VMware

VMware Workstation 5.5

Features | Documentation | Knowledge Base | Discussion Forums

previous Prev   Contents   Last   Next next

Command Line Application

VMware Workstation includes a separate application, vmrun, for operating teams or virtual machines from the command line.

To launch the vmrun application, from the command prompt, enter:

vmrun COMMAND [OPTION]

Valid vmrun commands and options are described in the following table:

Command

Description

Option

list

Lists all running virtual machines.

None

start

Start a virtual machine or team.

[Path to .vmx file (virtual machine)]

or

[Path to .vmtm file (team)]

stop

Stop a virtual machine or team.

[Path to .vmx file (virtual machine)]

or

[Path to .vmtm file (team)]

reset

Reset a virtual machine or team.

[Path to .vmx file (virtual machine)]

or

[Path to .vmtm file (team)]

suspend

Suspend a virtual machine or team.

[Path to .vmx file (virtual machine)]

or

[Path to .vmtm file (team)]

upgradevm

Upgrade a virtual machine to the current Workstation version.

[Path to .vmx file]

installtools

Install VMware Tools in the guest operating system. In Windows guests, the VMware Tools installer runs automatically. In Linux guests, this command connects the virtual machine's virtual CD-ROM drive to the VMware Tools ISO image for that guest, but the installer does not start automatically: you must complete the installation with additional manual steps, as described in VMware Tools for Linux Guests.

[Path to .vmx file]

snapshot

Create a snapshot of a virtual machine

[Path to .vmx file]
[snapshot name]

listSnapshots

List all snapshots in a virtual machine

[Path to .vmx file]

deleteSnapshot

Remove a snapshot from a virtual machine

[Path to .vmx file]
[snapshot name]

revertToSnapshot

Go to a snapshot in a virtual machine.

If a snapshot has a unique name within a virtual machine, you can revert to that snapshot simply by specifying the path to the virtual machine's configuration file and the snapshot name:
[Path to .vmx file][snapshot name]

If several snapshots have the same name, you can still specify a snapshot by including a "pathname" for the snapshot name. A pathname is a series of snapshot names, separated by forward slash characters ("/"). Each name specifies a different snapshot in the tree, and together the names in a pathname will specify a path from the root snapshot to the snapshot you are naming.

For example, suppose you include the pathname "snap1/snap2". This will identify a snapshot named "snap2" that was taken from the state of a root snapshot named "snap1".

Because the forward slash can be used in a pathname to specify a particular snapshot in the revertToSnapshot command, it is recommended that you avoid using the slash character when you name a snapshot, since this will make it difficult for you to predict which snapshot a pathname will identify.

[Path to .vmx file]
[snapshot name]

or

[Path to .vmx file]
[snapshot name1/
snapshot name2]

Note: Before running this command on a Windows host, you must do one of the following:

  • Change your working directory to the VMware Workstation directory. The default location is:

    • c:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation

  • Add the VMware Workstation directory to the system path. On Windows 2000 and XP, this setting is changed from

    • Control Panels > System > Advanced > Environment Variables > System variables > Path

    Examples for vmrun

    For example, to start a virtual machine:

  • In a Linux terminal, enter

    • vmrun start /usr/local/VMs/<virtual_machine_name>.vmx

  • On the Windows command line, enter:

    • vmrun start c:\My Virtual Machines\<virtual_machine_name>.vmx

    With virtual machines that require input through a VMware Workstation dialog box, vmrun may time out and fail. To disable Workstation dialog boxes, insert the following line into the .vmx configuration file for a virtual machine:

    msg.autoAnswer = TRUE

    previous Prev   Contents   Last   Next next