How to switch between SVGAII and WDDM Drivers
Created on: Jun 7, 2009 5:48 PM by JJoel42 - Last Modified: Jun 15, 2009 4:41 PM by JJoel42
The XPDM driver (otherwise known as the SVGA driver) is an updated version of the video driver that shipped with VMware Workstation 6.5. This new version of the driver supports 3D graphics including newly added support for OpenGL 2.1 and Shader Model 3.0. This Driver works with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, but is only installed by default on Windows XP and Windows Vista. The driver installed in Windows 7 virtual machines is a new video driver built by VMware using the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM). We would like our beta participants to test this driver, however; at this time the WDDM driver does not yet run 3D graphics, it does not work on multiple monitors configurations, and only uses 32MB of video memory. For customers interested in trying 3D graphics on Windows 7 they must configure their virtual machine to use the SVGA driver. The instructions to switch between graphics drivers in the guest operating system are provided in this document.
One additional note on switching the drivers. If you configure your Windows Vista or Windows 7 virtual machine to use the XPDM driver, it will be automatically switched back to the WDDM driver whenever a new version of VMware Tools is distributed. This switch will be performed without warning!