VMWare Player vs VMWare Workstation - what's the difference?

[lhardwood]

I set up a laptop running Linux Mint and then download the VMWare Workstation Bundle.  I then had two programs in my menu - VMWare Player and VMWare Workstation.

I went into VMWare Player (VM Workstation 15 Player) and created a Windows 10 virtual machine.  Fine - no problem.  After shutting down the virtual machine and then going back into VMWare Player, if I click on Open A Virtual Machine and then browse to the .vmx file in my home directory, nothing opens.

If I go into VMWare Workstation (Workstation 15 Pro) and click on the virtual machine under My Computer, it starts normally and can be used.

I'm sure the issue here is that I don't understand the difference between Player and Workstation, but I haven't been able to figure out on my own what that difference is.

Thanks.

[bluefirestorm · Accepted solution]

See this link for the comparison

https://www.vmware.com/products/workstation-pro.html#compare

Apart from that, VMware Workstation Player has a free for non-commercial use licence.

When you buy Workstation Pro, the Workstation Player still gets installed but given the features, chances are you will stick with the Workstation Pro UI.

I can only guess the Workstation Player is installed from the Workstation Pro bundle so that people can evaluate between the two if they haven't bought any licence yet.

[diegodco31]

Hi

Check if the following article helps:

Windows VM | VMware Workstation Pro

http://www.vmwarearena.com/comparision-between-vmware-workstation-pro-and-vmware-workstation-player/

[lhardwood]

Thank you, that is a tremendous help.@