VMware Workstation Player
Run a Second, Isolated Operating System on a Single PC with VMware Workstation Player
VMware Workstation Player allows you to run a second, isolated operating system on a single PC. With many uses ranging from a personal educational tool, to a business tool for providing a simplified experience to run a corporate desktop on a BYO device, Workstation Player leverages the VMware vSphere Hypervisor to provide a simple yet mature and stable, local virtualization solution.
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Students, parents, faculty and staff at qualifying academic institutions are eligible for discounts.
WORKSTATION PLAYER DELIVERS
Simple but Powerful Virtualization
With nearly 20 years of active development, VMware Workstation Player builds from the same platform as VMware Workstation Pro and VMware vSphere, making it one of the most mature and stable solutions for local desktop virtualization. Safely and easily run a second operating system as a virtual machine (VM) on a single PC without affecting your main desktop environment and without rebooting.
The Perfect Tool for Learning
The isolation and sandbox capabilities of VMware Workstation Player make it the perfect tool to help you learn about operating systems, applications and how they work. Being able to run a server environment on a desktop PC also allows you to explore software and application development in a “real world” environment without interfering with the host desktop.
Your Path to ‘Work from Anywhere’
With VMware Workstation Player, you can isolate corporate desktops from end-user owned devices by disabling copy-and-paste, drag-and-drop, shared folders and access to USB devices. Run restricted VMs that are encrypted and password-protected to ensure only authorized users can interact with corporate data.
A Secure and Isolated Environment
Run a secure second desktop with different privacy settings, tools and networking configurations to keep your host system safe and secure while browsing online.
USE CASES
Workstation Player is perfect for students, faculty, businesses and corporate users who need a small sandbox environment for testing or control. A simple user interface provides a streamlined approach and enables more focused use cases.
Education
Today’s technology landscape is evolving at an incredible pace, and virtualization tools from VMware not only lead the pack but allow you to test this technology in a virtual sandbox on your existing PC. Students get a simple environment for exploring new operating systems, and faculty can distribute repeatable lab environments for classroom activity without the need for an internal cloud.
Business
VMware Workstation Player allows businesses to embrace ‘Work from Anywhere’ by providing a corporate desktop image that can run managed or unmanaged on an end user’s laptop or desktop PC. Users get easy access to corporate desktops and apps, while IT admins get the ability to centrally manage and enforce security policies when used with VMware Workspace ONE.
TECH SPECS
Supported Guest Operating Systems
VMware Workstation 16 supports hundreds of 32-bit and 64-bit guest operating systems.
Here is a list of the most popular:
- Windows 10
- Windows 8
- Windows 7
- Windows XP
- Ubuntu
- RedHat
- SUSE
- Oracle Linux
- Debian
- Fedora
- openSUSE
- Mint
- Solaris, FreeBSD, and various other Linux Distros
See the VMware Compatibility Guide for a complete list of supported host and guest operating systems.
For Hyper-V Enabled Hosts:
CPU Requirements:
- Intel Sandy Bridge or a newer CPU
- AMD Bulldozer or a newer CPU
Host Operating Systems:
- Windows 10 2004
Minimum Requirements to Run Container Runtime on workstation Windows Host Operating Systems:
- Windows 10 1809 or higher
Minimum Requirements to Dark Theme support on Workstation Windows Host Operating Systems:
- Windows 10 1809 or higher
For 3D Hardware Accelerated Graphics Support:
Hardware Requirements:
- For Windows hosts, a GPU that supports DirectX 11 is required.
- For Linux hosts, the latest NVIDIA proprietary drivers are required.
- For Linux hosts, AMD devices are not supported
Software Requirements:
64-bit Host Operating System:
- Windows 8 or higher
- GNU/Linux with NVIDIA drivers that support OpenGL 4.5 and above
Guest Operating System
- Windows 7 or higher
- GNU/Linux with vmwgfx
*With exception, the following CPUs are not supported:
- Intel Atom processors based on the 2011 “Bonnell” micro-architecture (e.g. Atom Z670/Z650; Atom N570)
- Systems using Intel Atom processors based on the 2012 “Saltwell” micro-architecture (e.g. Atom S1200, Atom D2700/D2500, Atom N2800/N2600.
- Systems using AMD processors based on the “Llano” and “Bobcat” micro-architectures (e.g. code-named “Hondo”, “Ontario”, “Zacate”, “Llano”)
In addition, the following CPUs are supported:
- Intel processors based on the 2010 “Westmere” micro-architecture (e.g. Xeon 5600, Xeon 3600, Core i7-970, Core i7-980, Core i7-990)
For a complete list of supported host and guest the operating systems visit the VMware Compatibility Guide.
COMPARE
Workstation Player or Workstation Pro - Choose the Right Version for You
| General |
Workstation Player |
Workstation Pro |
| Create New VMs |
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| Create Large VMs (32CPU, 128GB RAM) |
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| Convert PC into a virtual machine |
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| Mass Deployment |
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| Host Guest Integration |
Workstation Player |
Workstation Pro |
| Host/Guest File Sharing |
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| Shared/Mirrored Folders |
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| One-Click SSH to Linux VM |
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| Run VMs with Different View Modes |
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| Unity View Mode (Windows guests only) |
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| Graphics |
Workstation Player |
Workstation Pro |
| 3D graphics with DX11 and OpenGL 4.1 support |
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| Large Graphics Memory: 8GB |
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| Device Support |
Workstation Player |
Workstation Pro |
| 4K / 5K / Retina Display Support |
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| Support a Wide Range of Virtual Devices |
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| USB Smart Card Reader Support |
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| USB 3.1 Device Support |
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| Assistive Device Support (Section 508 Compliant) |
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| Multi-Language Keyboard Support |
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| Virtual Trusted Platform Module Device |
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| Virtual NVMe Device |
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| Security Features |
Workstation Player |
Workstation Pro |
| Microsoft Virtualization Based Security (Guest) Support |
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| Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) |
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| UEFI Boot Support |
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| UEFI Secure Boot Support |
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| GPU Sandbox Renderer |
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| Snapshots |
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| Create/Manage Encrypted VM |
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| Host Operating Systems |
Workstation Player |
Workstation Pro |
| Windows 10 Host |
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| Linux - Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, Fedora, RHEL, SUSE, openSUSE |
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| macOS 10.16 and greater |
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| Guest Operating Systems |
Workstation Player |
Workstation Pro |
| Over 200 Supported OSs (Linux, older Windows, BSD) |
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| Windows 10 Guests |
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| macOS Guests |
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| Mac Host Specific Featutres |
Workstation Player |
Workstation Pro |
| macOS 10.16 Host support |
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| macOS Guest Support |
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| Windows apps in the Mac Dock |
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| One-Click SSH to Linux VM |
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| Metal Graphics Engine |
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| BootCamp Import / Launch |
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| Application Menu |
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| Windows Host Specific Features |
Workstation Player |
Workstation Pro |
| Windows 10 Host |
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| DX12 Renderering Engine |
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| Hyper-V Mode Support (Device Guard, WSL) |
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| Linux Host Specific Features |
Workstation Player |
Workstation Pro |
| Vulkan Rendering Engine |
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| Host Support - Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, Fedora, RHEL, SUSE, openSUSE |
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| Advanced Features |
Workstation Player |
Workstation Pro |
| Command Line Operation: vmrun and VIX |
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| vCenter Server Appliance Easy Deploy |
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| REST API |
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| "Nautilus Container Engine" |
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| Virtual Network Customization (NAT, network rename) |
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| Virtual Network Simulation (Packet Loss, Latency, Bandwidth) |
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| Connect to vSphere/ESXi Server |
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| Remote vSphere Host Power Control |
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| Create Linked Clones |
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| Create Full Clones |
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| Encrypt VMs |
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| Licensing |
Workstation Player |
Workstation Pro |
| Free for Personal Use |
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| Commercial License |
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| Trial License |
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FAQS
Product
See AllWhat is VMware Workstation Player?
VMware Workstation Player (formerly known as Player Pro) is a desktop hypervisor application that delivers local virtualization features and is available for free for personal use. A Commercial License can be applied to enable Workstation Player to run Restricted Virtual Machines created by VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro.
Can I still use VMware Workstation Player for free?
VMware Workstation Player is free for personal, non-commercial use (business and nonprofit use is considered commercial use). If you would like to learn about virtual machines or use them at home, you are welcome to use VMware Workstation Player for free. Students and faculty of accredited educational institutions can use VMware Workstation Player for free if they are members of the VMware Academic Program.
Installation
See AllCan VMware Workstation Player be installed on the same machine with other VMware products?
No. VMware Workstation Player is not designed to co-install with other VMware products. If an installation of VMware Workstation Pro or VMware Server is detected on a machine where Workstation Player is being installed, the Workstation Player installation will display an error message and abort. However, if you purchase and install Workstation Pro, a version of Workstation Player that will work is included with your purchase.
What are the minimum PC requirements to install and use VMware Workstation Player?
For a typical host system, we recommend that you have a 1 GHz or faster 64-bit processor (2GHz recommended) and 2GB RAM minimum (4GB RAM recommended). You must have enough memory to run the 64-bit host operating system, plus the memory required for each guest operating system and for applications on the host and guest. See your guest operating system and application documentation for their memory requirements. VMware Player requires approximately 150MB of disk space to install the application. For more details on minimum PC requirements, see the VMware Player Documentation.
For more answers to frequently asked questions, check out the full Workstation Player FAQs.
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CHOOSE YOUR OS
Run the apps that keep you most productive, wherever you want to use them. Discover the full capabilities of Workstation Pro or learn about VMware Fusion for Mac.
Workstation Pro
The easiest way to run multiple operating systems at once on a single PC.