How to Install VMware Workstation 17 on Linux Mint 21

In this article, we will examine how to set up and use VMware Workstation 17 Pro in Linux Mint 21 Vanessa distribution, which allows you to create a virtual machine and run either Windows or Linux systems on your computer without dual-boot.

How to Set Up and Use VMware Workstation 17 Pro on Linux Mint 21 Vanessa

VMware Workstation Pro is the most popular virtualization program for setting up and running virtual machines on your computer. You can use VMware Workstation for free for 30 days and then purchase it.

You can easily install VMware Workstation software on Windows and Linux-based operating systems. By creating new virtual machines, you can install operating systems such as Windows, Linux, Solaris, or macOS on your physical computer.

In Windows operating systems, the setup file extension of a program is usually exe, while in Linux systems you can see file extensions such as bundle. The setup file extension of the VMware program for Linux distributions is also published as a bundle.

How to Download and Install VMware Workstation

We recommend installing Workstation Pro, the paid and professional version of the VMware program on your Linux Mint computer. If you want, you can consider purchasing it after the 30-day trial period or continue using the Player version for free.

   Step 1

To download the VMware program, view the official website from the link here and then click the Download button in the “Workstation 17 Pro for Linux” section as in the image below.

Instead of downloading the Workstation software manually, you can perform this process faster by executing the commands below in the terminal.

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

   Step 2

After installing VMware Workstation, execute the “sudo apt install build-essential” command in the terminal to install the dependent packages required for the virtualization software.

sudo apt install build-essential dkmsCopy

   Step 3

After downloading the Workstation.bundle file to your computer, open the terminal by pressing the CTRL + Alt + T keys together and execute the “sudo apt update” and “sudo apt upgrade” commands to update your system before installation.

After updating your Linux Mint system, execute the “cd ~/Downloads/” command to go to the location where you downloaded the bundle file and view the contents of the Downloads directory with the “ls” command.

To make the bundle file executable, first, execute the chmod command and then “sudo ./filename.bundle” to 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

After installing additional packages for VMware, run the program from the applications.

   Step 5

When the Welcome window opens, accept the license agreement of the Workstation program and click Next.

   Step 6

Also, accept the “VMware OVF Tool Component for Linux” license agreement and click Next.

   Step 7

Enable checking for new versions every time you run VMware Workstation and click Next.

   Step 8

By participating in the VMware Customer Experience Improvement (CEIP) program, you can help fix bugs and improve the user experience. If you don’t want to join CEIP, you can choose No.

   Step 9

If you have purchased the VMware software, you can enter your license key from this screen. If you prefer to use the program with a 30-day trial period, select the option below and click Finish.

When the Authenticate window opens, type your Linux Mint user account password and continue.

   Step 10

After installing VMware Workstation 17 Pro, you can check the version in Help / About.

How to Create a New Virtual Machine

After installing VMware Workstation on Linux Mint, you can start creating a new virtual machine. You can easily run a second OS on your host system by installing Windows or one of the other operating systems on the VM you created.

   Step 1

Open the wizard by clicking Create a New Virtual Machine on the main screen of VMware Pro.

   Step 2

Check Custom (Advanced) and click Next to make more advanced settings in the virtual machine configuration wizard.

   Step 3

By default, the hardware version of the virtual machine is configured with the latest version of the Workstation software. If you plan to install one of the older Windows systems, don’t forget to change the hardware compatibility version.

Since Windows 10 is an up-to-date operating system, configure the hardware version as the latest.

   Step 4

Since you will be installing Windows 10, select “I will install the operating system later” and click Next to continue configuring more advanced settings.

   Step 5

Select Microsoft Windows for the platform of the guest operating system that will run on the virtual computer and choose the version “Windows 10 x64”.

   Step 6

You can choose to install Windows 10 in the default location or you can install it in another location. You can change the default location where the virtual machine will be installed from Edit / Preferences.

   Step 7

Configure the firmware type of the Windows 10 VM as UEFI / Secure Boot.

   Step 8

Configure the number of processors and cores according to the processor characteristics of your host computer. The processor settings here are configured to run the VM at its minimum.

   Step 9

For Windows 10 VM, configure the virtual memory size to a suitable value according to the RAM capacity of your host computer.

   Step 10

Select the NAT adapter type for the network connection of the virtual machine.

   Step 11

Select the recommended LSI Logic SAS as the I/O controller type.

   Step 12

For the virtual disk type, select the NVMe type, which is faster than other disk types.

   Step 13

Choose to create a new virtual disk as you will be installing a clean Windows operating system.

   Step 14

Configure the size of the virtual disk and choose to backup the disk file as the only file type on your computer.

   Step 15

Continue without changing the name and location of the Windows 10 virtual disk file.

   Step 16

After configuring the guest operating system, check the settings you have made in the summary window and click Finish.

   Step 17

After preparing the virtual computer, close the window that tells you to install the guest operating system and VMware Tools.

   Step 18

Click Edit Virtual Machine Settings to further configure the virtual machine.

   Step 19

After selecting the processors from the hardware area, select 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 a Windows 10 ISO file to the virtual machine, select the CD/DVD hardware and then enable the Use ISO Image option and click the Browse button to specify the location of the file.

Go to the location where you downloaded the installation media and select the Windows 10 ISO file and open it.

   Step 21

In order to use your USB 3.x storage devices in your Windows 10 virtual system, change the Compatibility setting to USB 3.1 from the settings of the USB Controller.

   Step 22

Run the virtual machine to start installing Windows 10.

   Step 23

On your Linux computer, you can now install the Windows 10 system in your VMware virtualization software.

How to Delete the Virtual Machine

If for some reason you want to completely delete the virtual machines you have installed from your computer, you can easily delete all the files of the relevant VM both from the library of the Workstation program and from your host disk.

You can see your virtual systems installed from the Library section of VMware Workstation. Right-click on your guest system in the Library section, click Manage / Delete from Disk, and then click Yes to confirm the deletion in the Question window.

Finally, go to the location where you installed the VM on your Linux system and check if the relevant folder exists.

How to Uninstall VMware Workstation

When you plan to remove VMware Workstation from your computer, you can easily do this using the terminal on your Linux system.

After opening the terminal, execute the command “vmware-installer –list-products” and check which VMware products are installed.

vmware-installer --list-productsCopy

To completely uninstall VMware software, execute the “sudo vmware-installer -u vmware-workstation” command in the terminal and type No in confirmation to confirm the deletion of configuration files as well.

sudo vmware-installer -u vmware-workstationCopy

   Video

Installing Old Versions

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