VMware Player is a program which allows you to run multiple virtual machines on your operating system and easily juggle them. For example, you can have Windows XP installed on top of your Windows 7.
The user interface of the application is standard. You can create a new virtual machine, which is added at the top of your library.
The first step requires you specify the source file. So, you can install from a disc or from a disc image file. Otherwise, you can opt to install the respective virtual machine later.
In addition, you can select the guest operating system, which can be Microsoft Windows, Linux, Novell NetWare, Sun Solaris or other, as well as select the version (e.g. Windows XP Professional).
Now you can give your new virtual machine a name and specify its output directory, as well as allocate its maximum disk size (in GB).
Furthermore, you can store the virtual disk as a single file or split it into multiple ones. The latter option simplifies the process of moving the virtual machine to another computer but it could reduce performance on very large disks.
Right before finishing the process, you can view the name, location, version, operating system, hard disk, memory, network adapter and other devices corresponded to your new virtual machine.
Moreover, you can customize its hardware when it comes to memory, processors, new CD or DVD, floppy, network adapter, USB controller, sound card, printer and display.
However, at the moment, the VMWare Tools for the current version have not been provided, which makes working with VMWare Player a pretty bumpy experience; so you'd better stick to version 4.0.1 of the player for now.
The program takes up a moderate amount of system resources and contains a well-drawn help file. We haven't come across any problems during our tests and strongly recommend VMware Player to all users.
What's New in This Release:
User Interface Improvements for Windows-Based VMware Player:
· The VMware Player user interface has been completely revamped. The new user interface conforms with Windows standards, menus have been updated, the toolbar now matches Workstation in regular and full screen mode, new device icons have been added, along with many more improvements.
Virtual Hardware Improvements:
· This version of VMware Player includes the same virtual hardware improvements included with Workstation. See VMware Workstation 9.0 Release Notes To try new hardware features, you must upgrade the hardware version of your virtual machine or create a new virtual machine that uses the latest virtual hardware version.
Commercial Use:
· VMware Player is also now available for commercial use. A commercial license for VMware Player 5 is included with VMware Fusion 5 Professional to enable customers to run virtual machines on Windows or Linux PCs and on Macs using a single license key!
· Ability to Configure Netwo...