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Kendor
Asked: 2013-10-20 15:45:13 +0800 CST

Is it possible to run multiple VMware guests Using Free VMware Player?

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I have a couple of premade Win2k3 VMs that I need to use for some application testing that need to be run at the same time on the same machine. I'm running 13.04 Desktop and do this often with VirtualBox, whereby I run multiple instances at the same time.

I assumed that I could do the same with VMWare Player (I have version 6), but quickly noticed that by default it only allows me to run one instance.

Is there a way to run multiple guests at the same time from Player? I do have an eSXI server that I normally might use, but I need to be portable and it would be preferable to just have these run at the same time...

vmware

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Unlike VirtualBox, by default with VMware Player if one tries to launch a second instance (e.g. another machine that you want to run at the same time), the original running machine comes into focus and one doesn't get to the 'library" list. One never is able to get back to interface in 'home' state where you can choose the machine while a machine is running. After some experimentation, I did discover that one can do an ALT+F2 and type in "vmplayer" and get to the machine picker mode... from there, one can indeed run another machine... I think I just need to create launchers specific to my machines....

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  2. Since the latest VirtualBox was having visual issues with Ubuntu 14.10 (At least until a new virtualbox comes out), I used VMWare PLayer to practice some Server-Client stuff. Since I needed at least 2 Guests, the way I opened multiple VMs with VMWare was to simply middle click the VMWare icon on the Launcher or simply open another VMWare in dash.

    This is the same mouse button which closes browser tabs or opens Chrome/Firefox links in another tab. In my case it is the scroll wheel button.

    From there I used a different VM since opening the same VM on different VMWare players can create a problem. Here is an image of how it looks right now:

    enter image description here

    A couple of tips regarding this:

    • VMWare Player does NOT come with an easy to use multiple VM management window for simultaneous VMs. It only has the main window where it offers which VM you want to run and that's it. You have to open one VMWare Player for each VM. Big difference when compared to VirtualBox for example where the main window stays independent of how many VMs you end up running (I have tested at least 8 VMs at the same time). So you need to open an additional VMWare Player for each VM you wish to run.

    • Doing CTRL+ALT to escape a VM sometimes will make the Ubuntu HUD appear on the host. To make this less annoying, do the key combination backwards, like ALT+CTRL

    • Make sure that no VM is sharing any resource with another VM (Like a HDD, CDROM or Webcam), because they might have issues, especially if it is the same Virtual HDD they are sharing.

    • As a comparison I did between VirtualBox and VMWare in Ubuntu Discourse the more VMWare Players you have, the more blood sucking cpu/memory draining VMs you will have as shown in the image below:

      enter image description here

      I am currently running only 3 VMs, two are assigned 2GB of RAM and one 4 GB. So if you are running one VM, you can easily choose between VirtualBox or VMWare Player, but if you are looking into creating a virtual network on guest VMs, VMWare Player would not be recommended over VirtualBox. In my particular case, I would rather wait until VirtualBox has correct support for Ubuntu 14.10 than having to stay with VMWare Player.

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  3. VMware Player runs virtual machines in a separate window. VMware Player includes features that enable users to create and configure their own virtual machines for optimal performance and access any devices connected to their PC.

    Use VMware Player to create virtual machines with the latest 32-bit and 64-bit Windows and Linux operating systems. With Easy Install it’s easier than installing them directly on your PC.

    VMware Player can be used by anyone to run virtual machines on a Windows or Linux PC. VMware Player makes it quick and easy to take advantage of the security, flexibility, and portability of virtual machines.VMware Player

    Yes its possible to run multiple OS's with it at the same time. I have XUbunutu 13.10 running as host, with Windows 8, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 12.04, and Fedora 20.

    Also you may take a look at Run Multiple Operating Systems At Once With VMware Player for more info.

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  4. Based on this answer to my only slightly related question, it seems like it should be possible, but only with VMware Workstation.

    While I asked about running identical VMs simultaneously, the answer indicates that VMware Player requires an extension of some kind called Workstation in order to run multiple guests on the same host.

    I wish I could be more helpful, but this might at least get you close ;-)

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