Discover the true power and flexibility of your desktop or laptop computer with VMware Workstation. Reduce hardware costs by 50% or more by running multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single physical PC. Automate and streamline tasks to save time and improve productivity. Join the millions worldwide who use Workstation to:
Host legacy applications and overcome OS migration issues.
Configure & test new software or patches in an isolated environment for easierapplication migration and updates
Take your desktop with you for secure mobile computing
Use Multiple Operating Systems Concurrently on the Same PC
VMware Workstation makes it simple to create and run multiple virtual machines on your desktop or laptop computer. You can convert an existing physical PC into a VMware virtual machine, or create a new virtual machine from scratch. Each virtual machine represents a complete PC, including the processor, memory, network connections and peripheral ports.
VMware Workstation lets you use your virtual machines to run Windows, Linux and a host of other operating systems side-by-side on the same computer. You can switch between operating systems instantly with a click of a mouse, share files between virtual machines with drag-and-drop functionality and access all the peripheral devices you rely on every day.
Take Snapshots & Videos of your Virtual Machines
With Workstation, you can take a “snapshot” that preserves the state of a virtual machine so you can return to it at any time. Snapshots are useful when you need to revert your virtual machine to a prior, stable system state. Workstation displays thumbnails of all your snapshots on a single screen, making it easy for you to track and revert to a previously saved snapshot.
You can even use Workstation 6.5 to record and play video files that capture all changes to a virtual machine over a period of time. This function is exclusive to VMware Workstation and is incredibly useful for software debugging, Help Desk forensics, sales demonstrations and training.
Run an Entire Multi-tier System on a Single Host Computer
Run multi-tier enterprise applications on a single piece of hardware by managing network-connected virtual machines with the Teams feature of Workstation 6.5. Teams let you create virtual network environments that include client, server and database virtual machines.
With Workstation Teams, you can turn an entire multi-tier environment on and off with a single click of the mouse button. Workstation displays live thumbnails of all connected virtual machines, enabling you to easily identify and switch between the virtual machines associated with a team.
Clone your Virtual Machines to Accelerate Deployment
Installing operating systems and applications can be time consuming. With clones, you can make many copies of a virtual machine from a single installation and configuration process. This capability makes it fast and simple to distribute standardized computing environments to employees and students, or to create a baseline configuration for testing.
Take Your Virtual Machines With You
Workstation 6.5 includes the ability to create and deploy secure virtual machines (called ACEs). Mobility is one of the primary benefits of this feature, as it enables
Key New Features in Workstation 6.5:
Integrated desktop experience with “Unity”
Powerful Record and Replay technology that makes software development easier
Support for Windows Server 2008
Link state propagation networking
Simplified ACE authoring capabilities
More new features at a glance
Features in Depth
Broadest Host & Guest Operating System Support
Runs on both Windows and Linux host operating systems and supports most desktop and server editions of Microsoft Windows, Linux, Solaris x86, Netware, and FreeBSD as guest operating systems
Supports both 32-bit and 64-bit host and guest operating systems
Supports two-way Virtual SMP™ – Assign one or two processors to virtual machines
Experimental support for VMI 3.0 enabled paravirtualized Linux kernels
Best-in-class Virtual Machine Architecture
Fully configurable – each virtual machine has configurable memory size, disks and I/O devices and support for CD, DVD, floppy and USB 2.0 devices
Specify up to 8GB of RAM per virtual machine
64-bit sound driver for high-fidelity audio and video
Easily switch between virtual machines and suspend/resume them
Easily copy and share virtual machines by creating full and linked clones
Convert physical into virtual machines and import virtual machine formats from Microsoft, Symantec, StorageCraft, and Acronis.
Advanced Network Support
Powerful virtual networking options include Bridged, NAT, host-only and custom virtual network settings
Built-in DHCP server, and up to 10 virtual switches, enable connection of virtual machines to each other, to the host machine and to public networks
Specify network bandwidth and packet loss rate between virtual machines in a team
Edit virtual network configurations for Linux hosts through the Virtual Network Editor
Customize the preferences for physical network adapters with ‘substring matching’ for the adapter name for both NAT and auto-bridged networking
Richest Desktop Experience
Access applications within virtual machines as if they were part of the host operating system desktop with “Unity” view
Support for DirectX 9.0c with Shader Model 2 3D graphics
Configure a virtual machine to span multiple monitors, or multiple virtual machines to each display on separate monitors.
Create shared folders and drag-and-drop, and copy-paste data between guest and host OSes
Connect high-speed USB 2.0 devices, including webcams and iPods
Resize the guest’s screen resolution automatically to fit the size of a window or full screen, or run virtual machines in the background without using the Workstation user interface
Map a virtual disk to a drive letter on Windows host
Capture all screen activity in a running virtual machine with movie record and playback feature
Powerful Development and Test Features
Record entire VM execution and replay it with instruction-exact precision. Use the graphical interface to browse, add markers to, and edit VM recording
Diagnose non-deterministic bugs with the integrated Record/Replay technology in the Integrated Virtual Debugger for Visual Studio. Debug your applications running in virtual machines in “record” mode and replay prior executions of the VM in “reverse continue” mode.
Debug applications in the guest OS, attach to a running process, and revert to a snapshot after the debug session has ended with Visual Studio and Eclipse integration
Capture and easily manage point-in-time copies of running virtual machines and “undo” changes with multiple snapshot feature
Manage connected virtual machines and simulate multi-tier configurations with teams feature
Enable remote users to connect to virtual machines from VNC clients with built-in VNC support
Invoke any virtual machine command from scripts to automate repetitive tasks with VIX Automation API
Security and Mobility
Experimental support for shared smart card authentication, enabling virtual machines to access secure, corporate information that requires smart card access
Seamless networking by optionally replicating the physical network connection state with link state propagation
Package and deploy virtual machines with VMware ACE authoring capability, enabling encryption, network access and password control on portable media devices
Includes VMware Player 2.5
