A type of network connection between a virtual machine and
the rest of the world. Under bridged networking, a virtual machine appears as
an additional computer on the same physical Ethernet network as the host.
See also Host-only Networking.
See Virtual machine configuration.
A point-and-click editor to view and modify the
configuration of a virtual machine. It may be launched from the "Settings" menu.
See also Configuration Wizard.
A point-and-click interface for convenient, easy creation
of a virtual machine configuration. It is launched automatically when
VMware Workstation is started without specifying a configuration file. It can also
be launched from the Configuration Wizard "File" menu. It prompts the user for information,
suggesting default values in most cases. At the end it creates files that
define the virtual machine, including a virtual machine configuration file and
(optionally) a virtual disk or raw disk file.
See also Configuration Editor.
Any type of network connection between virtual machines and the host that is not bridged or host-only networking. For instance, different virtual machines can be connected to the host by separate networks, or connected to each other and not to the host. Any network topology is possible.
A property of a virtual disk that defines its external
behavior but is completely invisible to the guest operating system. There are
three modes: persistent (changes to the disk are always preserved across
sessions), nonpersistent (changes are never preserved), and undoable
(changes are preserved at the user's discretion). Disk modes may be changed
from the Configuration Editor. See also
Disk Modes.
A partition on a real disk in the host machine.
See also Raw disk.
An operating system that runs inside a virtual machine. VMware Workstation supports a variety of guest operating systems.
See also Host operating system.
A type of
network connection between a virtual machine and the host. Under host-only
networking, a virtual machine is connected to the host on a private network,
which normally is not visible outside the host. Multiple virtual machines
configured with host-only networking on the same host are on the same network.
See also Bridged networking and Custom networking.
A real, physical computer (as opposed to a Virtual machine).
An operating system that runs on the host machine. VMware Workstation runs on several host operating systems.
See also Guest operating system.
The amount of random access memory (RAM) that is used by virtual machines or by the host operating system to ensure continued operation. See Memory Use: Host Operating System and Virtual Machines for more information.
A type of networking with VMware Workstation wherein a separate private network is set up on the host computer that allows the virtual machine to obtain an address on that network from the VMware virtual DHCP server.
Connecting virtual machines with other virtual machines or other host machines via local area networks or inter-computer communication. See "Common networking configurations" for more information about networking with VMware Workstation.
All disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual
machine with a nonpersistent disk appear to be written to disk, but are in fact
discarded after the session is powered down. As a result, a Virtual disk or Raw disk in
nonpersistent mode is not modified by VMware Workstation.
See also
Disk Modes.
All disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual
machine are immediately and permanently written to a persistent virtual disk.
As a result, a Virtual disk or Raw
disk in persistent mode behaves like a conventional disk drive on a real
computer.
See also
Disk Modes.
A hard disk in a virtual machine that is mapped to a
physical disk drive in the host machine. A virtual machine's disk can be stored
as a file on the host file system (see Virtual disk) or on a local IDE raw disk
device. When a virtual machine is configured to use a raw disk, VMware Workstation
directly accesses the local disk/partition as a raw device (not as a file on a
file system). It is possible to boot a previously installed operating system on
an existing partition within a virtual machine environment. The only limitation
is that the existing partition must reside on a local IDE or SCSI drive.
See also Safe raw disk file, Virtual disk.
A file containing access privilege information that
controls a virtual machine's read/write access to partitions on a raw disk.
Proper use of this file prevents dual-boot users from accidentally trying to
run the host operating system again as a guest or from another guest operating
system that the virtual machine was not configured for. Safe raw disk files can
also prevent accidental writes to raw disk partitions from badly behaved
operating systems or applications. Safe raw disk files can be created by the
Configuration Wizard or the Configuration Editor.
See also Raw
Disks.
All writes to an undoable disk issued by software running
inside the virtual machines appear to be written to the disk, but are in fact
stored in a temporary file (.REDO) on the host file system for the duration of
the session. When the virtual machine is powered down, the user is given three
choices: (1) permanently apply all changes to the disk; (2) discard the
changes, thus restoring the disk to its previous state; or (3) keep the
changes, so that further changes from future sessions can be added to the log.
See also
Disk Modes.
A virtual disk is a file on the host file system that
appears as a physical disk drive to a guest operating system. This file can be
on the host machine as well as on a remote file system. When you configure a
virtual machine with a virtual disk, you can install a new operating system
onto the disk file without the need to repartition a physical disk or reboot
the host. VMware Workstation virtual disk devices can also be mapped to partitions
on the host machine
See also Raw disk.
A virtualized x86 PC environment on which a guest operating system and associated application software can run. Multiple virtual machines can operate on the same host machine concurrently.
The specification of what virtual devices (disks, memory size, etc.) are present in a virtual machine, and how they are mapped to host files and devices.
A file containing a virtual machine configuration. It is created by the Configuration Wizard or the Configuration Editor. It is used by VMware Workstation to identify and run a specific virtual machine.
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