VMware Workstation Windows WS5-ENG-W-CP Leaflet

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Item No.: WS5.5_ds_eng_Q405

Streamline software development and testing
• Develop and test multiple operating systems and applications on a single PC
• Connect virtual machines to simulate and test multi-tier confi gurations
• Use multiple snapshots and debugging support to facilitate testing
• Archive test environments on fi le servers where they can be easily restored/shared

• Accelerate dev/test cycles and reduce time to market
• Reduce hardware costs by 50-60%
• Reduce costly confi guration and set-up time by 25-55%
• Improve project quality with more rigorous testing
• Ensure that users always test from a “clean” state

Enhance productivity of IT professionals
• Confi gure and test desktops and servers as virtual machines before deploying them 

to production

• Test new multi-tier applications, application updates, and OS patches on a single PC
• Host legacy applications within virtual machines, thus facilitating OS migrations 

and eliminating the need to port legacy applications

• Create a virtual library of end-user confi gurations on a shared drive

• Reduce hardware costs by 50-60%
• Increase operations effi  ciency by up to 50%
• Reduce time needed to test new software and improve quality of deployments
• Eliminate risk to production networks by creating isolated virtual test networks
• Complete OS migration projects with minimal end-user disruption
• Accelerate help desk resolution of end-user problems

Facilitate computer-based training and software demos
• Package and deploy classroom material in virtual machines
• Allow students to experiment with multiple operating systems, applications, and 

tools in secure, isolated virtual machines

• Confi gure virtual machines to “undo” all changes at shutdown
• Demo complex or multi-tier confi gurations on a single laptop

• Reduce hardware needed in classroom 
• Decrease time required to prepare for a new class
• Ensure that students always start from a “clean” state
• More stable demos and reduced setup time and hardware costs

      P R O D U C T   D ATA S H E E T

      P R O D U C T   D ATA S H E E T

•  Multiple snapshot feature to easily 

capture and manage point-in-time 
copies of running virtual machines 
and “undo” changes

•  Teams feature to more easily man-

age connected virtual machines 
and simulate “real-world” multi-tier 
confi gurations

•  Full and linked clone capabilities to 

easily copy and share virtual 
machines

•  Support for new 32-bit guest and 

host operating systems

•  Support for new 64-bit host operat-

ing systems

•  Full support for select 64-bit guest 

operating systems on select AMD64 
processors, and experimental 
support on Intel EM64T VT-enabled 
processors

•  Experimental support for 2-Way 

Virtual SMP™

• Improved performance, especially for 

multi-virtual machine and network-
ing workloads

• Movie record and playback feature 

to capture all activity in a running 
virtual machine

• Command line interface to automate 

certain repetitive tasks, including 
snapshots

• Improved Linux user interface and 

wireless networking capabilities

• Support for a class of streaming USB 

devices, including webcams and 
speakers

• Support for NX bit and experimental 

support for Sun Solaris x86

•  Includes VMware Player*

•  The only desktop virtual machine 

software that runs on both Windows 
and Linux host operating systems, 
allows users to create two-proces-
sor virtual machines, and supports 
certain 64-bit host and guest operat-
ing systems and 64-bit extended 
processors

•  Broader device support, better 

performance and more powerful 
functionality than any other desktop 
virtual machine software

•  Powerful virtual networking options 

with NAT devices, DHCP server, and 
multiple network switches, let you 
connect virtual machines to each 
other, the host machine, and public 
networks

•  Shared folders, drag-and-drop op-

erations, and copying and pasting 
between guest and host

•  Get the full functionality of native 

program debugging in a virtual ma-
chine with support for both user and 
kernel-level debuggers

•  Easily switch between virtual ma-

chines and suspend/resume them

•  Each virtual machine has confi gu-

rable memory size, disks, and I/O de-
vices, and also support for CD, fl oppy, 
USB, DVD, and CD-ROM devices

•  Virtual machines are isolated from 

each other, ensuring that if one 
crashes, the other virtual machines 
and the host machine are unaff ected

•  A virtual machine is a set of portable, 

hardware-independent fi les that can 
easily be shared.

PC Hardware
• Standard x86-compatible personal computer
• 500MHz or faster CPU (recommended; 400MHz 

minimum)
Compatible processors include 
•  Intel®: Celeron®, Pentium® II, Pentium III, Pentium 4, 

Pentium M (including computers with Centrino™ 

mobile technology), Xeon™ (including “Prestonia”) 

•  AMD®: Athlon™, Athlon MP, Athlon XP, Duron™, 

Opteron™

•  Experimental support for AMD Sempron™
•  Multiprocessor systems supported
•  64-bit processor support for AMD64 Opteron, Athlon 

64, Turion, Sempron and Intel EM64T (including 

“Nocona”)

Memory
• 128MB minimum (256MB recommended)
• Enough memory to run the host operating system, 

plus memory required for each guest operating 

system and for applications on the host and guest; 

see your guest operating system and application 

documentation for their memory requirements

Display
• 16-bit or 32-bit display adapter recommended

• Linux hosts must have an X server that meets the 

X11R6 specifi cation

Disk Drives
• 150MB (for Windows hosts), 80MB (for Linux hosts) free 

space required for basic installation. Afterwards, delete 

the installer to reclaim 50-60MB.

• At least 1GB free disk space recommended for each 

guest operating system and the application software 

used with it; if you use a default setup, the actual disk 

space needs are approximately the same as those for 

installing and running the guest operating system and 

applications on a physical computer

• Windows 2000 Professional and Server, Windows XP 

(32- and 64-bit), Windows Server 2003 (32- and 64-bit)

• Popular 32-bit Linux distributions from Red Hat, SUSE, 

Ubuntu and Mandrake; select RHEL and SLES 64-bit 

OSs.

• Experimental support for Ubuntu Linux 5.04 and 5.10 

(64-bit)

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (32- and 64-bit), 

Windows XP (32- and 64-bit), Windows 2000 

Professional and Server, Windows NT® Workstation and 

Server 4.0, Windows Me, Windows 98, Windows 95, 

Windows 3.1, and MS-DOS 6

• Popular Linux distributions from Red Hat (32- and 64-

bit), SUSE (32- and 64-bit), Turbolinux, and Mandrake

• FreeBSD 32-bit
• Novell NetWare Server 6.5, 6.0, and 5.1
• Experimental support for Windows “Vista”, Windows 

“Vista” x64 Edition, Ubuntu, Free BSD 64-bit and Sun 

Solaris 9 and 10 (32- and 64-bit) for the x86 platform

Processor
• Same processor as that on host computer
Memory
• Up to 3.6GB, depending on host memory
• Maximum of 4GB total available for all virtual machines
IDE Drives
• Up to four IDE devices – disks, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM
• IDE virtual disks up to 950GB
CD Drives
• CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drives based on IDE or SCSI 

drives on host

• CD-ROM can be physical devices or ISO images
SCSI Devices
• Up to seven devices; Generic SCSI support allows 

devices to be used without need for host OS drivers

• SCSI virtual disks up to 950GB
Graphics
• VGA and SVGA
Serial (COM) Ports and Parallel (LPT) Ports
USB Ports
• Two-port USB 1.1 UHCI controller
• Supports most devices including USB printers, 

scanners, PDAs, hard disk drives, webcams and 

speakers

Ethernet® Card
• Up to three virtual Ethernet cards; AMD® PCnet™-PCI II 

compatible

Virtual Networking System
• Nine virtual Ethernet switches
• Virtual NAT device, DHCP server, network adapter, and 

network bridge with wireless networking support

Please see 
www.vmware.com/products/desktop/ws_specs.html 
for a complete listing of current system requirements.

*Only self-help support is available with VMware Player