32 and 64 bit support

[lilyevsky]

I saw in the datasheet that VMWare Workstation supports 32 bit and 64 bit for both host and guest systems.

My PC is a 64 bit Intel machine, but it runs 32 bit Windows XP.

If I want Linux as a guest system, can I have that Linux as 64 bit ?

[krowczynski]

If you host CPU is fully 64-Bit, you can create 64 Bit CPU guest hosts.

[vmroyale]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

Check out kb 1901 for the requirements, including a download link to the Processor Check for 64-Bit Compatibility utility.

Good Luck!

[Troy_Clavell]

if an intel chip, check , it will tell you as well.

[nhbua]

A related question which doesn't seem to be definitively answered in these forums is whether

- a 64bit guest on a supported 32-bit Windows OS running on a 64-bit processor (Intel w/ virtualization technology) takes advantage of more then 4GB RAM ?

[lilyevsky]

Thanks guys. I just checked with that utility that my PC will support 64 bit guest system.

One more question. I have 4G physical memory, but this XP can only use 3.25G.

With the VMWare and 64 bit guest system, can it use all the memory?

In general, I would like to understand to what extent the Workstation has direct access to the physical resources,

and to what extent the host system may prevent the Workstation to do whatever it needs to do.

[continuum]

>One more question. I have 4G physical memory, but this XP can only use 3.25G.

> With the VMWare and 64 bit guest system, can it use all the memory?

No - vmware is just another app - it can not use resources not available to the host-system

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[nhbua]

Thanks. The following info comes directly from VMware.

Some definitive info about memory > 4Gb / 32-bit windows OS / 64-bit processors:

Workstation relies on the host operating system and therefore can only address what the host OS can access.   If you are running a 32-bit windows host OS, then the guest will only be able to access 3.2GB of physical memory.

The Workstation UI shows the

“maximum recommended memory” for a guest which is generally the largest amount

you can assign without the memory being swapped out into a pagefile on the

host.  If you add more memory than that, the VM will run, but performance

will be significantly slower.

We enable VMs to be created with

more than ~3GB in order to support creating VMs in Workstation and running them

on a 64-bit server.

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In the following scenario, how much memory is VMware

Workstation able to use?

(Windows itself will only see approx 3.2 Gb - is

VMWorkstation able to use more?)

• 32-bit Windows OS
• dual core cpu ( 64-bit )
• bios/chipset is VT enabled
• 8 Gb physical memory