Features in Depth

Broadest Host & Guest Operating System Support

• Runs on both Windows and Linux host operating systems and supports most desktop and server editions of Microsoft Windows, Linux, Solaris x86, Netware, and FreeBSD as guest operating systems
• Supports both 32-bit and 64-bit host and guest operating systems
• Supports two-way Virtual SMPâ„¢ – Assign one or two processors to virtual machines
• Experimental support for VMI 3.0 enabled paravirtualized Linux kernels

Best-in-class Virtual Machine Architecture

• Fully configurable – each virtual machine has configurable memory size, disks and I/O devices and support for CD, DVD, floppy and USB 2.0 devices
• Specify up to 8GB of RAM per virtual machine
• 64-bit sound driver for high-fidelity audio and video
• Easily switch between virtual machines and suspend/resume them
• Easily copy and share virtual machines by creating full and linked clones
• Convert physical into virtual machines and import virtual machine formats from Microsoft, Symantec, Storage­Craft, and Acronis.

Advanced Network Support

• Powerful virtual networking options include Bridged, NAT, host-only and custom virtual network settings
• Built-in DHCP server, and up to 10 virtual switches, enable connection of virtual machines to each other, to the host machine and to public networks
• Specify network bandwidth and packet loss rate between virtual machines in a team
• Edit virtual network configurations for Linux hosts through the Virtual Network Editor
• Customize the preferences for physical network adapters with ‘substring matching’ for the adapter name for both NAT and auto-bridged networking

Richest Desktop Experience

• Access applications within virtual machines as if they were part of the host operating system desktop with “Unity” view
• Support for DirectX 9.0c with Shader Model 2 3D graphics
• Configure a virtual machine to span multiple monitors, or multiple virtual machines to each display on separate monitors.
• Create shared folders and drag-and-drop, and copy-paste data between guest and host OSes
• Connect high-speed USB 2.0 devices, including webcams and iPods
• Resize the guest’s screen resolution automatically to fit the size of a window or full screen, or run virtual machines in the background without using the Workstation user interface
• Map a virtual disk to a drive letter on Windows host
• Capture all screen activity in a running virtual machine with movie record and playback feature

Powerful Development and Test Features

• Record entire VM execution and replay it with instruction-exact precision. Use the graphical interface to browse, add markers to, and edit VM recording
• Diagnose non-deterministic bugs with the integrated Record/Replay technology in the Integrated Virtual Debugger for Visual Studio. Debug your applications running in virtual machines in “record” mode and replay prior executions of the VM in “reverse continue” mode.
• Debug applications in the guest OS, attach to a running process, and revert to a snapshot after the debug session has ended with Visual Studio and Eclipse integration
• Capture and easily manage point-in-time copies of running virtual machines and “undo” changes with multiple snapshot feature
• Manage connected virtual machines and simulate multi-tier configurations with teams feature
• Enable remote users to connect to virtual machines from VNC clients with built-in VNC support
• Invoke any virtual machine command from scripts to automate repetitive tasks with VIX Automation API

Security and Mobility

• Experimental support for shared smart card authentication, enabling virtual machines to access secure, corporate information that requires smart card access
• Seamless networking by optionally replicating the physical network connection state with link state propagation
• Package and deploy virtual machines with VMware ACE authoring capability, enabling encryption, network access and password control on portable media devices
• Includes VMware Player 2.5