VMware Workstation Reviews

VM management - ability to very easily create and manage multiple VMs of various platforms. Portability and ease of saving and copying entire VMs from machine to machine.

As a systems admin, I use it to run multiple instances of systems on my host machine to get better usability and for testing new builds for our users as well as for server updates. 

It's been a struggle at times to keep drive shares and video drivers working across updates. So a bit of stability in those areas would be nice.

2 years

I've been hit with a few bugs and documented issues.Specifically with video not behaving for VM windows on multiple monitors. And shared printing from the host machine is very temperamental.

It always seems a bit steep to me on renewals, but it pairs very well with our existing vSphere architecture so it offers a few more benefits and ease of use.

I use Hyper-V for the same purposes but VMware Workstation performs well and scales down to our developers needs easily.

Network virtualisation allows the recreation of an entire network including multiple subnets, this is required to correctly recreate live deployment scenarios. It can interact with vSphere/Esxi to allow VMs to be moved directly into vSphere, or copied out and stood-up in Workstation; full support to import/export from OVF templates is also supported. This functionality has proved extremely beneficial in pre-staging supporting servers for DR recovery tests as well as testing system upgrades.

It has given us the flexibility to recreate live server scenarios including the supporting networks and AD domain controllers; these are then used to test upgrades or migrations with no impact on the live servers or network. These actions can then be repeated on the live servers, or the upgraded test VM can simply replace the original server (depending on the service requirements and server role). This can be completed by transferring the test VM directly from Workstation to the ESXI host or vSphere environment. If the transfer is the preferred method, the original VM remains available as a failback.

The addition of a built-in virtual router would be a good addition. Currently, I run my own virtual router in order to provide conectivity between virtual subnets.

I've been using it for several years; VMware Workstation since v6 (released in 2008). Initially, it was just for building test servers for training purposes, and versions 7, 8 and now 9 for creating test implementations of live server deployment scenarios, to assist in resolving live issues or to test change controls.

There were no issues.

In v6, it was a 32bit environment with a maximum memory of 4Gb RAM. Therefore, this required a high level of swap out of RAM to disk in order to provide sufficient memory space to run VMs, this occasionally caused system crashes. Since v8 this has not been an issue.

None, Workstation scales to 32Gb of RAM.

Customer Service:

No VMware support is provided with Workstation.

Technical Support:

No VMware technical support is available with VMware Workstation.

The initial set-up is straight forward, however, you need to ensure that virtualisation is switched on in the BIOS.

Workstation is a one off licence payment.

Make sure you have at least four cores available on an Intel i5 (i7 with eight cores recommended) a minimum of 8Gb RAM (32Gb recommended) and lots of internal storage (SSD preferable). Having a virtual SCSI SAN is also recommended if you wish to evaluate vSphere or Hyper-V deployments including shared storage for VM failover.

It was in March 2010, when I first experienced VMware Workstation when my superior asked me to setup a LAMP server in my desktop computer. At first I was hesitant but I started to love it because of the following reasons: • It is very easy to use and no complications in installation • It runs multiple operating systems such as Linux, Ubuntu, XP, Vista, Windows 7 and 8 at the same time without rebooting • It replicates server and desktop environments using snapshots, replays and clones • It has web interface which easily manage and control virtual machines • It integrates Visual Studio, Eclipse and many applications including MySQL, MSSQL and IBM DB2 • It supports 3D Graphics, HD audio, USB 2.0 and 3.0, folder sharing and hardware devices sharing such as Camera and Bluetooth

VMware Workstations is for desktop use only and is pricey. The latest VMware workstation which is Workstation 9 costs $249.

VMware workstation is expensive but with its excellent features and performance for a desktop, the cost is nothing. You can use VMware Workstation to develop softwares and applications, test, check and analyze the performance of softwares and experience different virtual network environments such as stand-alone or client–server environments. I am definitely recommending VMware workstation to my fellow programmers, IT professionals, software and systems engineers, teacher and students who want to explore and take advantage of the power of desktop virtualization.

VMware player is one of the free virtualization tools available in the market. It provides you a sandbox environment to install and play around with almost any Operating System. VMware has support for sharing folders between the guest operating system and the host operating system, which can be very easily configured using the drag and drop feature. Another remarkable feature seen only in VMware is that, you can easily copy and paste files/text etc from one VMware guest to another VMware guest, both running on top of a single host. This feature is generally not available on other Virtualization tools like Virtualbox. Specifically targeted for heavy users who basically need a reliable and a powerful virtual environment to test new software or try new operating systems. Supports multiple OS platforms like Windows, Linux, Macintosh etc.

VMware player does not allow to create snapshots of a guest system. You can use snapshots to store the current state of an operating system using and later can restore to the same state. VMware player has a very high memory footprint and requires a lot of memory for running multiple operating systems under a single host system.It is very limited in terms of the number of features supported e.g. it does not allow you to create new Virtual Operating System images.

VMware player is a very good alternative for those who want a stable and free virtualization platform that can be easily run in various Operating System platforms like Windows, Linux, Macintosh etc. Folder sharing between guest and host can be easily configured in VMware. Though creating a new virtual operating system is not allowed in VMware Player and you will have to upgrade to the commercial virtualization tool, known as VMWare WorkStation.

The primary use case of this product is to connect to my virtual interpreter of VMs and the like. In the event of an emergency, or if the user wants to deploy a VM on his own virtual system, Workstation can create a number of VMs in their own system, without having to connect back to the network. We deploy this solution for our clients and have around 15 customers that are using it. We are resellers of VMware Workstation.  

This product has a lot of good features and the basic one is for solving connection problems. Users can deploy the test machines or the VM machines on their own system and do the testing part. They can set up their own lab or own test set up on their system and do what they need.

I think that performance could be improved by making it more effective and less resource consuming. It's a little clunky. 

The solution is stable, we haven't had any issues.

This solution is scalable - you can install it on your system and run a number of VMs which connect back to the central data, so it's inter-connectable, connecting access to VPNs.

The initial setup of this product was straightforward. 

I rate this solution an eight out of 10. 

Our primary use case for VMware Workstation is testing. We also provide some online services on VMware ESXi. 

The feature I find the most valuable is the product's usability. I prefer it over the Oracle solution, especially APEX. 

VMwate Workstation's virtualization is great as well. 

The price should be reduced. 

Visio stencils must be made available for technical documentation.

I have been using this solution for five years. 

I haven't faced any inconveniences working with this solution. It is very easy to use. 

I haven't had a reason to contact technical support. We have not had any significant difficulties with the product. 

I recommend this product.