VMware Workstation - 14.0 Pro Instruction Manual

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Using VMware Workstation Pro

Modiﬁed on 21 DEC 2017 VMware Workstation Pro 14.0

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Using VMware Workstation Pro

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

https://docs.vmware.com/

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

docfeedback@vmware.com

VMware, Inc.

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

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Using VMware Workstation Pro 7

Introduction and System Requirements 8

Host System Requirements for Workstation Pro 8

Virtual Machine Features and Specifications 11

Installing and Using Workstation Pro 16

Obtaining the Workstation Pro Software and License Key 16

Installing Workstation Pro with Other VMware Products 17

Reinstalling Workstation Pro When Upgrading a Windows Host Operating System 17

Installing the Integrated Virtual Debuggers for Eclipse 18

Installing Workstation Pro 18

Upgrading Workstation Pro 24

Uninstalling Workstation Pro 30

Start Workstation Pro 31

Using the Workstation Pro Window 31

Using the Workstation Pro Online Help 37

Creating Virtual Machines 38

Understanding Virtual Machines 38

Preparing to Create a New Virtual Machine 39

Create a New Virtual Machine on the Local Host 50

Cloning Virtual Machines 56

Virtualize a Physical Machine 59

Importing Virtual Machines 61

Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools 64

Virtual Machine Files 76

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Using Virtual Machines 79

Scan for Virtual Machines to Add to the Virtual Machine Library 79

Starting Virtual Machines 81

Stopping Virtual Machines 85

Transferring Files and Text 90

Add a Host Printer to a Virtual Machine 101

Using Removable Devices in Virtual Machines 102

Changing the Virtual Machine Display 109

Using Folders to Manage Virtual Machines 116

Taking Snapshots of Virtual Machines 119

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Install New Software in a Virtual Machine 127

Take a Screenshot of a Virtual Machine 128

Delete a Virtual Machine 129

Configuring and Managing Virtual Machines 130

Configure Power Options and Power Control Settings 130

Set Workstation Pro Display Preferences 132

Configure Display Settings for a Virtual Machine 133

Set Preferences for Unity Mode 136

Setting Screen Color Depth 137

Using Advanced Linux Sound Architecture 137

Encrypting and Restricting Virtual Machines 139

Moving Virtual Machines 144

Configure a Virtual Machine as a VNC Server 150

Change the Hardware Compatibility of a Virtual Machine 153

Clean Up a Virtual Hard Disk on Windows Hosts 155

Export a Virtual Machine to OVF Format 156

Writing and Debugging Applications That Run In Virtual Machines 157

VMware Workstation Server Log Files 159

Configuring and Managing Devices 160

Configuring DVD, CD-ROM, and Floppy Drives 160

Configuring a USB Controller 162

Configuring and Maintaining Virtual Hard Disks 165

Adding a Physical Disk to a Virtual Machine 173

Configuring Virtual Ports 175

Configuring Generic SCSI Devices 181

Configuring Virtual Trusted Platform Module Devices 183

Configuring Sixteen-Way Virtual Symmetric Multiprocessing 185

Configuring Keyboard Features 186

Modify Hardware Settings for a Virtual Machine 196

Configuring Network Connections 197

Understanding Virtual Networking Components 197

Understanding Common Networking Configurations 198

Changing the Default Networking Configuration 199

Configuring Bridged Networking 204

Configuring Network Address Translation 207

Configuring Host-Only Networking 218

Assigning IP Addresses in Host-Only Networks and NAT Configurations 225

Configuring LAN Segments 229

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Configuring Samba for Workstation Pro 231

Using Virtual Network Adapters in Promiscuous Mode on Linux Hosts 232

Maintaining and Changing MAC Addresses for Virtual Machines 233

Sample Custom Networking Configuration 234

Using Remote Connections and Sharing Virtual Machines 237

Understanding VMware Workstation Server 237

Connect to a Remote Server 240

Disconnect from a Remote Server 243

Creating and Managing Shared Virtual Machines 243

Uploading Virtual Machines to Remote Servers 247

Download a Virtual Machine from a Remote Server 248

Create a Virtual Machine on a Remote Host 248

Manage Virtual Machine Power Actions on Shared and Remote Hosts 250

Using Roles to Assign Privileges 251

Using Permissions to Restrict Users 255

Changing Workstation Pro Preference Settings 259

Configuring Workspace Preference Settings 259

Configuring Input Preference Settings 263

Changing Hot-Key Combinations 265

Configuring Workstation Pro Display Preference Settings 265

Configuring Software Update Preference Settings 267

Join or Leave the Customer Experience Improvement Program 269

Changing Shared Virtual Machine Preference Settings 270

Configuring Workstation Pro Memory Preference Settings 270

Configuring Workstation Pro Priority Preference Settings 272

Configuring Device Settings for Windows Hosts 273

Configuring Virtual Machine Option Settings 275

Configuring General Option Settings for a Virtual Machine 275

Configuring Power Settings for a Virtual Machine 277

Configuring Snapshot Options for a Virtual Machine 279

Configuring AutoProtect Options for a Virtual Machine 280

Configuring Guest Isolation Options for a Virtual Machine 281

Configuring Tablet Sensor Input Options for a Virtual Machine 282

Configuring VMware Tools Options for a Virtual Machine 283

Configuring a Virtual Machine as a VNC Server 283

Configuring Unity Mode for a Virtual Machine 284

Configuring Appliance Details for a Virtual Machine 285

Configuring Autologin for a Virtual Machine 285

Configuring Advanced Options for a Virtual Machine 286

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Configuring Virtual Machine Hardware Settings 291

Adding Hardware to a Virtual Machine 291

Removing Hardware from a Virtual Machine 293

Adjusting Virtual Machine Memory 293

Configuring Virtual Machine Processor Settings 294

Configuring and Maintaining Virtual Hard Disks 295

Configuring CD-ROM and DVD Drive Settings 297

Configuring Floppy Drive Settings 299

Configuring Virtual Network Adapter Settings 299

Configuring USB Controller Settings 304

Configuring Sound Card Settings 305

Configuring Parallel Port Settings 305

Configuring Serial Port Settings 306

Configuring Generic SCSI Device Settings 306

Configuring Printer Settings 307

Configuring Display Settings 307

Installing a Guest Operating System on a Physical Disk or Unused Partition 308

Using the Virtual Network Editor 310

Add a Bridged Virtual Network 310

Add a Host-Only Virtual Network 312

Rename a Virtual Network 313

Change Automatic Bridging Settings 313

Change NAT Settings 314

Change DHCP Settings on a Windows Host 316

Running the Support Script 317

Run the Support Script from Workstation Pro 318

Run the Support Script from a Windows Command Prompt 318

Run the Support Script from a Linux Terminal Window 319

Using the vmware Command 320

Run the vmware Command 320

Incorporate Workstation Pro Startup Options in a Windows Shortcut 321

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Using VMware Workstation Pro describes how to use VMware Workstation Pro™ to create, configure, and manage virtual machines.

Intended Audience

This information is intended for anyone who wants to install, upgrade, or use Workstation Pro. The information is written for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and datacenter operations.

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Introduction and System

Requirements 1

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

This chapter includes the following topics:

Host System Requirements for Workstation Pro

Virtual Machine Features and Specifications

Host System Requirements for Workstation Pro

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

Processor Requirements for Host Systems

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

Supported Processors

The following host systems are supported.

Systems using processors launched in 2011 or later except for systems using the following processors.

Intel Atom processors based on the 2011 Bonnell micro-architecture. For example, Atom Z670/Z650 and Atom N570.

Intel Atom processors based on the 2012 Saltwell micro-architecture. For example, Atom Atom S1200, Atom D2700/D2500, and Atom N2800/N2600.

AMD processors based on the Llano and Bobcat micro-architectures.

Systems using the following processors.

Intel processors based on the 2010 Westmere micro-architecture. For example, Xeon 5600, Xeon 3600, Core i7-970, Core i7-980, and Core i7-990.

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Processor Requirements for 64-Bit Guest Operating Systems

For supported processors to run 64-bit guest operating systems, the host system must use one of the following processors.

An AMD CPU with AMD-V support

An Intel CPU with VT-x support

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 Pro 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.

Supported Host Operating Systems

You can install Workstation Pro 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.

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 2 GB. 4 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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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 image

IDE, SATA, SCSI and NVMe 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 basic installation, 1.5 GB free disk space is required on Windows and Linux. 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.

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, IDE, or NVMe).

On Windows 8, Windows 10, Ubuntu, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtual machines, all drive types can report their virtual disks as SSD drives.

Note

NVMe virtual hard disks are natively supported for Windows 8.1 and later.

To create a new a virtual machine with a Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 guest operating system using NVMe as the virtual hard disk, apply the appropriate Windows hot fix. See

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2990941.

Several Linux operating systems support NVMe while others do not. Check with the operating system vendor.

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.

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

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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.

ALSA Requirements

To use ALSA in a virtual machine, the host system must meet certain requirements.

The ALSA library version on the host system must be version 1.0.16 or later.

The sound card on the host system must support ALSA. The ALSA project Web site maintains a current listing of sound cards and chipsets that support ALSA.

The sound device on the host system must not be muted.

The current user must have the appropriate permissions to use the sound device.

Virtual Machine Features and Speciﬁcations

Workstation Pro 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.

For the most recent list of guest operating systems that VMware products support, see the VMware Compatibility Guide site: http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.

For instructions about how to install the most common guest operating systems, see the VMware Guest Operating System Installation Guide: http://partnerweb.vmware.com/GOSIG/home.html.

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 16 virtual processors (sixteen-way virtual symmetric multiprocessing, or Virtual SMP) on a host system that has at least 2 logical processors.

Note Workstation Pro considers multiprocessor hosts that have 2 or more physical CPUs, single-

processor hosts that have a multicore CPU, and single-processor hosts that have hyperthreading enabled, to have two logical processors.

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Virtual Machine Chip Set and BIOS Support

Virtual machines support certain virtual machine chip set and BIOS features.

Intel 440BX-based motherboard

NS338 SIO chip set

82093AA I/O Advanced Programmable Controller (I/O APIC)

Phoenix BIOS 4.0 Release 6 with VESA BIOS

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.

The maximum amount of memory for each virtual machine is 64GB.

Virtual Machine Graphics and Keyboard Support

Virtual machines support certain graphics features.

VGA and SVGA are supported.

104-key Windows 95/98 enhanced keyboards are supported.

To use the GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc and GL_S3_s3tc Open Graphics Library (OpenGL) extensions in a Windows XP or Windows 7 or later guest operating system, you must install Microsoft DirectX End-User Runtime in the guest operating system. OpenGL is an API that is used to define 2D and 3D computer graphics. You can download Microsoft DirectX End-User Runtime from the Microsoft Download Center Web site.

The VMware guest operating system OpenGL driver for Windows and Linux supports the OpenGL

3.3 core profile only. The OpenGL3.3 compatibility profile is not supported.

Virtual Machine IDE Drive Support

Virtual machines support certain IDE drives and features.

Up to four devices, including disk, CD-ROM, and DVD drives, are supported.

DVD drives can be used to read data DVD discs only.

DVD video is not supported.

Hard disks can be virtual disks or physical disks.

IDE virtual disks can be up to 8TB.

CD-ROM drives can be physical devices or ISO image files.

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Virtual Machine SCSI Device Support

Virtual machines support certain SCSI devices and features.

Up to 60 devices are supported.

SCSI virtual disks can be up to 8TB.

Hard disks can be virtual disks or physical disks.

With Generic SCSI support, you can use devices in a virtual machine without installing drivers in the host operating system. Generic SCSI support works with scanners, CD-ROM drives, DVD drives, tape drives, and other SCSI devices.

The LSI Logic LSI53C10xx Ultra320 SCSI I/O controller is supported.

Virtual Machine Floppy Drive Support

Virtual machines can have floppy drives.

Up to two 2.88MB floppy devices are supported.

Floppy drives can be physical drives or floppy image files.

Virtual Machine Serial and Parallel Port Support

Virtual machines support serial (COM) and parallel (LPT) ports.

Up to four serial (COM) ports are supported. Output can be sent to serial ports, Windows or Linux files, or named pipes.

Up to three bidirectional parallel (LPT) ports. Output can be sent to parallel ports or host operating system files.

Virtual Machine USB Port Support

Virtual machines can have USB ports and can support certain 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 and later virtual machines.

Support for USB 2.0 and 3.0 requires that you configure virtual machine settings to enable USB 2.0 and 3.0 support and that you have compatible guest operating systems and virtual machine hardware versions.

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Most USB devices are supported, including USB printers, scanners, PDAs, hard disk drives, memory card readers, and digital cameras. Streaming devices, such as webcams, speakers, and microphones, are also supported.

Virtual Machine Mouse and Drawing Tablet Support

Virtual machines support certain types of mice and drawing tablets.

PS/2 and USB mouse types are supported.

Serial tablets are supported.

USB tablets are supported.

Virtual Machine Ethernet Card Support

Virtual machines support certain types of Ethernet cards.

Up to 10 virtual Ethernet cards are supported.

The AMD PCnet-PCI II Ethernet Adapter is supported. For 64-bit guests, the Intel Pro/1000 MT Server Adapter is also supported.

Virtual Machine Networking Support

Virtual machines support certain Ethernet switches and networking protocols.

Up to 10 virtual Ethernet switches are supported on Windows host operating systems. Up to 255 virtual Ethernet switches are supported on Linux host operating systems.

Three switches are configured by default for bridged, host-only, and NAT networking.

Most Ethernet-based protocols are supported, including TCP/IP, NetBEUI, Microsoft Networking, Samba, Novell NetWare, and Network File System (NFS).

Built-in NAT networking supports client software that uses TCP/IP, FTP, DNS, HTTP, and Telnet. VPN is supported for PPTP over NAT.

Virtual Machine Sound Support

Workstation Pro provides a sound device that is compatible with the Sound Blaster AudioPCI and Intel High-Definition Audio Specification. The Workstation Pro sound device is enabled by default.

Workstation Pro supports sound in all supported Windows and Linux guest operating systems.

Sound support includes pulse code modulation (PCM) output and input. You can play .wav files, MP3 audio, and Real Media audio. MIDI output from Windows guest operating systems is supported by the Windows software synthesizer. MIDI input is not supported, and no MIDI support is available for Linux guest operating systems.

Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and most recent Linux distributions detect the sound device and install appropriate drivers for it.

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For Workstation 7.x and earlier virtual machines, the vmaudio driver in VMware Tools is installed in 64-bit Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, and Windows 7 guest operating systems and in 32-bit Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, and Windows 7 guest operating systems.

For Workstation 8.x and later virtual machines, the High-Definition Audio (HD Audio) device is presented by default for both 64-bit and 32-bit Windows Vista and Windows 7 guest operating systems and their server counterparts. Windows provides a driver for HD Audio that is not part of VMware Tools.

On Linux host systems, Workstation 7.x and later supports Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA). Earlier versions of Workstation use the Open Sound System (OSS) interface for sound playback and recording in virtual machines running on Linux host systems. Unlike OSS, ALSA does not require exclusive access to the sound device. The host system and multiple virtual machines can play sound at the same time.

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Installing and Using

Workstation Pro 2

You can install Workstation Pro on a Linux or Windows host system. Installing or upgrading Workstation Pro typically involves running a standard GUI wizard.

This chapter includes the following topics:

Obtaining the Workstation Pro Software and License Key

Installing Workstation Pro with Other VMware Products

Reinstalling Workstation Pro When Upgrading a Windows Host Operating System

Installing the Integrated Virtual Debuggers for Eclipse

Installing Workstation Pro

Upgrading Workstation Pro

Uninstalling Workstation Pro

Start Workstation Pro

Using the Workstation Pro Window

Using the Workstation Pro Online Help

Obtaining the Workstation Pro Software and License Key

The Workstation Pro installation software is in the file that you downloaded and the license key is sent to you in email.

The installation files for both host platforms are included in the packaged distribution. You can use the license key on both the Windows and Linux versions of Workstation Pro. You need one license for each host system.

If you do not enter the Workstation Pro license key during installation, you can specify the license key later, in Workstation Pro, select Help > Enter License Key and enter the license key on the Workstation Activation dialog box. You can also purchase a license key and view the status of an evaluation license from the Workstation Activation dialog box.

See the VMware Web site for information on obtaining an evaluation license.

Note If you have an invalid license, Workstation Pro prompts you to enter a license key each time you

attempt to power on a virtual machine.

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Once you have installed Workstation Pro, you can find your license key in the About VMware Workstation Pro window. Click Help > About VMware Workstation Pro.

If you have an individual license for Workstation Pro, the key is displayed in the License Information section under Type. It is labeled Individual and followed by your license key.

If you have a version of Workstation Pro 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 Pro, the Type field displays Not applicable and a license key is not displayed.

If you have an evaluation license key for Workstation Pro, the Type field displays Not applicable. The date the evaluation license key expires is also displayed.

Trial Version Expiration Date Warnings

When you use the trial version of VMware Workstation Pro, a notice appears on the home page advising you of the trial license expiration date.

To purchase a license key click, click Get a license key. If you have a license key, click Enter a license key. You can also go to the Help menu and click Enter a license key.

Installing Workstation Pro with Other VMware Products

The only VMware products that can share a host system with Workstation Pro are VMware vSphere Client and VMware vCenter Converter Standalone. You cannot install Workstation Pro on a host system that has any other VMware virtualization products installed.

If the host system has another VMware virtualization product installed, you must uninstall that product before you install Workstation Pro.

Reinstalling Workstation Pro When Upgrading a Windows Host Operating System

Before you upgrade the operating system on a Microsoft Windows host, VMware recommends that you uninstall VMware Workstation Pro.

The way Workstation Pro is installed and configured depends partly on the version of Windows used. As a best practice, to ensure that Workstation Pro is properly configured for a new operating system, you must remove the Workstation Pro application before you perform the operating system upgrade. Uninstalling Workstation Pro guarantees that legacy components that apply only to older versions of Windows are not left behind .

For example, if you do not uninstall Workstation Pro before upgrading the Windows operating system, some virtual network adapters might not function properly after the operating system upgrade. Before you uninstall Workstation Pro, open the virtual network editor and note the settings used. You must configure these settings again after you reinstall Workstation Pro.

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When you uninstall Workstation Pro, you need only uninstall the Workstation Pro application, not the virtual machines that you have created. When the operating system upgrade is complete, reinstall Workstation Pro or, if you are also upgrading Workstation Pro, install the new version of Workstation Pro.

Installing the Integrated Virtual Debuggers for Eclipse

If you plan to use the Integrated Virtual Debugger for Eclipse, you should install it on the host system before you install Workstation Pro.

If you must install the Integrated Virtual Debugger for Eclipse after you install Workstation Pro, run the Workstation Pro installer again and select Modify/Change to install the associated Workstation Pro plugins.

See the Integrated Virtual Debugger for Eclipse Developer’s Guide for host system requirements and supported operating systems. This guide is available on the VMware Web site.

Installing Workstation Pro

You can install Workstation Pro on a Windows host system by running the installation wizard or by using the unattended installation feature of the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI). The MSI unattended installation feature is useful if you are installing Workstation Pro on several Windows hosts and do not want to respond to wizard prompts. You install Workstation Pro on a Linux host system by running the Workstation Pro bundle installer.

Install Workstation Pro on a Windows Host

You run the Windows setup program and installation wizard to install Workstation Pro on a Windows host system.

Run an Unattended Workstation Pro Installation on a Windows Host

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

Install Workstation Pro on a Linux Host

You run the Linux bundle installer to install Workstation Pro on a Linux host system. On most Linux distributions, the Linux bundle installer launches a GUI wizard. On some Linux distributions, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1, the bundle installer launches a command-line wizard instead of a GUI wizard. You can run the installer with the --console option to install Workstation Pro in a terminal window.

Install Workstation Pro on a Windows Host

You run the Windows setup program and installation wizard to install Workstation Pro on a Windows host system.

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Remote connections and virtual machine sharing are enabled by default when you install Workstation Pro. With remote connections, you can connect to remote hosts and run remote virtual machines. With virtual machine sharing, you can create virtual machines that other instances of Workstation Pro can access remotely.

Prerequisites

Verify that the host system meets the host system requirements. See Host System Requirements for

Workstation Pro.

Verify that you have administrative privileges on the host system.

Verify that no incompatible VMware products are installed on the host system. See Installing

Workstation Pro with Other VMware Products.

Obtain the Workstation Pro software and license key. See Obtaining the Workstation Pro Software

and License Key.

If you plan to use the Integrated Virtual Debugger for Eclipse, install it on the host system. See

Installing the Integrated Virtual Debuggers for Eclipse.

Procedure

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

local Administrators group.

If you log in to a domain, the domain account must also be a local administrator.

2 Double-click the VMware-workstation-xxxx-xxxxxxx.exe file, where xxxx-xxxxxxx is the version

and build numbers.

3 Follow the prompts to finish the installation.

Depending on your configuration, you might need to restart the host system to finish the installation.

After Workstation Pro is installed, the VMware Workstation Server service starts on the host system. The VMware Workstation Server service starts whenever you restart the host system.

Run an Unattended Workstation Pro Installation on a Windows Host

Prerequisites

Verify that the host system meets the host system requirements. See Host System Requirements for

Workstation Pro.

Verify that no incompatible VMware products are installed on the host system. See Installing

Workstation Pro with Other VMware Products.

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Obtain the Workstation Pro software and license key. See Obtaining the Workstation Pro Software

and License Key.

If you plan to use the Integrated Virtual Debugger for Eclipse, install it on the host system. See

Installing the Integrated Virtual Debuggers for Eclipse.

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.

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 domain, the domain account must also be a local administrator.

2 Extract the administrative installation image from the setup file.

The setup filename is similar to VMware=workstation-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.

The following example installs Workstation Pro:

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

xxxxx-xxxxx" AUTOSOFTWAREUPDATE=1

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.

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

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

Installation Properties

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

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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

AUTOSOFTWAREUPDATE

DATACOLLECTION

DESKTOP_SHORTCUT

ENABLE_VIRTUAL_PRINTING

EULAS_AGREED

INSTALLDIR

KEEP_LICENSE

KEEP_SETTINGFILES

SERIALNUMBER

SOFTWAREUPDATEURL

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

Sends user experience information to VMware. 1

Adds a shortcut on the desktop when Workstation Pro is installed. 1

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

Specifies whether to keep or remove license keys when Workstation Pro is uninstalled.

Specifies whether to keep or remove settings files when Workstation Prois uninstalled

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

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

C:\Program Files

(86)\VMware\VMware

Workstation

STARTMENU_SHORTCUT

SUPPORTURL

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

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

Install Workstation Pro on a Linux Host

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Shared virtual machines are stored in the shared virtual machines directory, where VMware Workstation Server (vmware-workstation-server) manages them. Remote users connect to VMware Workstation Server through HTTPS port 443 on the host system.

To change the shared virtual machines directory or select a different port during the installation process, you must specify the --custom option. You can also change the shared virtual machines directory, select a different port, and disable remote connections and virtual machine sharing after Workstation Pro is installed by modifying the Shared VMs Workstation Pro preference setting.

Prerequisites

Verify that the host system meets the host system requirements. See Host System Requirements for

Workstation Pro.

Verify that no incompatible VMware products are installed on the host system. See Installing

Workstation Pro with Other VMware Products.

Obtain the Workstation Pro software and license key. See Obtaining the Workstation Pro Software

and License Key.

If you plan to use the Integrated Virtual Debugger for Eclipse, install it on the host system. See

Installing the Integrated Virtual Debuggers for Eclipse.

Compile the real-time clock function into the Linux kernel.

Verify that the parallel port PC-style hardware option (CONFIG_PARPORT_PC) is built and loaded as a kernel module and that it is set to m when the kernel is compiled.

Familiarize yourself with the Linux command-line installation options. You must use the --custom option to specify certain configuration settings. See Linux Command Line Installation Options.

Verify that you have root access on the host system.

Procedure

1 Log in to the host system with the user name that you plan to use when you run Workstation Pro.

2 Become root.

For example: su root

The command that you use depends on your Linux distribution and configuration.

3 Change directories to the directory that contains the Workstation Pro installer file.

4 Run the appropriate Workstation Pro installer for the host system.

For example: sh VMware-Workstation-xxxx-xxxxxxx.architecture.bundle [--option]

xxxx-xxxxxxx is the version and build numbers, architecture is x86_64, and option is a command-line option.

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5 Accept the Open Virtualization Format (OVF) Tool license agreement.

If you are using the --console option or installing Workstation Pro on a host system that does not support the GUI wizard, press Enter to scroll through and read the license agreement or type q to skip to the [yes/no] prompt.

6 Follow the prompts to finish the installation.

After Workstation Pro is installed, vmware-workstation-server starts on the host system. When Workstation Pro starts, log in using your regular user name, not root. vmware-workstation-server starts whenever you restart the host system.

Linux Command Line Installation Options

You can use command line installation options to install Workstation Pro on a Linux host system.

To use the installation options, you must be logged in as root. Exit from the root account after the installation is finished.

Table 2‑2. Linux Command Line Installation Options

Option Description

--console

--custom

--gtk

--ignore-errors or -I Allows the installation to continue even if there is an error in one of the installer

--regular

--required

--set-setting vmware-installer

installShortcuts yes | no

--set-setting vmware-installer libdir

lib_path

--set-setting vmware-installer

prefix /usr/local

Enables you to use the terminal for installation.

Use this option to customize the following installation settings.

The locations of the installation directories.

The user who will initially connect to VMware Workstation Server. This user can create and manage shared virtual machines.

The location of the shared virtual machines directory.

The HTTPS port that VMware Workstation Server uses on the host system.

Opens the GUI-based VMware installer, which is the default option.

scripts. Because the section that has an error does not complete, the component might not be properly configured

Shows installation questions that have not been answered before or are required. This is the default option.

Shows the license agreement only and then proceeds to install Workstation Pro.

Adds shortcuts when Workstation Pro is installed. The default is yes.

The libdir parameter instructs the installer where to place product-specific data files, such as libraries and internal icons. The installer places product files in $libdir/vmware and $libdirvmware-installer. The default is /usr/lib.

Installs executable files you run directly (ex: vmware, vmplayer, vmwarenetworks, etc.) here. Remainder of the product distributed under libdir-derived paths. The default is /usr .

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Table 2‑2. Linux Command Line Installation Options (Continued)

Option Description

--set-setting vmware-workstation

serialNumber xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-

xxxxx

--set-setting vmware-player

serialNumber xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-

xxxxx

--set-setting vmware-player-app

simplifiedUI yes|no

--set-setting vmware-player-app

softwareUpdateEnabled yes|no

--set-setting vmware-player-app

softwareUpdateURL https://url/

--set-setting vmware-player-app

supportURL https://url/

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

Turn on or off certain UI features of Workstation Player. The default is no.

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

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

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

Upgrading Workstation Pro

You can upgrade from a previous version of Workstation to the current version of Workstation Pro by running the Workstation Pro installation program.

When you upgrade Workstation Pro, the installation program removes the previous version of Workstation Pro before it installs the new version.

To use the latest features, virtual machines that were created in the previous versions of Workstation must be upgraded to the current version of Workstation Pro.

Prepare for an Upgrade

You must perform certain steps before you upgrade Workstation Pro.

Upgrade Workstation Pro on a Windows Host

You can upgrade to the current version of Workstation Pro on a Windows host system by running the Workstation Pro setup program and installation wizard for Windows.

Upgrade Workstation Pro on a Linux Host

You can upgrade to the current version of Workstation Pro on a Linux host system by running the Linux bundle installer for Workstation Pro. On most Linux distributions, the Linux bundle installer launches a GUI wizard. On some Linux distributions, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1, the bundle installer launches a command-line wizard instead of a GUI wizard. You can run the installer with the --console option to upgrade Workstation Pro in a terminal window.

Change the Hardware Compatibility of a Virtual Machine

You can change the hardware compatibility of a virtual machine. All virtual machines have a hardware version. The hardware version indicates which virtual hardware features that the virtual machine supports, such as BIOS or UEFI, number of virtual slots, maximum number of CPUs, maximum memory configuration, and other hardware characteristics.

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Prepare for an Upgrade

You must perform certain steps before you upgrade Workstation Pro.

Procedure

Verify that all virtual machines are Workstation 7.x, 8, 9, 10 or 11 virtual machines.

Direct upgrades from Workstation 2 and 3 virtual machines are not supported .

Review the system requirements for the new version of Workstation Pro.

If a virtual machine was created with a version of Workstation earlier than Workstation 5.5 and it has a snapshot, delete the snapshot.

If you are upgrading from Workstation 4, 5.x, 6.x, or 7.x, and the previous version of Workstation used bridged settings to map virtual networks to specific physical or virtual adapters, record those settings.

You must recreate these mappings after you upgrade Workstation Pro.

Power off all running virtual machines in Workstation Pro.

If any virtual machines are suspended, resume them and power them off in Workstation Pro.

If any virtual machines are running in the background, start them in Workstation Pro and power them off.

Back up all virtual machines by making backup copies of the files in the virtual machine directories and storing them in different directories.

The files that you back up should include .vmdk or .dsk files, .vmx or .cfg files, and .nvram files. Depending on the upgrade path, you might not be able to run virtual machines under both the current version of Workstation Pro and the previous version.

If you are upgrading Workstation 6.x on Windows XP to the current version of Workstation Pro on Windows Vista or Windows 7, verify that Service Pack 2 is installed and then upgrade the host operating system to Windows Vista or Windows 7.

If you are upgrading Workstation 5.x on Windows Vista to the current version of Workstation Pro on Windows Vista, select Programs > Programs and Features > Uninstall a program in the Windows control panel to manually uninstall Workstation 5.x.

If you are upgrading Workstation 5.x on Windows XP to the current version of Workstation Pro on Windows Vista or Windows 7, select Add or Remove Programs in the Windows control panel to manually uninstall Workstation 5.x.

During an upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista or Windows 7, the location of virtual machines might change. The Windows Vista and Windows 7 upgrade use the registry to map the virtual machines to a new location. Before the upgrade, the default virtual machine location on Windows XP is C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Virtual Machines. After the upgrade, the default virtual machine location on Windows Vista and Windows 7 is C:\Users\username\Documents\Virtual Machines\guestOSname.

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Upgrade Workstation Pro on a Windows Host

You can upgrade to the current version of Workstation Pro on a Windows host system by running the Workstation Pro setup program and installation wizard for Windows.

Remote connections and virtual machine sharing are enabled by default when you upgrade Workstation Pro. With remote connections, you can connect to remote hosts and run remote virtual machines. With virtual machine sharing, you can create virtual machines that other instances of Workstation Pro can access remotely.

Prerequisites

Verify that the host system meets the host system requirements. See Host System Requirements for

Workstation Pro.

Verify that you have a license key.

Verify that you have administrative privileges on the host system.

Prepare for the upgrade. See Prepare for an Upgrade.

Procedure

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

local Administrators group.

If you log in to a domain, the domain account must also be a local administrator.

2 Double-click the VMware-workstation-xxxx-xxxxxxx.exe file, where xxxx-xxxxxxx is the version

and build numbers.

3 Click Uninstall to uninstall the previous version of Workstation Pro.

4 After the host system restarts, log in as the Administrator user or as a user who is a member of the

local Administrators group.

If you log in to a domain, the domain account must also be a local administrator.

5 Follow the prompts to finish the upgrade.

Depending on your configuration, you might need to restart the host system to finish the installation.

After Workstation Pro is upgraded and you restart the host system, the VMware Workstation Server service starts. The VMware Workstation Server service starts whenever you restart the host system.

What to do next

To use the latest features, upgrade existing virtual machines to the new version of Workstation Pro. See

Change the Hardware Compatibility of a Virtual Machine.

If you used bridged settings to map virtual networks to specific physical or virtual adapters in the previous version of Workstation Pro, recreate the mappings. If you created teams in the previous version of Workstation, convert the teams to use them in the new version of Workstation Pro.

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Upgrade Workstation Pro on a Linux Host

To change the shared virtual machines directory or select a different port during the upgrade process, you must specify the --custom option. You can also change the shared virtual machines directory, select a different port, and disable remote connections and virtual machine sharing after Workstation Pro is upgraded by modifying the Shared VMs Workstation Pro preference setting.

Prerequisites

Verify that the host system meets the host system requirements. See Host System Requirements for

Workstation Pro.

Verify that you have a license key.

Prepare for the upgrade. See Prepare for an Upgrade.

Familiarize yourself with the Linux command-line installation options. You must use the --custom option to specify certain configuration settings. See Linux Command Line Installation Options.

Verify that you have root access to the host system.

Procedure

1 Log in to the host system with the user name that you plan to use when you run Workstation Pro.

2 Become root.

For example: su root

The command that you use depends on your Linux distribution and configuration.

3 Change directories to the directory that contains the Workstation Pro installer file.

4 Run the appropriate Workstation Pro installer for the host system.

For example: sh VMware-Workstation-xxxx-xxxxxxx.architecture.bundle [--option]

xxxx-xxxxxxx is the version and build numbers, architecture is x86_64, and option is a command-line option.

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5 Accept the Open Virtualization Format (OVF) Tool license agreement.

6 Follow the prompts to finish the installation.

After Workstation Pro is upgraded, vmware-workstation-server starts on the host system. vmwareworkstation-server starts whenever you restart the host system.

What to do next

To use the latest features, upgrade existing virtual machines to the new version of Workstation Pro. See

Change the Hardware Compatibility of a Virtual Machine.

Change the Hardware Compatibility of a Virtual Machine

When you upgrade Workstation Pro, you must change the hardware compatibility of virtual machines that were created in previous versions of Workstation Pro so that they can use the new features in the new version of Workstation Pro. You can run older versions of virtual machines in the new version of Workstation Pro, but you will not have the benefits of the new features.

If you want a virtual machine to remain compatible with other VMware products that you are using, you might not want to change the hardware compatibility to the latest Workstation Pro version.

Note If you decide not to change the hardware compatibility of a virtual machine, you should consider

upgrading to the latest version of VMware Tools to obtain the latest VMware Tools features.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with the considerations and limitations of changing the hardware compatibility of a virtual machine. See Considerations for Changing the Hardware Compatibility of a Virtual Machine.

Procedure

1 Make backup copies of the virtual disk (.vmdk) files.

2 If you are upgrading from a Workstation 5.x virtual machine, or downgrading to a Workstation 5.x

virtual machine, make a note of the NIC settings in the guest operating system.

If you specified a static IP address for the virtual machine, that setting might be changed to automatic assignment by DHCP after the upgrade.

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3 Shut down the guest operating system and power off the virtual machine.

4 Select the virtual machine and select VM > Manage > Change Hardware Compatibility.

5 Follow the prompts in the wizard to change the hardware compatibility of the virtual machine.

When you select a hardware compatibility setting, a list of the VMware products that are compatible with that setting appears. For example, if you select Workstation 4, 5, or 6, a list of Workstation 6.5 and later features that are not supported for that Workstation version also appears.

Note Using Workstation 10 or later, you can change the hardware compatibility of a shared or

remote virtual machine. However, you cannot downgrade a previously created virtual machine.

6 Power on the virtual machine.

If you upgrade a virtual machine that contains a Windows 98 operating system to a Workstation 6.5 or later virtual machine, you must install a PCI-PCI bridge driver when you power on the virtual machine.

Note Because Workstation 6.5 and later versions have 32 more PCI-PCI bridges than Workstation

6, you might need to respond to the prompt 32 or 33 times.

7 If the NIC settings in the guest operating system have changed, use the NIC settings that you

recorded to change them back to their original settings.

8 If the virtual machine does not have the latest version of VMware Tools installed, update VMware

Tools.

Update VMware Tools to the version included with the latest version of Workstation Pro, even if you upgraded the virtual machine to an earlier version of Workstation Pro. Do not remove the older version of VMware Tools before installing the new version.

Note If you are upgrading a virtual machine that runs from a physical disk, you can safely ignore this

message: Unable to upgrade drive_name. One of the supplied parameters is invalid.

Considerations for Changing the Hardware Compatibility of a Virtual Machine

Before you change the hardware compatibility of a virtual machine, you should be aware of certain considerations and limitations.

For Workstation 5.x, 6, 6.5, 7.x, and later virtual machines, you can change the version of the original virtual machine or create a full clone so that the original virtual machine remains unaltered.

If you upgrade a Workstation 5.x virtual machine that is compatible with ESX Server to Workstation 6,

6.5, 7.x, or later, you cannot use the Change Hardware Compatibility wizard to later downgrade the virtual machine to an ESX-compatible virtual machine.

When you upgrade a Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8 virtual machine, the Microsoft product activation feature might require you to reactivate the guest operating system.

Using Workstation 9 or earlier, you cannot change the hardware compatibility of a shared or remote virtual machine.

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Using Workstation 10 and later, you can change the hardware compatibility of a shared or remote virtual machine. However, you cannot down grade a previously created virtual machine.

Uninstalling Workstation Pro

You uninstall Workstation Pro on a Windows host by using the Windows setup program. On a Linux host, you uninstall Workstation Pro by running the bundle installer.

Important If you uninstall Workstation Pro and do not save the configuration, then when you reinstall

Workstation Pro, shared virtual machines will no longer appear in the Shared VMs list in the virtual machine library. To display virtual machines in the list again, you will need to share them again.

Uninstall Workstation Pro from a Windows Host

You can run the Windows setup program to uninstall Workstation Pro from a Windows host system.

Procedure

1 Log in to the Windows 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 domain, the domain account must also be a local administrator.

2 Double-click the VMware-workstation-xxxx-xxxxxxx.exe file, where xxxx-xxxxxxx is the version

and build numbers.

3 Click Next on the Welcome screen and then click Remove.

4 (Optional) To save product license and Workstation Pro configuration information, select the

appropriate check boxes.

5 Click Next to begin uninstalling Workstation Pro.

Uninstall Workstation Pro from a Linux Host

You must run a command to uninstall Workstation Pro from a Linux host.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have root access to the host system.

Procedure

1 Log in to the Linux host system with the user name that you use when you run Workstation Pro.

2 Become root.

For example: su root

The command that you use depends on your Linux distribution and configuration.

3 In a terminal window, type vmware-installer -u vmware-workstation

4 Click Next to begin uninstalling Workstation Pro.

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Start Workstation Pro

How you start Workstation Pro depends on the host system platform and the options that you selected during Workstation Pro installation.

On Windows host systems, you might have a desktop shortcut, a quick launch shortcut, or a combination of these options in addition to a Start menu item.

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

Procedure

To start Workstation Pro on a Windows host system, select Start > Programs > VMware > VMware Workstation.

To start Workstation Pro on a Linux host system, type the vmware command in a terminal window.

Option Command

/usr/bin is in your default path

/usr/bin is not in your default path

vmware &

/usr/bin/vmware &

The first time you start Workstation Pro, Workstation Pro prompts you to accept the End User License Agreement. After you start Workstation Pro, the Workstation Pro window opens.

Using the Workstation Pro Window

A virtual machine is like a separate computer that runs in a window on the host system. Workstation Pro displays more than the screen of another computer. From the Workstation Pro window, you can interact with and run virtual machines. You can also switch easily from one virtual machine to another.

The best way to learn how to use Workstation Pro is to use it. The Workstation Pro window is designed to be intuitive and easy to use.

Use Virtual Machines in the Workstation Pro Window

You interact with virtual machines through the Workstation Pro window.

Use the Virtual Machine Library

The virtual machine library appears on the left side of the Workstation Pro window. You use the library to view and select virtual machines, folders, and remote hosts in Workstation Pro. The library appears by default.

Use the Thumbnail Bar

The thumbnail bar appears along the bottom of the Workstation Pro window.

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Use the Status Bar

The status bar appears at the bottom of the Workstation Pro window. You can use the icons on the status bar to see Workstation Pro messages and perform actions on devices such as hard disks, CD/DVD drives, floppy drives, and network adapters. The status bar appears by default.

Use Workstation Pro Tabs

Workstation Pro creates a tab in the right pane of the Workstation Pro window when you select an item in the library. Tabs appear by default.

Customize the Workstation Pro Window

You can customize the appearance of the Workstation Pro window by selecting items from the View menu.

Default Hot-Key Combinations

You can use keyboard shortcuts to interact with Workstation Pro and with virtual machines. Most of the available keyboard shortcuts for Workstation Pro are listed next to their associated commands in Workstation Pro menus.

Use Virtual Machines in the Workstation Pro Window

You interact with virtual machines through the Workstation Pro window.

Procedure

Use the icons on the Home tab to create a new virtual machine, open an existing virtual machine, connect to a remote server, or view the Workstation Pro help system.

Select a powered-off virtual machine in the library or click its tab to see the summary view for that virtual machine.

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

Select an active virtual machine in the library or click its tab to see the console view.

The console view is like the monitor display of a physical computer. You can click the console view button on the toolbar to switch between the console and summary views.

Select a virtual machine in the library and use the VM menu on the menu bar at the top of the Workstation Pro window to perform all virtual machine operations for the selected virtual machine.

You can use the VM menu when a virtual machine is powered on or off. If an operation is not supported for the virtual machine in its current state, the menu item is not available.

Select a virtual machine in the library and use the buttons on the toolbar at the top of the Workstation Pro window to perform common virtual machine operations and change the display for the selected virtual machine.

You can use the buttons on the toolbar to take and manage snapshots, enter full screen and Unity mode, cycle multiple monitors, and switch between the console and summary views.

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When a virtual machine is powered on, use the icons on the status bar at the bottom of the Workstation Pro window to see Workstation Pro messages and 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, and you can click the Message log icon to view the message log. Messages include warning information about the virtual machine. If the icon is dimmed, all messages have already been read.

Select items in the library or use tabs to quickly switch between virtual machines, folders, and remote hosts.

Use the Virtual Machine Library

Prerequisites

If the library is not visible, select View > Customize > Library.

Procedure

Right-click a virtual machine, folder, or remote host in the library to view the item's context menu and perform common operations.

To find a specific virtual machine in the library, type its name, part of its description, or the name of the guest operating system in the search box.

For example, to find all the virtual machines that have a Windows 8 guest operating system, type Windows 8. You can also search for folders and remote hosts.

To view information about a virtual machine, select the virtual machine name in the library and, if powered on, click the Show or hide console view icon and View All.

Option Description

A Powered Off Virtual Machine The virtual machine details appear at the bottom of the page.

A Powered On Virtual Machine In the menu bar, select the Show or hide console view for the virtual machine

details to appear at the bottom of the page. Click View All to see network connection information.

Virtual machines in either a powered off or powered on state provide information about the virtual machine, such as the hardware compatibility information. The information provided for a powered on virtual machine with VMware Tools installed is more detailed. For example, only a powered on virtual machine with VMware Tools installed lists the primary IP address.

To mark a virtual machine or folder as a favorite in the library, right-click it and select Mark as Favorite or click the star icon.

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Use the library drop-down menu to show only powered on virtual machines or favorite items.

By default, the library shows all items.

To remove an item from the library, right-click it and select Remove.

To remove non-existent virtual machines from the library, right-click My Computer and select Remove Non-existent Virtual Machines.

Non-existent virtual machines are virtual machines that are no longer available from the library. For example, virtual machines on a removable storage device that is no longer connected to your host system.

Workstation Pro removes all non-existent virtual machines from the library.

Use the Thumbnail Bar

The thumbnail bar appears along the bottom of the Workstation Pro window.

For active virtual machines, Workstation Pro updates the thumbnail in real time to show the actual content of the virtual machine. When a virtual machine is suspended, the thumbnail is a screenshot of the virtual machine at the time that it was suspended.

Prerequisites

If the thumbnail bar is not visible, select View > Customize > Thumbnail Bar.

Procedure

Click a thumbnail to show the summary or console view for a virtual machine.

Click thumbnails to quickly switch between virtual machines.

To change the order of the thumbnails, change the order of the virtual machine tabs.

Thumbnails appear in the same order as the virtual machine tabs. To move a virtual machine tab, drag and drop it to a new location.

To change the virtual machines that appear in the thumbnail bar, select Open Virtual Machines or Folder View Virtual Machines from the thumbnail bar drop-down menu.

The drop-down menu is a down-arrow on the thumbnail bar.

Use the Status Bar

Procedure

Mouse over an icon on the status bar to see its name.

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

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Click the message log icon to view the message log.

Messages include warning information about the virtual machine. If the icon is dimmed, all messages have already been read.

Use Workstation Pro Tabs

Workstation Pro creates a tab in the right pane of the Workstation Pro window when you select an item in the library. Tabs appear by default.

Procedure

Use the links on the Home tab to create a virtual machine, open a virtual machine, connect to a remote server, virtualize a physical machine, use the virtual network editor, customize Workstation Pro preferences, download software updates, and view the help system.

Use the virtual machine tabs to view virtual machine configuration information, modify virtual machine hardware and option settings, and create or modify the virtual machine description.

Use the Shared VMs tab to see information about all of the shared virtual machines on the host system.

Use the tab for a remote host to see information about the remote host, including CPU, memory, and disk usage, and the virtual machines and virtual machine tasks running on the remote host.

Select File > Close Tab to close a tab.

Customize the Workstation Pro Window

You can customize the appearance of the Workstation Pro window by selecting items from the View menu.

Procedure

1 Select View > Customize and select a Workstation Pro window view.

Option Description

Library The virtual machine library appears in the left side of the window. You can use the

library to view and select virtual machines, folders, and remote hosts in Workstation Pro. The library appears by default.

Thumbnail Bar A thumbnail bar appears at the bottom of the window. Depending on the

thumbnail bar option that is selected, the thumbnail bar shows all open virtual machines or the virtual machines in the selected folder.

Toolbar A toolbar appears at the top of the window. You can use the icons on the toolbar

to start and stop virtual machines, take snapshots, change the display, and perform other common tasks. The toolbar appears by default.

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Option Description

Status Bar A status bar appears at the bottom of the window when a virtual machine is

selected. You can use the icons on the status bar to see Workstation Pro messages and perform actions on virtual machine devices such as hard disks, CD/DVD drives, floppy drives, and network adapters. The status bar appears by default.

Tabs Workstation Pro creates a tab in the right pane when you select an item in the

library. Tabs appear by default.

2 To specify which virtual machines appear in the thumbnail bar, select View > Customize >

Thumbnail Bar Options.

Option Description

Open Virtual Machines The thumbnail bar shows thumbnails for all open virtual machines.

Folder View Virtual Machines The thumbnail bar shows thumbnails for virtual machines in the selected folder.

Default Hot-Key Combinations

Table 2‑3. Default Hot-Key Combinations

Shortcut Action

Ctrl+G Grab input from the keyboard and mouse.

Ctrl+Alt Release the mouse cursor.

Ctrl+Alt+Insert Shut down or, depending on the guest operating system, log out of the guest operating system. This

command is received solely by the virtual machine.

Ctrl+Alt+Delete Shut down or, depending on the operating system, log out of the guest operating system.

On a Windows host, if you do not use the enhanced virtual keyboard feature, both the host operating system and the virtual machine receive this command, even when Workstation Pro has control of input. Cancel the ending of the host operating system session and return to the virtual machine to log out or shut down or perform administrative tasks.

Ctrl+Alt+Enter Enter full screen mode.

Ctrl+Alt+spacebar Send any command to the virtual machine so that Workstation Pro does not process it. Hold down

Ctrl+Alt as you press and release the spacebar, and continue to hold the Ctrl+Alt keys down as you press the next key in the combination.

Ctrl+Tab

Ctrl+Shift+Tab

(Windows hosts only) Switch among tabs.

Ctrl+Alt+right arrow In full screen mode, switch to the next powered-on virtual machine.

Ctrl+Alt+left arrow In full screen mode, switch to the previous powered-on virtual machine.

Ctrl+Shift+U In Unity mode, give access to the virtual machine Start or Applications menu.

You can change the Unity hot-key combination by modifying Unity preference settings.

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You can change the default hot-key combinations by modifying Workstation Pro for common virtual machine operations to Ctrl+Shift, you press Ctrl+Shift instead of Ctrl+Alt to release control from the current virtual machine.

Using the Workstation Pro Online Help

The Workstation Pro online help contains information about Workstation Pro settings and common tasks. Use the online help when you need to quickly find information about Workstation Pro preferences, virtual hardware settings, and virtual machine options.

For example, if you are configuring a virtual machine and you need information about a specific hardware setting, click Help on the dialog box that contains the setting. The Help window opens and a contextsensitive help topic appears in the right pane. To see the entire help system, select Help > Help Topics (Windows host) or Help > Contents (Linux host).

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Creating Virtual Machines 3

You can create a new virtual machine in Workstation Pro by using the New Virtual Machine wizard, clone an existing Workstation Pro virtual machine or virtual machine template, import third-party and Open Virtualization Format (OVF) virtual machines, and create a virtual machine from a physical machine.

You can also create shared virtual machines, which can be used by remote users, and virtual machines that run on remote hosts. See Chapter 9 Using Remote Connections and Sharing Virtual Machines.

This chapter includes the following topics:

Understanding Virtual Machines

Preparing to Create a New Virtual Machine

Create a New Virtual Machine on the Local Host

Cloning Virtual Machines

Virtualize a Physical Machine

Importing Virtual Machines

Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

Virtual Machine Files

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.

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Preparing to Create a New Virtual Machine

You use the New Virtual Machine wizard to create a new virtual machine in Workstation Pro. The wizard prompts you to make decisions about many aspects of the virtual machine. You should make these decisions before you start the New Virtual Machine wizard.

Worksheet for Creating a Virtual Machine

You can print this worksheet and write down the values to specify when you run the New Virtual Machine wizard.

Table 3‑1. Worksheet: Creating a Virtual Machine

Option Fill In Your Value Here

Hardware compatibility setting

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

Number of processors

Memory allocation

Network connection type

I/O controller type

Hard disk

Virtual hard disk type

Disk capacity

Virtual disk file name and location

Selecting a Virtual Machine Conﬁguration

When you start the New Virtual Machine wizard, the wizard prompts you to select a typical or custom configuration.

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Typical Conﬁguration

If you select a typical configuration, you must 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 specific hardware settings, including memory allocation, number of virtual processors, and network connection type.

Custom Conﬁguration

You must select a custom configuration if you need to perform any of the following hardware customizations.

Create a virtual machine that has a different Workstation Pro version than the default hardware compatibility setting.

Select the I/O controller type for the SCSI controller.

Select the virtual disk device type.

Configure a physical disk or an existing virtual disk instead of create a new virtual disk.

Allocate all virtual disk space rather than let disk space gradually grow to the maximum disk size.

Selecting the Virtual Machine Hardware Compatibility Setting

All virtual machines have a hardware version. The hardware version indicates which virtual hardware features that the virtual machine supports, such as BIOS or UEFI, number of virtual slots, maximum number of CPUs, maximum memory configuration, and other hardware characteristics. The virtual machine hardware compatibility setting determines the hardware features of the virtual machine.

If you select a typical configuration, the wizard uses the default hardware compatibility setting configured in the Workstation Pro preferences. By default, the default hardware compatibility setting is the installed Workstation Pro version.

If you select a custom configuration, the New Virtual Machine wizard prompts you to select a hardware compatibility setting for the virtual machine. When you select a hardware compatibility setting, a list of the VMware products and versions that are compatible with your selection appears. Limitations and features that are not available for your selection are also listed. If a feature compatibility check box is available for your selection, you can select that check box to see a list of the additional limitations.

To deploy virtual machines to run on a different VMware product, you might need to select a hardware compatibility setting that is compatible with that product.

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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.

Note For remote virtual machines, you must specify whether the physical drive or ISO image file is

located on the local host or remote host before you select the installer disc or ISO image file.

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 Pro 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.

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 3‑2. 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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Table 3‑2. 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 3‑3. 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 Pro 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.

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 10 x64.

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 Pro 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 3‑4. Default Virtual Machines Directory

Host Operating System Default Location

Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2012 R2

Windows 7

Windows 8

Windows 10

Linux homedir/vmware

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 is the home directory of the currently logged in logged

in user.

Shared Virtual Machines Directory

Workstation Pro stores shared virtual machines in the shared virtual machines directory, where VMware Workstation Server manages them.

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

Table 3‑5. Default Shared Virtual Machines Directory

Host Operating System Default Shared Virtual Machines Directory

Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 R2

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Shared Virtual

Machines

Windows 7

Windows 8

Windows 10

Linux

C:\Users\Public\Documents\Shared Virtual Machines

/var/lib/vmware/Shared VMs

Selecting the Firmware Type

Depending on the guest operating system, when you use a custom configuration, the New Virtual Machine wizard prompts you to select the firmware type the virtual machine uses when it boots.

This option appears in the New Virtual Machine Wizard when the guest operating system is supported with the UEFI firmware type. Otherwise, the BIOS firmware type is selected by default.

Table 3‑6. Firmware Type Options

Option Description

BIOS The virtual machine firmware uses BIOS when booting.

UEFI The virtual machine uses UEFI when booting.

If you select UEFI, depending on the guest operating system, you might have the option of enabling UEFI Secure Boot.

See Configure a Firmware Type.

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Selecting the Number of Processors for a Virtual Machine

When you select a custom configuration, the New Virtual Machine wizard prompts you to specify the number of processors for the virtual machine.

Specifying multiple virtual processors is supported only on host machines that have at least two logical processors. Single-processor hosts that have hyperthreading enabled or dual-core CPUs are considered to have two logical processors. Multiprocessor hosts that have two CPUs are considered to have at least two logical processors, regardless of whether they are dual-core or have hyperthreading enabled.

For Windows virtual machines running mostly office and Internet productivity applications, using multiple virtual processors is not beneficial, so the default single virtual processor is ideal. For server workloads and data-intensive computing applications, adding extra virtual processors may provide an increase in application performance.

Application Recommended number of processors

Desktop applications 1 processor

Server operating systems 2 processors

Video encoding, modeling, and scientific 4 processors

In some circumstances, adding additional processors can decrease the overall performance of the virtual machine and your computer. This can occur if the operating system or application is not using the processors efficiently. In this case, reducing the number of processors is recommended.

Assigning all processors on your computer to the virtual machine results in extremely poor performance. The host operating system must continue to perform background tasks even if no applications are running. If you assign all processors to a virtual machine, this prevents important tasks from being completed.

Allocating Memory for a Virtual Machine

When you select a custom configuration, the New Virtual Machine wizard prompts you to specify the default settings for memory allocation.

Color-coded icons correspond to the maximum recommended memory, recommended memory, and guest operating system recommended minimum memory values. To adjust the memory allocated to the virtual machine, move the slider along the range of values. The high end of the range is determined by the amount of memory allocated to all running virtual machines. If you allow virtual machine memory to be swapped, this value changes to reflect the specified amount of swapping.

The maximum amount of memory for each virtual machine is 64GB.

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

You can change the amount of memory available to all virtual machines by modifying Workstation Pro memory settings.

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Selecting the Network Connection Type for a Virtual Machine

When you select a custom configuration, the New Virtual Machine wizard prompts you to configure the network connection type for the virtual machine.

If you are creating a remote virtual machine, you must select either a custom network or no network connection.

Table 3‑7. Network Connection Settings

Setting Description

Use bridged networking Configure a bridged network connection for the virtual machine. With bridged networking,

the virtual machine has direct access to an external Ethernet network. The virtual machine must have its own IP address on the external network.

If your host system is on a network and you have a separate IP address for your virtual machine (or can get an IP address from a DHCP server), select this setting. Other computers on the network can then communicate directly with the virtual machine.

Use network address translation

(NAT)

Use host-only networking Configure a host-only network connection for the virtual machine. Host-only networking

Do not use a network connection Do not configure a network connection for the virtual machine.

Custom (Windows host) or Named Network (Linux host)

Configure a NAT connection for the virtual machine. With NAT, the virtual machine and the host system share a single network identity that is not visible outside the network.

Select NAT if you do not have a separate IP address for the virtual machine, but you want to be able to connect to the Internet.

provides a network connection between the virtual machine and the host system, using a virtual network adapter that is visible to the host operating system.

With host-only networking, the virtual machine can communicate only with the host system and other virtual machines in the host-only network. Select host-only networking to set up an isolated virtual network.

(Remote virtual machine only) Select a specific virtual network.

See Chapter 8 Configuring Network Connections for information about virtual switches, virtual network adapters, the virtual DHCP server, and the NAT device.

Selecting the I/O Controller Type for a Virtual Machine

When you select a custom configuration, the New Virtual Machine wizard prompts you to select the I/O controller type for the virtual machine. Workstation Pro automatically configures your virtual machine with the SCSI controller best suited for the guest operating system, but you can change the controller.

Workstation Pro installs an IDE controller and a SCSI controller in the virtual machine. SATA controllers are supported for some guest operating systems. The IDE controller is always ATAPI. For the SCSI controller, you can choose BusLogic, LSI Logic, or LSI Logic SAS. If you are creating a remote virtual machine on an ESX host, you can also select a VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapter.

BusLogic and LSI Logic adapters have parallel interfaces. The LSI Logic SAS adapter has a serial interface. The LSI Logic adapter has improved performance and works better with generic SCSI devices. The LSI Logic adapter is also supported by ESX Server 2.0 and later.

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PVSCSI adapters are high-performance storage adapters that can provide greater throughput and lower CPU utilization. They are best suited for environments where hardware or applications drive a very high amount of I/O throughput, such as SAN environments. PVSCSI adapters are not suited for DAS environments.

Note The choice of SCSI controller does not affect whether the virtual disk can be an IDE, SCSI, or

SATA disk.

Some guest operating systems, such as Windows XP, do not include a driver for the LSI Logic or LSI Logic SAS adapter. You must download the driver from the LSI Logic Web site. Drivers for a Mylex (BusLogic) compatible host bus adapter are not obvious on the LSI Logic Web site. Search the support area for the numeric string in the model number, for example, search for 958 for BT/KT-958 drivers.

See the VMware Guest Operating System Installation Guide for driver support information. For guest operating system support information and known issues, as well as SATA support, see the online Compatibility Guide on the VMware Web site.

Selecting a Hard Disk for a Virtual Machine

When you select a custom configuration, the New Virtual Machine wizard prompts you to configure a hard disk for the virtual machine.

Virtual hard disks are the best choice for most virtual machines because they are easy to set up and can be moved to new locations on the same host system or to different host systems. In a typical configuration, Workstation Pro creates a new virtual hard disk for the virtual machine.

In some cases, you might want to select an existing virtual hard disk or give the virtual machine access to a physical hard disk or unused partition on the host system.

Selecting the Virtual Hard Disk Type 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 select the virtual hard disk type for the virtual machine.

Selecting the Disk Mode

When you select a custom configuration on a Linux host, you can use the New Virtual Machine wizard to configure normal or independent mode for a disk.

Prepare to Use a Physical Disk or Unused Partition

You must perform certain tasks before you configure a virtual machine to use a physical disk or unused partition on the host system.

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.

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Specifying the Name and Location of Virtual Disk Files

During a custom configuration, if you instruct the New Virtual Machine wizard to create a new virtual disk, use an existing virtual disk, or use a physical disk, the wizard prompts you for the name and location of a virtual disk (.vmdk) file.

Selecting the Virtual Hard Disk Type 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 select the virtual hard disk type for the virtual machine.

You can set up a virtual disk as an IDE disk for any guest operating system. You can set up a virtual disk as a SCSI disk for any guest operating system that has a driver for the LSI Logic or BusLogic SCSI controller available in the virtual machine. You can set up a virtual disk as a SATA disk for some guest operating systems. You can set up a virtual disk as an NVMe disk for guest operating systems that support the NVMe disk type.

You can change virtual disk node and mode settings after a virtual machine is created.

Selecting the Disk Mode

When you select a custom configuration on a Linux host, you can use the New Virtual Machine wizard to configure normal or independent mode for a disk.

In normal mode, disks are included in snapshots that you take of the virtual machine. If you do not want data on the disk to be recorded when you take a snapshot of the virtual machine, configure the disk to be independent.

If you configure a disk to be independent, you can further specify whether changes you make to the disk are to persist or be discarded when you power off the virtual machine or restore a snapshot.

You can also exclude virtual disks from snapshots by modifying virtual machine settings.

Prepare to Use a Physical Disk or Unused Partition

You must perform certain tasks before you configure a virtual machine to use a physical disk or unused partition on the host system.

You must perform these tasks before you run the New Virtual Machine wizard to add a physical disk to a new virtual machine, and before you add a physical disk to an existing virtual machine.

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Procedure

1 If a partition is mounted by the host or in use by another virtual machine, unmount it.

The virtual machine and guest operating system access a physical disk partition while the host continues to run its operating system. Corruption is possible if you allow the virtual machine to modify a partition that is simultaneously mounted on the host operating system.

Option Description

The partition is mapped to a Windows

Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server

2012 R2 host

The partition is mapped to a Windows

7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 host

a Select Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools >

Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management.

b Select a partition and select Action > All Tasks > Change Drive Letter and

Paths.

c Click Remove.

a Select Start > Control Panel.

b In the menu bar, click the arrow next to Control Panel.

c From the drop-down menu, select All Control Panel Items > Administrative

Tools > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management (Local).

d Right-click a partition and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths.

e Click Remove and OK.

2 Check the guest operating system documentation regarding the type of partition on which the guest

operating system can be installed.

On Windows 7 hosts, you cannot use the system partition, or the physical disk that contains it, in a virtual machine. Other operating systems, such as Linux, can be installed on a primary or an extended partition on any part of the drive.

3 If the physical partition or disk contains data that you need in the future, back up the data.

4 If you use a Windows host IDE disk in a physical disk configuration, verify that it is not configured as

the slave on the secondary IDE channel if the master on that channel is a CD-ROM drive.

5 On a Linux host, set the device group membership or device ownership appropriately.

a Verify that the master physical disk device or devices are readable and writable by the user who

runs Workstation Pro.

Physical devices, such as /dev/hda (IDE physical disk) and /dev/sdb (SCSI physical disk), belong to group-id disk on most distributions. If this is the case, you can add Workstation Pro users to the disk group. Another option is to change the owner of the device. Consider all the security issues involved in this option.

b Grant Workstation Pro users access to all /dev/hd[abcd] physical devices that contain

operating systems or boot managers.

When permissions are set correctly, the physical disk configuration files in Workstation Pro control access. This reliability provides boot managers access to configuration files and other files they might need to boot operating systems. For example, LILO needs to read /boot on a Linux partition to boot a non-Linux operating system that might be on another drive.

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Specifying Disk Capacity for a Virtual Machine

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.

For custom configurations, you can select Allocate all disk space now to allocate all disk space immediately rather than allow the disk space to gradually grow to the maximum amount. Allocating all the disk space immediately might provide better performance, but it is a time-consuming operation that requires as much physical disk space as you specify for the virtual disk. If you allocate all the disk space immediately, you cannot use the shrink disk feature.

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 TB. 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, 14 IDE ATAPI 8192 GB (8TB)

10, 11, 12, 14 SCSI BusLogic 2040 GB (2TB)

10, 11, 12, 14 SCSI LSI Logic 8192 GB (8TB)

10, 11, 12, 14 SCSI LSI Logic SAS 8192 GB (8TB)

10, 11, 12, 14 SATA AHCI 8192 GB (8TB)

14 NVMe NVMe 8192 GB (8TB)

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

6.0, 5 All All 950 GB

To discover your SCSI controller type, open the virtual machine .vmx file. The value of the setting scsi0.virtualDev determines your SCSI controller type.

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Value SCSI Controller Type

Blank or not present BusLogic

lsilogic LSI Logic

lsisas1068 LSI Logic SAS

Specifying the Name and Location of Virtual Disk Files

Table 3‑8. Required Information for Each Disk Type

Type of Disk Description

New virtual disk If you specified that all disk space should be stored in a single

file, Workstation Pro uses the filename that you provide to create one 40GB disk file. If you specified that disk space should be stored in multiple files, Workstation Pro generates subsequent filenames by using the filename that you provide. If you specified that files can increase in size, subsequent filenames include an s in the file number, for example, Windows 7- s001.vmdk. If you specified that all disk space should be allocated when the virtual disk is created, subsequent filenames include an f in the file number, for example, Windows 7- f001.vmdk.

Existing virtual disk You select the name and location of an existing virtual disk file.

Physical disk After the wizard prompts you to select a physical device and

specify whether to use the entire disk or individual partitions, you must specify a virtual disk file. Workstation Pro uses this virtual disk file to store partition access configuration information for the physical disk.

Note Earlier VMware products use the .dsk extension for virtual disk files.

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.

Create a New Virtual Machine on the Local Host

You create a new virtual machine on the local host system by running the New Virtual Machine wizard.

You can also use the New Virtual Machine wizard to create shared virtual machines, which can be used by remote users, and remote virtual machines, which run on remote hosts. See Chapter 9 Using Remote

Connections and Sharing Virtual Machines.

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Prerequisites

Verify that you have the information the New Virtual Machine wizard requires to create a virtual machine. See Preparing to Create a New Virtual Machine.

Verify that the guest operating system you plan to install is supported. See the online VMware Compatibility Guide on the VMware Web site.

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

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.

If the virtual machine will use a physical disk or unused partition on the host system, perform the appropriate preparation tasks. See Prepare to Use a Physical Disk or Unused Partition.

Procedure

1 Start the New Virtual Machine wizard.

Option Description

Windows host

Linux host Select File > New Virtual Machine.

If the host is not connected to a remote server, select File > New Virtual Machine.

If the host is connected to a remote server, select File > New Virtual Machine > On this Computer.

2 Select the configuration type.

Option Description

Typical The wizard prompts you to specify or accept defaults for basic virtual machine

settings. The typical configuration type is appropriate in most instances.

Custom You must select the custom configuration type to make a different virtual machine

version than the default hardware compatibility setting, specify the I/O adapter type for SCSI adapters, specify whether to create an IDE, SCSI, SATA, or NVMe virtual disk, use a physical disk instead of a virtual disk, use an existing virtual disk, or allocate all virtual disk space rather than let disk space gradually grow to the maximum disk size.

3 If you selected the Custom option, select a hardware compatibility setting.

The hardware compatibility setting determines the hardware features of the virtual machine.

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4 Select the source of the guest operating system.

Option Description

Use a physical disc Select the physical drive where you inserted the installation disc.

Use an ISO image Type or browse to the location of the ISO image file for the guest operating

system.

Install the guest operating system later Create a virtual machine that has a blank disk. You must install the guest

operating system manually after you create the virtual machine.

5 Specify information about the guest operating system.

Option Description

You are using Easy Install Type the Easy Install information for the guest operating system.

You are not using Easy Install Select the guest operating system type and version. If the guest operating system

is not listed, select Other.

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

7 Follow the prompts to configure the virtual machine.

If you selected a typical configuration, the wizard prompts you to configure the virtual disk size and specify whether the disk should be split into multiple files. If you selected a custom configuration, the wizard prompts you to configure the firmware type, virtual machine processors, memory allocation, networking configuration, I/O controller types, virtual disk type and mode, and virtual disk.

Note For the firmware type, if you select UEFI and if the guest operating system supports UEFI

Secure Boot, you can select the option to enable UEFI Secure Boot.

8 (Optional) Click Customize Hardware to customize the hardware configuration.

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

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

you create it.

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

10 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 you finished the New Virtual Machine wizard, power on the virtual machine to start the guest operating system installation. See Use

Easy Install to Install a Guest Operating System.

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

System Manually.

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, user name, or password.

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

Linux host a Select VM > 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.

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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 VM > Settings.

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

c Select Connect at power on.

d (Remote virtual machine only) Select the location of the CD-ROM or DVD drive.

e Select Use physical drive and select a the drive.

f Click OK to save your changes.

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 VM > Settings.

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

c Select Connect at power on.

d (Remote virtual machine only) Select the location of the ISO image file.

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 VM > Removable Devices > CD/DVD > Disconnect and disconnect from the current ISO

image file.

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

c Select Connected and click OK.

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

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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.

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

You can install a guest operating system directly on a physical disk or unused partition on the host system.

A physical disk directly accesses an existing local disk or partition. You can use physical disks to run one or more guest operating systems from existing disk partitions.

Workstation Pro supports physical disks up to 2 TB capacity. Booting from an operating system already set up on an existing SCSI disk or partition is not supported.

Running an operating system natively on the host system and switching to running it inside a virtual machine is similar to pulling the hard drive out of one computer and installing it in a second computer that has a different motherboard and hardware. The steps you take depend on the guest operating system in the virtual machine. In most cases, a guest operating system that is installed on a physical disk or unused partition cannot boot outside of the virtual machine, even though the data is available to the host system. See the Dual-Boot Computers and Virtual Machines technical note on the VMware Web site for information about using an operating system that can also boot outside of a virtual machine.

After you configure a virtual machine to use one or more partitions on a physical disk, do not modify the partition tables by running fdisk or a similar utility in the guest operating system. If you use fdisk or a similar utility on the host operating system to modify the partition table of the physical disk, you must recreate the virtual machine physical disk. All files that were on the physical disk are lost when you modify the partition table.

Important You cannot use a physical disk to share files between the host system and a guest operating

system. Making the same partition visible to both the host system and a guest operating system can cause data corruption. Instead, use shared folder to share files between the host system and a guest operating system.

Create a Virtual Machine Shortcut

You can use a shortcut to select a virtual machine from your desktop.

Prerequisites

A virtual machine must be present in the Workstation Pro Virtual Machine Library.

This feature is available on Windows host systems only.

Procedure

1 Select a virtual machine from the virtual machine library.

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2 Drag the virtual machine to the host desktop or to a folder.

A shortcut is created for the virtual machine.

You can select the virtual machine by double-clicking the shortcut.

Cloning Virtual Machines

Installing a guest operating system and applications can be time consuming. With clones, you can make many copies of a virtual machine from a single installation and configuration process. Cloning a virtual machine is faster and easier than copying it.

Clones are useful when you must deploy many identical virtual machines to a group. For example, an MIS department can clone a virtual machine that has a suite of preconfigured office applications for each employee. You can also configure a virtual machine that has a complete development environment and then clone it repeatedly as a baseline configuration for software testing.

The existing virtual machine is called the parent virtual machine. When the cloning operation is complete, the clone becomes a separate virtual machine.

Changes made to a clone do not affect the parent virtual machine, and changes made to the parent virtual machine do not appear in a clone. The MAC address and UUID for a clone are different from the parent virtual machine.

Using Linked Clones

A linked clone is a copy of a virtual machine that shares virtual disks with the parent virtual machine in an ongoing manner.

Using Full Clones

A full clone is a complete and independent copy of a virtual machine. It shares nothing with the parent virtual machine after the cloning operation. Ongoing operation of a full clone is entirely separate from the parent virtual machine.

Enable Template Mode for a Parent Virtual Machine of Linked Clones

To prevent the parent virtual machine for a linked clone from being deleted, you can designate the parent as a template. When template mode is enabled, the virtual machine, and snapshots of the virtual machine, cannot be deleted.

Clone a Virtual Machine

The Clone Virtual Machine wizard guides you through the process of cloning a virtual machine. You do not need to locate and manually copy the parent virtual machine files.

Using Linked Clones

A linked clone is a copy of a virtual machine that shares virtual disks with the parent virtual machine in an ongoing manner.

Because a linked clone is made from a snapshot of the parent, disk space is conserved and multiple virtual machines can use the same software installation. All files available on the parent at the moment you take the snapshot continue to remain available to the linked clone.

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Ongoing changes to the virtual disk of the parent do not affect the linked clone, and changes to the disk of the linked clone do not affect the parent. A linked clone must have access to the parent. Without access to the parent, you cannot use a linked clone.

Because linked clones are created swiftly, you can create a unique virtual machine for each task. You can also share a virtual machine with other users by storing the virtual machine on your local network where other users can quickly make a linked clone. For example, a support team can reproduce a bug in a virtual machine, and an engineer can quickly make a linked clone of that virtual machine to work on the bug.

You can make a linked clone from a linked clone, but the performance of the linked clone degrades. If you make a full clone from a linked clone, the full clone is an independent virtual machine that does not require access to the linked clone or its parent. You should make a linked clone of the parent virtual machine, if possible.

Important You cannot delete a linked clone snapshot without destroying the linked clone. You can safely

delete the snapshot only if you also delete the clone that depends on it.

Using Full Clones

Because a full clone does not share virtual disks with the parent virtual machine, full clones generally perform better than linked clones. Full clones take longer to create than linked clones. Creating a full clone can take several minutes if the files involved are large.

Because a full clone duplicates only the state of the virtual machine at the instant of the cloning operation, it does not have access to snapshots of the parent virtual machine.

Enable Template Mode for a Parent Virtual Machine of Linked Clones

Note You cannot enable template mode for a shared or remote virtual machine.

Prerequisites

If the parent does not have at least one snapshot, create a snapshot. See Taking Snapshots of Virtual

Machines.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine to use as a parent of the linked clone and select VM > Settings.

2 On the Options tab, select Advanced.

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3 Select Enable Template mode (to be used for cloning) and click OK.

Clone a Virtual Machine

The Clone Virtual Machine wizard guides you through the process of cloning a virtual machine. You do not need to locate and manually copy the parent virtual machine files.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with the different types of clones. See Using Full Clones and Using Linked

Clones.

Run a defragmentation utility in the guest operating system to defragment the drives on the parent virtual machine.

If the parent virtual machine is a Workstation 4.x and Workstation 4.x-compatible virtual machine, upgrade it to Workstation 5.x or later.

If you are creating a linked clone, enable template mode for the parent virtual machine. See Enable

Template Mode for a Parent Virtual Machine of Linked Clones.

Power off the parent virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the parent virtual machine and select VM > Manage > Clone.

2 Select the state of the parent from which you want to create a clone.

You can create a clone from the current state of the parent virtual machine or from an existing snapshot. If you select the current state, Workstation Pro creates a snapshot of the parent virtual machine before cloning it.

Note You cannot clone from the current state if template mode is enabled for the parent virtual

machine.

3 Specify whether to create a linked clone or a full clone.

4 Type a name and a location for the cloned virtual machine.

5 Click Finish to create the clone and Close to exit the wizard.

A full clone can take several minutes to create, depending on the size of the virtual disk that is being duplicated.

6 If the parent virtual machine uses a static IP address, change the static IP address of the clone before

the clone connects to the network to prevent IP address conflicts.

Although the wizard creates a new MAC address and UUID for the clone, other configuration information, such as the virtual machine name and static IP address configuration, is identical to that of the parent virtual machine.

The summary view for a linked clone shows the path to the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file of the parent virtual machine.

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Virtualize a Physical Machine

You can create a virtual machine from a Windows physical machine in Workstation Pro. When you virtualize a physical machine, you capture all of the applications, documents, and settings on the physical machine in a new virtual machine. Workstation Pro must be running on a Windows host system to use this feature.

Prerequisites

Verify that the physical machine that you want to virtualize is running Windows. You cannot create a virtual machine from a non-Windows physical machine in Workstation Pro.

Note You can create a virtual machine from a Linux physical machine using vCenter Converter

Standalone. For more information, see the vCenter Converter Standalone documentation.

Verify that you have administrative access on the physical machine that you want to virtualize and on the Workstation Pro host system.

Verify that the Workstation Pro host system has network access to the physical machine that you want to virtualize.

Verify that on the Workstation Pro host system you have disabled User Account Control (UAC). For instructions, see Prepare a Windows Physical Machine for Virtualization.

Turn off firewall applications running on the physical machine that you want to virtualize.

Prepare the physical machine for virtualization. See Prepare a Windows Physical Machine for

Virtualization.

Procedure

1 Power on the physical machine that you want to virtualize.

2 On the Windows host system, in Workstation Pro, select File > Virtualize a Physical Machine.

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

3 Type the hostname or IP address, user name, and password for the physical machine that you want

to virtualize.

You must use the Administrator account or a user account that is a member of the local Administrators group.

4 Type a name for the new virtual machine and specify a location on the host system in which to store

the virtual machine files.

5 Type the user name and password for your user account on the host system.

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6 Click Finish to create a virtual machine from the physical machine.

The amount of time required to create the virtual machine depends on the size of the hard disk on the physical machine.

VMware Tools installation begins the first time you power on the new virtual machine.

Prepare a Windows Physical Machine for Virtualization

To avoid problems related to permissions and network access, you must perform certain steps to prepare a Windows physical machine before you run the Virtualize a Physical Machine wizard.

Procedure

Disable User Account Control (UAC) on the Windows physical machine.

On Windows Vista, open the User Accounts control panel, select Turn User Account Control On or Off, and deselect Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer.

On Windows 7 or later, open the Change User Account Control Settings control panel and drag the slider to Never notify.

Troubleshoot Windows Authentication Problems During Physical Machine Virtualization

User authentication fails when the Virtualize a Physical Machine wizard attempts to connect a Windows physical machine.

Problem

After you provide user credentials for the physical machine, the Virtualize a Physical Machine wizard reports that your user credentials are incorrect or you have insufficient permissions to connect to the physical machine.

Cause

Simple file sharing or User Account Control (UAC) is enabled on the physical machine.

Solution

Perform the steps in Prepare a Windows Physical Machine for Virtualization and rerun the Virtualize a Physical Machine wizard.

Troubleshoot Windows Activation Problems

A virtual machine that you create from a physical machine prompts you to activate Windows when you use it in Workstation Pro.

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Problem

After you create a virtual machine from a Windows Vista or Windows 7 physical machine, or from a physical PC that came with Windows preinstalled, you were required to reactivate Windows in the virtual machine.

Cause

When you create a virtual machine from a Windows Vista or Windows 7 physical machine, the operating system detects that the computer hardware has changed. When you make a significant hardware change, Microsoft requires you to activate Windows again.

The OEM versions of Windows that are preinstalled on some new computers are customized for those computers. OEM licenses of Windows are not transferrable.

Solution

Any virtual machine that was created from a physical machine that had its Windows license key successfully activated needs to be reactivated when you run it in Workstation Pro.

The activation process in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is different from the Windows XP activation process. In Windows 7, retail activation keys are good for only one use. If you enter the same activation key in Workstation Pro that you used previously, you cannot successfully activate the virtual machine.

The activation wizard tells you that the activation key was already used and prompts you to call the Microsoft activation hotline to get a second key. If you did not previously call the hotline for the same license key, you should receive a new activation key. Your call is not transferred to an operator unless you call repeatedly for the same key.

See the Microsoft Web site for more information about why reactivation is necessary.

Importing Virtual Machines

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

Import a Windows XP Mode Virtual Machine

You can import a Windows XP Mode virtual machine and run it in Workstation Pro. When you import a Windows XP Mode virtual machine, Workstation Pro 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 Pro. 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 Pro.

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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 > Open and browse to the virtual machine configuration (.vmc) file.

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

and click Import.

Workstation Pro begins importing the Windows XP Mode virtual machine.

After Workstation Pro 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 Pro. Workstation Pro 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 Pro. You can import OVF 1.x 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 Pro 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 Pro, select File > Open.

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

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

click Import.

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

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

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

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

Import a VMware vCenter Server Appliance

You can import a VMware vCenter® Server Appliance™ and run it in Workstation Pro. You can import both .ovf and .ova files.

Procedure

1 In Workstation Pro, select File > Open.

2 Browse to the vCenter Server Appliance .ovf or .ova file and click Open.

3 Select the license agreement check box and click Next.

4 Continue through the wizard, responding to prompts and clicking through to the next dialog box.

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

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

After Workstation Pro successfully imports the vCenter Server Appliance as a virtual machine, the virtual machine appears in the virtual machine library. Workstation Pro then powers on the virtual machine and applies the vCenter Server Appliance configuration.

Import a Windows Virtual PC Virtual Machine

You can import a Windows Virtual PC virtual machine and run it in Workstation Pro. Workstation Pro 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 In Workstation Pro, select File > Open.

If you have never imported a third-party virtual machine or virtualized a physical machine in Workstation Pro, Workstation Pro installs VMware vCenter Converter Standalone. After the installation is finished, you must restart the import.

2 Browse to the .vmc file and click Open.

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

click Import.

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

Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

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 Pro 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 .

Installing VMware Tools

Installing VMware Tools is part of the process of creating a new virtual machine, and upgrading VMware Tools is part of the process of keeping your virtual machine up to current standards. Although your guest operating systems can run without VMware Tools, many VMware features are not available until you install VMware Tools. When you install VMware Tools, the utilities in the suite enhance the performance of the guest operating system in your virtual machine and improve the management of your virtual machines.

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.

Configure Automatic Software Updates

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

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.

Manually Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

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

Starting 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. This program implements the fit-guest-to-window and other features.

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Uninstalling VMware Tools

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

Installing VMware Tools

For information about creating virtual machines, see the documentation for the applicable VMware product.

The installers for VMware Tools are ISO image files. The CD-ROM in your guest operating system detects the ISO image file. Each type of guest operating system, including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X, 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.

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.

VMware Tools installer from windows.iso automatically detects the windows version. It does not proceed with the installation on guest operating systems earlier than Windows Vista.

VMware Tools installer from winPreVista.iso does not proceed with the installation on Windows Vista and later.

VMware Tools installer from linux.iso does not proceed with installation on Linux guest operating system versions earlier than RHEL5, SLES 11, Ubuntu 10.04, and other Linux distributions with glibc version earlier than 2.5.

VMware Tools installer from darwinPre15.iso does not proceed with installation on MAC OS X guest operating systems versions 10.11 or later.

VMware Tools installer from darwin.iso does not proceed with installation on MAC OS X guest operating systems versions earlier than 10.11.

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The installation procedure varies, depending on the operating system. For information about installing or upgrading VMware Tools on your guest operating systems, see the topic about upgrading virtual machines in the Virtual Machine Administration Guide. For general instructions about installing VMware Tools, see the VMware Knowledge base article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1014294.

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.

For vSphere virtual machines,

A newer version of Tools is available for this VM

is displayed when the installed version of VMware Tools is out of date.

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. The procedure is mentioned below.

Note Upgrading VMware Tools on Windows guest operation systems automatically installs the WDDM

graphics drivers. The WDDM graphics driver allows 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.

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.

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Conﬁgure Automatic Software Updates

Prerequisites

On a Linux host, become root. On Linux systems, non-root users are not allowed to modify the preference setting for VMware Tools updates.

Verify that the host system is connected to the Internet.

Procedure

1 Select Edit > Preferences and select Updates.

2 Select a software update download option.

If you deselect all of the software update options, automatic software updates are disabled.

Option Description

Check for product updates on startup When Workstation Pro starts, it checks for new versions of the application and

installed software components.

Check for software components as

needed

Download All Components Now Click this button to download all software updates immediately. This option is

When a software component is needed, for example, when you install or upgrade VMware Tools on a virtual machine, Workstation Pro checks for a new version of the component.

useful if you are planning to use a virtual machine at a later time when you do not have access to the Internet.

3 If you use a proxy server to connect to the Internet, click Connection Settings and select a proxy

setting.

Option Description

No proxy Select this option if you do not use a proxy server. This is the default setting.

Windows proxy settings (Windows hosts only) Workstation Pro 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. Type a user name and password to use for proxy server authentication. If you leave either the Username or Password text box blank, Workstation Pro does not use either value.

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. Type a user name and password to use for proxy server authentication. If you leave either the Username or Password text box blank, Workstation Pro does not use either value (Windows hosts) or it uses the user name and password set in the gnome settings (Linux hosts).

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4 To update VMware Tools when you power on a virtual machine or shut down the guest operating

system, select Automatically update VMware Tools on a virtual machine.

You can override this setting for a specific virtual machine by modifying virtual machine settings.

When you power on a virtual machine, you are prompted to download VMware Tools if a new version is available.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

What to do next

To override the VMware Tools update setting for a specific virtual machine, edit the virtual machine settings. See Configure VMware Tools Updates for a Specific Virtual Machine.

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 VM > Settings.

2 On the Options tab, select VMware Tools.

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3 Select a VMware Tools update setting.

Option Description

Update manually (do nothing) You must update VMware Tools manually. The virtual machine status bar

indicates when a new version of VMware Tools is available.

Update automatically 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 auto-update 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 application default (currently

update manually)

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

Note You cannot configure this option for a shared or remote virtual machine.

4 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.

Manually Installing VMware Tools on a Windows Virtual Machine

Guest operating system Windows 2000 and earlier, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and later support VMware Tools.

Manually Installing VMware Tools on a Linux Virtual Machine

For Linux virtual machines, you manually install VMware Tools from the command line. For later Linux distributions, use the integrated open-vm-tools version.

Manually Installing VMware Tools on a NetWare Virtual Machine

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

Manually Installing VMware Tools on a Solaris Virtual Machine

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

Manually Installing VMware Tools on a FreeBSD Virtual Machine

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

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Manually Installing VMware Tools on a Windows Virtual Machine

Guest operating system Windows 2000 and earlier, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and later support VMware Tools.

For Windows 2000 and later, VMware Tools installs a virtual machine upgrade helper tool. This tool restores the network configuration if you upgrade the virtual machine compatibility from ESX/ESXi 3.5 to ESX/ESXi 4.0 and later or from Workstation 5.5 to Workstation 6.0 and later.

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 is detected as a physical CD by your guest operating system. Use the virtual machine settings editor to set the CD/DVD drive to autodetect a physical drive.

Log in as an administrator unless you are using an older Windows operating system. Any user can install VMware Tools in a Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME guest operating system. For operating systems later than these, you must log in as an administrator.

Procedure

1 On the host, from the Workstation Pro menu bar, select VM > Install VMware Tools.

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

2 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 on the guest operating system, the VMware Tools installation wizard starts.

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.

3 Follow the on-screen prompts.

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

Note 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.

5 When prompted, reboot the virtual machine.

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What to do next

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

Manually Installing VMware Tools on a Linux Virtual Machine

For Linux virtual machines, you manually install VMware Tools from the command line. For later Linux distributions, use the integrated open-vm-tools version.

Prerequisites

For more information on OS compatibility for open-vm-tools, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at

https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.

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 Pro menu bar, select VM > Install VMware Tools.

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

2 In the virtual machine, open a terminal window.

3 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 in a manner similar to the following output:

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

4 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.

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

cd /tmp

6 (Optional) 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.

7 List the contents of the mount point directory and note the file name of the VMware Tools tar installer.

ls mount-point

8 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.

9 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.

10 Run the installer and configure VMware Tools as a root user

cd vmware-tools-distrib

sudo ./vmware-install.pl

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

Note For newer Linux distributions, users are prompted to choose the integrated open-vm-tools.

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

12 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 Installing VMware Tools on a NetWare Virtual Machine

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

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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.

Note VMware Tools 10.1.0 does not support the NetWare operating system.

Procedure

1 On the host, from the Workstation Pro menu bar, select VM > Install VMware Tools.

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

2 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.

3 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.

What to do next

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

Manually Installing VMware Tools on 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 Pro menu bar, select VM > Install VMware Tools.

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

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

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3 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

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

cd /tmp

5 Extract VMware Tools.

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

6 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.

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

8 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 Installing VMware Tools on 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 Pro menu bar, select VM > Install VMware Tools.

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

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

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

image.

For example, type mount /cdrom.

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

cd /tmp

5 Untar the VMware Tools .tar.gz file.

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

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

umount /cdrom

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.

Starting 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. This program implements the fit-guest-to-window and other features.

Normally, this process starts after you configure VMware Tools, log out of the desktop environment, and log back in. You can invoke the VMware user process by running the vmtoolsd -n vmusr command. 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.

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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 vmtoolsd -n vmusr to the appropriate X startup script, such as the .xsession or .xinitrc file.

Open a terminal window and type the vmtoolsd -n vmusr 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.

Procedure

Select a method to uninstall VMware Tools.

Operating System Action

Windows 7, 8, 8.1, or Windows 10 In the guest operating system, select Programs > Uninstall a program.

Windows Vista and Windows Server

2008

Windows XP and earlier In the guest operating system, select Add/Remove Programs.

Linux Log in as root and enter vmware-uninstall-tools.pl in a terminal window.

Mac OS X, OS X, or macOS Use the Uninstall VMware Tools application, found in /Library/Application

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

Support/VMware Tools.

What to do next

Reinstall VMware Tools.

Virtual Machine Files

When you create a virtual machine, Workstation Pro creates a set of files for that specific virtual machine. Virtual machine files are stored in either the virtual machines directory or the working directory. Both directories are typically on the host system.

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Table 3‑9. Virtual Machine Files

Extension File Name Description

.vmx vmname.vmx

.log vmname.log

vmware.log

.nvram vmname.nvram

nvram

.vmdk vmname.vmdk

The primary configuration file, which stores virtual machine settings. If you created the virtual machine with an earlier version of Workstation Pro on a Linux host, this file might have a .cfg extension.

The main log file. If you need to troubleshoot a problem, refer to this file. This file is stored in the same directory as the .vmx file.

The NVRAM file, which stores the state of the virtual machine BIOS. This file is stored in the same directory as the .vmx file.

Virtual disk files, which store the contents of the virtual machine hard disk drive. These files are stored in the same directory as the .vmx file.

A virtual disk is made up of one or more virtual disk files. The virtual machine settings show the name of the first file in the set. This file contains pointers to the other files in the set.

If you specify that all disk space should be allocated when the virtual disk is created, these files start at the maximum size and do not grow. 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.

vmname-s###.vmdk

vmname-f###.vmdk

vmname-disk-###.vmdk

.vmem

.vmsd vmname.vmsd

uuid.vmem

snapshot_name_number.vmem

Note Earlier VMware products use the .dsk extension for virtual disk

files.

If you specified that the files can increase, filenames include an s in the file number, for example, Windows 7-s001.vmdk.

If you specified that the virtual disk is divided into 2GB sections, the number of files depends on the size of the virtual disk. As data is added to a virtual disk, the files increase to a maximum of 2GB each.

If all disk space was allocated when the disk was created, filenames include an f, for example, Windows 7-f001.vmdk.

If the virtual machine has one or more snapshots, some files are redo log files. These files store changes made to a virtual disk while the virtual machine is running. The ### indicates a unique suffix that Workstation Pro adds to avoid duplicate file names.

The virtual machine paging file, which backs up the guest main memory on the host file system. This file exists only when the virtual machine is running or if the virtual machine fails. It is stored in the working directory.

Each snapshot of a virtual machine that is powered on has an associated .vmem file, which contains the guest operating system main memory, saved as part of the snapshot.

A centralized file for storing information and metadata about snapshots. It is stored in the working directory.

.vmsn vmname.Snapshot.vmsn

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The snapshot state file, which stores the running state of a virtual machine at the time you take that snapshot. It is stored in the working directory.

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Table 3‑9. Virtual Machine Files (Continued)

Extension File Name Description

vmname.Snapshot###.vmsn

.vmss vmname.vmss

The file that stores the state of a snapshot.

The suspended state file, which stores the state of a suspended virtual machine. It is stored in the working directory.

Some earlier VMware products used the .std extension for suspended state files.

Other files, such as lock files, might also be present in the virtual machines directory. Some files are present only while a virtual machine is running.

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When you use virtual machines in Workstation Pro, you can transfer files and text between virtual machines and the host system, print to host printers, connect removable devices, and change display settings. You can use folders to manage multiple virtual machines, take snapshots to preserve virtual machine states, and create screenshots and movies of virtual machines.

You can also use Workstation Pro to interact with remote virtual machines. See Chapter 9 Using Remote

Connections and Sharing Virtual Machines for more information.

This chapter includes the following topics:

Scan for Virtual Machines to Add to the Virtual Machine Library

Starting Virtual Machines

Stopping Virtual Machines

Transferring Files and Text

Add a Host Printer to a Virtual Machine

Using Removable Devices in Virtual Machines

Changing the Virtual Machine Display

Using Folders to Manage Virtual Machines

Taking Snapshots of Virtual Machines

Install New Software in a Virtual Machine

Take a Screenshot of a Virtual Machine

Delete a Virtual Machine

Scan for Virtual Machines to Add to the Virtual Machine Library

You can quickly add multiple virtual machines to the virtual machine library by initiating a scan.

You can manually select and add virtual machines to the virtual machine library. Alternatively, you can initiate a scan that locates virtual machines in a folder, removable storage device, or hard disk of your choice. In the context of a scan, files with the .vmx extension are considered virtual machines.

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Procedure

1 Select File > Scan for Virtual Machines.

2 In the Select a location to scan text box, enter or browse for a location, such as a folder, removable

storage device, or hard disk.

3 Click Next.

4 (Optional) If Workstation Pro is scanning the location for virtual machines, but the scan is taking too

long, click Stop Scan.

5 Select the virtual machines to add and the library node in which to add them.

a Select the virtual machines.

Option Description

To select individual virtual machines Click Unselect All and select the check boxes next to the virtual machines

that you want to add to the library.

To select all virtual machines If not selected, click Select All.

b (Optional) To use the same folder hierarchy in the library, click Match the file system folder

hierarchy in the library.

c To continue, click the appropriate option, depending on which option is available.

Option Description

Finish If the scan location is on the local machine, the Finish option is available.

Next If the scan location is on a remote server or removable storage device, the

Next option is available.

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d If the location of the virtual machines you are adding to the library is on a remote server or a

removable storage device, select the options in the Copy to local disk options dialog box that meet your needs and click Finish.

Option Description

Copy all selected virtual machines to Select this option to copy the selected virtual machines to your local machine.

If you do not select this option, the virtual machines remain on the remote server or removable storage device.

Browse If you select the copy virtual machine option and you do not want to accept the

default virtual machine location, you can browse to a location in which to copy the virtual machines.

Keep the hierarchy of the folder in

target location

If you select the copy virtual machine option, you can select this option to use the same folder hierarchy used in the remote server or removable storage device in the target location on your local machine.

e Review the progress and results of the operation on the Result dialog box and click the

appropriate options.

Option Description

Stop If the process is taking too long, click Stop to cancel the operation.

Close Click Close to close the Result dialog box.

Starting Virtual Machines

When you start a virtual machine, the guest operating system starts and you can interact with the virtual machine. You can use Workstation Pro to start virtual machines on the host system and on remote servers.

To start a virtual machine from the command line, use the vmware command. See Chapter 15 Using the

vmware Command.

Start a Virtual Machine

You can start a virtual machine from the VM menu or from the toolbar. When you use the VM menu, you can select a soft or hard power option or start the virtual machine in BIOS setup mode.

Start a Virtual Machine That Is Running in the Background

You can start a virtual machine that is running in the background when Workstation Pro is not started.

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.

Configure a Firmware Type

You can select the firmware type for a virtual machine.

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Start a Virtual Machine

You can start a virtual machine from the VM menu or from the toolbar. When you use the VM menu, you can select a soft or hard power option or start the virtual machine in BIOS setup mode.

When virtual machines are in a folder, you can perform batch power operations. See Using Folders to

Manage Virtual Machines.

You can use the AutoStart feature to configure shared and remote virtual machines to start when the host system starts. See Manage Virtual Machine Power Actions on Shared and Remote Hosts.

Prerequisites

If the virtual machine is on the local host, select File > Open and browse to the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file.

If the virtual machine is on a remote host, connect to the remote server. See Connect to a Remote

Server.

Procedure

To select a power option when you start the virtual machine, select the virtual machine and select VM > Power.

Option Description

Power On (Hard option) Workstation Pro starts the virtual machine.

Start Up Guest (Soft option) Workstation Pro starts the virtual machine and VMware Tools runs a

script in the guest operating system. On Windows guests, if the virtual machine is configured to use DHCP, the script renews the IP address of the virtual machine. On a Linux, FreeBSD, or Solaris guest, the script starts networking for the virtual machine.

Power On to firmware Workstation Pro starts the virtual machine in BIOS setup mode.

To start the virtual machine from the toolbar, select the virtual machine and click the start button.

The start power control setting that is configured for the virtual machine determines whether Workstation Pro performs a hard or soft power on operation. The configured behavior appears in a tooltip when you mouse over the button.

What to do next

Click anywhere inside the virtual machine console to give the virtual machine control of the mouse and keyboard on the host system.

Start a Virtual Machine That Is Running in the Background

You can start a virtual machine that is running in the background when Workstation Pro is not started.

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Prerequisites

Set the virtual machine to run in the background. See Closing Virtual Machines and Exiting Workstation

Pro.

Procedure

1 On the host system, click the virtual machine status icon that is located in the notification area of the

taskbar.

A list of the virtual machines that are running in the background appears in a tooltip. The list contains the virtual machines that belong to the currently logged in user.

2 Select a virtual machine from the list in the tooltip.

Workstation Pro starts and displays the console view of the virtual machine.

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, select VM > Settings.

2 On the Options tab, select Autologon.

3 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.

4 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.

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Conﬁgure a Firmware Type

You can select the firmware type for a virtual machine.

You can change your firmware type of a virtual machine after you create the virtual machine.

Prerequisites

To change the firmware type of an existing virtual machine, the guest operating system is powered off.

The software to boot the system is installed.

If you want to select Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) as the firmware type, verify that the following conditions are met:

The guest operating system to be installed on the virtual machine supports UEFI firmware.

The virtual machine does not have virtualization-based security (VBS) enabled.

The virtual machine uses hardware version 8 or later.

The virtual machine has a Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 2012, or Windows 2016 guest operating system.

If you want to select UEFI Secure Boot, verify that the following conditions are met.

The virtual machine uses the UEFI firmware type.

The virtual machine uses hardware version 14 or later.

Procedure

1 In the Workstation Pro interface, select VM > Settings.

2 Click the Options tab and click Advanced.

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3 In the Firmware type section, make your firmware selections.

If the guest operating system is supported and the prerequisites are met, the following firmware types are selectable.

Option Description

UEFI UEFI is an interface between the operating system and the platform firmware.

UEFI has architectural advantages over Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) firmware.

Legacy BIOS Standard BIOS firmware.

Note

Once a guest operating system is installed, changing the firmware type might cause the virtual machine boot process to fail.

If you select UEFI, depending on the guest operating system, you might have the option of enabling UEFI Secure Boot. UEFI Secure Boot secures the boot process by preventing the loading of drivers and operating system loaders that are not signed with an acceptable digital signature.

If VBS is enabled, the firmware type is set to UEFI and the UEFI Secure Boot option is selected.

You cannot edit the firmware type or the UEFI Secure Boot setting when VBS is enabled.

4 Click OK.

When you start the virtual machine, it boots with the selected firmware configuration.

Stopping Virtual Machines

You can use Workstation Pro to stop virtual machines on the host system and on remote servers. You can shut down, pause, and suspend virtual machines. You can also close virtual machines and continue running them in the background.

Shut Down a Virtual Machine

You can shut down a virtual machine from the VM menu or from the toolbar. When you use the VM menu, you can select a hard or soft power option.

Closing Virtual Machines and Exiting Workstation Pro

You can close a virtual machine that is running on the local host system without powering it off. By default, Workstation Pro prompts you to select an action when you close a powered-on virtual machine and when you exit Workstation Pro while virtual machines are running on the local host system.

Pause and Unpause a Virtual Machine

You can pause a virtual machine multiple times for a few seconds, or up to several minutes. The pause feature is useful when a virtual machine is engaged in an lengthy, processor-intensive activity that prevents you from using the host system to do a more immediate task.

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Suspend and Resume a Virtual Machine

Use the suspend and resume feature to save the current state of a virtual machine. When you resume the virtual machine, the applications that were running before the suspension will resume their running state with their content unchanged.

Shut Down a Virtual Machine

You can shut down a virtual machine from the VM menu or from the toolbar. When you use the VM menu, you can select a hard or soft power option.

You are not required to power off a virtual machine that is running on the local host system before you exit Workstation Pro. You can exit Workstation Pro and leave the virtual machine running in the background. See Closing Virtual Machines and Exiting Workstation Pro.

When virtual machines are in a folder, you can perform batch power operations. See Using Folders to

Manage Virtual Machines.

Procedure

To select a power option when you shut down the virtual machine, select the virtual machine and select VM > Power.

Option Description

Power Off (Hard option) Workstation Pro powers off the virtual machine abruptly with no

consideration for work in progress.

Shut Down Guest (Soft option) Workstation Pro sends a shut-down signal to the guest operating

system. An operating system that recognizes the signal shuts down gracefully. Not all guest operating systems respond to a shut-down signal from Workstation Pro. If the guest operating system does not respond to the signal, shut down from the guest operating system as you would a physical machine.

To shut down the virtual machine from the toolbar, select the virtual machine and click the stop button.

The stop power control setting that is configured for the virtual machine determines whether Workstation Pro performs a hard or soft power off operation. The configured behavior appears in a tooltip when you mouse over the button.

To shut down a virtual machine that is suspended, select the virtual machine and click VM > Power > Power Off.

Closing Virtual Machines and Exiting Workstation Pro

Note When you close a remote virtual machine, the virtual machine tab closes. If the virtual machine is

powered on, it continues to run on the remote host.

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Table 4‑1. Close and Exit Actions

Action Description

Run in Background Continue to run the virtual machine in the background. You can interact with

the virtual machine through VNC or some other service.

By default, a virtual machine status icon appears in the notification area of the taskbar on the host system. When you mouse over this icon, a tooltip shows the number of virtual machines running in the background that belong to the currently logged in user.

Suspend Suspend the virtual machine and save its current state.

Power Off Power off the virtual machine. By default, Workstation Pro powers off the

virtual machine abruptly. The effect is the same as using the power button on a physical machine.

You can configure Workstation Pro preference settings so that virtual machines always run in the background and you are not prompted to select an action. You can also configure virtual machine option settings to control power off behavior.

Conﬁgure Virtual Machines to Always Run in the Background

You can configure Workstation Pro preference settings so that virtual machines always run in the background and you are not prompted to select an action when you close powered-on virtual machines.

Procedure

1 Select Edit > Preferences.

2 Select Workspace and select Keep VMs running after Workstation closes.

3 Click OK to save your changes.

Pause and Unpause a Virtual Machine

Note You cannot pause a remote virtual machine.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with the restrictions and limitations of the pause feature. See Pause Feature

Restrictions and Limitations.

Procedure

To pause a virtual machine, select the virtual machine and select VM > Pause.

The virtual machine display dims and a play button appears over the display. Paused virtual machines that are configured to display on more than one monitor have a play button on each monitor.

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To pause all of the powered-on virtual machines without interacting with the Workstation Pro user interface, right-click the virtual machine status icon located in the notification area on the task bar of the host computer and select Pause All Virtual Machines.

To unpause a virtual machine, click the play button on the virtual machine display or deselect VM > Pause.

Pause Feature Restrictions and Limitations

The pause feature has certain restrictions and limitations.

You cannot switch to Unity mode when a virtual machine is paused.

When paused, a virtual machine does not send or receive network packets. If a virtual machine is paused for more than a few minutes, some network connections might be interrupted.

If you take a snapshot when the virtual machine is paused, the virtual machine is not paused when you restore that snapshot. Similarly, if you suspend a virtual machine while it is paused, it is not paused when you resume the virtual machine.

If you initiate soft power operations when a virtual machine is paused, those operations do not take effect until the virtual machine is unpaused.

While a virtual machine is paused, LEDs and devices remain enabled, but device connection changes do not take effect until the virtual machine is unpaused.

You cannot pause a remote virtual machine.

Suspend and Resume a Virtual Machine

How quickly the suspend operation performs depends on the how much data changed after you started the virtual machine. The first suspend operation usually takes longer than subsequent suspend operations. When you suspend a virtual machine, Workstation Pro creates a virtual machine suspended state (.vmss or .vmem) file set in the working directory. How quickly the resume operation performs depends on how active the virtual machine is. The more active the virtual machine is, the longer it will take to resume. It also depends on whether the virtual machine suspended state (.vmss or .vmem) file set is already in the physical memory of the host system. If it is, the virtual machine will resume much faster.

After you resume a virtual machine and do more work, you cannot return to the state that the virtual machine was in when you suspended it. To return to the same state repeatedly, you must take a snapshot.

When virtual machines are in a folder, you can perform batch power operations. See Using Folders to

Manage Virtual Machines.

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Procedure

To select a suspend option when you suspend a virtual machine, select the virtual machine and select

VM > Power.

Option Description

Suspend (Hard option) Workstation Pro suspends the virtual machine and leaves it

connected to the network.

Suspend Guest (Soft option) Workstation Pro suspends the virtual machine and disconnects it

from the network. VMware Tools runs a script in the guest operating system. On Windows guests, if the virtual machine is configured to use DHCP, the script releases the IP address of the virtual machine. On Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris guests, the script stops networking for the virtual machine.

To suspend a virtual machine from the toolbar, select the virtual machine and click the suspend button.

The suspend power control setting that is configured for the virtual machine determines whether Workstation Pro performs a hard or soft suspend operation. The configured behavior appears in a tooltip when you mouse over the button.

To select a resume option when you resume a suspended virtual machine, select the virtual machine and select VM > Power.

Option Description

Resume (Hard option) Workstation Pro resumes the virtual machine from the suspended

state.

Resume Guest (Soft option) Workstation Pro resumes the virtual machine from the suspended

state and reconnects it to the network.

To resume a virtual machine from the toolbar, select the virtual machine and click the resume button.

The suspend power control setting that is configured for the virtual machine determines whether Workstation Pro performs a hard or soft resume operation. The configured behavior appears in a tooltip when you mouse over the button.

To power off a suspended virtual machine, select the virtual machine and click VM > Power > Power Off.

Using the Guest ACPI S1 Sleep Feature on Windows Hosts

On Windows hosts, Workstation Pro provides experimental support for guest operating system ACPI S1 sleep. Not all guest operating systems support this feature. Common guest operating system interfaces for entering standby mode are supported.

By default, ACPI S1 sleep is implemented in Workstation Pro as suspend. You can use the Workstation Pro Resume button to wake the guest operating system.

You can implement ACPI S1 sleep as power-on suspend. The guest operating system is not fully powered down. This feature can be useful for test and development scenarios. You can wake the virtual machine through keyboard input, mouse input, or by programming the CMOS external timer.

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Transferring Files and Text

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

Using the Copy and Paste Feature

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

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.

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.

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.

When you drag a file or folder between the host and a virtual machine, Workstation Pro 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.

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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.

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 4 MB.

Dragging plain text and formatted text (including the formatting) is restricted to amounts less than 4 MB.

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

Workstation Pro uses the PNG format to encode images that are dragged. Dragging images is restricted to images smaller than 4 MB after conversion to PNG format.

Disable the Drag-and-Drop Feature

The drag-and-drop feature is enabled by default when you create a virtual machine in Workstation Pro. To prevent dragging and dropping between a virtual machine and the host system, disable the drag-and-drop feature.

Note You cannot enable or disable the drag-and-drop feature for a shared or remote virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select VM > Settings.

2 On the Options tab, select Guest Isolation.

3 Deselect Enable drag and drop.

4 Click OK to save your changes.

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.

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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 4 MB.

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 Pro uses the PNG format to encode images that are copied and pasted. Copying and pasting images is restricted to images smaller than 4 MB after conversion to PNG format.

You cannot copy and paste files between virtual machines.

Disable the Copy and Paste Feature

The copy and paste feature is enabled by default when you create a virtual machine in Workstation Pro. To prevent copying and pasting between a virtual machine and the host system, disable the copy and paste feature.

Note You cannot enable or disable the copy and paste feature for a shared or remote virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select VM > Settings.

2 On the Options tab, select Guest Isolation.

3 Deselect Enable copy and paste.

4 Click OK to save your changes.

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Using Shared Folders

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.

Guest Operating Systems That Support Shared Folders

To use shared folders, a virtual machine must have a supported guest operating system.

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.

Enable Shared Folders for Virtual Machines Created By Other Users

If a shared folder is not created by the user who powers on the virtual machine, it is disabled by default. This is a security precaution.

View Shared Folders in a Windows Guest

In a Windows guest operating system, you can view shared folders by using desktop icons.

Mounting Shared Folders in a Linux Guest

After you enable 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.

Change Shared Folder Properties

After you create a shared folder, you can change the folder name, the host path, and other attributes.

Change the Folders That a Virtual Machine Can Share

You can change the folders that a specific virtual machine is allowed to share.

Disable Folder Sharing for a Virtual Machine

You can disable folder sharing for a specific virtual machine.

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 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2

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Windows Server 2012 R2

Windows Server 2016

Windows Vista

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

Enable a Shared Folder for a Virtual Machine

Note You cannot enable a shared folder for a shared or remote virtual machine.

Prerequisites

Verify that the virtual machines use a guest operating system that supports shared folders. See Guest

Operating Systems That Support Shared Folders.

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 Pro 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 VM > Settings.

2 On the Options tab, select Shared Folders.

3 Select a folder sharing option.

Option Description

Always enabled Keep folder sharing enabled, even when the virtual machine is shut down,

suspended, or powered off.

Enabled until next power off or

suspend

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.

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4 (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 Pro selects the drive letter.

5 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.

6 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 Pro always attempts to use that path. If the directory is later connected to the host on a different drive letter, Workstation Pro cannot locate the shared folder.

7 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.

8 Select shared folder attributes.

Option Description

Enable this share Enable the shared folder. Deselect this option to disable a shared folder without

deleting it from the virtual machine configuration.

Read-only 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.

9 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.

10 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.

Enable Shared Folders for Virtual Machines Created By Other Users

If a shared folder is not created by the user who powers on the virtual machine, it is disabled by default. This is a security precaution.

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Folder sharing is also disabled by default for Workstation 5.x virtual machines, regardless of who creates the folder.

Important Enabling shared folders on all virtual machines can pose a security risk because a shared

folder might enable existing programs inside the virtual machine to access the host file system without your knowledge.

Procedure

1 Select Edit > Preferences.

2 Select Workspace and select Enable all shared folders by default.

This setting applies to shared folders on all virtual machines that are created by other users.

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 \\vmwarehost\Shared Folders\shared_folder_name.

Mounting Shared Folders in a Linux Guest

After you enable 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.

Depending on the kernel version of the Linux guest operating system, VMware Tools uses different components to provide shared-folder functionality. In Linux kernels prior to version 4.0, the VMware Tools services script loads a driver that performs the mount. Linux kernels 4.0 and later use a FUSE file system component.

You can use different mount commands to mount all shares, one share, or a subdirectory within a share to any location in the file system. The commands also vary depending on the Linux-kernel version of the guest.

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Table 4‑2. Mount Command Syntax

Linux Kernel Prior to 4.0 Linux Kernel 4.0 and Later Description

mount -t

vmhgfs .host:/ /home/user1/shares

mount -t vmhgfs .host:/foo /tmp/foo /usr/bin/vmhgfs-

mount -t

vmhgfs .host:/foo/bar /var/lib/bar

/usr/bin/vmhgfs-

fuse .host:/ /home/user1/shares -o

subtype=vmhgfs-fuse,allow_other

fuse .host:/foo /tmp/foo -o

subtype=vmhgfs-fuse,allow_other

/usr/bin/vmhgfs-

fuse .host:/foo/bar /var/lib/bar -o

subtype=vmhgfs-fuse,allow_other

Mounts all shares to /home/user1/shares

Mounts the share named foo to /tmp/foo

Mounts the subdirectory bar within the share foo to /var/lib/bar

For Linux kernel prior to version 4.0, you can use VMware-specific options in addition to the standard mount syntax. Enter the command /sbin/mount.vmhgfs -h to list the options.

For Linux kernel version 4.0 or later, enter the command /usr/bin/vmhgfs-fuse -h to list the available options.

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.

Optimizing Read and Write Access to Shared Files on Linux

Host-guest file sharing is integrated with the guest page cache. Files in shared folders are cached for reading and can be written to asynchronously.

Files that are being actively written to from the guest do not experience read caching benefits. To improve performance, you can use the mount command time-to-live (ttl) option to specify the interval that the host-guest file system (hgfs) driver uses for validating file attributes.

For example, to validate attributes every 3 seconds instead of every 1 second, which is the default, use the following command.

mount -o ttl=3 -t vmhgfs .host:/sharemountpoint

Note Lengthening the interval involves some risk. If a process in the host modifies file attributes, the

guest operating system might not get the modifications as quickly and the file can become corrupted.

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.

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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 Pro, or a previous release of the Linux version of Workstation Pro, you can change the owner permissions only.

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.

Procedure

1 Select the virtual machine and select VM > Settings.

2 On the Options tab, select Shared Folders.

3 Select the shared folder in the folders list and click Properties.

4 To change the name of the shared folder as it appears inside the virtual machine, type the new name

in the Name text box.

5 To change the host path for the shared folder, browse to or type the new path in the Host path text

box.

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6 To change an attribute for the shared folder, select or deselect the attribute.

Option Description

Enabled Enable the shared folder. Deselect this option to disable a shared folder without

deleting it from the virtual machine configuration.

Read-only 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.

7 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 VM > Settings.

2 On the Options tab, select Shared Folders.

3 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.

4 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 VM > Settings.

2 On the Options tab, select Shared Folders.

3 Select Disabled to disable folder sharing.

4 Click OK to save your changes.

Mapping a Virtual Disk to the Host System

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.

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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.

Note You cannot map a virtual hard disk for a shared or remote virtual machine.

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 readonly permissions.

Verify that the virtual disk is unencrypted. You cannot map or mount encrypted disks.

Procedure

1 Mount the virtual disk to a drive on the host system.

Option Description

Windows host Select File > Map Virtual Disks.

Linux host Select File > Mount Virtual Disks.

2 Map or mount the virtual disk.

Option Description

Windows host In the Map or Disconnect Virtual Disks dialog box, click Map.

Linux host In the Mount or Unmount Virtual Disks dialog box, click Mount Disk.

3 (Optional) You can also map a virtual disk from Windows Explorer.

a Open Explorer and browse to the .vmdk file you want to map.

b Right-click the .vmdk file and select Map Virtual Disk.

The menu also allows you to map the first volume of the .vmdk file to a drive immediately. If you select that option, no further configurations are needed.

4 Browse to a virtual disk (.vmdk) file, select it, and click Open.

5 Select the volume to map or mount and select an unused drive letter on the host system.

6 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.

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