VMware Player 3.0 in Release Candidate.
If you are fan of Virtualization and need a Free solution for testing multiple Operating Systems, you can now try freshly released (curently in Release Candidate) VMware Player 3.0. Latest release is 197124. View VMware Player Getting Started Guide
Many people don't know that with VMware Player you can create Virtual Machines. Not only play already configured VMs. You can also run Microsoft Virtual PC Virtual Machines (without conversion), Microsoft Virtual Server VMs and also Symantec BESR images. (Backup Exec System Recovery).
You can also download OVF (Open Virtualization Format) files from VMware's website and also OVA (Open Virtual Appliance) VMs.
Some of the cool new features announced in VMware Player:
- Create Virtual Machine with Easy Install — Create a virtual machine and install any supported guest operating system with Easy Install.
- New User Interface — New virtual machine library interface is now available. The interface to create virtual machines and edit virtual machine settings is also available.
- Aero Glass Support — New Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) graphics driver available by default for Windows Vista and Windows 7 provides support for the Windows Aero user interface. The WDDM driver also includes support for OpenGL 1.4 and Shader Model 3.0. VMware recommends that you use the graphics hardware NVIDIA GeForce 8800 and ATI Radeon HD 2600 with Aero. Post any rendering or performance issues caused by the new driver in the VMware Workstation Release Candidate Beta Community forum.
- 3D Graphics Improvements — OpenGL 2.1 and Shader Model 3.0 support is now available for Windows XP virtual machines. The XPDM graphics driver works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. However, only Windows XP virtual machines install the graphics driver by default. The instructions to switch between graphics drivers in a guest operating system are available on the VMware Workstation Technology Preview Beta Community site in the document How to switch between SVGAII and WDDM Drivers .
- Multiple display Support — Virtual machines can now take advantage of multiple monitors.
- Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) — Support for ALSA is now available in VMware Player Technology Preview to improve the audio in virtual machines running on a Linux host.
- Drag and Drop Enhancements — Ability to drag and drop images, formatted text email attachments, and zip folders is now available for both Windows and Linux hosts. The enhancements add support for new file types and extends the existing ability to drag and drop certain file types to a broader set of guest and host operating systems.
- Virtual Printing — Support for virtual printing allows you to print from virtual machines without mapping network printers or installing printer drivers in the virtual machine. If virtual printing is enabled in the virtual machine setting, all of the printers installed on the host operating system are available in the guest operating system. This functionality is enabled through a partnership with ThinPrint Inc..
- On-Demand VMware Tools Download — VMware Tools integrates the guest operating system with the host operating system through drag and drop, cut and paste, time synchronization, and features like Unity. The latest version of VMware Tools is dynamically downloaded you create a virtual machine, start up an existing virtual machine, or start the download manually.
- VIX API for VMware Player — Software vendors can use the VIX functionality to add their own interface to the VMware Player menu bar. VMware Player and VIX API documentation and additional information is available on the Beta Community site.
