Fri 22 Dec 2006
I just downloaded VMware Workstation 6.0, and upgraded from VMware Workstation 5.5. The new version has some nice features, but I regret my curiosity already.
Please, check the release notes for all the new features. The increased RAM support is most important for me. VMware Workstation 5.5 could only manage 3.6GB RAM, VMware Workstation 6.0 supports 8GB. If you are testing software where you need multiple virtual machines, you can never have enough memory.
There are many new features. I am sure, you’ll find at least one that might be worth an upgrade. I am quite disappointed, though, that there still is no easy way to enlarge a virtual disk. I’ve been writing several times about this topic and these articles belong to the most popular here on 4sysops (check left sidebar). So, it is quite obvious that there is a great demand for this feature.
The upgrade didn’t keep all my settings from version 5.5. For example, I excluded one network adapter from Automatic Bridging. This setting was gone. My configuration of the Shared Folder Options were not converted, either.
I can’t prove it, but the beta of VMware Workstation 6 seems to be slower than version 5.5. It needs constantly about 15% -20% CPU power of my host system (Windows XP), even if the virtual machine is not busy. I don’t remember VMware Workstation 5.5 showing a similar behavior.
I also regret the upgrade because my Serial Number for version 5.5 is not valid, anymore. I have to use a new Serial Number for the trial version. I’ll probably forget to buy an upgrade in time. Then, I will have to downgrade to get access to my virtual machines. I wished VMware would be a little bit more obliging to its customers.
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Hi Michael,
Drop a note in the VMware Workstation Forum and it should be seen by the folks who need to see it. We often add features during beta — that being said, you’re more likely to see a settings fix than a disk expand feature.
Also for all VMware betas the debug code is turned on and so you will see slowdowns. That will go away at GA.
Keep up the good blogging! Thanks!
Hi John, it seems quite a few of your colleges are reading my blog anyway. But feel free to link to my post in the forum.
As to the disk expand feature, you should seriously consider this for one of the next versions. You would make a lot of desperate VMware users happy with this.