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Product Overview
Thank you for choosing VMwareŽ Workstation, the powerful virtual machine software for enterprise IT professionals.

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Run the operating systems and applications you need — all on a single desktop
Powerful Virtual Machine Software for the Technical Professional
VMware Workstation is desktop software for developers and IT professionals that allows you to run multiple x86-based desktop and server operating systems simultaneously on a single PC, in fully networked, portable virtual machines — with no rebooting or hard drive partitioning required.
With VMware Workstation, you spend less time procuring and configuring, and more time testing and deploying. Over three million software development, quality assurance, and IT professionals worldwide find VMware Workstation an indispensable tool.
Key benefits include:
•   Run multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single physical machine — VMware Workstation is desktop software for software developers and IT professionals that allows a single PC to simultaneously run multiple x86-based operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and NetWare, and their applications in fully networked, portable virtual machines - without rebooting or hard drive partitioning. The result is reduced hardware expenditures and quicker access to different computing environments. Additionally, VMware Workstation lets users avoid platform lock-in and preserve the freedom and flexibility to deploy the most appropriate platforms for their needs.
•   Revolutionize software development and testing — VMware Workstation streamlines software development and testing by letting users create multiple development and testing environments as virtual machines on a single PC. Developers can create a library of virtual machines and use them to easily develop and test applications on multiple operating systems, or to quickly create and test "real-world" multi-tier configurations or virtual networks. Developers can also use the multiple snapshot capabilities of Workstation to capture and manage point-in-time configurations to facilitate debugging and give a developer the ability to easily revert back to stable configurations should an error occur during testing. VMware Workstation enables developers to reduce configuration and set-up time, and instead focus on development and testing.
•   Enhance productivity of enterprise IT professionals — VMware Workstation allows system administrators, system engineers, and other enterprise IT professionals to create and test multiple computing environments as virtual machines on a single PC prior to deploying these environments on physical PCs or servers in a production environment. This dramatically reduces hardware costs and the time and risk associated with IT tasks such as deploying new applications, application updates, and operating system patches. Additionally, IT help desk departments can create a virtual library of corporate desktop and server configurations that they can quickly access and manipulate (and then "undo" if necessary), thereby improving their responsiveness and effectiveness when troubleshooting end-user problems.
•   Facilitate team collaboration — VMware Workstation lets users easily collaborate with their colleagues and share virtual machines. Once a computing environment — OS, associated applications, disk images, memory, etc. — has been turned into a virtual machine, it becomes a set of hardware-independent, encapsulated files that are highly portable and can be shared with any other Workstation user. A virtual machine can be placed on a shared drive where others can quickly access and upload it. Features in Workstation such as linked clones and video capture further facilitate team collaboration.
•   Introduce Virtual Infrastructure to your enterprise — Virtual machines created in Workstation can be deployed to the other desktop and server virtualization platforms offered by VMware. Introducing VMware Workstation virtualization to the desktop is an ideal first step to transforming your physical IT infrastructure into virtual infrastructure.
VMware Workstation Is Ideal for:
•   Streamlining software development and testing
•   Enhancing enterprise IT productivity
•   Facilitating team collaboration among software developers and IT professionals
•   Help desk and technical support
•   Computer-based training and software sales demos
•   Reducing hardware costs
Revision: 20050913 Version:5.5 Item:WS-ENG-Q305-137
Overview of This Manual
If you're a veteran user of VMware products, take a few minutes to see What's New in Version 5, and check out Upgrading VMware Workstation.
If you're new to VMware Workstation, this is the place to start.
•   The first chapters of this manual — through Running VMware Workstation — introduce you to some of the things you can do with VMware Workstation and guide you through the key steps for installing the software and putting it to work.
•   Later chapters provide in-depth reference material for getting the most out of the sophisticated features of VMware Workstation.
About the Host and Guest Computers
The terms host and guest describe your physical and virtual machines:
•   The physical computer on which you install the VMware Workstation software is called the host computer, and its operating system is called the host operating system.
•   The operating system running inside a virtual machine is called a guest operating system.
•   For definitions of these and other special terms, see Glossary.

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