Also, everything we do within this virtual operating system (guest) does not affect the host system at all. If, for example, we download malware and run it in the virtual machine, it will only affect the virtual system, but our host system will be safe.
As long as we have enough RAM we can run all the operating systems we want at the same time. And even work with them at the same time. When we shut down the virtual machine, all the resources are released and that’s it.
Unfortunately, not all are advantages. And it is that these virtual machines have a major drawback, and that is that they are always far below the performance offered by the operating systems physically installed on the PC.
VMware Features and Functions
Unlike other programs, vmware is a professional software designed especially for commercial use and for large companies. For this reason, this software has features and functionalities that, by default, we will not find in other virtualization programs like its rival, VirtualBox.
among all VMware Workstation functions and features we must highlight:
- Great 3D performance. It supports DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.3, which greatly improves performance when running 3D applications such as games, AutoCAD, or Solidworks.
- It supports huge virtual machines, with 16 virtual cores, 8TB of storage, 64GB of RAM and 3GB of graphics memory.
- Supports resolutions up to 4K UHD (3840×2160).
- Allows you to create complex virtual networks.
- Several possibilities to clone virtual machines. We can use the “Linked Clones” to quickly duplicate a machine and save space, or create complete clones.
- The snapshots, or snapshots, allow us to restore the virtual machine to a previous state in seconds.
- The REST API gives us more than 20 controls to manage the virtual machine.
- Integration with vSphere.
- Functions to share configurations and machines with other users.
- A virtual machine created on one PC works on any other. It doesn’t matter if it was created on Windows or Linux.
- Compatible with virtual machines created in other programs.
- Advanced security measures.
- Compatible with TPM 2.0 for Windows 11.
And the most important. Everything we do on these virtual machines, as long as they are not connected to the host operating system, will be done in a secure environment. If we destroy the virtual machine for some reason (a virus), this will not affect the main system at all.
Different versions of VMware
Although VMware as a company has a large number of programs and services related to virtualization, we are going to talk mainly about the two most interesting products to virtualize operating systems: Workstation and Player.
VMware Workstation Pro
This is the most complete version of VMware virtualization software. This virtualization program allows us to create all the virtual machines we want and run all the operating systems we want at the same time on top of our main operating system.
This is the most advanced edition of this virtualization software, having all features enabled and allowing more advanced users to connect with other platforms, such as vSphere, and even work with container-based virtualization systems, such as Docker and Kubernetes.
The problem of VMware WorkstationPro it is a very expensive program. Luckily, we can have most of its features in a free version designed for home users: VMware Workstation Player.
pro vs player
Within VMware Workstation we can find two different modalities. The Pro version is the most expensive, but the one with all the features enabled, while the Player version is much simpler, although it lacks some features.
The limitations of the Player vs. Pro version are:
- It does not have a tab-based interface.
- It does not have an SSH mode for Linux that allows us to connect with one click.
- Inability to create or use encrypted virtual machines.
- Does not allow renaming of virtual networks.
- It lacks Snapshots (snapshots or backup copies of the VMs).
- It only allows one virtual machine to run at the same time.
- It does not have a virtual network simulator.
- It does not allow cloning machines.
- The sharing function is not available.
- Cannot connect to vSphere/ESXi servers.
- Not supported by vSphere Host Power Control.
the window of VMware Player is that we can use it for free for personal use. So, if we don’t mind the above limitations, this is great free virtualization software.
VMware Fusion: The choice for macOS
VMware Workstation is available for Windows and Linux. However, the company has a specific version to virtualize systems on Apple computers: VMware Fusion.
This software allows us to install any operating system on top of macOS, although it is designed above all to run Windows 10 as if it were done natively. It has full 3D acceleration, just like on the host machine, and is compatible with all updates to Windows 10, and other operating systems, without any issues.
Minimum requirements, compatibility and problems
To be able to use this software we need a 2011 or later processor that has virtualization instructions. Some older AMD models, or the 2011 and 2012 Intel Atom, for example, do not have these features. But in order to have a good performance, it is recommended to have a medium-high range processor, from i5 onwards, with a minimum frequency of 1.3 GHz.
In addition, although the minimum requirements specify that the minimum is 2 GB of RAM, it is recommended to have at least 4GB RAM. Otherwise, we may have performance problems.
VMware is available for Windows and Linux. We can use it on Windows 7, or any later version of the Microsoft operating system. It also works on various Linux distros, such as Ubuntu 15.04, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, CentOS 7.0, Oracle Linux 7.0, openSUSE Leap 42.2, and SUSE Linux 13. Obviously, it works on later versions as well.
The list of operating systems that run on VMware is very extensive. We can use its virtual machines to install almost any system we want. Although the ones that work best are:
- Windows 11 / 10 / 8.x / 7 / XP
- ubuntu
- redhat
- suse
- oracle linux
- Debian
- fedora
- openSUSE
- Mint
- CentOS
There are also unofficial patches to add support for macOS. And we can even install any generic operating system.
Among the main problems of this virtualization software, we must indicate that it does not get along with Hyper-V, Microsoft’s hypervisor for Windows. This means that if we activate this hypervisor in order to use Windows Subsystem Linux (WSL) or Docker, we will not be able to use VMware. To this day, they are incompatible.
Create a new virtual machine with a few clicks
At first, the term “virtual machine” may seem complicated. However, we can actually create one in seconds and with just a few clicks. Just open the VMware virtual machine creation wizard and follow the steps that appear on the screen.
We will have to choose the type of virtual machine that we want to create. Next, choose if we want to mount an ISO to install the system or if we are going to install it later.
We will also have to choose the type of operating system that we want to install, and the space that we are going to give to the virtual hard disk.
Finally, we will review the specifications of the virtual machine and we will have it ready.
Of course, we can modify the specifications at any time. We can increase the RAM memory, the processors, the hard disk, mount new (virtual) drives and even configure other aspects related to the operation of VMware virtual machines.
When we have the virtual machine ready, we just have to start it and it will start working like a real computer, with its BIOS, its boot manager and everything.
Disable mitigations to improve performance
Starting with VMware 16 it is possible to use Hyper-V together with this virtualization software. However, for security, this program applies by default a mitigation against the Meltdown and Specter vulnerabilities so that using the virtual machine is as safe as possible.
However, this security measure takes a lot of performance out of virtual machines, and can cause them to perform seriously poorly. Therefore, if the PC is safe, we can disable them in order to get the best possible performance when using our VMs.
To do this, what we must do is open the properties of any of the virtual machines, and go to the “Options” tab, specifically to the “Advanced” section. Here we must activate the following box to deactivate this security measure in the virtualized operating system. In this way, we can considerably improve the performance of the VMs, especially in terms of CPU usage.
We only need to worry about this if we have Hyper-V enabled (for example, to use WSL). If not, if we only use the VMware hypervisor, we will not have problems.
Get the most out of it with VMware Tools
If we want to get the most out of the virtual machines that we install on our computer with VMware, although it is not necessary, it is advisable to install VMware Tools. VMware Tools is a set of utilities that allows us to improve the performance of the operating systems that we virtualize on our computer. With these utilities, we will be able to take advantage of the maximum resolution of our computer in the virtual machine, share files between the virtual machine and our computer just by dragging the files as well as copying and pasting text and images.
We are also going to obtain important improvements in the performance of the mouse, the time of the virtualized machine will be synchronized at all times with that of our team, we can create scripts to automate tasks in the operating system that we have virtualized, among other functions. We must install this set of utilities and each and every one of the operating systems that we virtualize, since it is integrated into the guest machine, not into our computer.
The installation of VMware Tools is carried out once the installation of the operating system has finished and we can do it directly through the menu with the same name located in the upper options bar. If we want to get the best performance from a virtual machine with VMware, it is necessary to install this set of utilities.
It is interesting to know that the company that develops this virtualization program itself offers us the possibility of downloading any of the current or previous versions of these tools. In addition, they are compatible with the most important operating systems, so we will only have to access their .
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