Solved VMware Workstation in 2024 (Broadcom)?

Deleted member 33416 · Jul 25, 2024

Should i still use VMware Workstation in 2024 because Broadcom or use only Oracle VM VirtualBox in Windows 11? How will be with upcoming VMware updates since Broadcom bought VMware?

I don't like Hyper-V.

MisterEd · Jul 25, 2024

Formerly the free version from VMware was VMware Workstation Player.

On May 14, 2024, Broadcom announced that VMware Desktop Hypervisor (VMware Fusion Pro & VMware Workstation Pro) is available free for personal use.

A number of people have gone to Broadcom's website and tried to download the free version of VMware Workstation Pro. Unfortunately, even though we found it we always got an error when we tried to do so.

I have a direct link I found on Reddit for VMware Workstation Pro

VMware Workstation Pro free for personal use

https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw-desktop/ws/17.5.2/23775571/windows/core/VMware-workstation-17.5.2-23775571.exe.tar

You will have to find a way to extract the contents of the tar file and run it.

cereberus · Jul 26, 2024

Jh156 said:
Should i still use VMware Workstation in 2024 because Broadcom or use only Oracle VM VirtualBox in Windows 11? How will be with upcoming VMware updates since Broadcom bought VMware?

I don't like Hyper-V.

At first, I found Hyper-V rather less inutitive than Vmware or Virtualbox but there are some great tutorials in the 11forum and 10forum tutorials.

Hyper-V is generally much more efficient than Vmware or Virtualbox, and no issues with updates (part of Windows).
Hyper-V is great for Windows guests but for Linux less so.

A major plus is Hyper-V uses the Windows native vhdx format, and a vhdx with OS can be native booted as a dual boot installation, or run inside Hyper-V.

There are some great tutorials in the 11forum and 10forum tutorials section.

Many of the experienced users here found after learning how to use Hyper-V effectively, they prefer it over the other hypervisors.

jimbo45 · Jul 26, 2024

cereberus said:
At first, I found Hyper-V rather less inutitive than Vmware or Virtualbox but there are some great tutorials in the 11forum and 10forum tutorials.

Hyper-V is generally much more efficient than Vmware or Virtualbox, and no issues with updates (part of Windows).
Hyper-V is great for Windows guests but for Linux less so.

A major plus is Hyper-V uses the Windows native vhdx format, and a vhdx with OS can be native booted as a dual boot installation, or run inside Hyper-V.

There are some great tutorials in the 11forum and 10forum tutorials section.

Many of the experienced users here found after learning how to use Hyper-V effectively, they prefer it over the other hypervisors.

Agreed.

For Windows Hosts HYPER-V is a far better option than VMware or Vbox. The main irritant is that dynamic USB re-direction doesn't (as yet) seem possible so you have to attach external USB devices at Guest power on.

As for running Linux VM's on Hyper-V it's still "iffy" as to whether you can get sound working -- but presumably if you want to play multi-media files from the Guest why not ensure those files are reachable from the HOST e.g Samba on the Guest and simply play the files with the HOST's audio system.

Two problems - and it depends on the Linux distro you use - is to be able to use RDP from the HOST to gain full GUI workspace access to the Linux system (command node via ssh or even telnet from windows is OK of course so long as sshd is enabled on the Guest - install openssh -- and bridged networking can be a bit of a lottery -- but Windows networking is generally a lottery at any time !!!!.

For users who want to use KDE as a desktop on Linux VM's -- the RDP protocol doesn't work with WAYLAND so you will need to ensure xrdp is installed on the guest, start the xrdp daemon and ensure the X11 workspace is selected rather than Wayland at the boot option. Then from Windows RDP choose xorg in the linux login xrdp screen and it should all work properly.

Hyper-V has hugely improved over the last couple of years - if you have W11 Pro and want to run VM's IMHO there's no point in using any other VM software.

Cheers

jimbo

OAT · Jul 26, 2024

@jimbo45 "As for running Linux VM's on Hyper-V it's still "iffy" as to whether you can get sound working -- "

This is why I prefer Vmware for Linux-GNU distros but
Oracle VirtualBox is not very user friendly but it can be used with Macrium backup images.
HyperV is a winner as far as performance is concerned.

OMO

pparks1 · Jul 26, 2024

As an enterprise user, who uses a bunch of VMWare (now Broadcom) products, the transition has been pretty rough. Prices were driven up substantially for the vast majority of their customers, and many of us are now starting to look at alternative options to the VMware suite.

I honestly feel that Broadcom really doesn't care a whole lot about the VMware suite of products. I think they are just going to increase the price, ride it into the ground and count their money when it's all said and done. So many of their customers are moving off from full virtual machines and moving workloads to the cloud via alternative options (like Lambda code) and going with containerization via products like Kubernetes, and EKS/GKS, etc.

The fact that they are just giving out vmware workstation for free now I think, confirms my suspicions. It's not their IP (intellectual property) and I think they just don't care.

andrew129260 · Jul 26, 2024

MisterEd said:
VMware Workstation Pro free for personal use

https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw-desktop/ws/17.5.2/23775571/windows/core/VMware-workstation-17.5.2-23775571.exe.tar

Yup just download that file and extract and install.

I have been using it for awhile now and it works great.

I never liked hyper v either. It doesn't allow me to manage the vm files the way I want and it's very cumbersome. Not sure why but for me personally vmware workstation is much faster than hyper v. Especially in graphics.

Deleted member 33416 · Jul 27, 2024

What about upcoming VMware updates?

MisterEd · Jul 27, 2024

Jh156 said:
What about upcoming VMware updates?

I just checked and see that the version I downloaded and installed is:
VMware Workstation Pro 17.5.2 | 14 MAY 2024 | Build 23775571

What updates are you talking about? According to the Broadcom website this is the current version.

andrew129260 · Jul 28, 2024

Jh156 said:
What about upcoming VMware updates?

You would still get updates, just like they updated vmware player. There is a built in check for updates feature including vmware tools.

50ShadesOfDirt · Aug 1, 2024

I don't use Hyper-V either, mainly because it's like Internet Explorer ... it installs itself all over the system; I've not yet understood MS's need to make something less like an app, and more like an "OS", with pieces installed everywhere (internet explorer, hyper-v, etc.); this is comparing earlier versions of Hyper-V and its predecessors to today's version. Hyper-V is a Type-1 hypervisor, but unlike most other Type-1's out there ...

I have a very stripped-down host OS (win10) with all updating turned off, and then I run both VMware Workstation Pro or Virtualbox, depending on the OS's being used or tested.

Some VM's are happier with one Type-2 app vs the other, and this scheme allows any OS in any virtualization platform. As these virtualization packages are still "applications", you can install both, and use either depending on the OS you are playing with in a VM. Neither have proved problematic in updating, from Broadcom or Oracle. All good stuff ...

This has been my M.O. for the decades I've been working with multiple OS's ... I can quickly bring up any copy of Windows, Linux, OS/2, Dos, and even some fairly arcane stuff like a Mainframe OS. Technology is incredible these days ...

jimbo45 · Aug 2, 2024

50ShadesOfDirt said:
I don't use Hyper-V either, mainly because it's like Internet Explorer ... it installs itself all over the system; I've not yet understood MS's need to make something less like an app, and more like an "OS", with pieces installed everywhere (internet explorer, hyper-v, etc.); this is comparing earlier versions of Hyper-V and its predecessors to today's version. Hyper-V is a Type-1 hypervisor, but unlike most other Type-1's out there ...

I have a very stripped-down host OS (win10) with all updating turned off, and then I run both VMware Workstation Pro or Virtualbox, depending on the OS's being used or tested.

Some VM's are happier with one Type-2 app vs the other, and this scheme allows any OS in any virtualization platform. As these virtualization packages are still "applications", you can install both, and use either depending on the OS you are playing with in a VM. Neither have proved problematic in updating, from Broadcom or Oracle. All good stuff ...

This has been my M.O. for the decades I've been working with multiple OS's ... I can quickly bring up any copy of Windows, Linux, OS/2, Dos, and even some fairly arcane stuff like a Mainframe OS. Technology is incredible these days ...

@50ShadesOfDirt

Have you tried running an old IBM mainframe OS on a laptop MVS/SP JES2

You can run it easily on even a modest laptop using the Hercules emulator !!!! -- works on both Linux and Windows.

For the emulator

The Hercules System/370, ESA/390, and z/Architecture Emulator

www.hercules-390.org

For the OS

Starting and Running Your First Program on a Mainframe

How to run your first program on a mainframe using open source software.

monadical.com

Quite a bit of fun running an old mainframe console on a modest laptop !!! and compiling a PL/1 or Cobol program !!!!!! or even using a bit of the old IBM Assembler language.

Ah well -- great if you have some spare time !!!

Note for HYPER-V it's actually a small OS itself - it was never originally intended to be run on a retail copy of Windows - so there is some overhead in having to run under Windows -- but it executes in "it's own address space" so overhead is limited and that's why it's quite efficient. Of course when you need Windows tasks etc there's some cost in the task dispatcher routines and memory management but if you effectively run the VM full screen and don't switch into other Host processes or apps then it can give very good performance indeed.

What would be ideal would be for something like a basic Windows OS - just the command line and the Hyper-V app. E.g on Windows RE or PE.

Cheers
jimbo

50ShadesOfDirt · Aug 2, 2024

Was playing around with two:

- B7094 is a Windows-based emulator for the IBM 7094 mainframe computer from the 1960s
- Hercules version 3.06

Lots to learn, in an attempt to catch up somewhat to those who did it for a living. Thanks for the "Monadical blog" ... don't think I've come across that before.

jimbo45 said:
What would be ideal would be for something like a basic Windows OS - just the command line and the Hyper-V app. E.g on Windows RE or PE.

I've dreamed of a (paid?) version of MS windows for sysadmins or devs that just had the core of windows ... no apps (not even notepad), no features, nothing. Install it, and get a blank desktop; it doesn't even update itself. You manage everything the way you want, from there. We then turn it into *our* OS ... I'd pay them for the ability to get that kind of an OS.

I get close to that ideal by ameliorating a Win10 or 11 ...

Win Server core gets close(r) ... but, more like a server version of linux?

jimbo45 · Aug 3, 2024

50ShadesOfDirt said:
Was playing around with two:

- B7094 is a Windows-based emulator for the IBM 7094 mainframe computer from the 1960s
- Hercules version 3.06

Lots to learn, in an attempt to catch up somewhat to those who did it for a living. Thanks for the "Monadical blog" ... don't think I've come across that before.

I've dreamed of a (paid?) version of MS windows for sysadmins or devs that just had the core of windows ... no apps (not even notepad), no features, nothing. Install it, and get a blank desktop; it doesn't even update itself. You manage everything the way you want, from there. We then turn it into *our* OS ... I'd pay them for the ability to get that kind of an OS.

I get close to that ideal by ameliorating a Win10 or 11 ...

Win Server core gets close(r) ... but, more like a server version of linux?

@50ShadesOfDirt

Hi there
One way might be if you could "reverse engineer" something like the old VMWare's ESXi It's a tiny OS which loads and runs in just a few Mb approx 600Mb -- from which you could then create your own VM's with all but zero overhead so you'd really get all but native performance. Once you've got the I/O subsystem and task dispatcher sorted the rest should be at least "do-able" - since the Windows OS would have the video drivers and other specific hardware drivers you might need, Esxi just loads a console and an input to create a VM.

ESxi does contain a number of typical drivers BTW so you "could be lucky". I think also you need a wired LAN connection -- not sure (and it probably isn't) if Wifi is supported. That of course doesn't apply to the Guests.

One plan of attack might be to look at Windows PE as a VM and use that as a base to install things you want on it.

Hirens cd works something like that :

Hiren's BootCD PE

for Esxi :

How to Install Free VMware Hypervisor (ESXi) | Windows OS Hub

VMware vSphere Hypervisor is a free, powerful, and reliable hardware hypervisor for server and workstation virtualization from market leader VMware. In this article, we’ll show you how to download, install,…

woshub.com

I think current version is 8.x - but with Broadcomm now owning VmWare - not sure how much longer these sorts of products for non enterprise customers will be developed or even maintained.

Cheers
jimbo

Solved VMware Workstation in 2024 (Broadcom)?

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