Desktop Hypervisor Products
Workstation for Windows and Linux
Industry Defining Desktop Hypervisor for Windows and Linux used by IT Professionals and Developers worldwide. Now with OCI containers and Kubernetes support.
Fusion for Mac
Simply Powerful macOS Desktop Hypervisor App for Mac. Run Windows, macOS or Linux virtual desktops, or build and run OCI containers and Kubernetes clusters.
Desktop Hypervisor Tools
With more than 20 years of virtualization excellence and over 50 industry awards, VMware aims to provide the most stable and secure local desktop virtualization platform in the industry.
IT Pros
Run virtual machines, containers and Kubernetes clusters that are compatible with your corporate data center, right from your laptop with Fusion and Workstation. Deploy and demo or learn software defined data center environments offline and on the go. Quickly perform management tasks when connected to remote vSphere or ESXi environments. Workstation Pro also supports innovative network design software to quickly stand up networking test lab environments for everything from learning about network fundamentals or performing penetration and security testing.
Businesses
Add a new level of security to your fleet of productivity software users by providing a secured sandbox to run secondary Operating Systems designed for any kind of use case. From App Developers to Corporate Executives, the security barrier of the VMware Desktop Hypervisor delivers an incredibly effective enclave for safely running apps of any kind.
Developers
Create and test multiple operating systems and browser compatibility to build cross-platform or cloud-scale apps from your desktop with Fusion and Workstation. Whether you’re developing for iOS, Android or Linux; building Windows apps on a Mac; or simulating cloud-scale, container orchestration platform like Kubernetes, VMware helps you build amazing software for just about any platform on the planet.
What’s New
Learn about the latest features in Workstation 17 and Fusion 13 and order today.
What’s New
Learn about the latest features in Workstation 17 and Fusion 13 and order today.
Updated OS Support
Workstation 17 now supports Windows 11, including Hyper-V mode compatibility and WSL2, as well as supporting new releases of the most popular Linux distributions such as Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu and more.
Containers and Kubernetes Clusters
Workstation 17 Pro and Player both provide the vctl CLI for building and running OCI containers and Kubernetes clusters. Supports thousands of pre-built container images, as well as building custom images from standard Dockerfiles.
Graphics Engine Enhancements
Workstation 17 now provides a DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.3 compliant virtual graphics device to Windows virtual machines, adding new compatibility for hundreds of apps and games. Linux hosts can also use Intel Integrated GPUs with our Vulkan rendering engine, delivering DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.3 to VMs without needing more a powerful discrete GPU.
vSphere 8 Compatibility
Workstation has been updated with compatibility for vSphere 8, including virtual machine hardware and remote ESXi and vCenter Server connections.
Fusion for Apple Silicon
Fusion now supports running Arm64 virtual machines, including Windows 11 for Arm, on Apple Silicon Macs.
With support for both Apple Silicon and Intel, Fusion ships a single, Universal DMG that will function natively on both platforms.
Containers and Kubernetes
Fusion 13 provides the vctl CLI for building and running OCI containers and Kubernetes clusters. Supports thousands of pre-built container images, as well as building custom images from standard Dockerfiles.
Ready for Ventura
Fusion 13 Pro and Player support macOS 13 Ventura as well as macOS 11 Monterey
Windows 11 Support
Fusion 13 supports Windows 11 on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. On Apple Silicon, users can install the Arm edition of Windows 11 to run native Arm apps or x86 apps using the built-in emulator.
Fusion also includes a new virtual trusted platform module and fast encryption to meet Windows 11 requirements.
Compare Desktop Hypervisor Products
Quickly compare features and choose the version that’s right for you.
General |
WS Player |
Fusion Player |
WS Pro |
Fusion Pro |
| Create New VMs | • |
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| Create Large VMs (32CPU, 128GB RAM) | • |
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| Convert PC into a virtual machine | • |
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| Mass Deployment | • |
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Host Guest Integration |
WS Player |
Fusion Player |
WS Pro |
Fusion Pro |
Host/Guest File Sharing |
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Shared/Mirrored Folders |
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| One-Click SSH to Linux VM | • |
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| Run VMs with Different View Modes | • |
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| Unity View Mode (Windows guests only) | • |
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Graphics |
WS Player |
Fusion Player |
WS Pro |
Fusion Pro |
| 3D graphics with DX11 and OpenGL 4.3 support | • |
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| Large Graphics Memory: 8GB | • |
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Device Support |
WS Player |
Fusion Player |
WS Pro |
Fusion Pro |
| 4K / 5K / Retina Display Support | • |
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| Support a Wide Range of Virtual Devices | • |
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| USB Smart Card Reader Support | • |
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| USB 3.1 Device Support | • |
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| Assistive Device Support (Section 508 Compliant) | • |
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| Multi-Language Keyboard Support | • |
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| Virtual Trusted Platform Module Device | • |
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| Virtual NVMe Device | • |
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Security Features |
WS Player |
Fusion Player |
WS Pro |
Fusion Pro |
| Microsoft Virtualization Based Security (Guest) Support | • |
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| Full and Fast Encryption |
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| UEFI Boot Support | • |
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| UEFI Secure Boot Support | • |
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| GPU Sandbox Renderer | • |
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| Snapshots | • |
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| Create/Manage Encrypted VM | • |
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Host Operating Systems |
WS Player |
Fusion Player |
WS Pro |
Fusion Pro |
| Windows 10, Windows 11 Host |
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| Linux - Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, Fedora, RHEL, SUSE, openSUSE | • |
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| macOS 12 and greater |
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Guest Operating Systems |
WS Player |
Fusion Player |
WS Pro |
Fusion Pro |
| Over 200 Supported OSs (Linux, older Windows, BSD) | • |
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| Windows 10 or Windows 11 Guests |
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| macOS Guests *Intel Only |
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Mac Host Specific Features |
WS Player |
Fusion Player |
WS Pro |
Fusion Pro |
| macOS 12 Host support | • |
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| macOS Guest Support *Intel Only |
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| Windows apps in the Mac Dock *Intel Only |
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| One-Click SSH to Linux VM | • |
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| Metal Graphics Engine | • |
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| BootCamp Import / Launch *Intel Only |
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| Application Menu | • |
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Windows Host Specific Features |
WS Player |
Fusion Player |
WS Pro |
Fusion Pro |
| Windows 10 or 11 Hosts | • |
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| DX12 Rendering Engine | • |
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| Hyper-V Mode Support (Device Guard, WSL) | • |
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Linux Host Specific Features |
WS Player |
Fusion Player |
WS Pro |
Fusion Pro |
| Vulkan Rendering Engine | • |
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| Host Support - Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, Fedora, RHEL, SUSE, openSUSE | • |
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Advanced Features |
WS Player |
Fusion Player |
WS Pro |
Fusion Pro |
| Command Line Operation: vmrun and VIX | • |
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| vCenter Server Appliance Easy Deploy | • |
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| REST API | • |
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| vctl container CLI | • |
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| Virtual Network Customization (NAT, network rename) | • |
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| Virtual Network Simulation (Packet Loss, Latency, Bandwidth) | • |
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| Connect to vSphere/ESXi Server | • |
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| Remote vSphere Host Power Control | • |
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| Create Linked Clones | • |
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| Create Full Clones | • |
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| Encrypt VMs | • |
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Licensing |
WS Player |
Fusion Player |
WS Pro |
Fusion Pro |
| Free for Personal Use | • |
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| Commercial License | • |
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| Trial License | • |
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