VMware workstation – Freelancers must have

• 09 April, 2019
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Someone will ask: “Why do you need a VMware workstation? In a moment everything will be clear 🙂 . In the previous post, I showed you how to set up a VPN connection to your home. Today you will see why. To start, a few words of introduction. I have used VMware workstation for many years, probably from version 6.0 and I would never have changed it for anything else. At one time I tried to use Hyper-V, but after trying to configure a network I gave up.

What is VMware workstation?

Without entering into unnecessary technical details, this solution gives us the opportunity to create virtual machines, or let’s say that it allows you to run the computer on the computer :).

If interested, you should read more at VMware or Wikipedia pages. It is worth saying there’s something called VMware workstation player, which is significantly reduced compared to the full version. As we want to create and manage our machines it will not be useful for us. I remember the time when the virtualization option was something absolutely new and used by the huge corporation only. And it cost millions. Today I think that for many people, especially IT guys, it is a basic work tool. I honestly can not imagine working without virtual machines.

Why you should start using VMware workstation?

Well, there is a lot of reasons for me:

• We do not make garbage in the computer – if you are a programmer or an administrator, for example, you can do tests or updates withouta worrying about reinstalling the entire operating system
• In reference to the previous point. Snapshot! This is something amazing, how it is done. In a simple simplification with a few clicks, you can go back between different versions of the same system. How? First, we do a Snapshot. Then We do a test… Does not work? We are back to the state before the test. You do not even know how many times it saved my life
• Cloning. Instead of installing a new system from scratch, we can use the existing version of the system as a starting point
• Separate system versions for each client with whom we work
• if you have sufficiently strong hardware, you can run several virtual machines simultaneously. Believe me on my PC I have a real SharePoint 2016 farm
• And the main reason for today’s article. Shared VMs
• And many others. Believe me, I tried other Hypervisors and there is nothing better for me!

Shared VMs

Well, it’s time to explain why this functionality is so useful from the point of view of a person working remotely or a freelancer. Well, each virtual machine can be converted to a shared virtual machine. The whole operation is trivial. We mark the virtual machine that we want to convert, go to Manage, and then press Share.

Okay, but why we need all those things? Well, when a virtual machine is shared, you can log in remotely from another computer using another instance of VMware workstation, without having to log in to the host system or use RDP, as the application works in the service mode. This is very convenient because, for example, you log on remotely to the host via RDP, and then to the virtual machine there are often problems with the resolution. What’s more, at the same time another person can work on the computer without even seeing that we are also working.

Why we need all those things???

if for someone the answer is not obvious, I am explaining it. Imagine that you are traveling with a light laptop and no hardware frenzy. I write the client that he needs something from yesterday, but this job requires a lot of hardware resources. Zero problems.

• You start a VPN and connect to the home network
• Using WakeOn LAN, you’ll wake up the computer you have at home
• You run VMware on the computer you are traveling with
• You connect to a PC at home with a virtual machine that is dedicated to the client

It’s simple, isn’t it? I recommend trying. I use it non-stop and I can not imagine working without it!