To enable a virtual machine to print to any printer available to the host machine, you need to add a virtual printer device to the virtual machine, if one is not already present. When you add a virtual printer to the virtual machine, Workstation Player configures a virtual serial port with the virtual machine to communicate with the host printers.

Prerequisites

  • Enable VMware Virtual Printer globally. See Configuring Virtual Printers.
  • The virtual machine must be powered on or off. You cannot add a printer to a virtual machine in a powered on or suspended state.

Procedure

  1. Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.
  2. On the Hardware tab, select Add.
  3. In the Add Hardware wizard, select Printer and Finish.
    The default device setting is to connect the virtual machine printer when the virtual machine is powered on.

What to do next

Install the VMware Virtual Printer application in the virtual machine. See Install VMware Virtual Printer