Software Review :
VMware Workstation is a desktop virtualization solution that provides power users, system administrators and developers with the necessary capabilities to run and test multiple operating systems on the same computer.
To put it more simple, VMware Workstation enables you to run multiple virtual machines on your PC, allowing for extensive testing and development of complex networked server-class applications. Through its robust and powerful engine, it makes it easier for developers to introduce virtual infrastructure to a company and increase productivity.
The installation process is very simple, and it requires you to either choose typical or custom (recommended for advanced users). The program’s interface has a simple, yet organized look, featuring a Home panel that includes shortcuts to the most important utilities it brings along.
With VMware you can basically perform actions between virtual machines, such as cut, copy and paste text, images or email attachments (especially useful in Unity mode), while the drag and drop feature is available to move files, text or images between virtual machines (e.g. file managers, zip file managers).
Other features include taking a snapshot to maintain virtual machine states, changing workstation preference settings, installing and updating various tools, configuring virtual machine option/hardware settings, using a virtual network editor, using removable devices and printers, setting up shared folders, and running the support script.
You can bridge to existing host network adapters, CDs or DVDs, hard disk drives and USB devices. Plus, you can test live CDs without first recording them on discs or restarting the computer system.
VMware Workstation is a fast and practical tool that you should experiment with in case you need a virtualizationtool. Workload significantly decreases, thanks to this innovative software.
Features and Benefits:
- Comprehensive Windows 8 support, including Easy install, 3D Graphics Support, live thumbnails, desktop preview, and XP mode.
- Install and run VMware vSphere 4 and VMware ESXi as a guest OS.
- AutoProtect makes it easy to go back in time when things were good, with automatic hourly, daily, or weekly snapshots.
- Remote Replay Debugging makes it easier to analyze and to debug hard-to-reproduce software defects.
- Essential features such as virtual networking, live snapshots, drag and drop and shared folders, and PXE support make VMware Workstation the most powerful and indispensable tool for enterprise IT developers and system administrators.
- VMware Workstation provides the most dependable, high performing, and secure virtual machine platform. It offers the broadest host and guest operating system support, the richest user experience, and the most comprehensive feature set. Automate and streamline tasks to save time and improve productivity. Run applications in Linux, Windows, and more at the same time on the same PC with no rebooting. Evaluate and test new operating systems, applications and patches in an isolated environment. Demonstrate complex software applications on a single laptop in a repeatable, reliable manner. Rich integration with Visual Studio, Eclipse, and the SpringSource Tool Suite makes it incredibly easy to debug applications on multiple platforms.
Resolved Issues
The following issues are resolved in this release of VMware Workstation.
- On a Windows 7 host, when you plug and unplug a headset several times, the audio card of the guest would not work. This has been fixed in Workstation 9.0.2.
- When installing VMware Tools on Linux virtual machines, the The default screen resolution options have been standardized to 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, or 1280×800 for the initial login. After login, resolution can be set to any value the user desires or Autofit can be used.
- You can now create full clones from a snapshot of a Windows XP Mode virtual machine.
- Image copy/paste now correctly function with Solaris 10 and 11 guests.
- In VMware Player, the list of available NICs in the Automatic Bridging Settings dialog window is now refreshed without restarting Player.
- A virtual machine created using Use a physical disk (For advanced users) from the new virtual machine wizard may display the following error when powering on: A fault has occurred causing a virtual CPU to enter the shutdown state... The cause of this issue has been fixed.
- More detailed PCI information has been added and a potential problem that resulted in the risk of rebooting the host when selecting Collect Support Data has been fixed.
- Previously, when you manually disabled networking in the Network Manager and then attempted to suspend the virtual machine, the operation would fail and Workstation would show the an error The request to suspend this virtual machine failed because the corresponding VMware Tools Script did not run successfully.... This has been fixed.
- A memory leak that impacted Windows hosts and guests has been fixed.
- When running in a Linux distribution using the GNOME 3 desktop environment, Desktop folders now open as expected.
- The OVFTool has been updated to version 3.0.2.
- Disk cleanup for encrypted virtual machines has been disabled until VMware can further investigate reports of encrypted disks being damaged by this operation.
- Autostart virtual machines now power on automatically after upgrading Windows hosts to Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012.
- VMware Tools no longer crashes on Windows 2008 Server Core x64 SP2 operating system, with the following error:
VMware Tools unrecoverable error: (vthread-3)
Exception 0xc0000005 (access violation) has occurred.
However, Windows 2008 Server Core x64 SP2 is not a supported operating system for VMware Workstation. - Scrolling with a Lenovo ThinkPad UltraNav scroll button no longer requires excessive force.
- From the Linux version of Workstation, the Description field for a remote virtual machine now captures all characters entered.
- When editing Workstation preferences on Windows hosts, occasionally a permissions error would be displayed. This issue has been resolved.
- It is now possible to create a linked clone from a read-only template virtual machine.