Applies to: VMware Workstation 12 Pro
Legacy guide: This article was originally published in 2015 when VMware Workstation 12 Pro was released. The feature list below reflects that product generation and should not be read as the feature set of current VMware Workstation Pro releases.
About VMware Workstation 12 Pro
VMware Workstation is a hosted desktop hypervisor for Windows and Linux systems. Workstation 12 Pro was released in 2015 and continued VMware’s desktop virtualization platform for developers, administrators and technical professionals who needed to run multiple operating systems on a single workstation.
The Workstation 12 generation also introduced broader guest operating system support and graphics improvements compared with earlier versions.
VMware Workstation 12 Pro New Features
- Windows 10 support: Windows 10 could be run as a guest operating system.
- New Linux guest support: support was added for distributions current at the time, including Ubuntu 15.04, Fedora 22, CentOS 7.1, RHEL 7.1 and Oracle Linux 7.1.
- Graphics improvements: support included DirectX 10 and OpenGL 3.3.
- Improved suspend and resume performance for encrypted virtual machines.
- Support for 4K displays.
- Improved handling of multiple monitors with different DPI settings.
- USB 3.0 support.
- Automatic VM suspension during host shutdown.
- NAT network configuration through the Virtual Network Editor on Linux hosts.
Other Workstation 12 Pro Capabilities
- Run multiple virtual machines simultaneously on a Windows or Linux host.
- Create snapshots and clones for testing and development workflows.
- Create restricted virtual machines.
- Use virtual networking to build isolated or multi-network test environments.
- Share virtual machines through the Workstation Server functionality available in that product generation.
VMware Workstation Pro Today
VMware Workstation Pro has changed substantially since version 12. Current releases are distributed through the Broadcom Support Portal. Workstation Pro 17.5.2 and later are available without a license key for commercial, educational and personal use.
For current download and licensing information, see Broadcom KB 368667.
If you are looking for the historical Linux-host installation workflow from the same period, see How to Install VMware Workstation on Kali Linux 2.0 Sana.
This article is retained as a historical reference for VMware Workstation 12 Pro.
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