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Host System Requirements Host System Requirements
What do you need to get the most out of VMware Workstation 5? Take the following list of requirements as a starting point. Remember that the virtual machines running under VMware Workstation are like physical computers in many ways—and, like physical computers, they generally perform better if they have faster processors and more memory.
  • PC Hardware
  • Memory
  • Display
  • Disk Drives
  • Local Area Networking (Optional)
  • Host Operating System
  • PC Hardware
  • Standard x86-compatible personal computer
  • 500MHz or faster CPU (recommended; 400MHz minimum)
  • Compatible processors include
  • Intel®: Celeron®, Pentium® II, Pentium III, Pentium 4, Pentium M (including computers with Centrino™ mobile technology), Xeon™ (including "Prestonia")
  • AMD™: Athlon™, Athlon MP, Athlon XP, Duron™, Opteron™,
  • Experimental support for AMD Sempron™
  • For additional information, including notes on processors that are not compatible, see the VMware knowledge base at www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=967.
  • Multiprocessor systems supported
  • 64-bit processor support for AMD64 Opteron, Athlon 64 and Intel IA-32e CPU (including "Nocona")
  • Memory
  • Enough memory to run the host operating system, plus memory required for each guest operating system and for applications on the host and guest; see your guest operating system and application documentation for their memory requirements
  • 256MB recommended, 128MB minimum
  • Display
  • 16-bit display adapter recommended; greater than 8-bit display adapter required
  • Linux hosts must have an X server that meets the X11R6 specification (such as XFree86) and a video adapter supported by that server to run guest operating systems in full screen mode
  • Disk Drives
  • 100MB (for Windows hosts), 20MB (for Linux hosts) free space required for basic installation
  • At least 1GB free disk space recommended for each guest operating system and the application software used with it; if you use a default setup, the actual disk space needs are approximately the same as those for installing and running the guest operating system and applications on a physical computer
  • IDE or SCSI hard drives, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives supported
  • Guest operating systems can reside on physical disk partitions or in virtual disk files
  • Local Area Networking (Optional)
  • Any Ethernet controller supported by the host operating system
  • Non-Ethernet networks supported using built-in network address translation (NAT) or using a combination of host-only networking plus routing software on the host operating system
  • Host Operating System
    VMware Workstation is available for both Windows and Linux host operating systems.
    Windows Host Operating Systems (32-bit)
  • Windows Server 2003 Web Edition, Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
  • Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 or 2 (listed versions also supported with no service pack)
  • Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 3 or 4, Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 3 or 4, Windows 2000 Advanced Server Service Pack 3 or 4 (listed versions also supported with no service pack)
  • Windows Host Operating Systems (64-bit)
  • Windows Server 2003 (Beta 64-bit edition)
  • Experimental support for pre-release Windows XP (64-bit edition).
  • Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher is required for the Windows online help system.
    Linux Host Operating Systems
    Supported distributions and kernels are listed below. VMware Workstation may not run on systems that do not meet these requirements.
    Note: As newer Linux kernels and distributions are released, VMware modifies and tests its products for stability and reliability on those host platforms. We make every effort to add support for new kernels and distributions in a timely manner, but until a kernel or distribution is added to the list below, its use with our products is not supported. Look for newer prebuilt modules in the download area of our Web site. Go to www.vmware.com/download/.
  • Now supporting many 2.6 kernels
  • Mandrake Linux 10
  • Mandrake Linux 9.0—stock 2.4.19
  • RHEL AS/ES/WS 4.0—32-bit (experimental), 64-bit (experimental)
  • RHEL AS/ES/WS 3.0—stock 2.4.21, update 2.4.21-15.EL, 64-bit
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1—stock 2.4.9-e3
  • Red Hat Linux Advanced Server 2.1—stock 2.4.9-e3
  • Red Hat Linux 9.0—stock 2.4.20-8, upgrade 2.4.20-20.9
  • Red Hat Linux 8.0—stock 2.4.18
  • Red Hat Linux 7.3—stock 2.4.18
  • Red Hat Linux 7.2—stock 2.4.7-10, upgrade 2.4.9-7, upgrade 2.4.9-13, upgrade 2.4.9-21, upgrade 2.4.9-31
  • SuSE Linux 9.1—stock 2.6.4-52
  • SuSE Linux 9.0—stock 2.4.21-99
  • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.0—32-bit, 64-bit, SP1(listed versions also supported with no service pack)
  • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8—stock 2.4.19, 64-bit
  • SuSE Linux 8.2—stock 2.4.20
  • SuSE Linux 8.1—stock 2.4.19
  • SuSE Linux 8.0—stock 2.4.18
  • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7—stock 2.4.7 and patch 2
  • SuSE Linux 7.3—stock 2.4.10
  • Platforms not listed above are not supported.
    A Web browser is required for the Help system.


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