Workstation 15 Pro and Player are Now Available!

In celebration of our 20th anniversary, the VMware Workstation team is very proud to announce the general availability of VMware Workstation 15 Pro and VMware Workstation 15 Player, our flagship desktop hypervisors for Windows and Linux PCs.

With features aimed at developers and IT, as well as many overall improvements, this is one of our biggest releases yet.

Some of our favorite highlights include modernizing our user interface with 4K and HiDPI support, a brand new REST API, DirectX 10.1, and One-Click SSH into a Linux VM.

Brand New REST API

Most exciting for us is the addition of a new REST API. This API is the very same introduced in Fusion 10 last year has been brought to the Workstation platform. The REST API allows users to automate VM tasks as part of a broader workflow. Quickly command Workstation to deploy, configure and destroy VMs on the fly to rapidly speed up the development and testing process.

Version 1.2 of the API adds new controls to manage NAT port forwarding and MAC to IP DHCP bindings, allowing users to create complex virtual networking simulations using standard JSON over HTTP/S.

Updated Interface

Workstation Pro and Player have a fresh new face that supports the latest HiDPI 4K display resolutions for both Host (UI) and Guest (desktop) scaling. With over 500 new feature icons as well as updated product icons, the Workstation family has never looked so good.

Stretch Mode

Guests can now be ‘Stretched’ to fit displays with higher DPI without adjusting the guest resolution: console windows can be made larger and readable, and older OS’s with lower resolutions look like they’re supposed to.

One-Click-SSH into Linux VM

If you’re using Windows 10 version 1803 or greater, you’ll also have access to the new ‘One-Click-SSH’ feature to rapidly open up a secure shell to a Linux VM. This feature also works for remote connected vSphere, ESXi and Workstation hosts (network connectivity directly to the VM’s IP is required.)

Enhanced 3D Hardware Accelerated Graphics Engine: DirectX 10.1

New in Workstation is Direct3D 10.1 capabilities, allowing games and applications which require DirectX 10.1 to run where they could not before. D3D 10.1 was an important step beyond D3D 10 because it adds Ant-Aliasing and Geometry shaders, and serves as a fallback for many DX11 games and applications that otherwise would not run.

vSphere 6.7 Support + Hosts and Clusters View

Workstation 15 supports ESXi 6.7 virtual hosts as well as deploying vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 with the vCSA deployment wizard.

When connected to remote vSphere environments, Workstation now has awareness of Data Centers, Hosts and also Clusters, for greater visibility into remote environment topologies.

And That’s Not All…

Workstation also uses Virtual Hardware Platform Version 16, which includes many updates around Performance, Security and supporting the latest hardware and software technologies, including:

Improved Virtual NVMe Device Performance

Important Security Fixes (Spectre, Meltdown and L1TF)

Virtual Trusted Platform Module

UEFI Secure Boot

IOMMU

VBS (Device Guard, Credential Guard) Support (guest only)

Virtual Networking Controls (Workstation Pro Only)

Network Simulation: Workstation Pro can introduce Latency, as well as Packet Loss and Bandwidth Limits on Incoming and Outgoing traffic per Virtual NIC.

Network Rename: Workstation Pro allows users to rename networks for personalization and organization.

Virtualization Based Security

VMware Workstation 15 Pro and Player can each deliver a secure, managed virtual desktop capable of running the latest Virtualization Based Security technology such as Device Guard and Credential Guard by providing a compliant virtual hardware platform. (Guest support only)

Workstation 15 contains a Virtual Trusted Platform Module device type, as well as UEFI Secure Boot and IOMMU, which are requirements for certain security applications and policy controls such as BitLocker.

Workstation also supports “nested” 3rd party hypervisors and hypervisor-based security functions, so features like Core Isolation and Hyper-V will run in supported VMs.

These, plus hundreds of bug fixes and general improvements make Workstation 15 our biggest release to date, and we’re so excited to share what 20 years of industry leading virtualization looks like!

Get your copy today!

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