Direct Launch, OpenGL 2.1, Bigger VMs Now In VMware Workstation 7.1 and Player 3.1 Public Betas
March 13th, 2010 | 
Author: Almost as if to segue from my recent Virtumania Podcast episode about type 2 hypervisors, VMware has announced the release of the public betas for the latest versions of their popular Workstation and Player desktop products. Touting several new features and performance improvements, VMware Workstation 7.1 and Player 3.1 betas can now be downloaded from their VMware Beta Community pages.
I am downloading my copy as I write this post, but several new features have caught my attention.
- Open GL 2.1 support for Windows 7 and Vista guests
- Improved graphics support enabling high resolution videos in VMs
- Autologin for Windows Guests
- Inclusion of the OVF 1.0 command line tool to convert VMs to .OVF files for exporting to other hypervisors
- 8 way vCPU support in VMs
- up to 2TB virtual disks
- Direct Launch – drag icon to host desktop and seamlessly start an application inside a VM – even after closing VMware Workstation or Player.
- Support for Fedora 12 as a guest OS
- VMware Ace upgraded to version 3.7
Also, I can’t help but notice Known Issues from the Release Notes such as the following:
“Display
- Exiting FIFA 08 game on Windows 7 guests and hosts with Aero enabled, might cause the desktop wallpaper to turn black.
- There are known issues with the ATI Linux driver 10.2. VMware recommends that you use ATI Linux driver 9.11 for the best 3D user experience.”
Looks like I’ve got some new testing to do! (and maybe a new 3D games video to make!)
Copying more information from the Release Notes:
With this release of VMware Workstation, VMware Player, and VMware ACE the following new features and operating systems have been added:
Operating System |
Host and Guest Support |
|---|---|
| Ubuntu 8.04.4 | Host and guest |
| Ubuntu 10.04 | Host and guest |
| OpenSUSE 11.2 | Host and guest |
| Fedora 12 | Guest |
| Debian 5.0.4 | Guest |
| Mandriva 2009.1 | Guest |
New Features in VMware Workstation and VMware Player
To provide feedback on the new features of the VMware Workstation 7.1 and VMware Player 3.1 Beta, go to the Beta Community site. For more information on how to provide feedback, see Product Feedback.
- OpenGL 2.1 support for Windows 7 and Vista guests — Improves the ability to run graphics-based applications in virtual machines.
- Improved Graphics Performance — Enhanced performance with better benchmarks, frame rates, and improved rendering on Windows 7 and Vista guests allows you to run various graphics-based applications. In addition, major improvements in video playback enable you to play high-resolution videos in virtual machines.
- Automatic Software Updates — Download and install VMware Tools, new, and maintenance releases updates when available.
- Autologon — Save your login credentials and bypass the login dialog box when you power on a Windows guest. Use this feature if you restart the guest frequently and want to avoid entering your login credentials. You can enable Autologon when you open guest applications from the host.
- OVF 1.0 Support — Import or export virtual machines and vApps to upload them to VMware vSphere or VMware Cloud. The VMware OVF tool is a command-line utility bundled in the VMware Workstation installer. Use this tool along with VMware Workstation to convert VMware .vmxfiles to .ovf format or vice versa. VMware recommends that you use the OVF command-line utility. For more information, see the OVF Tool User Guide.
- Eight-Way SMP Support — Create and run virtual machines with a total of up to eight-processor cores.
- 2TB Virtual Disk Support — Maximum virtual disks and raw disks size increased from 950MB to 2TB.
- Direct Launch — Drag guest applications from the Unity start menu directly onto the host desktop. Double-click the shortcut to open the guest application. The shortcut remains on the desktop after you exit Unity and close VMware Workstation or VMware Player.
- User Experience Improvement Program — Help VMware improve future versions of the product by participating in the User Experience Improvement Program. Participation in the program is voluntary and you can opt out at any time. When you participate in the User Experience Improvement Program, your computer sends anonymous information to VMware, which may include product configuration, virtual machine configuration, usage and performance data, and information about your host system specifications and configuration.The User Experience Improvement Program does not collect any personal data, such as your name, address, telephone number, or email address that can be used to identify or contact you. No user identifiable data such as the product license key or MAC address are sent to VMware. VMware does not store your IP address with the data that is collected.For more information about the User Experience Improvement Program, click the Learn More link during installation or from the WorkstationPreferences menu.
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Tags: beta, directx, games, opengl, virtual, virtualizationreview.com, vmware, vmware ace, vmware player, vmware workstation
