Open a Virtual Machine in VMware Workstation Player

VMware® Workstation Player opens and plays virtual machines created in other VMware products. On Windows hosts, Workstation Player can also open and play Microsoft Virtual PC and Virtual Server virtual machines and Symantec LiveState Recovery and system images.

Workstation Player is included with VMware Workstation Pro. When you install Workstation Pro, the Workstation Player application file is stored with the Workstation Pro program files. On Windows hosts, the file is called vmplayer.exe. On Linux hosts, the file is called vmplayer.

Note:

You can download the standalone version of Workstation Player for free from the VMware Web site.

Prerequisites

Verify that the virtual machine is compatible with Workstation Player. See Configure a Virtual Machine for Compatibility.

Procedure

1. Start Workstation Player.

   Option	Action
   From the GUI on a Windows host	Select Start > Programs > VMware > VMware Player.
   From the command line on a Windows host	Type path\vmplayer.exe, where path is the path to the application file.
   From a Linux X session	Select VMware Player from the corresponding program menu, such as the System Tools menu.
   From the command line on a Linux host	Type vmplayer &.

2. Select File > Open a Virtual Machine and browse to the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file.
3. Select the virtual machine and select Virtual Machine > Power > Play Virtual Machine to start the virtual machine in Workstation Player .