VMware Workstation Player, formerly VMware Player, is a virtualization software package for x64 computers running Microsoft Windows or Linux, supplied free of charge by VMware, Inc.[3] VMware Player can run existing virtual appliances and create its own virtual machines (which require that an operating system be installed to be functional). It uses the same virtualization core as VMware Workstation, a similar program with more features, which is not free of charge. VMware Player is available for personal non-commercial use,[4] or for distribution or other use by written agreement.[5] VMware, Inc. does not formally support Player, but there is an active community website for discussing and resolving issues,[6] as well as a knowledge base.[7]
The free VMware Player was distinct from VMware Workstation until Player v7, Workstation v11. In 2015 the two packages were combined as VMware Workstation 12, with a free for non-commercial use Player version which, on purchase of a license code, either became the higher-specification VMware Workstation Pro,[8][9] or allowed commercial use of Player.
Features
VMware claimed in 2011 that the Player offered better graphics, faster performance, and tighter integration for running Windows XP under Windows Vista or Windows 7 than Microsoft's Windows XP Mode running on Windows Virtual PC, which is free of charge for all purposes.[3]
Versions earlier than 3 of VMware Player were unable to create virtual machines (VMs), which had to be created by an application with the capability, or created manually by statements stored in a text file with extension ".vmx"; later versions can create VMs. The features of Workstation not available in Player are "developer-centric features such as Teams, multiple Snapshots and Clones, and Virtual Rights Management features for end-point security",[10] and support by VMware. Player allows a complete virtual machine to be copied at any time by copying a directory; while not a fully featured snapshot facility, this allows a copy of a machine in a particular state to be stored, and reverted to later if desired. By default changes (including proxy settings, passwords, bookmarks, installed software and malware) made in a VM are saved when it is shut down, but the .vmx configuration file can easily be edited to autorevert on shutdown, so that all changes are discarded.[11]
VMware Player is also supplied with the VMware Workstation distribution, for use in installations where not all client users are licensed to use the full VMware Workstation. In an environment where some machines without VMware Workstation licences run VMware Player, a virtual machine created by Workstation can be distributed to computers running Player without paying for additional Workstation licenses if not used commercially.[12]
The quality of sound playback and recording through the emulated ES1371 sound device was degraded when compared to Workstation 15.5.2 Player and earlier
The Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock keys and indicators behaved erratically in a Linux VM in Workstation Player 15.5.5
Support for Windows 7 as a host OS; can only install VMWare Player 16 series on Windows 8 or higher (64-bit only)
New features
Container and Kubernetes Support (requires 64-bit Windows 10 Version 1809 or higher)
Build/run/pull/push container images using the vctl CLI.
Supports KIND kubernetes clusters running on top of Workstation Player.
New Guest Operating Systems supported:
CentOS 8.2
Debian 10.5
ESXi 7.0
Fedora 32
FreeBSD 11.4
RHEL 8.2
SLE 15 SP2 GA
Support for DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.1 in the Guest:
For Windows hosts, requires a native GPU that supports DirectX 11.0 is required.
For Linux hosts, requires latest NVIDIA proprietary drivers are required
GNU/Linux with NVIDIA drivers that support OpenGL 4.5 and above
Windows guests supported: Windows 7 or higher
Linux guests supported: GNU/Linux with vmwgfx
Vulkan Render Support for Linux Workstation Player
Workstation 16 Player enables 3D support for Intel GPUs on Linux hosts to deliver DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.3 to VMs using Vulkan Renderer (Linux host with a recent Intel/Vulkan driver is needed; Mesa 20.1 or later recommended)
Sandboxed Graphics:
Virtual machine security is enhanced by removing graphics render from vmx and running it as a separate sandbox process.
USB 3.1 Controller Support:
The virtual machines virtual XHCI controller is changed from USB 3.0 to USB 3.1 to support 10 Gbit/s.
Larger VMs:
32 virtual CPUs (host and guest OS must both support this number)
128 GB virtual memory
8 GB virtual graphics memory
Dark Mode:
Workstation 16 Player supports Dark Mode for optimized user experience (requires Windows 10 Version 1809 or higher as the host OS)
vSphere 7.0 Support:
Connect to vSphere 7.0.
Upload a local virtual machine to vSphere 7.0.
Download a remote virtual machine running on vSphere 7.0 to the local desktop.
Performance Improvements:
Improved file transfer speeds (Drag and Drop, Copy and Paste)
Improved virtual machine shutdown time
Improved virtual NVMe storage performance.
Improved Accessibility Support
Accessibility improvements have been added so Workstation Player is compliant with WCAG 2.1 criteria
Resolved issues:
After priority.ungrabbed = "low" is set in the virtual machine configuration file, the priority of vmware-vmx process shows as Normal, when checked on the Host Task manager
A Windows XP x64 virtual machine freezes during boot, when Workstation is running on Win10 host with Hyper-V Enabled
Known issues:
Low performance or failures might occur when using vctl CLI on machines with HDD (Hard Disk Drive) as the system disk
After the Easy Install operation is complete, VMware Tools may fail to install as some guest operating systems, such as Windows 7, Server 2008 R2 and Server 2012 R2, need some Windows Updates to first be installed (KB4474419 and KB4490628 for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2; KB2919355 and installation of the .NET Framework 3.5 for Server 2012 R2)
Resources
Screenshot showing Android 2.3.7 running on VMware Player 6.0
Many ready-made virtual machines (VMs) which run on VMware Player, Workstation, and other virtualization software are available[32][33][34][35] for specific purposes, either for purchase or free of charge. For example, a free Linux-based “browser appliance” with the Firefox browser installed[36] is available that can be used for safe Web browsing; if infected or damaged, it can be discarded and replaced by a clean copy. VMs can be configured to reset after each use without the need to recreate from the original file. Suppliers of operating systems with commercial licences usually require installations to be licensed; VMs with such operating systems installed cannot be distributed without restriction. Ready-to-use VMs with Microsoft or Apple operating systems installed, in particular, are not distributed, except for evaluation versions.
VMware Player supports free-of-charge VMware Tools, which add significant functionality. Versions of Player for different platforms have their own Tools, not necessarily compatible with other versions. Sometimes Tools are updated belatedly; for example, Player 4.0.2 was released on 24 January 2012, but the corresponding version of Tools was not available for some time after that, restricting functionality of updated Player installations.[6]
Virtual machines created by one VMware software product can be used by any other. It is often possible to use VMs created by one manufacturer's virtual machine software with software from another manufacturer, either directly or via a conversion procedure. VMs that run on Microsoft Virtual Server and Virtual PC can be converted for use by VMware software by the VMware vCenter Converter. This software can also create a virtual machine from a physical PC.[37]
/ 27 February 2024