Find out more about VMware Workstation

About VMware workstation

VMware Workstation is software (hosted hypervisor) that makes it easy to create and manage virtual machines on Windows (64-bit only) and Linux. On a single computer, multiple virtual machines can run concurrently with a PC, and each virtual machine can run a different operating system (such as BSD, Linux, Windows, or MS-DOS) at the user's option.

You can use either the premium version of VMware Workstation Pro or the unpaid version of VMware Workstation Player (for non-commercial usage) of VMware Workstation. This hypervisor allows a virtual machine to share both physical and portable disks. The user can take snapshots, restore the virtual computer to the preferred condition, and access extra services with the commercial version, if necessary.

In addition, users also create inventory folders that can contain multiple virtual machines. They can be managed as a single mechanism useful for testing in a variety of environments.

How to setup VMware workstation

Since you will be running the operating system from your own operating system, VMware Workstation has quite high system requirements. If these requirements are not met, you should not rely on effective use of VMware.

These are the system requirements:

• 64-bit processor.
• Windows or Linux.
• At least 1 GB, and preferably 3 GB of memory for running the operating system, virtual operating system and programs inside this operating system. 
• 16-bit or 32-bit display adapter.

You can now download the VMware installer from the VMware website and select the latest version. Confirm the license agreement, and then download and install VMware Workstation.

Next, open VMware and start installing the virtual operating system. To do this, you need an installation disc or ISO image (you can install most Linux distributions or any version of Windows).

Click on the tab File, select "New Virtual Machine" and then click on "Normal". VMware will ask you for installation media or use an ISO image. To create an empty virtual disk, install the operating system manually later.

Next, enter your operating system information (product key, desired username and password).

Next, name your virtual machine, then set the disk size and configure the virtual hardware of your virtual machine. For example, you can click on the "Configure Hardware'' button and configure the virtual machine to emulate specific hardware.

Next, configure the virtual machine to start, to do this, select the "Enable this virtual machine after creation" checkbox. If you do not enable this feature, you can select your virtual machine from the list in VMware and click the Power On button.

After turning on the virtual machine for the first time, the operating system will automatically install, you do not need to do anything. After that, the VMware Tools program should be installed automatically and should appear on the desktop or in program files.

Using workstation

To start your virtual machine, click the VM menu and select the appropriate virtual machine. In this case, you can start the virtual machine in normal mode, or boot it directly into the virtual BIOS.

To stop your virtual machine, select its VM menu and click on the Power option, or select the shutdown option in the virtual operating system.

You can use drag and drop to move files between your computer and the virtual machine. This can be done in both directions between the computer and the virtual machine, while the original remains in its original location and a copy is created in a new location.

To add any printer to your virtual machine without installing additional drivers, the virtual machine to which you want to add the printer and select the select Options from the VM menu.

Now Click the Hardware tab, click Add and start the Add New Hardware Wizard. Next, select "Printer" and click "Finish", then the virtual printer will be turned on the next time you turn on the virtual machine.

To connect a USB storage device to a virtual machine, do the following:

• If the virtual machine is active, the USB storage device will automatically be connected to the virtual machine.
• If the virtual machine is not active or not running, select the virtual machine, click Removable Devices and click Connect.

To take a snapshot of a virtual machine, select your virtual machine from the VM menu, click on "Snapshot" and select "Take Snapshot". Click OK and the snapshot will be saved.

To use the VM, you can use hot keys, for example, the combination of "Ctrl" and other keys is used to navigate through virtual machines. So, hot keys "Alt", "Ctrl" and "Enter" put the current virtual machine in full screen mode, and "Ctrl", "Alt" and "Tab" will move between virtual machines when the mouse is used on 1 machine.

The Top Advanced Uses For VMware Workstation

1. Learn Server Management and Web Development

One of the earliest use cases for VMware Workstation is learning server-side web development. You can visit the VMware Solution Exchange website and find the right device for your needs.

2. Testing Multiple Operating Systems and Applications

VMware Workstation allows you to run operating systems other than those currently installed on your computer. This way, you can easily test new features in Windows Server 2012 or conceptualize Skype for Business and more.

3. The IT Administrator's Best Friend

Using a virtual machine, you can test and validate all configuration changes on a legacy system before deploying to a production environment. This way, IT administrators can easily prove to management that a new application works. At the same time, an IT administrator can use an almost unlimited number of VMware workstations for his own purposes - this is great.

4. Product Demos

With VMware Workstation, system administrators can run application demos on potential customer sites anytime, anywhere. 

5. vSphere Staging

With vSphere, you can move virtual machines from your production environment to your workstation on a virtualized private network. This is required for various updates and configuration changes before returning them to the vSphere production environment.

6. Software Development

To develop any software, it is important to have the right environment for both building and testing your application. Indeed, with the help of VMware Workstation, software developers can test an application on several operating systems, take pictures of virtual machines both before and after installing their application.

7. Browser Testing

For JavaScript applications that run in a browser, testing is an essential component. For example, you will see that a web application works fine using Google Chrome in Windows 7, but errors may be found in the same browser, but in Linux or OS X. So, in order to test several browsers and versions in several operating systems, you need virtual machines.