DirectX 11 now under testing with Workstation Tech Preview 20H2 !

[Zongmin]

Hi all,

We just launched Workstation Tech Preview 20H2 last week! This Tech Preview is a free program. DirectX 11, which has been a long asked feature, is now waiting for your feedback!

What’s New with Workstation Tech Preview 20H2:

• DirectX 11： Provides support for DirectX 11(DX11) and OpenGL 4.1 in the guest.
• Sandboxed Graphics: Enhanced virtual machine security by removing graphics render from vmx and put it into a separate sandbox process.
• Improved performance when Workstation running on host VBS mode.

We have been working on DX11 feature for multiple years. And we are very excited finally this is ready for testing. Can you play your games smoothly within Workstation virtual machine? How good does the CAD applications?

Please check details from Workstation Tech Preview 20H2 community, and let us know what you think!

Thanks,

The VMware Workstation Team

[Mits2020]

Very interesting news (not a gamer, but accelerated graphics are always welcome!). According to the docs (VMware Workstation Tech Preview 20H2 User Guide ) prerequite host OS for 20H2 is at least Windows 8. Does this mean that Windows 7 hosts, which do run DirectX11, will not be supported in the final new release of VMware Workstation?

[Mikero]

Correct. Windows 7 hosts will be deprecated.

[Mits2020]

Very sad news, I am sticking with Windows 7 as my daily driver for the foreseeable future (5-8 more years), as are millions of other users. Good to know however, to preserve my precious last 15.x version...

[RDPetruska]

Like Windows XP several years back, once Microsoft stopped Supporting that OS, most other software vendors did as well.  It is a bad idea to keep an old OS connected to the internet, as no more security updates will be issued.  Microsoft has ended Windows 7 Support, and likewise will not create any security updates - so, I would not keep that computer as your daily driver, and connected to the internet.  If there is nothing physically requiring it to run as your host, why not convert it to a virtual machine, and run your software there?

[Mits2020]

Dear RDPetruska​,  thank you for your kind suggestions.

I am fully aware of the End of Support arguments and issues you mention and of course I didn't imply that VMware Inc. has any obligation to us stubborn users who stick with WIn7. However, seeing for example that you still accept questions from Win7 host users and that you don't automatically lock the respective threads in this forum using the same End of Support arguments, I thought that there was still hope that the final version of 20H2 might add support for Win7 due to popular demand (why not make a poll?).

We are fully aware that there may be some security holes left that a decent antivirus may not predict, but we are willing to take the risk and just be careful behind routers and firewalls.

It's just that us oldtimers (I started with a 486DX and Windows 3.1) for some reasons need total control of our PC and at the current stage (and the foreseeable future) Windows 10 is firmly determined to not allow it. It's a matter of principle and not just a matter of some software not supported in Win10 (not my case) and I am betting several enterprises, industries and millions of plain users currently share this approach and are very skeptical towards an 'upgrade' to Win10.

Regarding your suggestion, my plans are to have a Linux host running my current setup as a guest. This solution, apart from being more controllable and more stable, may also be faster.

[wila]

Hi,

However, seeing for example that you still accept questions from Win7 host users and that you don't automatically lock the respective threads in this forum using the same End of Support arguments

It is a users choice, we do not normally lock topics unless there's a breach of the VMware Community Participation Terms of Use

An example would be a user that tries to run macOS on VMware Workstation and asks questions about it here in the forum.

Even that is still a user's choice, but it is a breach of apple's EULA and as such it isn't compatible with the forum's legal base (which is in the US).

In the past we didn't even lock that kind of post, but it turned out that people would continue discussing this even while we told them to please not do that here.

So you can continue using your Windows 7 host and ask questions about it down here. You are welcome to ask questions.

Be prepared though that the answer likely includes some element of "it is obsolete and no longer supported" kind of answer as well alongside the normal help.

--

Wil