Workstation

VMware Workstation from 1999 to 2015

by Florian Grehl
December 6, 2015

About 16 years ago, long before ESXi and vSphere, VMware published their first product: VMware 1.0. VMware was the first application that allowed to run multiple operating systems on a single x86 machine. The VMware Virtual Platform technology adds a thin software layer that allows multiple guest operating systems to run concurrently on a single standard PC.

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The first product "VMware" is still available today, but known as VMware Workstation. Read More »VMware Workstation from 1999 to 2015

"Unsupported SVGA driver" during Windows 10 upgrade in VMware Workstation

by Florian Grehl
August 3, 2015

windows-10-upgrade Upgrading Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 to Windows 10 in VMware Workstation fails with the following error message:

Unsupported SVGA driver

The issue only applies to the Microsoft Update Validation Tool which has problems with the VMware SVGA driver. To resolve this issue, use the Windows 10 ISO to upgrade your Virtual Machine.

Guide to Install Photon in VMware Workstation and Deploy a Container

by Florian Grehl
April 23, 2015April 27, 2015
4 Comments

On April 20th, 2015, VMware announced Photon, its own container-friendly Linux distribution. Photon is a technology preview of a small footprint Linux container host. It has been released as open source software and is available at GitHub.

This post explains how to install Photon in VMware Workstation, do some basic configuration and implement the first container.

How to Install VCSA6 in VMware Workstation

by Florian Grehl
April 21, 2015November 17, 2015
31 Comments

If you want to install the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) from vSphere 6 in VMware Workstation you might have noticed that the new guided installer is not suitable for you. The appliance is still available as ova, but it's a little bit hidden. This post explains how to deploy VCSA in VMware Workstation.

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Howto USB Boot a VM in VMware Workstation 11

by Florian Grehl
December 10, 2014May 15, 2018
35 Comments

VMware Workstation 11 does now support EFI boot configuration in the GUI which enables you to boot from an USB disk without workarounds. You do not have to edit vmx files or use workarounds like mounting USB drives as physical disk or booting with Plop Boot Manager.

Solve Android x86 No Network Problems in VMware Workstation

by Florian Grehl
February 12, 2014February 12, 2014
7 Comments

When you want to test Android on your PC, Android-x86 might be your solution. Android-x86 is an open source project that has ported Android to x86 platform. This allows us to install Android in a Virtual Machine with VMware Workstation or ESXi. Driver support is very limited, so there are many problems around with Android VMs that cant access the network. This post shows how to install Android in VMware Workstation and how to solve Network Connectivity issues.

Howto Install VMware tools on a virtual ESXi

by Florian Grehl
November 18, 2013
1 Comment

Running an ESXi as Virtual Machine inside VMware Worksation or on another ESXi gets more and more useful for testing purposes. That installation, also called "Nested ESXi", is not officially supported by VMware but some VMware developers are willing to help in the VMware communities Nested Virtualization forum. Up to this point is was not possible to install VMware Tools on a nested ESXi, making the management a little bit cumbersome. During VMworld 2013 in Barcelona the news about an upcoming Fling called "VMware Tools for Nested ESXi" came out. The Fling contains a small vib package that can be installed on a virtual ESXi Host.

VMware Workstation 10 Released - What's New?

by Florian Grehl
September 4, 2013September 5, 2013
1 Comment

VMware Workstation 10 is now available for download. There are some great new features that have been added to the new release including OS support for Windows 8.1, SSD Passthrough and VM Hardware Version 10. As always, the release is available as free Trial (30 Days), Update (119,- USD ex VAT) and Full Version (249,- USD ex VAT).

Windows: VMware-workstation-full-10.0.0-1295980.exe
Linux 64-bit: VMware-Workstation-Full-10.0.0-1295980.x86_64.bundle
Linux 32-bit: VMware-Workstation-Full-10.0.0-1295980.i386.bundle

What's new?

Guest OS Support for Windows 8.1
Virtual Machine Hardware Version 10
16 vCPUs, 8 TB disks, 64GB memory
SSD Passthrough
20 virtual networks
USB3 streams support
Virtual Tablet Sensors
Advanced Restrictions (Expiring VMs)
Multiple Monitor Navigation
Power Off Suspended Virtual Machines

How to Setup Port Forwarding in VMware Workstation 9

by Florian Grehl
March 18, 2013March 20, 2013
15 Comments

This small walkthrough explains how to configure a port forwarding in VMware Workstation 9. The same procedure should also work for VMware Workstation 8, 7 and 6.

Why do you need port forwarding in VMware Workstation? The main purpose is to make virtual machines available on the network. You could simply use bridged networking, but sometimes NAT fits better to your requirements. If you want your virtual machine to be available no matter what network you are connected to or if you are limited in IP addresses you might have a valid use case for using NAT and thus port forwarding. Read More »How to Setup Port Forwarding in VMware Workstation 9

Howto install Windows 8 Release Preview with VMware Workstation

by Florian Grehl
June 4, 2012June 7, 2012
1 Comment

Microsoft Windows 8 Release Preview is now available to download. I will show how to install the current release inside VMware Workstation 8 1. Get… Read More »Howto install Windows 8 Release Preview with VMware Workstation