Overview
A virtual machine is a whole computer running as a window on your desktop, with its own disk, its own network connection and its own operating system that has no idea it is not real. That is useful for a long list of reasons: testing something you do not want on your actual machine, running an old application that needs an old system, keeping a work environment separate from a personal one, learning something where the likely outcome is breaking it.
Workstation Pro is the desktop version of a hypervisor that has been running production servers for two decades, and the maturity shows in the details rather than the headline. This build has the licensing applied, so there is no key entry, no thirty day counter and no restriction on snapshots, clones or the number of guests you run at once.
Snapshots and clones
A snapshot records the entire state of a virtual machine, including its memory, and returns to it instantly. That single feature is why testing happens in virtual machines: install something questionable, watch what it does, roll back to before it existed. Snapshots form a tree rather than a line, so you can branch, try two approaches from the same starting point, and compare.
Cloning duplicates a machine, either as a full independent copy or as a linked clone that shares the parent's disk and stores only the differences. Linked clones are how you get ten test machines out of one base install without ten times the disk usage, and they start in seconds because there is nothing to copy.
Networking, hardware and performance
The virtual network editor builds whatever topology you need: guests bridged directly onto the real network, sharing the host address through translation, or on isolated segments with no route out at all. Several segments can exist at once, which is how a multi machine environment with a server, a client and a firewall between them gets built on one computer.
Guests get accelerated graphics with three dimensional support, which is enough for a desktop environment and light applications rather than for games. Processor virtualisation extensions can be passed through so a guest can itself run virtual machines, and USB devices, printers and folders on the host can be attached directly to a guest.
Guests, tools and moving machines around
The supported guest list is very long and covers current and ancient releases of the major systems alike, which is the point when the reason for the machine is an application that stopped being supported years ago. The guest tools package installs inside each machine and provides the drivers, the shared clipboard, drag and drop between host and guest, and proper display resizing.
Machines are folders of files, so they move between computers by copying, and they can be exported to the open virtualisation format for use in other products. An existing physical machine can also be converted into a guest, which is the usual route for retiring old hardware that still has to be reachable.
What you get
- Full desktop hypervisor with no limit on concurrent guests
- Snapshots including memory state, arranged as a branching tree
- Full and linked cloning, with linked clones sharing the parent disk
- Virtual network editor with bridged, translated and isolated segments
- Accelerated graphics with three dimensional support in guests
- Nested virtualisation so a guest can run its own virtual machines
- USB, printer and host folder attachment into guests
- Guest tools with shared clipboard, drag and drop and display resizing
- Export to the open virtualisation format and physical machine conversion
Inside the archive
- Workstation Pro installer
- Guest tools packages for the supported guest systems
- Virtual network editor component
- Notes on enabling processor virtualisation in firmware
- Notes on nested virtualisation setup
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 10 version 22H2 or Windows 11, 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Processor | 64-bit with virtualisation extensions enabled in firmware |
| Memory | 8 GB minimum, 16 GB or more since guests need their own |
| Graphics | DirectX 11 capable for accelerated guest graphics |
| Storage | 2 GB for the program, plus a great deal for guest disks |
| Firmware | Virtualisation extensions must be enabled before install |
Installing it
- Enable virtualisation extensions in the machine firmware first. Nothing works without this.
- If the Windows hypervisor platform is enabled, decide which you want. Running both degrades performance considerably.
- Suspend real time protection and run the installer as administrator.
- Restart when prompted. The network components need it.
- Create a guest, install the guest tools inside it, and take a snapshot before doing anything else to it.
Mirrors
| Route | Region | Note | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct, primary | Europe | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Direct, secondary | North America | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Torrent magnet | Global | Optional at this size | Online |
Release history
- Accelerated graphics path updated for current host drivers
- Fixed linked clones failing to start after a parent snapshot is deleted
- USB attachment reworked for devices that renumerate on connection
- Nested virtualisation stability improved on recent processors
- Virtual network editor rewritten for segments above sixteen networks
- Guest tools updated for the current guest system releases
- Reduced host memory overhead per running guest
Questions about this release
Why will no guest start?
Virtualisation extensions are almost certainly disabled in the machine firmware. Enable them and restart. This is the cause of the large majority of failures.
Can I run it alongside the Windows hypervisor?
Technically yes on recent versions, but performance suffers noticeably. Pick one.
Is there a snapshot or guest limit?
No. Snapshots, clones and concurrent guests are all unrestricted in this build.
Can I move a machine to another computer?
Yes. A virtual machine is a folder of files. Copy it, or export to the open format for another product.
Comments
Had to turn on virtualisation in the BIOS first, as the notes say. After that everything worked immediately.
Snapshot tree is the reason I use this over the free options. Branch, test, roll back, repeat.
Comments are read before they appear. If a build stops working, say so here and it gets rebuilt rather than quietly left up.
Six linked clones off one base install, all running at once. Disk usage barely moved. No key entry anywhere.