VMware Workstation

VMware Workstation

VMware Workstation v11.0 icon

Screenshot showing VMware Workstation 11.1 on Windows 7
Developer(s) VMware
Initial release 1999[1]
Stable release
12.5.7[2] / 22 June 2017 (2017-06-22)
Development status Active
Written in F#, C, C++
Operating system Windows
Linux
Platform x86-64 only[3]
(version 11.x and above, previous versions were available for x86 as well)
Type Hypervisor
License Freeware (Workstation Player) Trialware and commercial (Workstation Pro)
Website www.vmware.com/products/workstation/

VMware Workstation is a hosted hypervisor that runs on x64 versions of Windows and Linux operating systems[4] (an x86 version of earlier releases was available);[3] it enables users to set up virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical machine, and use them simultaneously along with the actual machine. Each virtual machine can execute its own operating system, including versions of Microsoft Windows, Linux, BSD, and MS-DOS. VMware Workstation is developed and sold by VMware, Inc., a division of Dell Technologies. There is a free-of-charge version, VMware Workstation Player, for non-commercial use. An operating systems license is needed to use proprietary ones such as Windows. Ready-made Linux VMs set up for different purposes are available from several sources.

VMware Workstation supports bridging existing host network adapters and sharing physical disk drives and USB devices with a virtual machine. It can simulate disk drives; an ISO image file can be mounted as a virtual optical disc drive, and virtual hard disk drives are implemented as .vmdk files.

VMware Workstation Pro can save the state of a virtual machine (a "snapshot") at any instant. These snapshots can later be restored, effectively returning the virtual machine to the saved state,[5] as it was and free from any post-snapshot damage to the VM.

VMware Workstation includes the ability to group multiple virtual machines in an inventory folder. The machines in such a folder can then be powered on and powered off as a single object, useful for testing complex client-server environments.

2016 company changes and future development

VMware Workstation versions 12.0.0, 12.0.1, and 12.1.0 were released at intervals of about two months in 2015.[6] In January 2016 the entire development team behind VMware Workstation and Fusion was disbanded and all US developers were immediately fired.[7][8][9][10] The company said that "the restructuring activities will not impact the existence of any current product lines", that "roles and responsibilities associated with particular businesses will be moved to other regions and office locations", and that investment would continue "with emphasis on our growth products". The future of Workstation and Fusion became uncertain. On 24 April 2016 maintenance release 12.1.1 was released. In September, same year, the company announced that "we’re very much alive and well". Consequently on September 13 Workstation 12.5 and Fusion 8.5 were released as free upgrades which added support for Windows 10 Anniversary edition and Windows Server 2016.

Critical reception

VMware Workstation 12 was reviewed by Infoworld. The review mainly concerns differences with earlier versions, concluding that this version has moderate improvements, mainly to support newer hardware and operating systems, that may not be worth the cost of upgrading. The review concludes that Workstation 12 is "the most performant, polished, and feature-rich desktop virtualization product available", but points out that it is the most expensive.[11]

ZDNet examined the suitability of Workstation 12 for testing Windows 10, finding it suitable for the purpose.[12]

Version history

Legend
Color Meaning
Red Unsupported release
Green Current or still supported release
Blue Future release
Version Release date Significant changes
1.0 1999 First release
3.0 1 November 2001
3.1 9 April 2002
4.0 23 March 2003
4.5 5 April 2004
5.0 11 April 2005
5.5 12 September 2005
6.0 9 May 2007
6.5 23 September 2008
  • 6.5 is the last version to support CPUs without PAE[13]
  • Record Replay[14]
7.0 26 October 2009
  • Replay Debugging (improved Record Replay)[15]
8.0 14 September 2011
  • Shared Virtual Machines
  • Workstation 8 is the first version that requires an x64-compatible CPU.
  • Replay Debugging removed[16]
9.0[17] 23 August 2012
  • USB 3.0 support for Linux and Windows 8 guests
  • OpenGL driver for Linux guests
  • Improved graphics subsystem
  • Restricted Virtual Machines
  • New operating system support
10.0[18] 3 September 2013
10.0.1 24 October 2013
  • Improved compatibility with some AMD Piledriver CPUs
  • Easy Install support for Windows 8.1 RTM and Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM
  • Fixes for certain hangs and freezes
10.0.2 17 April 2014
  • The compatibility and performance of USB audio and video devices with virtual machines has been improved.
  • Resolved an issue that prevents a USB device from being connected to Linux RHEL 5 guest operating system.
  • Easy installation option supports Windows 8.1 Update 1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 as a guest operating system.
  • OpenSUSE 13.1 is now supported as a host operating system.
  • Resolved an issue causing burning CDs with Blu-ray drives to fail while connected to the virtual machine.
  • Resolved an issue that caused using Microsoft Word and Excel in unity mode causes a beep.
  • Resolved an issue causing host application windows to be blanked out in the UAC dialog on the Linux host of the Windows 8 virtual machine.
  • Resolved an issue that prevented the Sound Card from being automatically added to the VM when powering on the virtual machine on a Linux host.
  • Resolved an issue that could cause a Windows 8.1 guest operating system to display a black screen when launching Metro style applications in the launch menu.
  • Resolved a hotkey conflict in the Preference dialog of the KVM mode.
  • Resolved a compatibility issue of GL renderer with some new Nvidia drivers.
  • Resolved graphics errors with for Solidworks applications.
  • Resolved an issue causing virtual machines imported from a physical PC to crash on startup.
  • Resolved an issue about shared folder when the user read and write file using two threads.
  • Resolved an issue that caused Linux virtual machines to see stale file contents when using shared folders.
  • Resolved the virtual machine performance issues when using the E1000e adapter.
  • Resolved an issue preventing Workstation from starting on Ubuntu 14.04.
10.0.3 1 July 2014
  • VMware Workstation 10.0.3 has been updated to the OPENSSL library version openssl-0.9.8za where necessary to address CVE-2014-0224, CVE-2014-0198, CVE-2010-5298, and CVE-2014-3470.
10.0.4 30 October 2014
  • Fixes memory issue in Workstation on Microsoft Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012.
10.0.5[19] 27 January 2015
  • Bug fixes
    • At power-on, a virtual machine hangs and a .dmp file is created.
    • The VideoReDo application does not display the video properly and parts of the application's screen are scrambled.
    • Copying and pasting a large file from host to guest may fail.
    • Memory leak in the HGFS server (for shared folders) causes VMware Tools to crash randomly with the error: Exception 0xc0000005 (access violation) has occurred.
    • New VMs have the same location UUID and MAC address so that the UUID and MAC address are not unique. This problem occurs with WS 9 and WS 10 VMs but not WS 7 and WS 8 VMs.
    • On RHEL 6.6, vmmon cannot be loaded due to incompatible kernel symbol versions. With gcc, kernel-headers, kernel-devel installed, vmmon module will be recompiled automatically.
    • Memory leak by the process vmtoolsd.exe when the guest NIC is disabled causes memory consumption by Workstation processes to increase over time.
    • When USB devices are autoconnected with a hub to a Renesas host controller, the devices are not redirected to the guest.
    • WS 11 license is accepted by WS 10.0.5 and future 10.0 updates.
    • When WS is installed on Linux in a non-default location, the Virtual Network Editor fails to run.
10.0.6[20] 5 May 2015
  • Fixed a problem when uploading a virtual machine with Workstation 10.0.x to ESXi 6.0.
  • Updated to OpenSSL library version openssl-1.0.1m.
10.0.7[21] 2 Jul 2015
  • Security fixes
11.0[22] 1 Dec 2014
11.1[23] 17 Feb 2015
  • Added support for VMware vCloud Air Virtual Private Cloud OnDemand
  • Bug Fixes
    • A Linux guest OS booted on EFI firmware sometimes failed to respond to the keyboard and mouse if any mouse motion occurred during a short window of time during OS boot.
    • Outlook 2010 would occasionally crash when running in Unity mode.
    • You could not compact or defragment a persistent disk.
    • The UI sometimes crashed when a user copied and pasted a file between two Windows guests.
    • Rendering corruption in UI elements in Fedora 20 guests with 3D enabled.
    • When creating a new virtual machine with SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) 12, the Easy Install path was not available.
11.1.1[24] 9 Jun 2015
  • Critical security fix for CVE-2012-0897, CVE-2015-2336, CVE-2015-2337, CVE-2015-2338, CVE-2015-2339, CVE-2015-2340, CVE-2015-2341
    • VMware Workstation and Horizon Client TPView.ddl and TPInt.dll incorrectly handle memory allocation. On Workstation, this may allow a guest to execute code or perform a Denial of Service on the Windows OS that runs Workstation.
11.1.2[25] 15 Jun 2015
  • Security Issues
    • VMware Workstation 11.1.2 has been updated to OpenSSL library version openssl-1.0.1m.
  • Bug Fixes
    • Two interface items on the Access Control screen used the same hot-key combination.
    • Attempting to suspend a Windows virtual machine with the Sensor Diagnostic Tool running caused the virtual machine to become unresponsive.
    • Using audio conferencing software on a Windows 8 guest operating system caused a severe echo during both video and audio calls.
    • On the Windows 95 guest operating system, the mouse cursor jumped.
    • Symbolic links created within a Windows guest operating system on a Linux host did not list files under subdirectories.
    • Workstation did not display Regions in the VMware vCloud Air Subscription node.
    • Workstation could not automatically detect the Fedora 21 ISO when creating a new Fedora 21 virtual machine.
    • Under specific conditions, when the alipaybsm.exe file was installed on the Workstation host, network service was disrupted.
    • After connecting to vCloud Air from Workstation, no virtual machines were listed in the Workstation virtual machine library.
    • Using Easy Install for the Ubuntu 15.04 guest operating system with kernel 3.19.0-15-generic prevented you from enabling folder sharing.
    • Reverting to a snapshot failed following a specific set of steps.
    • A Windows 10 guest operating system running idly caused Workstation to crash.
    • Using the Easy Install option to install the Ubuntu 14.04 or Ubuntu 15.04 guest operating system failed to install VMware Tools.
12.0.0[26] 24 Aug 2015 The following features have reached end of life in Workstation 12 Pro and have been removed:[27]
  • Unity mode on Linux guest and host operating systems
  • Virtual Debugger Visual Studio
  • Connection to the VMware vCloud Air subscription service

Added support for, amongst other things:

  • Later operating system versions, including Windows 10
  • DirectX 10 and OpenGL 3.3
  • IPv6 NAT
12.0.1[28] 29 Oct 2015 Maintenance release that resolves some issues.
12.1.0[29] 8 Dec 2015 Maintenance release that resolves some issues.
12.1.1[30][31] 21 Apr 2016 Maintenance release that resolves some issues.
12.5[32][31] 13 Sep 2016
  • The announced[33] release date of 8 Sep 2016[34] was missed due to a nasty bug
  • Compatible with Windows 10 Anniversary Edition
12.5.1[35] 27 Oct 2016 Bug fixes, security updates for undisclosed vulnerabilities and performance improvements.
12.5.2[36] 13 Nov 2016 This release of VMware Workstation 12 Pro addresses an out-of-bounds memory access vulnerability related to the drag-and-drop feature. This may allow a guest to execute code on the operating system that runs VMware Workstation 12 Pro.
12.5.3[37] 9 Mar 2017 Bug fixes, security updates, and performance improvements.
  • Workstation Pro fails to launch on a Linux platform that uses kernel 4.9.0
  • Occasionally, the Workstation Pro user interface crashes in Workstation 12 Pro version 12.5 and displays an error
  • When you use a USB device that does not follow USB specifications in a virtual machine in USB passthrough mode, the guest becomes unusable
  • You cannot connect a parallel port to a virtual machine
  • Connecting an Active Braille device to the virtual machines fails
  • After users execute Active FTP in the guest operating system, the vmnat.exe process continues to use a TCP port of the host
  • ThinPrint technology does not work in a Windows XP guest operating system with VMware Tools 10.0.10
  • VMware Tools service is not started in Ubuntu 16.10 guest
  • You cannot use shared folders in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 virtual machine
12.5.4[38] 14 Mar 2017 This release addresses an out-of-bounds memory access vulnerability related to the drag-and-drop feature. This vulnerability might allow a guest to execute code on the operating system that runs VMware Workstation 12 Pro.
12.5.5[39] 28 Mar 2017 This release of VMware Workstation Pro addresses the following issues:
  • VMware Workstation Pro has a heap buffer overflow and uninitialized stack memory usage in SVGA. These issues might allow a guest virtual machine to execute code on the host. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifiers CVE-2017-4902 (heap issue) and CVE-2017-4903 (stack issue) to these issues.
  • The VMware Workstation Pro XHCI driver has uninitialized memory usage. This issue might allow a guest virtual machine to execute code on the host. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2017-4904 to this issue.
  • VMware Workstation Pro has uninitialized memory usage. This issue might lead to an information leak. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2017-4905 to this issue.
12.5.6[40] 18 May 2017 This release includes the following highlights:
  • Day 0 support of the Windows 10 Creators Update (version 1703)
  • Bug fixes and security updates
12.5.7[41] 22 Jun 2017 This release of VMware Workstation Pro includes some bug fixes and security updates.

Host OS support

Supported operating systems on host computers[42]
Operating system Supported by
VMware Workstation
Windows Server 2016 12.5 and later
Windows Server 2012 R2 10.0 and later
Windows Server 2012 9.0 and later
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 8.0 and later
Windows Server 2008 R2 7.0 and later
Windows Server 2008 6.0–10.0
Windows Server 2003 R2 6.0–10.0
Windows Server 2003 4.0[43]–10.0
Windows 10 1607 and later 12.5 and later
Windows 10 1507 and 1511 11.0 and later
Windows 8.1 10.0 and later
Windows 8 9.0 and later
Windows 7 7.1 and later
Windows Vista 6.0–10.0
Windows XP 3.0–10.0[44][45]
Windows 2000 2.0–6.5[46][47]
Windows NT 4.0 1.0–4.5
Linux distributions See KB2088579 and KB2129859

Variants

There was a free VMware Player distinct from Workstation, with similar but reduced functionality, until VMware Player v7, Workstation v11. In 2015 the two packages were combined as VMware Workstation 12, with a free VMware Workstation Player version which, on purchase of a license code, became the higher specification VMware Workstation Pro.[48] VMware Workstation Player, like VMware Player[49] before it, is free of charge for non-commercial use, or for distribution or other use by written agreement.[6] (Workstation Pro is also available for download for a free trial period, and is easily confused with the unlimited-time restricted-functionality version.)

The features of the versions are compared on the VMware Web site.[51]

VMware Tools

VMware Tools, a package with drivers and other software available for the various guest operating systems VMware products support, installs in guest operating systems to add functionality. Tools is updated from time to time, with v10.0.15 dated 23 February 2017.[53] It has several components, including the following:

Third-party resources

Ready-to-use virtual machines

Many ready-made virtual machines (VMs) which run on VMware Player, Workstation, and other virtualization software are available[55] for specific purposes, either for purchase or free of charge; for example free Linux-based "browser appliances" with the Firefox or other browser installed[56][57] which can be used for safe Web browsing; if infected or damaged it can be discarded and replaced by a clean copy. The appliance can be configured to automatically reset itself after each use so personal information and other changes are not stored.[57] VMs distributed legally only have freely distributable operating systems, as operating systems on VMs must be licensed; ready-to-use Microsoft Windows VMs, in particular, are not distributed, except for evaluation versions.

Other tools

See also

References

  1. ↑ "IEEE Xplore - Abstract Page". Ieeexplore.ieee.org. 2011-09-27. doi:10.1109/MCSE.2010.92. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
  2. ↑ "VMware Workstation 12 Pro Version 12.5.7 Release Notes". pubs.vmware.com. June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Processor Requirements for Host Systems". VMware Workstation 9 Documentation Center. VMware. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  4. ↑ https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2129859
  5. ↑ Warren, Steven (2008-11-20). "Snapshots in VMware Workstation". Blogs.techrepublic.com.com. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
  6. 1 2 "Download VMware Workstation Player". VMware. Retrieved 11 May 2016. Download site for VMware Player 7.x and Workstation Player 12.x
  7. ↑ "VMware Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2015 Results". ir.vmware.com. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Cloud; Security; Australia; Vmware; Microsoft; devs, VMware axes Fusion and Workstation US; VMware says vSphere in decline, new multi-cloud plan will ensure growth; Citrix kills Sydney research lab, vows to focus on 'core products'. "VMware axes Fusion and Workstation US devs". Retrieved 2016-01-28.
  9. ↑ Miller, Ron. "VMware Confirms Layoffs In Earnings Statement As It Prepares For Dell Acquisition". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
  10. ↑ chipx86. "A Tribute to VMware Workstation, Fusion, and Hosted UI". ChipLog. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
  11. ↑ Serdar Yegulalp (15 October 2015). "Review: VMware Workstation 12 gets a shine for Windows 10". Infoworld.com. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  12. ↑ Ken Hess (9 September 2015). "VMware Workstation 12 Pro is your gateway to Windows 10 adoption". ZDNet. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  13. ↑ "VMware Workstation 7.0 Release Notes". www.vmware.com. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  14. ↑ "Introducing Replay Debugging: the end of the heisbenbug? - VMTN Blog". 2008-08-30. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  15. ↑ "Replay Debugging – Try it Today! - VMware Workstation Zealot". 2010-01-19. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  16. ↑ "Better Software Development with Replay Debugging: Goodbye, Replay Debugging…". www.replaydebugging.com. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  17. ↑ "VMware Workstation 9.0 Release Notes". 23 August 2012.
  18. ↑ "VMware Workstation 10.0 Release Notes". 3 September 2013.
  19. ↑ https://www.vmware.com/support/ws10/doc/workstation-1005-release-notes.html
  20. ↑ https://www.vmware.com/support/ws10/doc/workstation-1006-release-notes.html
  21. ↑ "VMware Workstation 10.0.7 Release Notes". 2 July 2015.
  22. ↑ https://www.vmware.com/support/ws/doc/workstation-11-release-notes.html
  23. ↑ https://www.vmware.com/support/ws/doc/workstation-111-release-notes.html
  24. ↑ "VMware Workstation 11.1.1 Release Notes". 9 June 2015.
  25. ↑ "VMware Workstation 11.1.2 Release Notes". 15 June 2015.
  26. ↑ https://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/workstation/12pro/workstation-12-release-notes.html
  27. 1 2 Wil van Antwerpen. "VMware Workstation 12 discards unity support for Linux » PlanetVM". Planetvm.net. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  28. ↑ "VMware Workstation 12 Player Version 12.0.1 Release Notes". VMware. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  29. ↑ "VMware Workstation 12 Player Version 12.1 Release Notes". VMware. 8 December 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  30. ↑ "Download VMware Workstation Player (always links to latest v12.x and previous versions and release notes)". VMware. 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  31. 1 2 "Download VMware Workstation Pro (always links to latest v12.x and previous versions and release notes)". VMware. 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  32. ↑ "VMware Workstation 12 Pro Version 12.5 Release Notes". pubs.vmware.com. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  33. ↑ Jon Brodkin (30 August 2016). "VMware says "we're not dead," updates Fusion and Workstation for free". Arstechnica.co.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  34. ↑ "VMware Workstation 12.5 and Fusion 8.5 - Free Upgrade - ESX Virtualization". 2016-08-31. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  35. ↑ "VMware Workstation 12 Pro Version 12.5.1 Release Notes". VMware. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  36. ↑ "VMware Workstation 12 Pro Version 12.5.2 Release Notes". VMware. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  37. ↑ "VMware Workstation 12 Pro Version 12.5.3 Release Notes". VMware. Retrieved 14 Mar 2017.
  38. ↑ "VMware Workstation 12 Pro Version 12.5.4 Release Notes". VMware. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  39. ↑ "VMware Workstation 12 Pro Version 12.5.5 Release Notes". VMware. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  40. ↑ "VMware Workstation 12 Pro Version 12.5.6 Release Notes". VMware.
  41. ↑ "VMware Workstation 12 Pro Version 12.5.7 Release Notes". VMware.
  42. ↑ https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&externalId=2088579
  43. ↑ https://www.vmware.com/support/ws4/doc/intro_hostreq_ws.html
  44. ↑ https://www.vmware.com/support/ws3/doc/ws32_intro2.html
  45. ↑ https://www.vmware.com/support/ws5/doc/intro_hostreq_ws.html
  46. ↑ http://windowsitpro.com/systems-management/vmware-workstation-20
  47. ↑ https://www.vmware.com/support/ws65/doc/releasenotes_ws650.html
  48. ↑ VMware Web site, VMware Workstation Player Pro
  49. ↑ "VMware Player 4.0 EULA". VMware. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  50. ↑ "VMware Workstation Player (formerly known as Player Pro)". vmware. VMware, Inc. 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-25. VMware Workstation 12 Player is a streamlined desktop virtualization application that runs one or more operating systems on the same computer without rebooting.
  51. 1 2 "VMware Player Pro: Compare to VMware Workstation 11". Vmware. Retrieved 11 December 2015. Compares Workstation 12 Player to Player 7 Pro; Workstation 12 Player (Unlicensed) to Workstation 12 Player (Licensed); and Workstation 12 Player to Workstation 12 Pro
  52. ↑ "VMware Workstation Pro". vmware. VMware, Inc. 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  53. ↑ "VMware Tools 10.1.5 Release Notes". VMware. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  54. ↑ "Use Unity Mode". VMware Workstation 9 Documentation Center. Vmware. Retrieved 2015-08-25. In Unity mode, virtual machine applications appear on the host system desktop
  55. ↑ "VMware Virtual Machine Marketplace, with 3691 entries (not all still available) as of 2 June 2016". Vmware.com. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  56. ↑ "Browser Appliance". Vmware.com. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
  57. 1 2 Browser Appliance. Includes brief documentation, including "autoRevert on shutdown"
  58. ↑ "powerwf.com". powerwf.com. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
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