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Free VMWare Player 3 can now create virtual machines
Rather, that's all it could do until now. VMWare Player version 3 has hit the release candidate stage and is available for public download, and guess what? It's now got the ability to create virtual machines. That's pretty amazing news for virtualization hobbyists like myself.
Apart from the added VM creation chops, Player v3 also offers OpenGL support in guest machines, ALSA support on Linux guests, ThinPrint powered printing, Windows 7 support, and multiple monitor support.
And yes, it even supports Aero Glass in Vista and WIndows 7 just like its big brother.
Another great addition is the easy install wizard, which makes setting up popular operating systems on a new guest machine ridiculously easy. That is, when it works. The wizard should create a floppy configuration file which Ubuntu reads during the install process. When I tested with the Karmic Koala beta, though, Ubuntu's installer wouldn't recognize the floppy image and crapped out.
A regular install, on the other hand, worked just fine and completed in roughly the same amount of time as it took under VIrtualBox -- if not slightly less.
The download is free, weighs in at about 90Mb, and you'll need to have a registered account with VMWare to get access to the downloads.
Comments
6
Subscribe to commentsDrew GreenOct 6th 2009 11:50AM
Yay.
Drew GreenOct 6th 2009 11:59AM
What is the difference now between Workstation and Player?
HelOct 6th 2009 12:42PM
For goodness sake, VMWare Server's been free for years (since the 1.x days), and could (and still can) create VM's like a pro [ http://www.vmware.com/products/server/ ]. Despite the name, it's not just for servers; it's the way that I, and the rest of the world, have been creating vmware images for free. I only stopped using it due to the revolting web-based management console, but YMMV. In my opinion, Player was supposed to be thin, lightweight, and the easiest way to get a VM up and running. Adding VM creation to it is just feature-bloat, and adds to the download size significantly, I'm sure.
ptarrantOct 6th 2009 1:36PM
Honestly, is there a reason not to use Virtualbox? If you need USB support, then get the one from Sun's site, if not use the OSE version. Virtualbox does all I need it to do, its running 2 production servers running win2k3 setup as domain controllers and one's even running exchange on top of all that, with no hickups or performance issues. I dumped VMware due to registration and stupid-ness like the "web control" for server. They would have to do something really impressive for me to come back.
ShamrockOct 7th 2009 3:13AM
I hear you, Hel! Quite surprised to read about mr. Mathews claim that up untill now you couldn't create VM's for free with VMWare??? I've been using it for years now and so far it hasn't cost me dime! :-)
I hated the web-based console to and simply kept using the 1.0.x-built.
MarkNov 19th 2009 7:22PM
It's free. But it expires after a short time and then you'll have to buy the full version.