VMware Workstation

VMware launches Workstation 9 and Fusion 5

Not long before the start of VMworld 2012 US, VMware has launched Workstation 9 and Fusion 5.

Workstation 9

The new version includes support for Windows 8 amongst over 600 other supported guest OSs, restricted VMs, Open GL support for Linux and a new virtual machine web interface that gives access to Workstation from the majority of web-enabled devices from smartphones to PCs – anything with a modern browser – no plug-ins required!

The new version also has some enterprise features that will benefit test and development tiers, including the ability to create virtual machines then set passwords to protect runtime or editing of VM settings. The VM can then be transferred as an encrypted block USB device to a Mac, Linux or other WIndows machines.

Want further enterprise support? How about drag and drop upload capability to vSphere? You got it! This simple transfer allows VMs to be migrated easily to the internal vSphere cloud.

For a full list of new features in VMware Workstation 9, check out the release notes here:

https://www.vmware.com/support/ws90/doc/workstation-90-release-notes.html

30-day trials are available from https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=vmware-workstation9 (my.vmware.com account required), upgrades are also available in the store.

Fusion 5

Mac users will be pleased with the release of Fusion 5, as major step-change from v4 as the jump was from v3 to v4. Major features of the new version include support for Mountain Lion, Windows 8 and compatibility with the latest Macs, as well as a re-engineered backend to give enhanced performance. Other enhancements are better battery life, faster 3D graphics, USB 3 / HDMI / thunderbold compatibility and support for Macs with >16GB RAM. Other nice features in the new version is graphical snapshots, where views of your snapshots can be viewed side-by-side. Snapshots can also be taken and reverted in the same way from the menu.

For the enterprise, there is a new edition called VMware Fusion for Business. This new version includes several additions to the standard version that help Fusion deployments in the workplace. These include deploying VMs centrally to Windows and Mac – and managing them centrally using existing tools, and the network editor (seen in the Workstation version for some time). Other notable additions to this version are OVF imports, nested 64-bit hypervisor support via virtualised VT-X/EPT sypport, and Perl scripting support with VIX API.

These are just some of the 70+ new features with the new version of Fusion 5. For the release version, see:

http://www.vmware.com/support/fusion5/doc/fusion-50-release-notes.html

Also, as before, there is a 30-day trial available from: https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=vmware-fusion5.

(All images copyright from VMware).

VMware Workstation 8 – Moving Virtual Machines

Recently, I’ve been moving VMs around, having purchased some new SSD disks for my host PC. Now, whilst the process might seem simple (and it in fact is), this is just a reassurance for those with existing VMs who wish to move them. (I’m using Workstation 8 on Windows 7 for this how-to…)

Here is the process.

1) Stop and power-off any running VMs within VMware Workstation.

2) Close VMware Workstation.

3) Copy the Virtual Machines folder from it’s original location to the new destination. (Default location is ‘Virtual Machines’ folder inside the Documents folder).

4) Copy the Shared Virtual Machines folder from it’s original location to the new destination. (Default location is ‘Shared Virtual Machines’ folder inside the Documents folder).

5) Open VMware Workstation. On the Home screen, select Workstation Preferences.

6) In Workspace settings, set the default VM location to the location where you copied the ‘Virtual Machines’ folder above in step 3. Either type the location or use ‘Browse’.

7) In Shared VMs settings, set the shared VM location to the location where you copied the ‘Shared Virtual Machines’ folder in step 4 above. Either type the location or use ‘Browse’.

8) Remove the old ‘ghost’ VMs from the VMware Workstation library. Under ‘My Computer’ on the Home screen, right-click each VM and select ‘Remove’. This will remove the VM configuration from Workstation, but not the VM itself (accept the warning message below). Do this for each moved VM.

9) From the Workstation Home screen, select ‘Open Virtual Machine’. Browse to the new VM location (from step 6 above) and select a VM configuration (VMX file). Opening this file will add the VM tab back to Workstation with the original configuration. Repeat for each moved VM.

That’s it – all your VMs should now run as before, but from a different location! New and shared virtual machines will also be created in the new default locations.