VMware Workstation versions

v17.5 [Oct 22, 2023]
- New Security Enhancement.
This release introduces new security enhancement by providing an improved encryption scheme (XTS instead of CBC) for maximum protection with a reduced performance overhead. Please see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/93071 for more information.
- This release resolves CVE-2023-34044. For more information on these vulnerabilities and their impact on VMware products, see VMSA-2023-0022.
- Control Virtual Machines using the VMRUN Commands.
You can now control virtual machines using the VMRUN command line utility in Workstation Pro. You can use commands to perform various guest operations such as power on or off, capture snapshots for data backup, manage network adapters, run an executable program, manage files and directories, manage processes running on the operating system, and so on.
- Import and Export Virtual Machines with vTPM device.
You can now import or export a virtual machine with a vTPM device enabled using the OVF Tool. You can export a virtual machine with vTPM device into an OVF file, and then use the OVF file to import the virtual machine with a vTPM.
- Manage Power Operations of Encrypted Virtual Machines using VMREST API.
You can now power on/off, suspend, pause, unpause, or retrieve the state of an encrypted virtual machine using the VMREST API service.
- VMware Hardware Version 21
- Support for up to 256 NVMe devices: 4 controllers and 64 devices per controller.
- Support for NVMe 1.3 in the following guest operating systems:
- Microsoft Windows 11.
- Microsoft Windows Server 2022.

v17.0 [Nov 18, 2022]
What's New
- Auto Start Virtual Machine: You can now configure the local virtual machines to start automatically when the host machine boots up.
- New Guest Operating System Support:
- Microsoft Windows 11.
- Microsoft Windows Server 2022.
- RHEL 9.
- Debian 11.x.
- Ubuntu 22.04.
- New Virtual Trusted Platform Module 2.0: Workstation Pro now offers a virtual Trusted Platform Module (version 2.0) device to support Windows 11 and other operating systems that require a TPM.
- New Full or Fast Encryption features: You can now choose between security (Full) and performance (Fast) options for encyption.
- Improved Graphics Support: OpenGL 4.3: Workstation Pro now supports OpenGL 4.3 for the virtual machines.
- Guest Operating System Requirements:
- Windows 7 or higher.
- Linux with Mesa 22.0.0 and Linux kernel 5.16.0.
- Support for WDDM 1.2: Workstation Pro now supports WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) version 1.2 for the virtual machines.

v16.2 [Oct 14, 2021]
What's new:
- This release resolves CVE-2022-22938.
Resolved issues:
- When Windows 11 GOS is powered ON, an exception (access violation) appears.

v16.1 [Nov 20, 2020]
- Support for new host/guest operating systems:
- Windows 10 20H2.
- Ubuntu 20.10.
- Fedora 33.
- RHEL 8.3.
- Updated vctl kind to support KIND v0.9.0.
- Includes docker-machine-driver-vmware.

v16.0.0.54117 [Jan 28, 2020]
- Container and Kubernetes Support:
- Build/run/pull/push container images using the vctl CLI.
- Supports KIND kubernetes clusters running on top of Workstation Pro.
Note: Windows 10 1809 or higher is required
- New Guest Operating System Support:
- RHEL 8.2
- Debian 10.5
- Fedora 32
- CentOS 8.2
- SLE 15 SP2 GA
- FreeBSD 11.4
- ESXi 7.0
- Support for DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.1 in the Guest:
- Hardware Requirements:
- For Windows hosts, a GPU that supports DirectX 11.0 is required.
- For Linux hosts, a NVIDIA GPU is required.
- Software Requirements:
- Host Operating System (64-bit):
- Windows 8 or higher
- GNU/Linux with NVIDIA drivers that support OpenGL 4.5 and above
- Guest Operating System
- Windows 7 or higher
- GNU/Linux with vmwgfx
- Vulkan Render Support for Linux Workstation
Workstation 16 Pro enables 3D support for Intel GPUs on Linux host to deliver DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.3 to VMs using Vulkan renderer.
- Sandboxed Graphics
Virtual machine security is enhanced by removing graphics render from vmx and running it as a separate sandbox process.
- USB 3.1 Controller Support
The virtual machines virtual XHCI controller is changed from USB 3.0 to USB 3.1 to support 10 Gbps.
- Larger VM
- 32 virtual CPUs
- 128 GB virtual memory
Note: Running virtual machines with 32 vCPUs requires that your host and guest operating systems both support 32 logical processors.
- 8 GB virtual graphics memory
- Dark Mode
Workstation 16 Pro supports Dark Mode for optimized user experience.
Note: Requires host operating systems to be Windows 10 1809 or higher
- vSphere 7.0 Support
In Workstation 16 you can perform the following:
- Connect to vSphere 7.0.
- Upload a local virtual machine to vSphere 7.0.
- Download a remote virtual machine running on vSphere 7.0 to the local desktop.
- Performance Improvements
- Improved file transfer speeds (Drag and Drop, Copy and Paste)
- Improved virtual machine shutdown time.
- Improved virtual NVMe storage performance.
- Improved Accessibility Support
Accessibility improvements have been added so Workstation Pro is compliant with WCAG 2.1 criteria.
Product Support Notices
- Removal of Shared VM feature
Shared virtual machines (Workstation as server) has reached end of life and been removed from VMware Workstation 16.
- Removal of restricted virtual machines
Restricted virtual machine has reached end of life and been removed from VMware Workstation 16.
Important Fixes
This release of VMware Workstation addresses the following issues:
- Workstation addresses multiple out-of-bounds read vulnerabilities in Cortado Thinprint component. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifiers CVE-2020-3986, CVE-2020-3987, and CVE-2020-3988 to these issues. For more information, see VMSA-2020-0020.
- Workstation addresses a denial of service vulnerability due to an out-of-bounds write issue in Cortado Thinprint component. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2020-3989 to this issue. For more information, see VMSA-2020-0020.
- Workstation addresses an information disclosure vulnerability due to an integer overflow issue in Cortado Thinprint component. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2020-3990 to this issue. For more information, see VMSA-2020-0020.
Resolved Issues
- After priority.ungrabbed = "low" is set in the virtual machine configuration file, the priority of vmware-vmx process shows as Normal, when checked on the Host Task manager
This setting has always worked until Workstation Pro 15.5 was released, however with the 15.5.5 release the status of the process stays at Normal.
This issue is now resolved.
- A Windows XP x64 virtual machine freezes during boot, when Workstation is running on Win10 host with Hyper-V Enabled
MSFT has bugs in APIC virtualization that block WinXP SP2 boot process.
This issue is now resolved.

v15.5.1.50853 [Sep 21, 2019]
Important Fixes:
- Workstation 15.5.1 Pro addresses an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the e1000e virtual network adapter. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2019-5541 to this issue. For more information, see VMSA-2019-0021.
- Workstation 15.5.1 Pro addresses an information disclosure vulnerability in vmnetdhcp. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2019-5540 to this issue. For more information, see VMSA-2019-0021.
- Workstation 15.5.1 Pro addresses a denial-of-service vulnerability in the RPC handler. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2019-5542 to this issue. For more information, see VMSA-2019-0021.
- Workstation 15.5.1 Pro resolves TSX Asynchronous Abort (TAA), a speculative-execution vulnerability identified by CVE-2019-11135. For more information, see section 3b in VMSA-2019-0020.
- Workstation 15.5.1 Pro resolves a regression introduced in Workstation 15.5.0 Pro which causes the Hypervisor-Specific mitigations for L1TF and MDS vulnerabilities to be ineffective. For more information on these mitigations, please see section 3a in VMSA-2019-0008.

v15.1.0.46741 [May 15, 2019]
- Support for new guest operating systems:
- Windows 10 19H1
- Ubuntu 19.04
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0
- Fedora 30
- ESXi 6.7 Update 2
- Stretch guest display: This feature is now extended to support all guests running on Windows hosts. In Workstation 15.0.x, stretch guest for Windows was supported only for versions earlier than Windows 7. This limitation has been removed in Workstation 15.1.
- VMware Workstation 15.1 Pro supports Hypervisor-Specific Mitigations and Hypervisor-Assisted Guest Mitigations for Microarchitectural Data Sampling (MDS) vulnerabilities identified by CVE-2018-12126, CVE-2018-12127, CVE-2018-12130 and CVE-2019-11091. For more information, see VMware Security Advisory VMSA-2019-0008.
- VMware Workstation 15.1 Pro addresses a DLL hijacking issue. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2019-5526 to this issue. For more information, see VMSA-2019-0007.

v15.0.4.45173 [Sep 25, 2018]
What's New
- New Guest operating systems support.
Windows 10 1803
Ubuntu 18.04
Fedora 28
RHEL 7.5
CentOS 7.5
Debian 9.5
OpenSuse Leap 15.0
FreeBSD 11.2
ESXi 6.7
- DirectX 10.1.
- DirectX 10.1 is an incremental update over DirectX 10.0. It provides higher visual quality through the support of multi-sample anti-aliasing (MSAA). DirectX 10.1 also supports Shader Model 4.1 and Cubemap Array.
- Hardware version 16.
DirectX 10.1 support.
Graphics memory up to 3GB.
- REST API
- You can use Workstation RESTful API to automate common virtual machine tasks using standard JSON over HTTP or HTTPS. The following virtual machine operations are supported:
Virtual machine inventory management.
Virtual machine power management.
Virtual machine clone.
Networking management.
- High DPI support.
- High DPI related features require that the operating system of the host and virtual machine be Windows 10 version 1703 or later.
Host level high DPI support - The Workstation interface auto detects the host level DPI change and auto adjusts the layout to meet the new DPI.
Guest DPI synch with host - When there is a DPI change on the host side, the guest operating system adjusts its DPI to match the host DPI.
VMware Tools 10.3.2 is required for this feature.
- Hosts and Clusters view when you connect to vCenter.
- Workstation 15 Pro adds a new Hosts and Clusters view when you connect to remote vSphere. The inventory tree now shows a hierarchical arrangement of objects in two different views: Hosts and Clusters and VMs. You can easily toggle between these two views with a single click.
- This is a Windows host only feature.
- vSphere 6.7 support.
- Workstation 15 Pro provides seamless support for vSphere 6.7. You can connect to a remote ESXi 6.7 host or vCenter Server 6.7 from Workstation 15 Pro to manage the remote the virtual machines running on vSphere. You can also upload a local virtual machine to vSphere 6.7 or download a remote virtual machine running on vSphere 6.7 to the local desktop.
- You can also deploy a VMware VCSA 6.7 (vCenter Server Appliance) OVA package to run on Workstation 15 Pro.
- USB Auto connect to virtual machine.
- USB devices can automatically connect to a powered on virtual machine when you configure Workstation 15 Pro to remember the connection rule.
- This is a Windows host only feature.
- SSH login to Linux virtual machine.
- You can now access Linux virtual machines using SSH provided by Workstation 15 Pro.
- This feature requires that the operating system of the host be Windows 10 version 1803 or later.
- Enhanced User Experience.
Stretch guest display.
The stretch guest display feature is enabled for Linux guests and Windows guests earlier than Windows XP. You can use the Keep Aspect Ratio Stretch feature to stretch the virtual machine display while maintaining the user interface aspect ratio or you can use the Free Stretch feature to stretch the virtual machine display to fill the user interface.
This is a Windows host only feature.
Open virtual machine directory.
You can now easily access the virtual machine directory from a Windows host by right-clicking the virtual machine in the Workstation Pro library and selecting Open VM directory.
Linux Workstation Pro already supports this feature.
- Linux host Wayland support.
- Workstation 15 Pro can now run on a Linux host Wayland desktop. To install Workstation Pro on a Wayland desktop, you must use terminal mode installation.
- Performance improvements for virtual NVMe storage.
Resolved Issues
- Virtual machines that directly use a physical disk might display a black screen.
- When a virtual machine directly uses a physical disk, after you power on the virtual machine, the virtual machine might display a black screen.
- Virtual machine might crash and display an error when powered on if the parallel port is mapped to a physical parallel port
- When a virtual machine is using parallel port and the parallel port is mapped to host OS physical parallel port, after you power on the virtual machine, the virtual machine might crash with following error: VMware Workstation unrecoverable error: (vcpu-0)
- USB devices connected to a DELL Thunderbolt USB dock might not be able to connect to a virtual machine
- When you connect a USB device to a USB dock, such as DELL Thunderbolt, the USB device might not be able to connect to the virtual machine.
- USB devices connected to some 3.1 xHCI controllers are not available for passthrough on Windows hosts
- On Windows hosts, USB devices connected to some USB 3.1 controllers are not listed when you select VM > Removable Devices. Therefore, the device cannot pass through to the virtual machine.
- The Workstation Pro interface might crash when you use the Zoom utility on a Linux host
- For some Linux hosts, for example Ubuntu 18.04, when you use the Zoom utility, the Workstation Pro interface might crash.

v14.0.0.24051 [Jul 27, 2017]
- Updated OS support.
- Improved networking functions. You can now simulate latency as well as packet loss using software controls on guest virtual NICs and rename virtual networks for improved organization.
- Improved vSphere support and integration.
- Fixed bugs, added handy features, enabled auto clean-up of VM disk space, added more controls for remote ESXi Hosts and more.

v12.0.1.1074 [Jul 22, 2015]
May include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.

v11.1.4.7549 [Feb 17, 2015]
Introducing Workstation 11
VMware Workstation 11 continues VMware’s tradition of delivering leading edge features and performance that technical professionals rely on every day when working with virtual machines. With support for the latest version of Windows and Linux, the latest processors and hardware, and the ability to connect to VMware vCloud Air, it's the perfect tool to increase productivity, save time and conquer the cloud.
VMware Workstation 11
Try for Free Upgrade Buy Online Support
Unmatched OS Support for Ultimate Compatibility
Ready for Windows 10 Technical Preview
Ready for Windows 10 Technical Preview
Workstation 11 is a great way to evaluate and test new operating systems in an isolated and secure environment. Run more than 200 operating systems including the latest Microsoft Windows 10 Technical Preview. Workstation 11 fully supports the latest Microsoft operating systems, from the Windows 8.1 update for the desktop to Windows 2012 R2 for the server. For organizations and technical users that run the latest Linux distribution, Workstation 11 supports Ubuntu 14.10, Red 7, CentOS 7, Fedora 21, Debian 7.6 and many more. With Workstation 11, you can create nested hypervisors to run Hyper-V or VMware ESXi and vSphere to build up the ultimate vSphere lab for training, show demos, and testing.
See a list of all supported guest operating systems.
State of the Art Performance
Support for the Latest Processors
Workstation 11 supports the latest Intel 64-bit x86 processors, including the new Haswell microarchitecture for maximum performance. Workstation 11 is optimized to take advantage of key new Haswell extensions, delivering up to 45% improvement in CPU intensive operations like multimedia, encryption/decryption, and other strenuous performance tests as compared to Workstation 10.
Support for Haswell
More graphics support with VMware Workstation 11
Create Powerful Virtual Machines
With Workstation 11, you can create virtual machines with up to 16 vCPUs, 8 TB virtual disks, and 64 GB of memory to run the most demanding applications in a virtualized environment. You can now give graphics-intensive applications an additional boost by allocating up to 2GB of video memory to a virtual machine. With powerful 3D graphics and support for OpenGL 2.1 and DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3 graphics, Workstation makes running highly demanding 3D applications like AutoCAD or SolidWorks a breeze.
Ready for the Latest Laptops and Tablets
Workstation 11 has been optimized to support higher resolution displays like the new QHD (3200x1800) displays used in laptops and x86 tablets. Leverage the new Microsoft Surface Pro 3 capabilities with Workstation’s virtual accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and ambient light sensor to enable applications running in the virtual machines to respond when a user juggles their tablet. In addition, Workstation 11 supports HD audio with 7.1 surround sound, USB 3.0 and Bluetooth, making it easy to take advantage of the latest hardware.
A Tablet in Your Virtual Machine
Leverage the Power of vSphere and vCloud Air
VMware Workstation 11 leverages vSphere and vCloud Air
Workstation 11 now provides a connection to VMware’s vCloud Air allowing you to extend and scale your virtual machines in the external cloud. Easily connect to vCloud Air and upload, run, and view virtual machines right from the Workstation 11 interface. It’s also easy to seamlessly drag and drop virtual machines between your PC and your internal cloud running vSphere, ESXi or another instance of Workstation.
Take Productivity to the Next Level
User Interface Improvements
Workstation 11 delivers an updated user interface to make working with virtual machines faster and easier, whether running them locally on your PC or in the cloud. The Workstation 11 interface includes simplified menus, live thumbnails, tabs, preferences screens, and a virtual machine library with search capability. New Unity mode optimizations continue to enhance the user experience when running Windows 8.1 as both a host and guest in Workstation 11.

v11.0.0.54843 [Jul 30, 2014]
Ready for Windows 10 Technical Preview
- Workstation 11 is a great way to evaluate and test operating systems in an isolated and secure environment. Run more than 200 operating systems including the latest Microsoft Windows 10 Technical Preview. Workstation 11 fully supports the latest Microsoft operating systems, from the Windows® 8.1 update for the desktop to Windows 2012 R2 for the server. For organizations and technical users that run the latest Linux distribution, Workstation 11 supports Ubuntu 14.10, Red 7, CentOS 7, Fedora 21, Debian 7.6 and many more. With Workstation 11, you can create nested hypervisors to run Hyper-V or VMware ESXi and vSphere to build up the ultimate vSphere lab for training, show demos, and testing.
Support for the Latest Processors
- Workstation 11 supports the latest Intel 64-bit x86 processors, including the new Haswell microarchitecture for maximum performance. Workstation 11 is optimized to take advantage of key new Haswell extensions, delivering up to 45% improvement in CPU intensive operations like multimedia, encryption/decryption, and other strenuous performance tests as compared to Workstation 10.
Create Powerful Virtual Machines
- With Workstation 11, you can create virtual machines with up to 16 vCPUs, 8 TB virtual disks, and 64 GB of memory to run the most demanding applications in a virtualized environment. You can now give graphics-intensive applications an additional boost by allocating up to 2GB of video memory to a virtual machine. With powerful 3D graphics and support for OpenGL 2.1 and DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3 graphics, Workstation makes running highly demanding 3D applications like AutoCAD or SolidWorks a breeze.
Ready for the Latest Laptops and Tablets
- Workstation 11 has been optimized to support higher resolution displays like the new QHD (3200x1800) displays used in laptops and x86 tablets. Leverage the new Microsoft Surface Pro 3 capabilities with Workstation’s virtual accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and ambient light sensor to enable applications running in the virtual machines to respond when a user juggles their tablet. In addition, Workstation 11 supports HD audio with 7.1 surround sound, USB 3.0 and Bluetooth, making it easy to take advantage of the latest hardware.
User Interface Improvements
- Workstation 11 delivers an updated user interface to make working with virtual machines faster and easier, whether running them locally on your PC or in the cloud. The Workstation 11 interface includes simplified menus, live thumbnails, tabs, preferences screens, and a virtual machine library with search capability. New Unity mode optimizations continue to enhance the user experience when running Windows 8.1 as both a host and guest in Workstation 11.
Enhanced Usability and Productivity
- Workstation 11 improves usability when working with virtual machines with the new shortcut feature allowing you to navigate to a virtual machine with one simple click right from the desktop. The new EFI option allows you to create and boot a Workstation virtual machine as an alternative to the more traditional BIOS approach, improving support for new and future operating system releases. The Workstation 11 Virtual Machines Wizard makes it easy to install new operating systems and optimized drivers, whether installing from a disc or ISO image. When it comes to displaying your virtual machines, multiple monitor set-ups are easier than ever with Workstation 11, whether you are using 2, 3, or even 10 monitors.
Protect Your Work and Save Time
- With Workstation 11, you can safeguard and protect your virtual machines and save valuable time when working with your virtual machines using the Snapshot and Clone features. The Snapshot feature preserves the state of a virtual machine so you can return to it at any time. Duplicating Workstation virtual machines is easy using the clone feature, which allows you to make unlimited copies of a virtual machine right from the baseline installation and configuration. Linked clones are an even quicker, easier and more efficient way to duplicate complex setups for testing and custom demos. Linked clones make a copy of a virtual machine that shares virtual disks with the parent virtual machine and have the benefit of taking significantly less disk space than a full clone.
Restricted Virtual Machines
- Create and control policies around your virtual machines and deliver applications to end-users in a Workstation 11 restricted virtual machine container. Protect corporate content by restricting access to Workstation virtual machine settings like drag and drop, copy and paste, and connecting USB devices. Additionally, Workstation 11 virtual machines can be encrypted and password-protected to ensure that unauthorized users are unable to tamper with the corporate virtual machines settings.

v10.0.7.62285 [Aug 22, 2013]
- Support for 16 vCPUs, 8 TB SATA disks and 64GB of RAM
- Virtual SATA disk controller
- Support for 20 virtual networks
- USB3 streams support for faster file copying
- Improved application and Windows VM startup times
SSD Pass through
- Create restricted virtual machines that can expire at a predefined date and time. When powered on, the virtual machine will query the server at specified time intervals, storing the current system time in the restricted VM's policy file as the last trusted timestamp.
- Multiple monitor set-ups are easier than ever, whether you are using 2, 3 or 4.
- VMware-KVM provides a new interface for using multiple virtual machines

v8.0.6.35970 [Apr 26, 2011]
VMware Workstation 8 is your on-ramp to the cloud. With over 50+ new features, it’s going to dramatically change the way you work with virtual machines. Save time, enhance collaboration, and do more than you ever thought possible with a PC.
Access Anytime, Anywhere
VMware Workstation provides a seamless way to access all of the virtual machines you need, regardless of where they are running. Connect to Server enables remote connections to virtual machines running on VMware Workstation, VMware vSphere, and VMware vCenter. Now you can work with local and server hosted virtual machines side by side within the same interface. You are no longer constrained by the power of your PC to run multiple virtual machines at the same time.
Share the Benefits
Sharing a virtual machine is quickest way to share and test applications with your team in a more production like environment. Run VMware Workstation as a server to share virtual machines with your teammates, department, or organization. VMware Workstation provides enterprise caliber security to control user access and levels of control.
New UI, New Way to Work
So you can seamlessly work in a connected workspace, VMware Workstation’s user interface has been completely revamped with simplified menus, live thumbnails, improved preferences screens, and a new virtual machine library. The new virtual machine library lists all of your virtual machines and allows you to search for them, whether they are running on your PC, a vSphere server, or team member’s copy of VMware Workstation.
Unleash the Power of Your PC
VMware Workstation takes advantage of the latest hardware to replicate server and desktop environments. Create virtual machines with up to up to 64GB of RAM with significantly improved virtual SMP performance. And now for those times when you need it, virtual VT enables you to run 64-bit nested virtual machines. Additional improvements include improved NAT performance and support for HD audio, SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) and Bluetooth.
From PC to Datacenter
Simply drag and drop a virtual machine to move it from your PC to a VMware vSphere server. It’s the easiest way to deploy a complete application environment from your PC to a server for further testing, demoing, or analysis
Recycle Old Hardware
Quickly and easily convert all those Microsoft Windows and Linux-based physical PCs sitting under or around your desk into VMware Workstation virtual machines. Get all the benefits of virtualization while freeing up desk space and hardware. VMware Workstation includes the latest standalone VMware Converter. Now you can take advantage of VMware Converter updates independently of VMware Workstation updates.
Easier Management
VMware Workstation’s new update agent eliminates the pain of keeping VMware Tools up to date in all of your running Virtual Machines. The agent checks a central repository for VMware Tools updates, eliminating the need to manually install VMware Tools on every PC before update the virtual machines.

v6.5.5.15075 [Jul 25, 2008]
Version 6.5 includes more support for 32 and 64 bit operative systems.
Accelerated graphics in Windows mode.
Virtual Machine Streaming.
New Installers for Linux operative systems.
Less latency for I/O and USB devices.