VMware Workstation 3.2
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Host System Requirements
Host System Requirements
What do you need to get the most out of VMware Workstation? Take the following list of requirements as a starting point. Remember that the virtual machines running under VMware Workstation are like physical computers in many ways - and, like physical computers, they generally perform better if they have faster processors and more memory.
PC Hardware
PC Hardware
- Standard PC
- 400MHz or faster processor (recommended; 266MHz minimum) that supports the Pentium® instruction set
Compatible processors include
Intel: Celeron, Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium 4
AMD: K6-2, K6-III, Athlon, Athlon MP, Athlon XP, Duron
- Multiprocessor systems supported
Memory
Memory
- Enough memory to run the host operating system, plus memory required for each guest operating system and for applications on the host and guest
- Recommended: 256MB; minimum: 128MB
Display
Display
- Greater than 256-color (8-bit) display adapter required
- Linux hosts must have a video adapter supported by the XFree86 server to run guest operating systems in full-screen mode
Disk Drives
Disk Drives
- 100MB (for Windows hosts), 20MB (for Linux hosts) free space required for basic installation
- At least 1GB free disk space recommended for each guest operating system and the application software used with it; using a default setup, the actual disk space needs are approximately the same as those for installing and running the guest operating system and applications on a physical computer
- IDE or SCSI hard drives, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives supported
- Guest operating systems can reside on physical disk partitions or in virtual disk files
Local Area Networking (Optional)
Local Area Networking (Optional)
- Any Ethernet controller supported by the host operating system
- Non-Ethernet networks supported using built-in network address translation (NAT) or using host-only networking plus routing software on the host operating system
Windows Host Operating Systems
Windows Host Operating Systems
Linux Host Operating Systems
Linux Host Operating Systems
Supported distributions and kernels are listed below. VMware Workstation may not run on systems that do not meet these requirements.
Note: As newer Linux kernels and distributions are released, VMware modifies and tests its products for stability and reliability on those host platforms. We make every effort to add support for new kernels and distributions in a timely manner, but until a kernel or distribution is added to the list below, its use with our product is not supported. Look for newer prebuilt modules in the Download area of our Web site. Go to www.vmware.com/download/.
- Mandrake Linux 8.2 - stock 2.4.18-6mdk
- Mandrake Linux 8.1 - stock 2.4.8-26mdk, upgrade 2.4.8-34mdk
- Mandrake Linux 8.0 - stock 2.4.3-20mdk
- Red Hat Linux 7.3 - stock 2.4.18
- Red Hat Linux 7.2 - stock 2.4.7-10, upgrade 2.4.9-7, upgrade 2.4.9-13, upgrade 2.4.9-21, upgrade 2.4.9-31
- Red Hat Linux 7.1 - stock 2.4.2-2, upgrade 2.4.3-12
- Red Hat Linux 7.0 - stock 2.2.16-22, upgrade 2.2.17-14
- Red Hat Linux 6.2 - upgrade 2.2.15-2.5.0, Dell specific 2.2.14-6.1.1 (Red Hat Linux 6.2 does not support Pentium 4 CPUs)
Caution: VMware does not support running VMware Workstation on the stock 2.2.14-5.0 kernel.
- SuSE Linux 8.0 - stock 2.4.18
- SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7 - stock 2.4.7
- SuSE Linux 7.3 - stock 2.4.10
Note: If you are installing VMware Workstation on a SuSE 7.1, 7.2 or 7.3 SMP host, you need to install the non-PAE-enabled kernel on the host before you begin installing VMware Workstation. For more information, see Before You Install on a SuSE Linux 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 or 8.0 Host Operating System.
- SuSE Linux 7.2 - stock 2.4.4
- SuSE Linux 7.1 - stock 2.2.18, stock 2.4.0
- SuSE Linux 7.0 - stock 2.2.16
- Turbolinux 7.0
- Turbolinux 6.0
- Caldera® OpenLinux 2.4 - stock 2.2.14
- Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 - stock 2.2.10
- Caldera OpenLinux 2.2 - stock 2.2.5
VMware Workstation may run on other Linux distributions; attempting to do so is recommended for expert Linux users only.
Other Linux host operating system requirements:
- Linux kernel 2.2.14-5.0 is not supported
- Standard Linux installation with glibc version 2 or higher
- Version 2.1.36 of the SCSI Generic (sg.o) driver required to use generic SCSI devices in virtual machines
- VMware Workstation requires an X server
- XFree86-3.3.3.1 or higher release
- XFree86 version 3.3.4 or higher server recommended
If you are using a recent Linux distribution, it should include an appropriate X server by default. To find out what XFree86 server is running on your computer, as root, run X -version.
Hosts Using PAE Options Not Supported
Hosts Using PAE Options Not Supported
Host operating systems that use the Physical Address Extension (PAE) processor options cannot be used to run VMware Workstation 3.2. This issue affects Linux hosts if PAE is enabled in the kernel. It affects Windows hosts if booted with the /PAE option.
If you are installing VMware Workstation on a SuSE Linux 7.1, 7.2 or 7.3 SMP host, you must install the non-PAE-enabled kernel before you can install the VMware software. Please complete the steps in Before You Install on a SuSE Linux 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 or 8.0 Host Operating System.
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