You can print from a virtual machine to any printer available to the host computer without having to install additional drivers in the virtual machine.

The Workstation Pro printer feature uses ThinPrint technology to replicate the host system printer mapping in the virtual machine. When you enable the virtual machine printer, Workstation Pro configures a virtual serial port to communicate with the host printers.

Note:

You cannot add a printer to a shared or remote virtual machine.

Prerequisites

  • Support for virtual printers is disabled by default. To enable virtual printer support, see Configuring Virtual Printers on Windows Hosts.

  • The virtual machine must be powered on or off. You cannot add a printer to a virtual machine in suspended state.

Procedure

  1. Select the virtual machine and select VM > 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

In a Print window, when you attempt to select a printer in Windows 7 virtual machines, you might see only the default printer, even though other printers are available. To see the other printers, right-click the default printer and point to Printer properties.