No. Each operating system runs in an isolated virtual machine window. Errors within an operating system or applications running in a virtual machine do not affect other virtual machines or the PC on which they are running. This is because VMware products have built-in error-protection and isolation capabilities for reliably running multiple virtual machines at the same time. For example, the host operating system is not affected by the operating system and applications that run inside the virtual machine. Furthermore, if an error occurs with the software running inside a virtual machine, the problem will be isolated to that particular virtual machine (the host and other virtual machines running on the host will not be affected).
VMware virtual machines are compatible with thousands of software packages -- applications whose minimum software requirements meet the virtual machine specifications. For example, the following popular applications can run inside a VMware virtual machine:
You can find a list of VMware Workstation system requirements by clicking here.
You can also find the latest information about VMware Workstation on the VMware Web site at http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop/.
You'll find performance improvements throughout VMware Workstation in this release. Some of them - such as smoother mouse movement - are obvious. Others operate behind the scenes to make more efficient use of the resources of your host machine and speed the performance of your virtual machines.
For a list of specific new features, see New Features of This Release.
VMware Tools is a supplemental software suite that includes two components:
VMware Tools is included with VMware Workstation.
Each virtual machine has a unique Media Access Control (MAC) address, a hardware address that uniquely identifies each node of a network. Hence all network protocols are supported, including Internet Protocol (IP), Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX), and NetBios Enhanced User Interface (NetBeui).
Each virtual machine's guest operating system is configured for any network protocol -- regardless of the protocol used by the host system.
VMware Workstation supports three types of networking:
>>More information on networking with VMware Workstation
Each virtual machine has its own unique IP address -- the IP address of the host is not shared nor spoofed.
No.
You can run a virtual machine that is stored on a shared network server. VMware Workstation can access virtual disks stored remotely on a file server. To enable this access, you must set up host-only or bridged networking for the virtual machine.
No. Simply choose to restore the original session settings and all changes made to the virtual machine during the session will be discarded.
Virtual networking allows Web-based, client/server, and peer-to-peer applications to run in multiple virtual machines -- on one standalone computer.
>>More about networking in virtual machines
You need enough memory to run the host operating system and its applications, plus enough memory to run each virtual machine's guest operating system and applications. VMware recommends 128MB, with a minimum of 96MB.
The amount of memory you can allocate to a virtual machine depends on the amount of memory you have on your host computer and the operating system you are running on your host computer. The absolute maximum memory you can allocate to a virtual machine running in VMware Workstation 3.0 is 1GB (1024MB).
You can expand this limit by disabling memory checks for virtual machines.
You cannot install an upgrade version of an operating system in a virtual machine. You must have a full version of the operating system.
When you type Ctrl-Alt-Del in a virtual machine, both the host operating system and the virtual machine receive the Ctrl-Alt-Del. It is not possible to mask the Ctrl-Alt-Del event from the host operating system.
If you need to use Ctrl-Alt-Del:
A virtual machine cannot be run within a virtual machine. VMware recommends that you do not attempt this procedure. Attempts to run a virtual machine within a virtual machine may hang your system.
Yes, Workstation runs over a network. This, however, can have a substantial performance impact.
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