VMware Workstation 12 Player Version 12.5 Release Notes

VMware Workstation 12 Player Version 12.5 | 13 SEP 2016 | Build 4352439

Last updated: 13 SEP 2016

Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

What's in the Release Notes

About VMware Workstation Player
What's New
Prior Releases
Known Issues
Resolved Issues

About VMware Workstation Player

VMware Workstation Player (formerly known as Player Pro) is a streamlined desktop virtualization application that runs one or more operating systems on the same computer without rebooting. VMware Workstation Player provides a simple user interface, unmatched operating system support, and portability.

For more information, see the broader VMware Workstation Player documentation or specifically the respective VMware Workstation Player Documentation Center:

What's New

This release of VMware Workstation Player is a free upgrade for all VMware Workstation 12 Player users, it adds support for the following operating systems:

Windows 10 Anniversary Update
Windows Server 2016

VMware Workstation 12 Player Version 12.5 also contains bug fixing, security updates and performance improvements.

Prior Releases

Features and Known Issues from prior releases of VMware Workstation Player are described in the release notes for each release. To view release notes for prior releases of VMware Workstation 12 Player, click the following links:

Known Issues

Some driver files are not deleted after uninstalling VMware Workstation Player from a Windows host operating system
After VMware Workstation Player is uninstalled, the following driver-related files remain on the Windows host operating system:
In C:\Windows\System32\drivers:
hcmon.sys
vmci.sys
vmx86.sys
vmkbd.sys in case Enhanced Keyboard Driver was installed.
In C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\vmci\device:
vmciver.dll
Workaround: Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers and delete hcmon.sys, vmci.sys, vmx86.sys, and vmkbd.sys. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\vmci\device and delete vmciver.dll.
Windows host operating system auto reboots when using silent installation of VMware Workstation Player without the REBOOT=Reallysuppress option
When you use silent installation of VMware Workstation Player, if the REBOOT=Reallysuppress option is not added in the command line, for example: VMware-player-12.5.0-xxxxxxx /s /v "/qn EULAS_AGREED=1", the host operating system auto reboots after the installation completes.

Workaround: Add the REBOOT=Reallysuppress option in the command line:
VMware-player-12.5.0-xxxxxxx /s /v "/qn REBOOT=Reallysuppress EULAS_AGREED=1"
To use the VMware enhanced keyboard feature, the host must be manually rebooted later.
When VMs on the same host connect to the same NAT network, they cannot communicate through a global IPv6 address
When you use NAT network with IPv6 enabled and connect VMs that reside on the same host to that NAT network, the VMs cannot communicate with each other through their global IPv6 address.

Workaround: None
An error message "There was a problem updating a software component." prompts when you install VMware Tools manually on Fedora 24 host
When you install VMware Tools for guest OS on Fedora 24 hosts by clicking Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools... menu, an error message There was a problem updating a software component. might appear. This is because Fedora 24 ships with a new library libncursesw.so.6.0 which currently is not built into Workstation Player.

Workaround: Shutdown the guest OS, quit VMware Workstation Player, then manually install the library through the following command from a terminal:

sudo dnf install ncurses-compat-libs

After the installation completes, launch VMware Workstation Player, power on the guest OS, and you can install VMware Tools by clicking Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools... menu

Resolved Issues

VMware Workstation Player window does not close after the VM is powered off
On a Linux host, when you click the close button on VMware Workstation Player window while the guest OS is shutting down, a question dialog appears. You wait until the guest OS is completely powered off, then you close the question dialog. The VMware Workstation Player window does not close.

This issue is resolved.

Unable to install VMware Tools in FreeBSD 10.3 guest OS
Due to changes in the FreeBSD system-bundled Perl, you cannot install VMware Tools in a FreeBSD 10.3 guest OS and you get a vmware-install.real.pl: not found error when executing the ./vmware-install.pl script.

This issue is resolved.

Unable to launch Workstation Player on Fedora 23 host
After installing Workstation Player on a host running Fedora 23, Workstation Player fails to launch.
This issue is resolved.

USB Ethernet adapter fails to connect to the VM
You cannot connect specific USB Ethernet adapter to a running VM.
This issue is resolved.

VMware Workstation Player throws Runtime Error when you disconnect Surface Camera from a VM
On Surface Pro, you connect the Camera to the VM and it works correctly. When you disconnect the Camera from the VM, VMware Workstation Player throws Runtime error messages and stops working.

This issue is resolved.

You experience incorrect resolution in Workstation Player
Sometimes the guest OS resolution is incorrect when it changes from small to large in Workstation Player.
This issue is resolved.

VMware Workstation Player cannot boot virtual machines on a 64-bit Braswell N3150 processor
VMware Workstation Player cannot boot virtual machines on a 64-bit Braswell N3150 processor and the following error occurs:

MONITOR PANIC: vcpu-0:VERIFY vmcore/vmm/main/cpuid.c:376 bugNr=1036521
This issue is resolved.

On the Ubuntu 15.10 and later versions guest operating system, replacing open-vm-tools with the bundled VMware Tools version, might cause VMware Tools to work improperly
On the Ubuntu 15.10 and later versions guest OS, when you replace open-vm-tools with the VMware Tools version bundled with VMware Workstation Player, VMware Tools does not work as expected. After you reboot the system, an Ubuntu crash report might appear and one of the services in VMware Tools might stop working.

This issue is resolved.