Using the vctl Utility

The vctl utility is included with Workstation Pro and is ready to run in the Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell window.

Prerequisites

• VMware recommends the use of modern solid-state drive (SSD) as system disk.
• The host operating system must be Window 10 1809 or later.
• Before using vctl to run any operation on a container image or container, the container runtime must be started first. The container runtime doesn't start automatically when Workstation Pro application launches, and does not stop automatically when Workstation Pro application quits. You must manually run the vctl system start command to start it and run vctl system stop command to stop it.

Procedure

1. Open a Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell window.
2. Run the vctl system info command to check the status of the container runtime.

   If the command output displays Container runtime is stopped, run vctl system start command to start the container runtime.

   If the command output shows Container runtime is running, you can start using vctl to manage containers and container images.

3. Run the vctl command to list the command-line options.