How to Install VMware Workstation 17 Pro on Debian 11

In this article, we will examine how to set up and use VMware Workstation 17 Pro software, which allows you to run Windows, macOS, or Linux systems virtually on a desktop or laptop computer with Debian 11 Bullseye.

How to Set Up VMware Workstation 17 to Run a Virtual Machine on Debian 11

You can create virtual machines on Debian, an excellent Linux distribution, and run Microsoft or other operating systems without restarting your computer. You can install an operating system with the dual-boot method next to your existing system installed on your host computer, but you will have to restart your PC each time during system transitions. Therefore, as a faster solution, you can install a system you want to use in a virtual machine and use it at the same time as your existing system.

If you want to run a Windows-based program related to your work on your Debian computer, you can prepare a virtual computer for Windows 10 or an older system and install a system on it.

You can choose to use one of the paid or free virtualization software on your Linux PC. However, you can get more efficiency from your work by choosing to use software that offers more advanced features. For example, you can take a snapshot of a system you set up from scratch and better configure virtual hardware settings to improve system performance.

How to Download and Install VMware Pro

You can download VMware Pro software for your Linux system both from the official website and from one of the different sources on the Internet. You can download the program from the relevant web page by visiting the website using the web browser installed on your system, or you can easily download the program to your computer by using the wget command via the terminal.

   Step 1

The extension of the VMware Pro setup file for Linux platforms is Bundle. After visiting the VMware download website, click the Download Now link in the “Workstation 17 Pro for Linux” title and save the bundle file to your computer.

You can download the bundle file from the VMware website or quickly download the Workstation program to your computer using the wget command.

cd ~/Downloads
wget https://download3.vmware.com/software/WKST-1700-LX/VMware-Workstation-Full-17.0.0-20800274.x86_64.bundleCopy

   Step 2

Execute the “sudo apt install build-essential” command in the terminal to download and install the necessary Linux GCC packages for the Workstation program.

NOTE: If you continue without installing this package, when you run the Workstation program, the VMware Kernel Module Updater window will open and you will see that the GNU C Compiler (gcc) package is not installed on your system.

In addition, if you downloaded this package to your computer as a deb package, you can specify its location and install it by clicking the Browse button. Close this window by clicking Cancel to download the GCC package via the terminal.

sudo apt install build-essential dkmsCopy

   Step 3

After downloading the VMware Workstation.bundle file to Downloads, edit the permissions of the file and then start the installation.

chmod +x VMware-Workstation-Full-17.0.0-20800274.x86_64.bundle
sudo ./VMware-Workstation-Full-17.0.0-20800274.x86_64.bundleCopy

   Step 4

When you complete the installation, click on Activities, type the name of the program in the search box, find it, and run it.

   Step 5

After installing the kernel modules, when the end user license agreement window of the VMware program opens, accept the license agreement and click Next.

NOTE: When you run the VMware program again after installing the Linux kernels, you may encounter the “Kernel Headers 5.10.0-14-amd64” error this time. To fix this problem, some packages must be installed on your system.

Open the terminal again and execute the command “cd ~/Downloads && mkdir LinuxHeaders && cd LinuxHeaders” to first go to Downloads and create a new folder in it. To save the packages, you will download them to the location you created, open the location of the folder, and download the relevant packages to your computer using the wget command.

cd ~/Downloads && mkdir LinuxHeaders && cd LinuxHeaders
wget https://the.earth.li/debian/pool/main/l/linux/linux-headers-5.10.0-14-amd64_5.10.113-1_amd64.deb | wget https://the.earth.li/debian/pool/main/l/linux/linux-kbuild-5.10_5.10.113-1_amd64.deb | wget https://the.earth.li/debian/pool/main/l/linux/linux-headers-5.10.0-14-common_5.10.113-1_all.deb | wget https://the.earth.li/debian/pool/main/l/linux/linux-compiler-gcc-10-x86_5.10.113-1_amd64.debCopy

Execute the command “sudo dpkg -i *.deb” in the terminal to install all the deb packages you have downloaded to the LinuxHeaders directory. This time, when you rerun VMware Workstation Pro, click the Install button to compile and install the Linux kernel and wait while the VMmon and VMnet kernel modules are loaded.

sudo dpkg -i *.debCopy

   Step 6

Also, accept the license agreement of the VMware OVF Tools components for Linux and click Next.

   Step 7

To check if updates are available each time you run the Workstation Pro software, select Yes on the relevant question and click Next.

   Step 8

We encourage you to support the development of the Workstation program by participating in the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). If you do not want this, you can continue the installation by selecting the No option.

   Step 9

If you have purchased the Workstation Pro virtualization software for your Debian system, you can activate the program by entering the license key in this window. If you only plan to try it for 30 days free of charge and then purchase it, select the relevant option and click the Finish button.

   Step 10

After starting VMware Workstation 17 Pro without any problems, you can check the version from the Help / About section of the tool menu.

How to Create a New Virtual Machine

After installing VMware Workstation on Debian, you can create virtual machines on your host computer and start installing an operating system of your choice.

   Step 1

After opening VMware Workstation 17 Pro, open the virtual machine wizard by clicking Create a New Virtual Machine from the options on the homepage.

   Step 2

To further configure the guest system’s settings in the new virtual machine wizard, tick Custom (Advanced) and click Next.

   Step 3

Leave the virtual machine hardware compatibility settings at the default value and continue.

   Step 4

You can insert the CD/DVD media of the operating system you want to install into your host PC, select your drive from the Use a Physical Drive option from this window, and perform the system setup from your host DVD drive.

If you have the ISO file of the installation media, you can add the file from this screen and have some settings created automatically. However, to prepare a more advanced virtual computer, check I will install the operating system later and click Next.

   Step 5

In the Guest operating system selection window, first select the system platform and view the settings in the version section. If you are going to install a Windows 10 virtual computer, select the version setting as “Windows 10 x64” and click Next.

   Step 6

Type the name of the Windows operating system, configure where you want to save on your host disk, and click Next.

   Step 7

Set the Firmware type of your Windows 10 guest system to UEFI / Secure Boot and continue.

   Step 8

Set an appropriate number of virtual cores according to the hardware specifications of your Debian PC.

   Step 9

Likewise, set a suitable virtual memory size for your virtual system to work efficiently.

   Step 10

Confirm to use the Network Address Translation (NAT) adapter selected by default for the virtual computer’s network settings and continue.

   Step 11

Confirm the use of LSI Logic SAS with the default selected I/O Controller type for the virtual disk and continue.

   Step 12

Set the type of virtual disk you will create for Windows 10 to NVMe.

   Step 13

Since you will install a clean Windows operating system, select the Create a New Virtual Disk option at this stage and click Next.

   Step 14

Set the virtual disk size of the guest system, select backup as the only file type, and then click Next.

   Step 15

Continue without changing the location of the Windows 10 x64.vmdk virtual disk file.

   Step 16

Check the configuration information of the virtual hardware of the Windows 10 VM you have prepared and click Finish.

   Step 17

After installing the Windows 10 guest system, click Close on the window informing you that you need to install VMware Tools.

   Step 18

Click Edit Virtual Machine Settings to configure the virtual hardware settings of your Windows 10 guest machine better or add an ISO file.

   Step 19

After selecting Processors from the virtual hardware settings, enable all the features under Virtualization Engine.

• Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI
• Virtualize CPU Performance Counters
• Virtualize IOMMU (IO Memory Management Unit)

   Step 20

To add an ISO file to a Windows 10 VM, mark the CD/DVD (SATA) device, then select Use ISO Image from the Connection setting and click the Browse button. Then, select and open a Windows 10 ISO file that you downloaded to your computer.

   Step 21

If you want to use your USB 3.0/3.1 devices on your Windows 10 guest machine, change the Compatibility setting to 3.1 in the USB Controller settings and close the settings window.

   Step 22

Finally, click Start up this guest operating system to begin the operating system installation.

   Step 23

When you boot the guest system with the ISO file, the Windows 10 setup wizard will open as in the image below.

How to Delete the Virtual Machine

You don’t need to use the terminal when you want to delete a virtual machine you are using on your Debian PC. In the Workstation program, you can completely delete the related VM from your disk from the virtual machine library.

Open Workstation Pro and check the virtual systems you have installed from the left panel. After right-clicking on the guest operating system you want to delete, click on the Manage / Delete from Disk option and click Yes to confirm deleting the files of the virtual machine in the Question window.

After deleting the virtual machine from your disk, go to the location you have installed and check if the folder exists.

How to Uninstall VMware Workstation

If you want to remove the VMware Workstation program from your Linux computer, you can do this quickly with the terminal.

Open the terminal on your host system and execute the “vmware-installer –list-products” command to check installed VMware products.

vmware-installer --list-productsCopy

After checking the software installed on your system, execute the “sudo vmware-installer -u vmware-workstation” command in the terminal to uninstall VMware Workstation.

sudo vmware-installer -u vmware-workstationCopy

   Video

Installing Old Versions

Conclusion

All in all, VMware Workstation 17 Pro offers a powerful solution over Debian 11 Bullseye. You can also efficiently run virtual machines by following the steps outlined in this article. However, you can use different operating systems without restarting your main computer.

Additionally, the advanced features of VMware Workstation increase productivity. It also expands the possibility of using various operating systems on a single machine. As a result, it offers a flexible approach to virtualization.