMware Tools at

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware-tools-installation-configuration.pdf for more information.

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Chapter 5 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine

All supported Windows guest operating systems support VMware Tools.

Before you upgrade VMware Tools, consider the environment that the virtual machine runs in and weigh the benefits of different upgrade strategies. For example, you can install the latest version of VMware Tools to enhance the performance of the virtual machine's guest operating system and improve virtual machine management, or you can continue using the existing version to provide more flexibility and avoid downtime in your environment.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

Verify that the guest operating system is running.

If you connected the virtual machine’s virtual CD/DVD drive to an ISO image file when you installed

the operating system, change the setting so that the virtual CD/DVD drive is configured to autodetect a physical drive.

The autodetect setting enables the virtual machine's first virtual CD/DVD drive to detect and connect to the VMware Tools ISO file for a VMware Tools installation. This ISO file looks like a physical CD to your guest operating system. Use the virtual machine settings editor to set the CD/DVD drive to autodetect a physical drive.

install VMware Tools in a Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME guest operating system. For operating systems newer than these, you must log in as an administrator.

Procedure

1 On the host, from the Workstation Player menu bar, select Player > Manage > Install VMware Tools.

If an earlier version of VMware Tools is installed, the menu item is Update VMware Tools.

2 On the host, from the Workstation Player menu bar, select Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools.

If an earlier version of VMware Tools is installed, the menu item is Update VMware Tools.

3 If you are installing VMware Tools for the first time, click OK on the Install VMware Tools information

page.

If autorun is enabled for the CD-ROM drive in the guest operating system, the VMware Tools installation wizard starts.

4 If autorun is not enabled, to manually launch the wizard, click Start > Run and enter D:\setup.exe,

where D: is your first virtual CD-ROM drive. Use D:\setup64.exe for 64-bit Windows guest operating system.

5 Follow the on-screen instructions.

6 If the New Hardware wizard appears, follow the prompts and accept the defaults.

7 If you are installing a beta or RC version of VMware Tools and you see a warning that a package or

driver is not signed, click Install Anyway to complete the installation.

8 When prompted, reboot the virtual machine.

What to do next

If a new virtual hardware version is available for the virtual machine, upgrade the virtual hardware.

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine

For Linux virtual machines, you manually install or upgrade VMware Tools by using the command line.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

Verify that the guest operating system is running.

Because the VMware Tools installer is written in Perl, verify that Perl is installed in the guest operating

system.

Procedure

1 On the host, from the Workstation Player menu bar, select Player > Manage > Install VMware Tools.

If an earlier version of VMware Tools is installed, the menu item is Update VMware Tools.

2 On the host, from the Workstation Player menu bar, select Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools.

If an earlier version of VMware Tools is installed, the menu item is Update VMware Tools.

3 In the virtual machine, log in to the guest operating system as root and open a terminal window.

4 Run the mount command with no arguments to determine whether your Linux distribution

automatically mounted the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image.

If the CD-ROM device is mounted, the CD-ROM device and its mount point are listed as something like this:

/dev/cdrom on /mnt/cdrom type iso9660 (ro,nosuid,nodev)

5 If the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image is not mounted, mount the CD-ROM drive.

a If a mount point directory does not already exist, create it.

mkdir /mnt/cdrom

Some Linux distributions use different mount point names. For example, on some distributions the mount point is /media/VMware Tools rather than /mnt/cdrom. Modify the command to reflect the conventions that your distribution uses.

b Mount the CD-ROM drive.

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

Some Linux distributions use different device names or organize the /dev directory differently. If your CD-ROM drive is not /dev/cdrom or if the mount point for a CD-ROM is not /mnt/cdrom, modify the command to reflect the conventions that your distribution uses.

6 Change to a working directory, for example, /tmp.

cd /tmp

7 Delete any previous vmware-tools-distrib directory before you install VMware Tools.

The location of this directory depends on where you placed it during the previous installation. Often this directory is placed in /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib.

8 List the contents of the mount point directory and note the filename of the VMware Tools tar installer.

ls mount-point

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Chapter 5 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

9 Uncompress the installer.

tar zxpf /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-x.x.x-yyyy.tar.gz

The value x.x.x is the product version number, and yyyy is the build number of the product release.

If you attempt to install a tar installation over an RPM installation, or the reverse, the installer detects the previous installation and must convert the installer database format before continuing.

10 If necessary, unmount the CD-ROM image.

umount /dev/cdrom

If your Linux distribution automatically mounted the CD-ROM, you do not need to unmount the image.

11 Run the installer and configure VMware Tools.

cd vmware-tools-distrib ./vmware-install.pl

Usually, the vmware-config-tools.pl configuration file runs after the installer file finishes running.

12 Follow the prompts to accept the default values, if appropriate for your configuration.

13 Follow the instructions at the end of the script.

Depending on the features you use, these instructions can include restarting the X session, restarting networking, logging in again, and starting the VMware User process. You can alternatively reboot the guest operating system to accomplish all these tasks.

What to do next

If a new virtual hardware version is available for the virtual machine, upgrade the virtual hardware.

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine

For NetWare virtual machines, you manually install or upgrade VMware Tools by using the command line.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

Verify that the guest operating system is running.

Because the VMware Tools installer is written in Perl, verify that Perl is installed in the guest operating

system.

Procedure

1 On the host, from the Workstation Player menu bar, select Player > Manage > Install VMware Tools.

If an earlier version of VMware Tools is installed, the menu item is Update VMware Tools.

2 On the host, from the Workstation Player menu bar, select Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools.

If an earlier version of VMware Tools is installed, the menu item is Update VMware Tools.

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

3 Load the CD-ROM driver so that the virtual CD-ROM device mounts the ISO image as a volume.

Operating System Command

NetWare 6.5

NetWare 6.0 or NetWare 5.1

NetWare 4.2 (not available in vSphere)

LOAD CDDVD

LOAD CD9660.NSS

load cdrom

When the installation finishes, the message VMware Tools for NetWare are now running appears in the Logger Screen for NetWare 6.5 and NetWare 6.0 guest operating systems and in the Console Screen for NetWare 4.2 and 5.1 operating systems.

4 If the VMware Tools virtual disc (netware.iso) is attached to the virtual machine, right-click the CD-

ROM icon in the status bar of the console window and select Disconnect to disconnect it.

What to do next

If a new virtual hardware version is available for the virtual machine, upgrade the virtual hardware.

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Solaris Virtual Machine

For Solaris virtual machines, you manually install or upgrade VMware Tools by using the command line.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

Verify that the guest operating system is running.

Because the VMware Tools installer is written in Perl, verify that Perl is installed in the guest operating

system.

Procedure

1 On the host, from the Workstation Player menu bar, select Player > Manage > Install VMware Tools.

If an earlier version of VMware Tools is installed, the menu item is Update VMware Tools.

2 On the host, from the Workstation Player menu bar, select Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools.

If an earlier version of VMware Tools is installed, the menu item is Update VMware Tools.

3 In the virtual machine, log in to the guest operating system as root and open a terminal window.

4 If the Solaris volume manager does not mount the CD-ROM under /cdrom/vmwaretools, restart the

volume manager.

/etc/init.d/volmgt stop /etc/init.d/volmgt start

5 Change to a working directory, for example, /tmp.

cd /tmp

6 Extract VMware Tools.

gunzip -c /cdrom/vmwaretools/vmware-solaris-tools.tar.gz | tar xf -

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Chapter 5 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

7 Run the installer and configure VMware Tools.

cd vmware-tools-distrib ./vmware-install.pl

Usually, the vmware-config-tools.pl configuration file runs after the installer file finishes running.

8 Follow the prompts to accept the default values, if appropriate for your configuration.

9 Follow the instructions at the end of the script.

What to do next

If a new virtual hardware version is available for the virtual machine, upgrade the virtual hardware.

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Virtual Machine

For FreeBSD virtual machines, you manually install or upgrade VMware Tools by using the command line.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

Verify that the guest operating system is running.

Because the VMware Tools installer is written in Perl, verify that Perl is installed in the guest operating

system.

Procedure

1 On the host, from the Workstation Player menu bar, select Player > Manage > Install VMware Tools.

If an earlier version of VMware Tools is installed, the menu item is Update VMware Tools.

2 On the host, from the Workstation Player menu bar, select Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools.

If an earlier version of VMware Tools is installed, the menu item is Update VMware Tools.

3 In the virtual machine, log in to the guest operating system as root and open a terminal window.

4 If the distribution does not automatically mount CD-ROMs, mount the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM

image.

For example, type mount /cdrom.

5 Change to a working directory, for example, /tmp.

cd /tmp

6 Untar the VMware Tools tar file.

tar zxpf /cdrom/vmware-freebsd-tools.tar.gz

7 If the distribution does not use automounting, unmount the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image.

umount /cdrom

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8 Run the installer and configure VMware Tools.

cd vmware-tools-distrib ./vmware-install.pl

Usually, the vmware-config-tools.pl configuration file runs after the installer file finishes running.

9 Follow the prompts to accept the default values, if appropriate for your configuration.

10 Follow the instructions at the end of the script.

What to do next

If a new virtual hardware version is available for the virtual machine, upgrade the virtual hardware.

Start the VMware User Process Manually If You Do Not Use a Session Manager

VMware Tools in Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems uses the VMware User process executable file. This program implements the fit-guest-to-window feature and Unity mode, among other features.

Normally, this process starts after you configure VMware Tools, log out of the desktop environment, and log back in. The vmware-user program is located in the directory in which you selected to install binary programs, which defaults to /usr/bin. The startup script that you need to modify depends on your system. You must start the process manually in the following environments:

If you run an X session without a session manager. For example, if you use startx to start a desktop

session and do not use xdm, kdm, or gdm.

If you are using an older version of GNOME without gdm or xdm.

If you are using a session manager or environment that does not support the Desktop Application

Autostart Specification, available from http://standards.freedesktop.org.

If you upgrade VMware Tools.

Procedure

Start the VMware User process.

Option Action

Start the VMware User process when you start an X session.

Start the process after a VMware Tools software upgrade, or if certain features are not working.

Add vmware-user to the appropriate X startup script, such as the .xsession or .xinitrc file.

Open a terminal window and type the vmware-user command.

Uninstalling VMware Tools

If the upgrade process of VMware Tools is incomplete, you can uninstall and then reinstall the VMware Tools.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

48 VMware, Inc.

Procedure

Select a method to uninstall VMware Tools.

Operating System Action

Windows 7, 8, 8.1, or Windows 10

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

Windows XP and earlier

Linux

Mac OS X Server

What to do next

Reinstall VMware Tools.

Chapter 5 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

In the guest operating system, select Programs > Uninstall a program.

In the guest operating system, select Programs and Features > Uninstall a program.

In the guest operating system, select Add/Remove Programs.

Use the Uninstall VMware Tools application, found in /Library/Application Support/VMware Tools.

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50 VMware, Inc.

Starting and Stopping Virtual

Machines in Workstation Player 6

You can use Workstation Player to start and stop virtual machines on the host system.

When you start a virtual machine, the guest operating system starts and you can interact with the virtual machine. You can power off, reset, and suspend virtual machines.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Start a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player,” on page 51

“Start an Encrypted Virtual Machine in Workstation Player,” on page 52

“Download a Virtual Appliance in Workstation Player,” on page 52

“Power Off a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player,” on page 52

“Remove a Virtual Machine from the Library in Workstation Player,” on page 53

“Use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to Shut Down a Guest,” on page 53

“Suspend and Resume a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player,” on page 53

“Reset a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player,” on page 54

“Stream a Virtual Machine from a Web Server,” on page 54

“Enable Autologon in a Windows Virtual Machine,” on page 56

“Set Workstation Player Preferences for Virtual Machine Closing Behavior,” on page 56

Start a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player

You can start a virtual machine from the Workstation Player window.

Prerequisites

Verify that the virtual machine files are accessible to the host system.

Procedure

1 If the virtual machine does not appear in the library, select File > Open a Virtual Machine.

2 If the virtual machine does not appear in the library, select Player > File > Open.

3 Browse to and select the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file, and click Open.

The virtual machine appears in the library.

4 Select the virtual machine in the library and select Virtual Machine > Power > Play Virtual Machine.

5 Select the virtual machine in the library and select Player > Power > Power On.

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Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

6 Click anywhere inside the virtual machine console to give the virtual machine control of the mouse and

keyboard on the host system.

7 Log in to the guest operating system.

Start an Encrypted Virtual Machine in Workstation Player

An encrypted virtual machine is a virtual machine that has been secured from unauthorized use. A lock icon appears next to an encrypted virtual machine in the virtual machine library.

For information about using Workstation Player to open a Horizon FLEX virtual machine, see the VMware Horizon FLEX User Guide.

NOTE You cannot create encrypted virtual machines in Workstation Player. You can create encrypted virtual machines by using only VMware Workstation 7.x or VMware Fusion 7.x and later.

Prerequisites

Obtain the encryption password for the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine in the library and select Virtual Machine > Power > Play Virtual Machine.

2 Select the virtual machine in the library and select Player > Power > Power On.

3 Type the encryption password.

4 Click Continue to start the virtual machine.

Download a Virtual Appliance in Workstation Player

Procedure

Select File > Download a Virtual Appliance.

Select Player > File > Download a Virtual Appliance.

A Web browser opens to the Virtual Appliance Marketplace page on the VMware Web site. You can browse to and download virtual appliances from this page.

Power Off a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player

As with physical computers, you should shut down a guest operating system before you power off a virtual machine.

Procedure

To shut down the guest operating system, shut down the operating system as you would if you were

using a physical machine.

When the guest operating system shuts down, the virtual machine is powered off and Workstation Player exits.

To power off a virtual machine without shutting down the guest operating system, select Virtual

Machine > Power > Power Off.

If soft power operations are configured for the virtual machine in Workstation Player, Power Off Guest appears in the menu instead of Power Off.

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Chapter 6 Starting and Stopping Virtual Machines in Workstation Player

To power off a virtual machine without shutting down the guest operating system, select Player >

Power > Power Off.

If soft power operations are configured for the virtual machine when the virtual machine is first created, Power Off Guest appears in the menu instead of Power Off.

Remove a Virtual Machine from the Library in Workstation Player

When you open a virtual machine in Workstation Player, it is added to the virtual machine library. You can remove a virtual machine that you are not using from the library.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

Select the virtual machine, right-click, and select Remove VM from the Library.

The virtual machine is removed from the library without any confirmation.

Use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to Shut Down a Guest

You can use the Ctrl+Alt+Delete key sequence to shut down or log off of a guest operating system.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

Procedure

Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Send Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

This option is the same as pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete on your keyboard. On Windows hosts, this command might be received by both the host operating system and the virtual machine, even when Workstation Player has control of input.

Select the virtual machine and select Player > Send Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

This option is the same as pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete on your keyboard. On Windows hosts, using the physical keyboard to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete might send the command to the host operating system and the virtual machine, even when Workstation Player has control of input.

If the command is received by both the host operating system and the virtual machine, press Ctrl+Alt

+Ins on the keyboard.

The command is received solely by the virtual machine and shuts down or logs out of the guest operating system.

Suspend and Resume a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player

Suspending a virtual machine saves its current state. When you resume the virtual machine, applications that were running before the virtual machine was suspended resume in their running state and their content is unchanged.

How quickly the suspend and resume operations perform depends on how much data changed after you started the virtual machine. The first suspend typically takes longer than subsequent suspend operations.

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Procedure

To suspend a virtual machine, select Virtual Machine > Power > Suspend and click Yes to confirm.

If soft power operations are configured for the virtual machine in Workstation Player, Suspend Guest appears in the menu instead of Suspend.

Workstation Player returns the virtual machine to the library in the Suspended state.

To suspend a virtual machine, select Player > Power > Suspend and click Yes to confirm.

If soft power operations are configured for the virtual machine when the virtual machine is first created, Suspend Guest appears in the menu instead of Suspend.

Workstation Player returns the virtual machine to the library in the Suspended state.

To resume a suspended virtual machine, select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Power

> Play Virtual Machine.

To resume a suspended virtual machine, select the virtual machine and select Player > Power > Power

On.

To set the Workstation Player preferences to suspend the virtual machine when you close the virtual

machine window, select Player > File > Preferences and then select Suspend the virtual machine.

Reset a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player

You can reset a virtual machine in Workstation Player. Resetting a virtual machine causes it to abruptly power off and restart.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

Verify that the virtual machine is in a safe state. Resetting a virtual machine can damage data. When

possible, shut down the virtual machine with its operating system.

Procedure

Select Virtual Machine > Power > Reset.

If soft power operations are configured for the virtual machine in Workstation, Reset Guest appears in the menu instead of Reset.

Select Player > Power > Reset.

If soft power operations are configured for the virtual machine in Workstation Player, Reset Guest appears in the menu instead of Reset.

Stream a Virtual Machine from a Web Server

When you stream a virtual machine, you can start the virtual machine as soon as the download process begins. When you power off a streamed virtual machine, you are prompted to save or discard changes. If you discard changes, the directory that was created on the local computer and all the virtual machine data are deleted.

Prerequisites

Make the virtual machine available for streaming. See “Make a Virtual Machine Available for

Streaming,” on page 55.

Determine the URL of the virtual machine.

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Chapter 6 Starting and Stopping Virtual Machines in Workstation Player

Procedure

1 Run the vmplayer command and specify the URL of the virtual machine.

Both HTTP and HTTPS are supported.

Option Description

Windows host

Linux host

vmplayer.exe http://path_to_vm.vmx

vmplayer http://path_to_vm.vmx

2 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Power > Play Virtual Machine.

Workstation Player fetches virtual disk data on demand so that you can begin using the virtual machine before it finishes downloading. The status bar indicates the progress of the download. When you point to the VM streaming icon on the status bar, a tooltip indicates whether streaming is active and provides the URL of the Web server.

3 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Power > Power On.

Make a Virtual Machine Available for Streaming

You can make a virtual machine available for streaming from a Web server.

Prerequisites

(Optional) To improve streaming performance, use Virtual Disk Manager (vmware-diskmanager) to

compress the virtual disk (.vmdk) files for the virtual machine. See the Virtual Disk Manager User’s Guide for more information. This guide is available on the VMware Web site.

If the virtual machine has any snapshots, delete them.

Procedure

1 Configure the Web server to support HTTP keep-alive connections.

Option Description

Apache HTTP Server 1.2 and later

Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 or later

2 If you use a proxy server, set the proxy connection to Keep-alive.

3 Upload the virtual machines directory to the Web server.

Do not compress the directory. Depending on the size of the virtual machine, downloading a virtual machine in a .zip or .tar file from a Web server can take a considerable amount of time.

Turn the KeepAlive option on, set MaxKeepAliveRequest to 2000 to 5000, and set KeepAliveTimeout to 2000 to 5000 seconds, depending on server load.

Set the connection timeout to a value above 300 seconds and load HTTP Keep-Alives.

After it is uploaded to the Web server, users can use a URL to stream the virtual machine and start it in Workstation Player.

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Enable Autologon in a Windows Virtual Machine

With Autologon, you can save your login credentials and bypass the login dialog box when you power on a Windows virtual machine. The guest operating system securely stores the password.

Use the Autologon feature if you restart the guest operating system frequently and want to avoid entering your login credentials. You can also use the Autologon feature to grant users access to the guest operating system without sharing your password.

Prerequisites

Verify that the guest operating system is Windows 2000 or later.

Verify that you have an existing user account to enable Autologon. The account must be a local machine

account, not a domain account.

Verify that the latest version of VMware Tools is running in the guest operating system.

Power on the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Options tab, select Autologon.

4 Click Enable, type your login credentials, and click OK.

If you type an incorrect or expired password, you must type your login credentials when you power on the virtual machine.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

When you enable Autologon or change your login credentials, the Autologon settings are saved immediately. Clicking Cancel in the Virtual Machine Settings dialog box does not affect the changes applied to the Autologon settings.

Set Workstation Player Preferences for Virtual Machine Closing Behavior

You can configure how virtual machines behave when you close them.

Procedure

1 Select File > Preferences.

2 Select Player > File > Preferences.

3 Select how Workstation Player behaves when you close a virtual machine.

You can select one, both, or neither option.

Option Description

Confirm before closing a virtual machine

Return to the VM Library after closing a virtual machine

Confirm whether you intend to exit Workstation Player or click Cancel to continue using Workstation Player

Workstation Player either suspends or powers off the virtual machine and returns it to the virtual machine library. From the library, you can either open another virtual machine or edit the virtual machine settings.

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Chapter 6 Starting and Stopping Virtual Machines in Workstation Player

4 Select whether Workstation Player suspends or powers off a virtual machine when you close it.

Option Description

Suspend the virtual machine

Power off the virtual machine

Workstation Player suspends the virtual machine. The next time you start Workstation Player, the virtual machine resumes operation from the point where it was suspended.

Workstation Player powers off the virtual machine. The next time you start Workstation Player, the virtual machine starts from a powered-off state and the guest operating system starts.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

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Changing the Virtual Machine Display 7

You can change the way Workstation Player displays virtual machines and virtual machine applications. You can use full screen mode to make the virtual machine display fill the screen and use multiple monitors.

You can also use Unity mode to display applications directly on the host system desktop.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Configure Display Settings for a Virtual Machine,” on page 59

“Use Full Screen Mode in Workstation Player,” on page 60

“Use Unity Mode,” on page 61

“Use Multiple Monitors for One Virtual Machine in Workstation Player,” on page 63

Configure Display Settings for a Virtual Machine

You can specify monitor resolution settings, configure multiple monitors, and select accelerated graphics capabilities for a virtual machine. You can use the multiple-monitor feature when the virtual machine is in full screen mode.

For Windows guests, to use DirectX 9 accelerated graphics, the guest operating system must be Windows XP or later. To use DirectX 10 accelerated graphics, the guest operating system must be Windows Vista or later.

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Prerequisites

Verify that the latest version of VMware Tools is installed in the guest operating system.

Verify that the guest operating system in the virtual machine is Windows XP or higher, or Linux.

If you plan to use DirectX 9 or DirectX 10 accelerated graphics, prepare the host system. See “Prepare

the Host System to Use 3D Accelerated Graphics,” on page 87.

If you are using Windows 8.1 (Update 2) or Windows 10, Workstation Player detects the DPI on each

monitor and scales the virtual machine to match the DPI on the host.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, select Display.

4 (Optional) To run applications that use DirectX 9 or DirectX 10 accelerated graphics, select Accelerate

3D graphics.

Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

5 Specify whether host settings determine the number of monitors.

Option Description

Use host setting for monitors

Specify monitor settings

6 (Optional) Select the maximum amount of guest memory that can be used for graphics memory using

the drop down menu. The default value of video memory varies by guest OS.

When you select this setting, the SVGA driver uses two monitors, a maximum bounding box width of 3840, and a maximum bounding box height of 1920. The virtual machine is configured to have a minimum of two 1920x1200 monitors, in a side-by-side topology, in both normal and rotated orientations. If the host system has more than two monitors, the virtual machine uses the number of monitors on the host system instead. If the host system's bounding box is wider or taller than the defaults, the virtual machine uses the larger size. You should select this setting in most cases.

Set the number of monitors that the virtual machine will see, regardless of the number of monitors on the host system. This setting is useful if you use a multimonitor host system and you need to test in a virtual machine that has only one monitor. It is also useful if you are developing a multimonitor application in a virtual machine and the host system has only one monitor. After you power on the virtual machine, the guest operating system sees the number of monitors that you specified. Select a resolution from the list or type a setting that has the format width x height, where width and height are the number of pixels.

Guest OS Default

Windows 7 and later

Windows XP and earlier

Linux

1 GB

512 MB

768 MB

NOTE If you manually edited the .vmx file to change the memory size for the virtual machine, the value you entered in the .vmx file is displayed, labeled Custom.

7 Click OK to save your changes.

Use Full Screen Mode in Workstation Player

In full screen mode, the virtual machine display fills the screen, so that you cannot see the borders of the Workstation Player window.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

Verify that the guest operating system display mode is larger than the host system display mode. If the

guest operating system display mode is smaller than the host system display mode, you might not be able to enter full screen mode. If you cannot enter full screen mode, add the line

mks.maxRefreshRate=1000 to the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file.

Verify that the latest version of VMware Tools is installed in the guest operating system.

If you are running the virtual machine in full screen mode on a laptop, configure the guest operating

system to report battery information. See “Report Battery Information in the Guest,” on page 61.

Procedure

To enter full screen mode, select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Enter Full Screen.

To enter full screen mode, select the virtual machine and select Player > Full Screen.

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To hide the full screen toolbar and menus while you are using full screen mode, click the push pin icon

and move the pointer off of the toolbar.

This action unpins the toolbar. The toolbar slides up to the top of the monitor and disappears. To display the toolbar again, point to the top of the screen until the toolbar appears.

To exit full screen mode and return to windowed mode, select Virtual Machine > Exit Full Screen from

the full screen toolbar.

To exit full screen mode and return to windowed mode, select Player > Full Screen from the full screen

toolbar. The check mark next to Full Screen is removed.

Report Battery Information in the Guest

If you run a virtual machine on a laptop in full screen mode, configure the option to report battery information in the guest so that you can determine when the battery is running low.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Options tab, select Power.

4 Select Report battery information to guest.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

Use Unity Mode

You can switch virtual machines that have Windows XP or later guest operating systems to Unity mode to display applications directly on the host system desktop.

In Unity mode, virtual machine applications appear on the host system desktop, you can use the virtual machine Start or Applications menu from the host system, and the virtual machine console view is hidden. Items for open virtual machine applications appear on the host system taskbar in the same way as open host applications.

On host system and virtual machine applications that are displayed in Unity mode, you can use keyboard shortcuts to copy, cut, and paste images, plain text, formatted text, and email attachments between applications. You can also drag and drop and copy and paste files between the host system and the guest operating system.

If you save a file or attempt to open a file from an application in Unity mode, the file system you see is the file system inside the virtual machine. You cannot open a file from the host operating system or save a file to the host operating system.

For some guest operating systems, application windows in Unity mode can appear only on the monitor that is set as the primary display when you have multiple monitors. If the host and guest operating systems are Windows XP or later, the application windows can appear on additional monitors.

Unity mode is not available in full screen mode on Windows.

Prerequisites

Verify that the latest version of VMware Tools is installed in the guest operating system.

Verify that the guest operating system is Windows XP or later.

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Power on the virtual machine.

If you are entering Unity mode, open applications in the virtual machine to use in Unity mode.

Procedure

To enter Unity mode, select Virtual Machine > Enter Unity.

The console view in the Workstation Player window is hidden, and open applications appear in application windows on the host system desktop. A check mark appears next to Unity in the menu.

To enter Unity mode, select Player > Unity.

The console view in the Workstation Player window is hidden, and open applications appear in application windows on the host system desktop. A check mark appears next to Unity in the menu.

To display the virtual machine Start menu on a Windows host system, point to the Start menu on a

Windows host system.

To display the virtual machine Applications menu on a Linux host system, point to the upper-left

corner of the primary monitor on the Linux host system.

To navigate between multiple Start or Applications menus when multiple virtual machines are in

Unity mode, press the arrow keys, Tab, or Shift+Tab to cycle through the virtual machine menus and press Enter and the spacebar to select a virtual machine.

To exit Unity mode, display the Workstation Player window and click Exit Unity in the virtual machine

console view.

To exit Unity mode, display the Workstation Player window and click Exit Unity in the virtual machine

console view.

Set Preferences for Unity Mode

You can set preferences for Unity mode to control whether that the virtual machine Start or Applications menu is available from the host system desktop. You can also select the border color that appears around applications that run in Unity mode when they appear on the host system desktop.

When you use the virtual machine Start or Applications menu from the host system desktop, you can start applications in the virtual machine that are not open in Unity mode. If you do not enable this feature, you must exit Unity mode to display the virtual machine Start or Applications menu in the console view.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Options, select Unity.

4 Select a Unity window decoration option.

Option Description

Show borders

Show badges

Use a custom color in window borders

Set a window border that identifies the application as belonging to the virtual machine rather than to the host computer.

Display a logo in the title bar.

Use a custom color in window borders to help distinguish between the application windows that belong to various virtual machines. For example, you can set the applications for one virtual machine to have a blue border and set the applications for another virtual machine to have a yellow border. On Windows hosts, click Choose color to use the color chooser.

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5 To control whether the virtual machine Start or Application menu available on the host system

desktop, select or deselect Enable applications menu.

6 Click OK to save your changes.

Create Virtual Machine Application Shortcuts on the Host in Unity Mode

You can create a shortcut for a virtual machine application on the host system in Unity mode.

You open the application in the same way that you open an application on the host system. You can open a virtual machine application shortcut from the host system even when the virtual machine is powered off or suspended.

Prerequisites

Verify that the virtual machine is configured to display the virtual machine Start or Application menu

on the host system desktop. See “Set Preferences for Unity Mode,” on page 62.

Verify that the latest version of VMware Tools is running in the guest operating system.

Power on the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 To enter Unity mode, select Virtual Machine > Enter Unity.

The console view in the Workstation Player window is hidden, and open applications appear in application windows on the host system desktop. A check mark appears next to Unity in the menu.

2 To enter Unity mode, select Player > Unity.

The console view in the Workstation Player window is hidden, and open applications appear in application windows on the host system desktop. A check mark appears next to Unity in the menu.

3 Point to the Start button to display the virtual machine Start menu on the host system desktop, click the

Start menu, and select the application.

4 Right-click the application and select Create Shortcut on Desktop, or drag the application to the host

system.

Use Multiple Monitors for One Virtual Machine in Workstation Player

If the host system has multiple monitors, you can configure a virtual machine to use multiple monitors. You can use the multiple-monitor feature when the virtual machine is in full screen mode.

Prerequisites

Configure multiple monitors for one virtual machine. See “Configure Display Settings for a Virtual

Machine,” on page 59.

Verify that the latest version of VMware Tools is installed in the guest operating system.

Verify that the guest operating system is Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8,

Windows 8.1, Windows 10, or Linux.

On the host system, verify that the left-most monitor is not placed lower than any other monitor in the

display topology. When you enter full screen mode, the monitor that contains the window cannot be lower than another monitor.

Procedure

1 Power on the virtual machine and click the maximize button.

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2 On the full screen toolbar, click the Cycle multiple monitors button.

On a Windows host, you can mouse over a button on the toolbar to see its name.

If your virtual machine supports more than two monitors, use the Cycle multiple monitors button to select a configuration with more than two monitors. The monitor in which the virtual machine entered full screen mode is marked with an asterisk.

The guest operating system desktop extends to the additional monitor or monitors.

3 If the host system has more than two monitors and you want the virtual machine to use all of the

monitors, click the Cycle multiple monitors button again.

The order in which the monitors are used depends on the order in which the monitors were added to the host operating system. If you continue to click the button, you return to fewer monitors.

Limitations for Mutiple Monitors

The use of more than two monitors with a virtual machine has certain limitations.

If you attempt to use more than two monitors with a virtual machine, your virtual machine must

support more than two monitors for this feature to function.

More than two monitors is supported on Windows and Linux host and guest operating systems.

Windows XP guests support more than three monitors. However, only three monitors can be in use by

a Windows XP guest at one time. If more than three monitors are connected to a Windows XP guest, use the Cycle multiple monitors button to cycle through the monitors to the configuration you want to use.

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Using Removable Devices and

Printers in Virtual Machines 8

You can connect and disconnect removable devices in a virtual machine. You can also print from a virtual machine to any printer available to the host computer without having to install additional drivers in the virtual machine.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Use a Removable Device in a Virtual Machine,” on page 65

“Connecting USB Devices to Virtual Machines,” on page 66

“Mount the USB File System on a Linux Host,” on page 69

“Add a Host Printer to a Virtual Machine,” on page 69

“Using Smart Cards in Virtual Machines,” on page 70

Use a Removable Device in a Virtual Machine

You can connect and disconnect removable devices in a virtual machine. You can also change the settings for a removable device by modifying virtual machine settings.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

If you are connecting or disconnecting a USB device, familiarize yourself with the way

Workstation Player handles USB devices. See “Connecting USB Devices to Virtual Machines,” on page 66.

If you are connecting or disconnecting a USB device on a Linux host and the USB device file system is

not located in /proc/bus/usb, mount the USB file system to that location. See “Mount the USB File

System on a Linux Host,” on page 67.

Procedure

To connect a removable device, select the virtual machine, select Virtual Machine > Removable

Devices, select the device, and select Connect.

If the device is connected to the host system through a USB hub, the virtual machine sees only the USB device, not the hub.

A check mark appears next to the name of the device when the device is connected to the virtual machine and a device icon appears on the virtual machine taskbar.

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To connect a removable device, select the virtual machine, select Player > Removable Devices, select

the device, and select Connect.

If the device is connected to the host system through a USB hub, the virtual machine sees only the USB device, not the hub.

A check mark appears next to the name of the device when the device is connected to the virtual machine and a device icon appears on the virtual machine taskbar.

To change the settings for a removable device, select Virtual Machine > Removable Devices, select the

device, and select Settings.

To change the settings for a removable device, select Player > Removable Devices, select the device,

and select Settings.

To disconnect a removable device, select the virtual machine, select Virtual Machine > Removable

Devices, select the device, and select Disconnect.

You can also disconnect the device by clicking or right-clicking the device icon on the virtual machine taskbar. Using the taskbar icon is especially useful if you run the virtual machine in full screen mode.

To disconnect a removable device, select the virtual machine, select Player > Removable Devices, select

the device, and select Disconnect.

Connecting USB Devices to Virtual Machines

When a virtual machine is running, its window is the active window. If you plug a USB device into the host system, the device connects to the virtual machine instead of the host by default. If a USB device connected to the host system does not connect to a virtual machine at power on, you must manually connect the device to the virtual machine.

When you connect a USB device to a virtual machine, Workstation Player retains the connection to the affected port on the host system. You can suspend or power off the virtual machine, or unplug the device. When you plug in the device again or resume the virtual machine, Workstation Player reconnects the device. Workstation Player retains the connection by writing an autoconnect entry to the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file.

If Workstation Player cannot reconnect to the device, for example, because you disconnected the device, the device is removed and Workstation Player displays a message to indicate that it cannot connect to the device. You can connect to the device manually if it is still available.

Follow the device manufacturer's procedures for unplugging the device from the host computer when you physically unplug the device, move the device from host system to a virtual machine, move the device between virtual machines, or move the device from a virtual machine to the host computer. Following these procedures is especially important for data storage devices, such as zip drives. If you move a data storage device too soon after saving a file and the operating system did not actually write the data to the disk, you can lose data.

Installing USB Drivers on Windows Hosts

When a particular USB device is connected to a virtual machine for the first time, the host detects it as a new device named VMware USB Device and installs the appropriate VMware driver.

The Windows operating system prompts you to run the Microsoft Windows Found New Hardware wizard. Select the default action to install the software automatically. After the software is installed, the guest operating system detects the USB device and searches for a suitable driver.

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Disable Automatic Connection of USB Devices

You can disable the autoconnect feature if you do not want USB devices to connect to a virtual machine when you power it on.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, select USB Controller.

4 Deselect Automatically connect new USB devices to disable automatic connection of USB devices.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

Mount the USB File System on a Linux Host

On Linux hosts, Workstation Player uses the USB device file system to connect to USB devices. If the USB device file system is not located in /proc/bus/usb, you must mount the USB file system to that location.

IMPORTANT Do not attempt to add a USB drive device node directory, for example, /dev/sda, to the virtual machine as a hard disk.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have root access to the host system.

Procedure

1 As root, mount the USB file system.

mount -t usbfs none /proc/bus/usb

2 Connect the USB device to the host system.

Connect USB HIDs to a Virtual Machine

To connect USB human interface devices (HIDs) to a virtual machine, you must configure the virtual machine to show all USB input devices in the Removable Devices menu.

By default, USB HIDs, such as USB 1.1 and 2.0 mouse and keyboard devices, do not appear in the Removable Devices menu in a virtual machine, even though they are plugged in to USB ports on the host system.

An HID that is connected to a virtual machine is not available to the host system.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

If you are using a KVM switch for a mouse or keyboard, disable automatic connection of USB devices.

See “Disable Automatic Connection of USB Devices,” on page 67.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

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3 On the Hardware tab, select USB Controller.

4 Select Show all USB input devices.

This option allows users to use special USB HIDs inside the virtual machine.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

6 Power on the virtual machine.

HIDs appear in the Removable Devices menu.

Install a PDA Driver and Synchronize With a Virtual Machine

To install a PDA driver in a virtual machine, you must synchronize the PDA with the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Connect the PDA to the host system and synchronize it with the host system.

The PDA driver should begin installing in the virtual machine.

2 Allow the virtual machine to install the PDA driver.

3 If connection warning messages appear, dismiss them.

4 If the PDA disconnects from the host system before the virtual machine can synchronize with it,

synchronize the PDA with the host system again.

The total time required to load the VMware USB device driver in the host system and install the PDA driver in the virtual machine might exceed the device connection timeout value. A second synchronization attempt usually succeeds.

Troubleshooting USB Device Control Sharing

Only the host system or the virtual machine can have control of a particular USB device at any one time. Device control operates differently, depending on whether the host system is a Linux or a Windows computer.

When you connect a device to a virtual machine, it is disconnected from the host system or from the virtual machine that previously had control of the device. When you disconnect a device from a virtual machine, it is returned to the host system.

Under some circumstances, if a USB storage device is in use on the host system, for example, one or more files stored on the device are open on the host, an error appears in the virtual machine when you try to connect to the device. You must let the host system complete its operation or close any application connected to the device on the host system and connect to the device in the virtual machine again.

Troubleshoot USB Device Control Issues on a Linux Host

You have problems connecting or disconnecting USB devices on a Linux host system.

Problem

You are prompted to disconnect the driver on the host system when you connect a USB device to the virtual machine or disconnecting the device fails.

Cause

On Linux host systems, guest operating systems can use devices that are not claimed by a host operating system driver. A related issue sometimes affects devices that rely on automatic connection, such as PDAs. Occasionally, even if you successfully use autoconnection to connect the device to the virtual machine, you might experience problems with the connection to the device.

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Solution

1 If you have problems with autoconnection, perform these steps.

a Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Removable Devices to disconnect and

reconnect the device.

b Select the virtual machine and select Player > Removable Devices to disconnect and reconnect the

device.

c If the problem persists, unplug the device and plug it in again.

d If a warning message indicates that the device is in use, disable the device in the hotplug

configuration files in the /etc/hotplug directory.

The documentation for the Linux distribution contains information on editing these configuration files.

2 If disconnection fails, either disable the driver or unload the driver manually.

Option Description

Disable the driver

Unload the driver manually

If the driver was automatically loaded by hotplug, disable it in the hotplug configuration files in the /etc/hotplug directory. See the documentation for your Linux distribution for information on editing these configuration files.

Become root (su -) and use the rmmod command.

Mount the USB File System on a Linux Host

IMPORTANT Do not attempt to add a USB drive device node directory, for example, /dev/sda, to the virtual machine as a hard disk.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have root access to the host system.

Procedure

1 As root, mount the USB file system.

mount -t usbfs none /proc/bus/usb

2 Connect the USB device to the host system.

Add a Host Printer to a Virtual Machine

You can print from a virtual machine to any printer available to the host computer without having to install additional drivers in the virtual machine.

Prerequisites

Support for virtual printers is disabled by default. To enable virtual printer support, see “Configuring

Virtual Printers on Windows Hosts,” on page 24

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Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, select Add.

4 In the Add Hardware wizard, select Printer and Finish.

The default device setting is to connect the virtual machine printer when the virtual machine is powered on.

What to do next

In a Print window, when you attempt to select a printer in Windows 7 virtual machines, you might see only the default printer, even though other printers are available. To see the other printers, right-click the default printer and point to Printer properties.

Using Smart Cards in Virtual Machines

Virtual machines can connect to smart card readers that interface to serial ports, parallel ports, USB ports, PCMCIA slots, and PCI slots. A virtual machine considers a smart card reader to be a type of USB device.

A smart card is a plastic card that has an embedded computer chip. Many government agencies and large enterprises use smart cards to send secure communication, digitally sign documents, and authenticate users who access their computer networks. Users plug a smart card reader into their computer and insert their smart card in the reader. They are then prompted for their PIN to log in.

You can select a smart card reader from the Removable Devices menu in a virtual machine. A smart card can be shared between virtual machines, or between the host system and one or more virtual machines. Sharing is enabled by default.

When you plug a smart card reader into the host system, the reader appears as two separate USB devices in Workstation Player. This is because you can use smart cards in one of two mutually exclusive modes.

Shared mode

USB passthrough mode

(Recommended) The smart card reader device is available as Shared smart_card_reader_model in the Removable Devices menu. In Windows XP guest operating systems, the shared reader appears as USB Smart Card Reader after it is connected to the virtual machine. In Windows Vista and Windows 7 guest operating systems, the generic smart card reader device name appears under the Windows Device Manager list. The smart card reader can be shared among applications on the host system and among applications in different guest operating systems.

The smart card reader device is available as smart_card_reader_model in the Removable Devices menu. In USB passthrough mode, a single virtual machine directly controls the physical smart card reader. A USB passthrough smart card reader cannot be used by applications on the host system or by applications in other virtual machines. You should use USB passthrough mode only if connection in shared mode does not work well for your scenario. You might need to install the driver provided by the manufacturer to use USB passthrough mode.

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You can use smart cards with Windows operating systems and most Linux distributions. VMware provides full smart card support for Windows virtual machines running on Linux hosts. Using smart cards in Linux typically requires third-party software to effectively authenticate to a domain or enable secure communications.

NOTE Although smart cards should work with common Linux browsers, email applications, and directory services, these products have not been tested or certified by VMware.

Use a Smart Card in a Virtual Machine

You can configure a virtual machine to use the smart card reader on the host system.

Prerequisites

On a Windows host, start the SCardSvr.exe service.

On a Linux host, verify that the libpcsclite library is installed and that the pcscd daemon is running.

Verify that the virtual machine has a USB controller. A USB controller is required, regardless of whether

the smart card reader is a USB device. A USB controller is added by default when you create a virtual machine.

Connect the smart card reader to the host system.

Start the virtual machine

Procedure

To connect the smart card reader to the virtual machine, select the virtual machine and select Virtual

Machine > Removable Devices > Shared <smart_card_reader_model> > Connect.

If the smart card reader is a USB device, two items appear for it in the menu. Both items use the model name of the reader, but one item name begins with Virtual.

To connect the smart card reader to the virtual machine, select the virtual machine and select Player >

Removable Devices > Shared <smart_card_reader_model> > Connect.

If the smart card reader is a USB device, two items appear for it in the menu. Both items use the model name of the reader, but one item name begins with Virtual.

To disconnect the smart card reader from the virtual machine, select Virtual Machine > Removable

Devices > Shared <smart_card_reader_model> > Disconnect.

To disconnect the smart card reader from the virtual machine, select Player > Removable Devices >

Shared <smart_card_reader_model> > Disconnect.

To remove the smart card from the virtual machine, select Virtual Machine > Removable Devices >

Shared <smart_card_reader_model> > Remove Smart Card.

The smart card is removed from the virtual machine, but it remains connected on the host system. If the smart card is physically removed from the smart card reader, this option is disabled.

To remove the smart card from the virtual machine, select Player > Removable Devices > Shared

<smart_card_reader_model> > Remove Smart Card.

The smart card is removed from the virtual machine, but it remains connected on the host system. If the smart card is physically removed from the smart card reader, this option is disabled.

To insert the smart card to the virtual machine, select Virtual Machine > Removable Devices > Shared

<smart_card_reader_model> > Insert Smart Card.

If the smart card is physically inserted in the smart card reader, the smart card is also inserted in the virtual machine.

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To insert the smart card to the virtual machine, select Player > Removable Devices > Shared

<smart_card_reader_model> > Insert Smart Card.

If the smart card is physically inserted in the smart card reader, the smart card is also inserted in the virtual machine.

Disable Smart Card Sharing

By default, you can share a smart card between virtual machines or between the host system and one or more virtual machines. You might want to disable smart card sharing if you are using a PCMCIA smart card reader, deploying virtual machines for enterprise use and do not want to support drivers for various smart card readers, or the host system has drivers but the virtual machines do not.

The setting that controls smart card sharing is located in the Workstation Player global configuration file.

Procedure

1 Find the global configuration file on the host system.

Operating System Location

Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 hosts

Linux hosts

2 If the global configuration file does not yet exist on the host system, select File > Preferences and

change at least one Workstation Player preference settings.

C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Player\config.ini

/etc/vmware/config

Workstation Player creates the global configuration file when you change Workstation Player preference settings.

3 If the global configuration file does not yet exist on the host system, select Player > File > Preferences

and change at least one Workstation Player preference settings.

Workstation Player creates the global configuration file when you change Workstation Player preference settings.

4 Open the global configuration file in a text editor and set the usb.ccid.useSharedMode property to

FALSE.

For example: usb.ccid.useSharedMode = "FALSE"

5 Save and close the global configuration file.

6 Set permissions on the global configuration file so that other users cannot change it.

Switch to a Virtual Smart Card Reader on a Linux Host

Because of the way smart card reader functionality is implemented on Linux hosts, you must exit Workstation Player and restart the pcscd daemon on the host system before you can switch from the nonvirtual smart card reader to the virtual smart card reader.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine, select Virtual Machine > Removable Devices, select the smart card reader,

and select Disconnect.

2 Power off the virtual machine and exit Workstation Player.

3 Physically disconnect the smart card reader from the host system.

4 Restart the pcscd daemon on the host system.

5 Physically connect the smart card reader to the host system.

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6 Start Workstation Player and start the virtual machine.

7 Select the virtual machine, select Virtual Machine > Removable Devices, select the smart card reader,

and select Connect.

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Setting Up Shared Folders for a

Virtual Machine 9

You can set up shared folders for a virtual machine. Shared folders provide an easy way to share files among virtual machines and between virtual machines and the host system.

The directories that you add as shared folders can be located on the host system, or they can be located on network directories that are accessible from the host system. Access to shared folders is governed by permission settings on the host system. For example, if you are running Workstation Player as a user named User, the virtual machine can read and write files in the shared folder only if User has permission to read and write the files.

To use shared folders, the guest operating system must have the current version of VMware Tools and must support shared folders.

IMPORTANT Shared folders expose your files to programs in the virtual machine and might put your data at risk. Only enable shared folders if you trust the virtual machine with your data.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Using Shared Folders,” on page 75

“Enable a Shared Folder for a Virtual Machine,” on page 77

“View Shared Folders in a Windows Guest,” on page 78

“Mounting Shared Folders in a Linux Guest,” on page 78

“Change Shared Folder Properties,” on page 79

“Change the Folders That a Virtual Machine Can Share,” on page 79

“Disable Folder Sharing for a Virtual Machine,” on page 80

“Mapping a Virtual Disk to the Host System,” on page 80

Using Shared Folders

You can use shared folders to share files among virtual machines and between virtual machines and the host system. The directories that you add as shared folders can be on the host system, or they can be network directories that are accessible from the host computer.

IMPORTANT You cannot open a file in a shared folder from more than one application at a time. For example, do not open the same file in an application on the host operating system and in another application in the guest operating system. If one of the applications writes to the file, data might be corrupted.

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Guest Operating Systems That Support Shared Folders

To use shared folders, a virtual machine must have a supported guest operating system.

The following guest operating systems support shared folders.

Windows Server 2003

Windows 2000

Windows NT 4.0

Windows Vista

Windows XP

Windows 7

Windows 8

Windows 10

Linux with a kernel version of 2.6 or later

Solaris x86 10

Solaris x86 10 Update 1 and later

Using Permissions to Restrict Access to Shared Files in a Linux Guest

You can use permissions to restrict access to the files in a shared folder on a Linux guest operating system.

On a Linux host, if you create files that you want to share with a Linux guest operating system, the file permissions shown on the guest operating system are the same as the permissions on the host system. You can use the fmask and dmask commands to mask permissions bits for files and directories.

If you create files on a Windows host system that you want to share with a Linux guest operating system, read-only files are displayed as having read and execute permission for everyone and other files are shown as fully writable by everyone.

If you use a Linux guest operating system to create files for which you want to restrict permissions, use the

mount program with the following options in the guest operating system.

uid

gid

fmask

dmask

ro (read only)

rw (read-write)

rw is the default.

If you are using a virtual machine that was created with the Windows version of Workstation Player, or a previous release of the Linux version of Workstation Player, you can change the owner permissions only.

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Chapter 9 Setting Up Shared Folders for a Virtual Machine

Enable a Shared Folder for a Virtual Machine

You can enable folder sharing for a specific virtual machine. To set up a folder for sharing between virtual machines, you must configure each virtual machine to use the same directory on the host system or network share.

Prerequisites

Verify that the virtual machines use a guest operating system that supports shared folders. See “Guest

Operating Systems That Support Shared Folders,” on page 76.

Verify that the latest version of VMware Tools is installed in the guest operating system.

Verify that permission settings on the host system allow access to files in the shared folders. For

example, if you are running Workstation Player as a user named User, the virtual machine can read and write files in the shared folder only if User has permission to read and write them.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Options tab, select Shared Folders.

4 Select a folder sharing option.

Option Description

Always enabled

Enabled until next power off or suspend

Keep folder sharing enabled, even when the virtual machine is shut down, suspended, or powered off.

Enable folder sharing temporarily, until you power off, suspend, or shut down the virtual machine. If you restart the virtual machine, shared folders remain enabled. This setting is available only when the virtual machine is powered on.

5 (Optional) To map a drive to the Shared Folders directory, select Map as a network drive in Windows

guests.

This directory contains all of the shared folders that you enable. Workstation Player selects the drive letter.

6 Click Add to add a shared folder.

On Windows hosts, the Add Shared Folder wizard starts. On Linux hosts, the Shared Folder Properties dialog box opens.

7 Type the path on the host system to the directory to share.

If you specify a directory on a network share, such as D:\share, Workstation Player always attempts to use that path. If the directory is later connected to the host on a different drive letter, Workstation Player cannot locate the shared folder.

8 Specify the name of the shared folder as it should appear inside the virtual machine.

Characters that the guest operating system considers illegal in a share name appear differently when viewed inside the guest. For example, if you use an asterisk in a share name, you see %002A instead of * in the share name on the guest. Illegal characters are converted to their ASCII hexadecimal value.

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9 Select shared folder attributes.

Option Description

Enable this share

Read-only

10 Click Finish to add the shared folder.

The shared folder appears in the Folders list. The check box next to folder name indicates that the folder is being shared. You can deselect this check box to disable sharing for the folder.

11 Click OK to save your changes.

What to do next

View the shared folder. On Linux guests, shared folders appear under /mnt/hgfs. On Solaris guests, shared folders appear under /hgfs. To view shared folders on a Windows guest, see “View Shared Folders in a

Windows Guest,” on page 78.

Enable the shared folder. Deselect this option to disable a shared folder without deleting it from the virtual machine configuration.

Make the shared folder read-only. When this property is selected, the virtual machine can view and copy files from the shared folder, but it cannot add, change, or remove files. Access to files in the shared folder is also governed by permission settings on the host computer.

View Shared Folders in a Windows Guest

In a Windows guest operating system, you can view shared folders by using desktop icons.

NOTE If the guest operating system has VMware Tools from Workstation 4.0, shared folders appear as folders on a designated drive letter.

Procedure

Depending on the Windows operating system version, look for VMware Shared Folders in My

Network Places, Network Neighborhood, or Network.

If you mapped the shared folder as a network drive, open My Computer and look for Shared Folders

on 'vmware-host' under Network Drives.

To view a specific shared folder, go directly to the folder by using the UNC path \\vmware-

host\Shared Folders\shared_folder_name.

Mounting Shared Folders in a Linux Guest

After you have enabled a shared folder, you can mount one or more directories or subdirectories in the shared folder to any location in the file system in addition to the default location of /mnt/hgfs.

Use the mount command to mount all shares, one share, or a subdirectory within a share to any location in the file system.

Table 9‑1. Mount Command Syntax

Command Description

mount -t vmhgfs .host:/ /home/user1/shares Mounts all shares to /home/user1/shares

mount -t vmhgfs .host:/foo /tmp/foo Mounts the share named foo to /tmp/foo

mount -t vmhgfs .host:/foo/bar /var/lib/bar Mounts the subdirectory bar within the share

foo to /var/lib/bar

You can use VMware-specific options in addition to the standard mount syntax. For usage information for the host-guest file system options, type the command /sbin/mount.vmhgfs -h.

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When you install VMware Tools, an entry is made to etc/fstab to specify the location of shared folders. You can edit this file to change or add entries. For example, to auto-mount at startup, edit /etc/fstab and add the line:

.host:/ /mnt/hgfs vmhgfs defaults 0 0

The VMware Tools services script loads a driver that performs the mount. If the mount fails, a message appears regarding mounting HGFS shares.

NOTE The mount can fail if shared folders are disabled or if the share does not exist. You are not prompted to run the VMware Tools vmware-config-tools.pl configuration program again.

Change Shared Folder Properties

After you create a shared folder, you can change the folder name, the host path, and other attributes.

Prerequisites

Create a shared folder. See “Enable a Shared Folder for a Virtual Machine,” on page 77.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

Chapter 9 Setting Up Shared Folders for a Virtual Machine

3 On the Options tab, select Shared Folders.

4 Select the shared folder in the folders list and click Properties.

5 To change the name of the shared folder as it appears inside the virtual machine, type the new name in

the Name text box.

6 To change the host path for the shared folder, browse to or type the new path in the Host path text box.

7 To change an attribute for the shared folder, select or deselect the attribute.

Option Description

Enabled

Read-only

Enable the shared folder. Deselect this option to disable a shared folder without deleting it from the virtual machine configuration.

8 Click OK to save your changes.

Change the Folders That a Virtual Machine Can Share

You can change the folders that a specific virtual machine is allowed to share.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

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2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Options tab, select Shared Folders.

4 In the folders list, select the check boxes next to the folders to share and deselect the check boxes next to

the folders to disable.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

Disable Folder Sharing for a Virtual Machine

You can disable folder sharing for a specific virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Options tab, select Shared Folders.

4 Select Disabled to disable folder sharing.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

Mapping a Virtual Disk to the Host System

Instead of using shared folders or copying data between a virtual machine and the host system, you can map a virtual disk to the host system. In this case, you map a virtual disk in the host file system as a separate mapped drive. Using a mapped drive lets you connect to the virtual disk without going into a virtual machine.

Map or Mount a Virtual Disk to a Drive on the Host System

When you map a virtual disk and its associated volume to a drive on the host system, you can connect to the virtual disk without opening a virtual machine.

After you map the virtual disk to a drive on the host system, you cannot power on any virtual machine that uses the disk until you disconnect the disk from the host system.

IMPORTANT If you mount a virtual disk that has a snapshot and then write to the disk, you can irreparably damage a snapshot or linked clone created from the virtual machine.

Prerequisites

Power off all virtual machines that use the virtual disk.

Verify that the virtual disk (.vmdk) files on the virtual disk are not compressed and do not have read-

only permissions.

On a Windows host, verify that the volume is formatted with FAT (12/16/32) or NTFS. Only FAT

(12/16/32) and NTFS formatting is supported. If the virtual disk has mixed partitions, for example, one partition is formatted with a Linux operating system and another partition is formatted with a Windows operating system, you can map the Windows partition only.

Verify that the virtual disk is unencrypted. You cannot map or mount encrypted disks.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, select Hard Disk, click Utilities, and select Map.

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Chapter 9 Setting Up Shared Folders for a Virtual Machine

4 On a Windows host, leave the check box Open file in read-only mode selected in the Map Virtual Disk

dialog box.

This setting prevents you from accidentally writing data to a virtual disk that might be the parent of a snapshot or linked clone. Writing to such a disk might make the snapshot or linked clone unusable.

5 On a Linux host, select the Mount in read-only mode check box in the Mount Disk dialog box.

6 Browse to a virtual disk (.vmdk) file, select it, and click Open.

7 Select the volume to map or mount and select an unused drive letter on the host system.

8 (Optional) On a Windows host, if you do not want the drive to open in Windows Explorer after it is

mapped, deselect the Open drive in Windows Explorer after mapping check box.

9 Click OK or Mount.

The drive appears on the host system. You can read from or write to files on the mapped virtual disk on the host system.

Disconnect a Virtual Disk from the Host System

To use a virtual disk from a virtual machine after it has been mapped or mounted on the host system, you must disconnect it from the host system.

On Windows hosts, you must use Workstation Player to disconnect the drive from the host system. The mapped drive letter does not appear in the list of network drives when you use the Windows Disconnect Network Drive command.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, select Hard Disk, click Utilities, and select Disconnect.

You can now power on any virtual machine that uses this disk.

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Configuring and Managing Virtual

Machines 10

You can change virtual machine options, configure video and sound card settings, and move virtual machines to another host system or to a different location on the same host system.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Change the Name of a Virtual Machine,” on page 83

“Change the Guest Operating System for a Virtual Machine,” on page 84

“Change the Working Directory for a Virtual Machine,” on page 84

“Change the Virtual Machine Directory for a Virtual Machine,” on page 85

“Change the Memory Allocation for a Virtual Machine,” on page 85

“Configuring Video and Sound,” on page 85

“Moving Virtual Machines,” on page 89

“Configure a Virtual Machine as a VNC Server,” on page 92

“Delete a Virtual Machine,” on page 95

“View the Message Log for a Virtual Machine,” on page 95

“Using the VIX API,” on page 95

“Install New Software in a Virtual Machine,” on page 96

Change the Name of a Virtual Machine

When you run a virtual machine, its name appears in the title bar. Workstation Player uses the original name of the virtual machine to name the directory where the virtual machine files are stored.

Changing the name of a virtual machine does not change the name of the virtual machine directory or rename the virtual machine files on the host system.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Options tab, select General.

4 Type the new name.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

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What to do next

When you restart the virtual machine the new name appears in the library.

Change the Guest Operating System for a Virtual Machine

If you upgrade the guest operating system that is installed in a virtual machine, or if you specify the wrong operating system version when you create the virtual machine, you must change the guest operating system type that is configured for the virtual machine.

When you change the operating system type, the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file changes. The guest operating system itself does not change. To upgrade the guest operating system, obtain the appropriate software from the operating system vendor.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Options tab, select General.

4 Select the new operating system and version.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

Change the Working Directory for a Virtual Machine

By default, the working directory and the virtual machine directory are the same. You might want to change the working directory to improve performance. For example, to create a paging file on a fast disk that has a lot of disk space but leave the virtual disk and configuration file on a different disk, you can change the working directory so that it is located on the fast disk.

The working directory is where Workstation Player stores suspended state (.vmss), snapshot (.vmsn), virtual machine paging (.vmem), and redo log files for a virtual machine.

Changing the working directory does not change the directory where the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file or the log files are stored.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Options tab, select General.

4 Type or browse to the location of the new working directory.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

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Chapter 10 Configuring and Managing Virtual Machines

Change the Virtual Machine Directory for a Virtual Machine

The virtual machine directory is where Workstation Player stores virtual machine files, including the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file. By default, the virtual machine directory and the working directory are the same.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 In the host file system, rename the directory where the .vmx file is stored.

2 Select File > Open a Virtual Machine.

3 Browse to the new location of the .vmx file and click Open.

Change the Memory Allocation for a Virtual Machine

You can adjust the amount of memory that is allocated to a virtual machine.

On 64-bit hosts, the maximum amount of memory for each virtual machine is 32GB. On 32-bit hosts, the maximum amount of memory for each virtual machine is 8GB. The total amount of memory that you can assign to all virtual machines running on a single host system is limited only by the amount of RAM on the host system.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, select Memory.

The Memory panel includes information to help you select the appropriate amount of memory for the virtual machine. The high end of the range is determined by the amount of memory that is allocated to all running virtual machines.

4 Align the slider with the corresponding icon to change the amount of memory.

The color-coded icons indicate the maximum recommended memory, the recommended memory, and the guest operating system minimum memory amounts.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

6 Power on the virtual machine to implement the changes.

Configuring Video and Sound

For best color and graphics display, coordinate host and guest operating system color settings. Workstation Player supports games and applications that use DirectX 9 accelerated graphics, but you must perform some 3D preparation tasks on the host and guest operating systems.

Workstation Player usually installs the necessary drivers for sound support, but you must manually install a driver on some of the oldest and newest guest operating systems.

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Setting Screen Color Depth on page 86

The number of screen colors available in the guest operating system depends on the screen color setting of the host operating system.

Using Accelerated 3D Graphics on page 86

You must perform certain preparation tasks on the host system and on virtual machines to use accelerated 3D graphics.

Configuring Sound on page 88

Workstation Player provides a sound device compatible with the Sound Blaster AudioPCI and supports sound in Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and Linux guest operating systems. The Workstation Player sound device is enabled by default.

Setting Screen Color Depth

The number of screen colors available in the guest operating system depends on the screen color setting of the host operating system.

Virtual machines support the following screen colors.

16-color (VGA) mode

8-bit pseudocolor

16 bits per pixel (16 significant bits per pixel)

32 bits per pixel (24 significant bits per pixel)

If the host operating system is in 15-bit color mode, the guest operating system color setting controls offer 15-bit mode in place of 16-bit mode. If the host operating system is in 24-bit color mode, the guest operating system color setting controls offer 24-bit mode in place of 32-bit mode.

If you run a guest operating system set for a greater number of colors than the host operating system, the colors in the guest operating system might not be correct or the guest operating system might not be able to use a graphical interface. If these problems occur, you can either increase the number of colors in the host operating system or decrease the number of colors in the guest operating system.

To change color settings on the host operating system, power off all virtual machines and close Workstation Player and then follow standard procedures for changing color settings.

How you change color settings in a guest operating system depends on the type of guest operating system. In a Windows guest, the Display Properties control panel offers only those settings that are supported. In a Linux or FreeBSD guest, you must change the color depth before you start the X server, or you must restart the X server after making the changes.

For best performance, use the same number of colors in the host and guest operating systems.

Using Accelerated 3D Graphics

You must perform certain preparation tasks on the host system and on virtual machines to use accelerated 3D graphics.

Support for applications that use DirectX 9 accelerated graphics applies only to Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 guests on hosts running Windows 7 or later, or Linux. OpenGL applications run in software emulation mode.

Support for applications that use DirectX 10 accelerated graphics applies only to Windows 10.

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Prepare the Host System to Use 3D Accelerated Graphics

You must perform certain preparation tasks on the Windows or Linux host system to use 3D accelerated graphics in a virtual machine.

Prerequisites

On a Windows host, verify that the host has a video card that supports DirectX 9 or DirectX 10 and the

latest DirectX Runtime required for the DirectX version being used.

On a Linux host, verify that the host has a video card that supports accelerated OpenGL 2.0 if you are

using DirectX 9, or OpenGL 3.3 if you are using DirectX 10.

Procedure

1 Upgrade the video drivers on the host system to the latest versions.

ATI Graphics drivers are available from the AMD Web site. NVIDIA drivers are available from the NVIDIA Web site.

2 If you have a Windows host system, move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the Full position.

Option Description

Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10

3 If you have a Linux host system, run commands to test the host for compatibility.

Right-click the desktop and select Personalize > Screen resolution > Advanced Settings > Troubleshoot > Change settings.

a Verify that direct rendering is enabled.

glxinfo | grep direct

b Verify that 3D applications work.

glxgears

Prepare a Virtual Machine to Use Accelerated 3D Graphics

You must perform certain preliminary tasks to use accelerated 3D graphics on a virtual machine.

The accelerated 3D graphics feature is enabled by default on Player 3.x and later virtual machines.

Prerequisites

Prepare the host system to use accelerated 3D graphics. See “Prepare the Host System to Use 3D

Accelerated Graphics,” on page 87.

If using DirectX 9, verify that the guest operating system is Windows XP or later. DirectX 9 is supported

on virtual machines running hardware version 11 or earlier.

If using DirectX 10, verify that the guest operating system is Windows 7 or later. DirectX 10 is

supported on virtual machines running hardware version 12 or later.

Verify that the latest version of VMware Tools is installed in the guest operating system.

Power off the virtual machine. The virtual machine must not be suspended.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, select Display.

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4 Select Accelerate 3D graphics.

5 Configure the virtual machine to use only one monitor.

6 Click OK to save your changes.

7 Power on the virtual machine and install the required DirectX EndRuntime version.

This download is available from the Microsoft Download Center.

8 Install and run your 3D applications.

Configuring Sound

Sound support includes pulse code modulation (PCM) output and input. For example, you can play .wav files, MP3 audio, and Real Media audio. MIDI output from Windows guests is supported through the Windows software synthesizer. MIDI input is not supported, and no MIDI support is available for Linux guests.

Windows 2000, Windows XP, and most recent Linux distributions detect the sound device and install appropriate drivers for it.

A sound driver is installed when you install VMware Tools in a 64-bit Windows Vista or Windows 7 guest operating system. For 32-bit Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 2003 Server, and Windows Server 2008 guests, you must use Windows Update to install a 32-bit driver.

Configure Sound Card Settings

The VMware virtual sound device is compatible with a Creative Technology Sound Blaster Audio API. The sound device supports sound in Windows and Linux guest operating systems.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, select Sound.

4 Configure one or more sound card settings.

Option Description

Connected

Connect at power on

Specify host sound card

Use physical sound card

5 Click OK to save your changes.

Connects or disconnects the sound device while the virtual machine is running. You can also use the Devices menu and select the drive to connect or disconnect.

Automatically connects the sound device to the virtual machine when you power on the virtual machine.

(Windows hosts only) Select which sound card to use if you have more than one physical sound card on the host system.

(Linux hosts only) Select which sound card to use if you have more than one physical sound card on the system.

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Install Sound Drivers in Windows 9x and NT Guests

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98SE, and Windows NT 4.0 do not have drivers for the Sound Blaster AudioPCI adapter.

To use sound in these guest operating systems, download the driver from the Creative Labs Web site and install it in the guest operating system.

Procedure

1 Go to the Creative Labs Web site for your region of the world.

2 Search for the adapter whose name includes PCI 128.

3 Follow the instructions on the Web site to download and install the driver.

Moving Virtual Machines

You can move a virtual machine that was created in Workstation Player to a different host system or to a different location on the same host system and connect to a virtual machine by using a VNC client.

Move a Virtual Machine to a New Location or New Host on page 89

You can move a virtual machine that is created in Workstation Player to a different host system or to a different location on the same host system. You can move a virtual machine to a host system that has a different operating system.

Chapter 10 Configuring and Managing Virtual Machines

Configure a Virtual Machine for Compatibility on page 90

When you create a virtual machine that you intend to distribute to other users, you should configure the virtual machine for maximum compatibility with all expected host systems. Users might be limited in their ability to make changes in a virtual machine so that it is compatible with their host systems.

Using the Virtual Machine UUID on page 91

Each virtual machine has a universal unique identifier (UUID). The UUID is generated when you initially power on the virtual machine.

Move a Virtual Machine to a New Location or New Host

Moving a virtual machine typically involves moving the files that make up the virtual machine. The pathnames for all files associated with a Workstation Player virtual machine are relative to the virtual machine directory.

When you move a virtual machine, Workstation Player generates a new MAC address for the virtual network adapter. Workstation Player also generates a new MAC address when you rename a directory in the path to the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with how Workstation Player generates UUIDs for moved virtual machines. See

“Using the Virtual Machine UUID,” on page 91.

If you are moving the virtual machine to a different host system, familiarize yourself with the

limitations of moving a virtual machine to a new host. See “Limitations of Moving a Virtual Machine to

a Different Host,” on page 90.

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If you configured the working directory to reside in a different location on the host system, move files

from the working directory into the virtual machine directory and change the working directory to this location.

Verify that virtual machine devices and any associated files point to locations that you can access from

the new location.

Verify that all virtual machine files are stored in the virtual machine directory. Some files might reside

outside of the virtual machine directory.

Procedure

1 Shut down the guest operating system and power off the virtual machine.

2 Copy the virtual machine files to the new location.

3 Verify that you copied all of the virtual machine files to the new location.

4 Open the virtual machine in Workstation Player

Option Description

If you moved the virtual machine to a different location on the same host system

If you moved the virtual machine to a different host system

5 When you are certain that the virtual machine in the new location works correctly, delete the virtual

machine files from the original location.

Remove the virtual machine from the library, select File > Open a Virtual Machine, and browse to the .vmx file in its new location.

Start Workstation Player on the new host system, select File > Open a Virtual Machine, and browse to the .vmx file.

Limitations of Moving a Virtual Machine to a Different Host

You should be aware of certain limitations before you move a virtual machine to a different host system.

The guest operating system might not work correctly if you move a virtual machine to a host system

that has significantly different hardware, for example, if you move a virtual machine from a 64-bit host to a 32-bit host or from a multiprocessor host to a uniprocessor host.

Player 3.x and later virtual machines support up to eight-way virtual symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)

on multiprocessor host systems. You can assign up to eight virtual processors to virtual machines running on host systems that have at least two logical processors. If you attempt to assign two processors to a virtual machine that is running on a uniprocessor host system, a warning message appears. You can disregard this message and assign two processors to the virtual machine, but you must move it to a host that has at least two logical processors before you can power it on.

You can move a virtual machine from a 32-bit host to a 64-bit host. You cannot move a virtual machine

from a 64-bit host to a 32-bit host unless the 32-bit host has a supported 64-bit processor.

Configure a Virtual Machine for Compatibility

Procedure

Install VMware Tools in the virtual machine.

VMware Tools significantly improves the user’s experience working with the virtual machine.

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Determine which virtual devices are actually required, and do not include any that are not needed or

useful for the software you are distributing with the virtual machine.

Generic SCSI devices are typically not appropriate.

To connect a physical device to a virtual device, use the Auto detect options when you configure the

virtual machine.

The Auto detect options allow the virtual machine to adapt to the user’s system, and they work whether the host operating system is Windows or Linux. Users who have no physical device receive a warning message.

To connect a CD-ROM or floppy to an image file that you ship with the virtual machine, make sure the

image file is in the same directory as the virtual machine.

A relative path, rather than an absolute path, is used.

For both a physical CD-ROM and an image, provide two virtual CD-ROM devices in the virtual

machine.

Choose a reasonable amount of memory to allocate to the virtual machine.

For example, if the host system does not have enough physical memory to support the memory allocation, the user cannot power on the virtual machine.

Choose a reasonable screen resolution for the guest.

A user is likely to find it easier to increase the resolution manually than to deal with a display that exceeds the user’s physical screen size.

Using the Virtual Machine UUID

Each virtual machine has a universal unique identifier (UUID). The UUID is generated when you initially power on the virtual machine.

You can use the UUID of a virtual machine for system management in the same way that you use the UUID of a physical computer. The UUID is stored in the SMBIOS system information descriptor, and you can access it by using standard SMBIOS scanning software, including SiSoftware Sandra or IBM smbios2.

If you do not move or copy the virtual machine to another location, the UUID remains constant. When you power on a virtual machine that was moved or copied to a new location, you are prompted to specify whether you moved or copied the virtual machine. If you indicate that you copied the virtual machine, the virtual machine receives a new UUID.

Suspending and resuming a virtual machine does not trigger the process that generates a UUID. The UUID in use at the time the virtual machine was suspended remains in use when the virtual machine is resumed, even if it was copied or moved. You are not prompted to specify whether you moved or copied the virtual machine until the next time you reboot the virtual machine.

Configure a Virtual Machine to Keep the Same UUID

You can configure a virtual machine to always keep the same UUID, even when it is moved or copied. When a virtual machine is set to always keep the same UUID, you are not prompted when a virtual machine is moved or copied.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Open the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file in a text editor.

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2 Add the uuid.action property and set it to keep.

For example: uuid.action = "keep"

Configure a Virtual Machine as a VNC Server

You can use Workstation Player to configure a virtual machine to act as a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) server so that users on other computers can use a VNC client to connect to the virtual machine. You do not need to install specialized VNC software in a virtual machine to set it up as a VNC server.

NOTE You cannot configure a shared or remote virtual machine as a VNC server.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select VM > Settings.

2 On the Options tab, select VNC Connections and select Enable VNC.

3 (Optional) To allow VNC clients to connect to multiple virtual machines on the same host system,

specify a unique port number for each virtual machine.

Use should use a port number in the range from 5901 to 6001. Other applications use certain port numbers, and some port numbers are privileged. For example, the VMware Management Interface uses ports 8333 and 8222 and VMware Workstation Server uses port 443. On Linux, only the root user can listen to ports up to port number 1024.

4 (Optional) Set a password for connecting to the virtual machine from a VNC client.

The password can be up to eight characters long. Because it is not encrypted when the VNC client sends it, do not use a password that you use for other systems.

5 (Optional) Click View VNC Connections to see a list of the VNC clients that are remotely connected to

the virtual machine and find out how long they have been connected.

6 Click OK to save your changes.

What to do next

If you do not VNC clients use to use the US101 keyboard map (U.S. English) when they connect to the virtual machine, specify a different language. See “Specify a Language Keyboard Map for VNC Clients,” on page 92.

Specify a Language Keyboard Map for VNC Clients

If you set a virtual machine to act as a VNC server, you can specify which language to use for the keyboard that VNC clients use. By default, the US101 keyboard map (U.S. English) is used.

Prerequisites

Verify that the virtual machine is set to act as a VNC server.

Determine the language code to use. See “Language Codes,” on page 93.

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Chapter 10 Configuring and Managing Virtual Machines

Procedure

1 In a text editor, open the virtual machine configuration file (.vmx) file for the virtual machine and add

the RemoteDisplay.vnc.enabled and RemoteDisplay.vnc.port properties.

a Set RemoteDisplay.vnc.enabled to TRUE.

b Set RemoteDisplay.vnc.port to the port number to use.

For example:

RemoteDisplay.vnc.enabled = "TRUE" RemoteDisplay.vnc.port = "portnumber"

2 Determine the location of the keymap file to use.

Default keymap files are included in the Workstation Player installation directory.

Host System Keymap File Location

Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 hosts

Linux host

C:\ProgramData\VMware\vnckeymap

/usr/lib/vmware/vnckeymap

3 In the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file, add a property to specify the location of the keymap

file.

Option Description

To use the default keymap file included in the Workstation Player installation directory

To use a keyboard map file in another location

Add RemoteDisplay.vnc.keyMap = "xx", where xx is the code for the language to use, such as jp for Japanese.

Add RemoteDisplay.vnc.keyMapFile = "filepath", where filepath is the absolute file path.

4 Start the virtual machine and connect to it from a VNC client.

Language Codes

When you specify a language keyboard map for VNC clients, you must specify a language code.

Table 10‑1. Language Codes

Code Language

de-ch

fr-be

fr-ch

nl-be

German

German (Switzerland)

Spanish

Finnish

French

French (Belgium)

French (Switzerland)

Icelandic

Italian

Japanese

Dutch (Belgium)

Norwegian

Polish

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Table 10‑1. Language Codes (Continued)

Code Language

UK English

US English

Use a VNC Client to Connect to a Virtual Machine

You can use a VNC client to connect to a running virtual machine. Because VNC software is cross-platform, you can use virtual machines running on different types of computers.

Workstation Player does not need to be running to use VNC to connect to a virtual machine. Only the virtual machine needs to be running, and it can be running in the background.

When you use a VNC client to connect to a virtual machine, some features do not work or are not available.

You cannot take or revert to snapshots.

You cannot power on, power off, suspend, or resume the virtual machine. You can shut down the guest

operating system. Shutting down might power off the virtual machine.

You cannot copy and paste text between the host system and the guest operating system.

You cannot change virtual machine settings.

Remote display does not work well if you are also using the 3D feature.

Prerequisites

Configure the virtual machine as a VNC server. See “Configure a Virtual Machine as a VNC Server,” on

page 92.

Determine the machine name or IP address of the host system on which the virtual machine is running

and, if required, the VNC port number and password.

Procedure

1 Install a VNC client on your computer.

Open-source versions of VNC are freely and publicly available. You can use any VNC client, but not a Java viewer in a browser.

2 Start the VNC client on your computer.

3 Verify that the client is set for hextile encoding.

For example, if you use RealVNC Viewer, select Hextile under the Preferred Encoding option.

4 Set the VNC client to use all colors.

For example, if you use RealVNC Viewer, select Full (all available colours) under the Colour Level option.

5 When prompted for the VNC server name, type the name or IP address and the port number of the host

system where the virtual machine is running.

For example: machine_name:port_number

6 Type a password if one is required.

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View VNC Connections for a Virtual Machine

When a virtual is configured to act as a VNC server, you can view a list of the VNC clients that are remotely connected to the virtual machine and find out how long they have been connected.

Prerequisites

Configure the virtual machine to act as a VNC server. See “Configure a Virtual Machine as a VNC Server,” on page 92.

Procedure

Select the virtual machine and select VM > Manage > VNC Connections.

Delete a Virtual Machine

You can delete a virtual machine and all of its files from the host file system.

IMPORTANT Deleting a virtual machine is irreversible.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Chapter 10 Configuring and Managing Virtual Machines

Procedure

1 Right-click the virtual machine in the library and select Delete VM from Disk.

2 Click Yes to delete the virtual machine.

The virtual machine and all of its files are removed from the host file system.

View the Message Log for a Virtual Machine

You can view the message log to review information about a particular virtual machine. Messages include warning information about the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Power on the virtual machine.

2 Select Help > Message Log.

3 Select Player > Manage > Message Log.

4 Select a message in the message log to a see a detailed description of the message.

Using the VIX API

Application developers can use the VMware VIX API to write programs to automate virtual machine operations.

The API is high level, easy to use, and practical for script writers and application programmers. With API functions, you can register, power virtual machines on and off, and run programs in guest operating systems. Additional language bindings are available for Perl, COM, and shell scripts such as vmrun.

See the VMware VIX API Release Notes.

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Install New Software in a Virtual Machine

Installing new software in a virtual machine is similar to installing new software on a physical computer. Only a few additional steps are required.

Prerequisites

Verify that VMware Tools is installed in the guest operating system. Installing VMware Tools before

installing the software minimizes the likelihood that you will have to reactivate the software if the virtual machine configuration changes.

Verify that the virtual machine has access to the CD-ROM drive, ISO image file, or floppy drive where

the installation software is located.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, select Memory, set the final memory size for the virtual machine, and click OK.

Some applications use a product activation feature that creates a key based on the virtual hardware in the virtual machine where it is installed. Changes in the configuration of the virtual machine might require you to reactivate the software. Setting the memory size minimizes the number of significant changes.

4 Install the new software according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Disable Acceleration if a Program Does Not Run

When you install or run software inside a virtual machine, Workstation Player might appear to stop responding. This problem typically occurs early in the program's execution. In many cases, you can get past the problem by temporarily disabling acceleration in the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, select Processors.

4 Select Disable acceleration for binary translation to disable acceleration.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

What to do next

After you pass the point where the program encountered problems, re-enable acceleration. Because disabling acceleration slows down virtual machine performance, you should use it only for getting past the problem with running the program

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Configuring and Managing Devices 11

You can use Workstation Player to add devices to virtual machines, including DVD and CD-ROM drives, floppy drives, USB controllers, virtual and physical hard disks, parallel and serial ports, generic SCSI devices, and processors. You can also modify settings for existing devices.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Configuring DVD, CD-ROM, and Floppy Drives,” on page 97

“Configuring a USB Controller,” on page 99

“Configuring and Maintaining Virtual Hard Disks,” on page 101

“Configuring Virtual Ports,” on page 107

“Configuring Generic SCSI Devices,” on page 112

“Configuring Eight-Way Virtual Symmetric Multiprocessing,” on page 115

“Configuring Keyboard Features,” on page 116

“Modify Hardware Settings for a Virtual Machine,” on page 124

Configuring DVD, CD-ROM, and Floppy Drives

You can add up to 4 IDE devices, up to 60 SCSI devices, and up to 120 SATA devices (4 controllers with 30 devices per controller) to a virtual machine. Any of these devices can be a virtual or physical hard disk or DVD or CD-ROM drive. By default, a floppy drive is not connected when a virtual machine powers on.

A virtual machine can read data from a DVD disc. Workstation Player does not support playing DVD movies in a virtual machine. You might be able to play a movie if you use a DVD player application that does not require video overlay support in the video card.

Add a DVD or CD-ROM Drive to a Virtual Machine

You can add one or more DVD or CD-ROM drives to a virtual machine. You can connect the virtual DVD or CD-ROM drive to a physical drive or an ISO image file.

You can configure the virtual DVD or CD-ROM drive as an IDE or a SCSI device, regardless of the type of physical drive that you connect it to. For example, if the host has an IDE CD-ROM drive, you can set up the virtual machine drive as either SCSI or IDE and connect it to the host drive.

Do not configure legacy emulation mode unless you experience problems with normal mode. See

“Configure Legacy Emulation Mode for a DVD or CD-ROM Drive,” on page 99 for more information.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

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2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, click Add.

4 In the Add Hardware wizard, select DVD/CD Drive.

5 Select a physical drive or ISO image file to connect to the drive.

Option Description

Use physical drive

Use ISO image

6 Configure the physical drive or ISO image file.

Option Description

Physical drive

ISO image file

7 To connect the drive or ISO image file to the virtual machine when the virtual machine powers on,

select Connect at power on.

8 Click Finish to add the drive to the virtual machine.

The virtual machine uses a physical drive.

The drive connects to an ISO image file.

Select a specific drive, or select Auto detect to allow Workstation Player to auto-detect the drive to use.

Type the path or browse to the location of the ISO image file.

The drive initially appears as an IDE drive to the guest operating system.

9 (Optional) To change which SCSI or IDE device identifier to use for the drive, select the drive and click

Advanced.

10 Click OK to save your changes.

Add a Floppy Drive to a Virtual Machine

You can configure a virtual floppy drive to connect to a physical floppy drive or an existing or blank floppy image file. You can add up to two floppy drives to a virtual machine.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, click Add.

4 In the Add Hardware wizard, select Floppy Drive.

5 Select the floppy media type.

Option Description

Use a physical floppy drive

Use a floppy image

Create a blank floppy image

6 If you selected the physical floppy drive media type, select a specific floppy drive or select Auto detect

to allow Workstation Player to auto-detect the drive to use.

The virtual machine uses a physical floppy drive.

The drive connects to an floppy image (.flp) file.

The drive connects to a blank floppy image (.flp) file that you create.

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Chapter 11 Configuring and Managing Devices

7 If you selected the floppy image or blank floppy image media type, type the name or browse to the

location of a floppy image (.flp) file.

8 To connect the drive or floppy image file to the virtual machine when the virtual machine powers on,

select Connect at power on.

9 Click Finish to add the drive to the virtual machine.

10 Click OK to save your changes.

Configure Legacy Emulation Mode for a DVD or CD-ROM Drive

Use legacy emulation mode to work around direct communication problems between a guest operating system and a DVD or CD-ROM drive.

In legacy emulation mode, you can read only from data discs in the DVD or CD-ROM drive. Legacy emulation mode does not provide the other capabilities of normal mode. In normal mode, the guest operating system communicates directly with the CD-ROM or DVD drive. This direct communication enables you to read multisession CDs, perform digital audio extraction, view videos, and use CD and DVD writers to burn discs.

If you run more than one virtual machine at a time, and if their CD-ROM drives are in legacy emulation mode, you must start the virtual machines with their CD-ROM drives disconnected. By disconnecting the CD-ROM drives in the virtual machines, you prevent multiple virtual machines from being connected to the CD-ROM drive at the same time.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, select the drive and click Advanced.

4 Select Legacy emulation and click OK.

On Windows hosts, this option is deselected by default. On Linux hosts that have IDE drives, the default setting depends on whether the ide-scsi module is loaded in the kernel. The ide-scsi module must be loaded, or you must use a physical SCSI drive, to connect directly to the DVD or CD-ROM drive.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

Configuring a USB Controller

A virtual machine must have a USB controller to use USB devices and smart card readers. To use a smart card reader, a virtual machine must have a USB controller regardless of whether the smart card reader is actually a USB device.

Workstation Player provides a USB controller to support the following types of USB devices.

USB 1.1 UHCI (Universal Host Controller Interface) is supported for all virtual machine hardware

versions.

USB 2.0 EHCI (Enhanced Host Controller Interface) controllers are supported if the virtual machine

hardware is compatible with Workstation 6 and later virtual machines.

USB 3.0 xHCI (Extensible Host Controller Interface) support is available for Linux guests running

kernel version 2.6.35 or later and for Windows 8 guests. The virtual machine hardware must be compatible with Workstation 8 or later virtual machines.

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For USB 2.0 or 3.0 support, you must select USB 2.0 or 3.0 compatibility by configuring virtual machine settings for the USB controller. USB 2.0 and 3.0 devices are high-speed devices that include the latest models of USB flash drives, USB hard drives, iPods, and iPhone.

If you select USB 2.0 compatibility, when a USB 2.0 device connects to a USB port on the host system, the device connects to the EHCI controller and operates in USB 2.0 mode. A USB 1.1 device connects to the UHCI controller and operates in USB 1.1 mode. If you enable USB 3.0, the xHCI controller can support all USB devices, including USB 1.1, 2.0, and 3.0 devices.

Although the host operating system must support USB, you do not need to install device-specific drivers for USB devices in the host operating system to use those devices only in the virtual machine. Windows NT and Linux kernels earlier than 2.2.17 do not support USB.

VMware has tested a variety of USB devices. If the guest operating system has the appropriate drivers, you can use many different USB devices, including PDAs, Smart phones, printers, storage devices, scanners, MP3 players, digital cameras, memory card readers, and isochronous transfer devices, such as webcams, speakers, and microphones.

You can connect USB human interface devices (HIDs), such as the keyboard and mouse, to a virtual machine by enabling the Show all USB input devices option. If you do not select this option, these devices do not appear in the Removable Devices menu and are not available to connect to the virtual machine, even though they are plugged in to USB ports on the host system.

See “Connect USB HIDs to a Virtual Machine,” on page 67 for information on connecting HIDs.

Add a USB Controller to a Virtual Machine

A USB controller is required to use a smart card in a virtual machine, regardless of whether the smart card reader is a USB device. You can add one USB controller to a virtual machine.

When you create a virtual machine in Workstation Player, a USB controller is added by default. If you remove the USB controller, you can add it back.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.

2 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.

3 On the Hardware tab, click Add.

4 In the New Hardware wizard, select USB Controller.

5 Configure the USB connection settings.

You can select multiple settings.

Option Description

USB Compatibility

Automatically connect new USB devices

Selecting USB 2.0 or 3.0 enables support for isochronous USB devices, including Web cams, speakers, and microphones.

Connect new USB devices to the virtual machine. If this setting is not selected, new USB devices are connected only to the host system.

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Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Using VMware Workstation Player for Windows

Host System Requirements for Workstation Player

Processor Requirements for Host Systems

Supported Host Operating Systems

Memory Requirements for Host Systems

Display Requirements for Host Systems

Disk Drive Requirements for Host Systems

Solid-State Drives

Local Area Networking Requirements for Host Systems

Virtual Machine Features and Specifications

Supported Guest Operating Systems

Virtual Machine Processor Support

Virtual Machine Memory Allocation

Compatible Virtual Machines and System Images

Install Workstation Player on a Windows Host

Run an Unattended Workstation Player Installation on a Windows Host

Installation Properties

REMOVE Property Values

Start Workstation Player

Use the Workstation Player Window

Transferring Files and Text

Using the Drag-and-Drop Feature

Drag-and-Drop Requirements and Restrictions

Using the Copy and Paste Feature

Copy and Paste Requirements and Restrictions

Download a Virtual Appliance in Workstation Player

Remove a Virtual Machine from the Library in Workstation Player

Email Address Collection in Workstation Player

Uninstall Workstation Player

Configuring Close Behavior Preference Settings

Configuring Virtual Printers on Windows Hosts

Configuring Software Updates Settings

Configuring Connection Settings for a Proxy Server

Understanding the Automatic Software Update Process

Sending System Data and Usage Statistics to VMware

Participating in the User Experience Improvement Program

Understanding Virtual Machines

Preparing to Create a Virtual Machine

Selecting a Guest Operating System

Supported Guest Operating Systems

Providing Easy Install Information

Specifying the Virtual Machine Name and File Location

Virtual Machines Directory

Specifying Disk Capacity for a Virtual Machine

Disk Size Compatibility

Customizing Virtual Machine Hardware

Worksheet for Creating a Typical Virtual Machine

Create a Virtual Machine

Use Easy Install to Install a Guest Operating System

Install a Guest Operating System Manually

Importing Virtual Machines

Import a Windows XP Mode Virtual Machine

Import an Open Virtualization Format Virtual Machine

Import a Windows Virtual PC Virtual Machine

Installing VMware Tools

Upgrading VMware Tools

Configure Software Update Preferences

Configure VMware Tools Updates for a Specific Virtual Machine

Manually Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Solaris Virtual Machine

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Virtual Machine

Start the VMware User Process Manually If You Do Not Use a Session Manager

Uninstalling VMware Tools

Start a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player

Start an Encrypted Virtual Machine in Workstation Player

Download a Virtual Appliance in Workstation Player

Power Off a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player

Remove a Virtual Machine from the Library in Workstation Player

Use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to Shut Down a Guest

Suspend and Resume a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player

Reset a Virtual Machine in Workstation Player

Stream a Virtual Machine from a Web Server