VMware Workstation Pro

Overview

A virtual machine is a complete computer implemented in software, and the practical consequence is that anything you do inside one is contained and reversible. Test an installer without polluting your system. Keep an old system around for one piece of software that never got updated. Build a small network of machines to try something out. Open a suspicious file somewhere it cannot reach anything. All of that becomes routine rather than risky.

Snapshots are the feature that changes behaviour most. A snapshot captures the entire machine state, disk and memory included, in seconds. Do something destructive, then roll back and the machine is exactly as it was, mid session, with applications still open. Snapshots form a tree rather than a line, so several divergent states can be kept from one starting point, which is how a test matrix gets built without maintaining several separate machines.

Networking is properly modelled rather than being a single shared connection. Machines can bridge onto the physical network as peers, sit behind a translated private network, join isolated host only segments, or be placed on custom segments defined in the virtual network editor with their own addressing. Combined with cloning, that means a multi machine environment, a server, a client and something in between, is a matter of minutes.

The performance work that makes it usable daily is in the guest integration. Shared folders bridge the file systems, the clipboard and drag and drop work across the boundary, the display driver resizes the guest resolution as the window resizes, and 3D acceleration passes enough of the graphics stack through for accelerated interfaces inside the guest. Machines can also be encrypted, given a virtual security module, or exported to the standard appliance format for moving elsewhere.

Key Features

• Full virtual machines running desktop and server operating systems as windows on your desktop
• Snapshots capturing disk and memory state in seconds, branching into a tree of states
• Linked and full cloning for spinning up copies of a configured machine quickly
• Virtual network editor with bridged, translated, host only and custom segments
• Shared folders, clipboard sharing and drag and drop across the host and guest boundary
• Automatic guest resolution matching as the machine window is resized
• 3D acceleration passed through for accelerated interfaces inside the guest
• Virtual security module and machine encryption for guests that require them
• USB device passthrough including storage, input and specialist hardware
• Export to the standard appliance format for moving machines to another host

What Changed in This Build

• Improved performance on current generation processors with better scheduling
• 3D acceleration updated for newer guest graphics requirements
• Snapshot operations faster on machines with very large virtual disks
• Virtual network editor reworked with clearer segment management

System Requirements

Processor	64-bit processor with virtualisation extensions enabled in firmware
Memory	8 GB minimum, 16 GB or more so guests have room alongside the host
Graphics	GPU with current drivers for accelerated guest graphics
Storage	2 GB for install plus considerable space for virtual disks
Firmware	Hardware virtualisation must be enabled in the system firmware

Release Details

Full title	VMware Workstation Pro
Version string	17.6.2
Publisher	Broadcom
Category	Utilities
Licence	Full version, no term limit
Platform	Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit
Interface language	Multilingual, 6 interface languages
Archive size	612 MB
Mirrors	4 active, all reporting online
Listed	refreshed 2 months ago, checked again 40 minutes ago

Installation Notes

• Enable hardware virtualisation in your system firmware first. Without it, machines either refuse to start or run unusably slowly.
• Install the guest tools inside each machine after its system is set up. Display, clipboard and shared folders depend on them.
• Keep virtual disks on a fast drive with room. Snapshots consume space quietly and quickly.

Before You Start

Read the notes above before running setup. Most of the problems people write in about are covered there, and almost all of them come down to an older version of the same software still being installed, a graphics driver that predates the release, or a security suite quarantining part of the package mid install.

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