Downloading and installing VMware Workstation Player

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware Workstation Player 12.x
• VMware Player Plus 6.x

Issue/Introduction

• You cannot download VMware Player.
• Downloading VMware Player fails during the download process.
• Software update for VMware Player fails.
• You are unable to license VMware Player for commercial use.

Environment

VMware Player 3.x (Linux) VMware Player 4.x (Linux) VMware Workstation Player 16.x (Linux) VMware Player 5.x (Linux) VMware Player 4.x (Windows) VMware Player 6.x (Windows)

VMware Player 6.x (Linux) VMware Player 3.x (Windows ) VMware Player 5.x (Windows) VMware Player Pro 7.x (Linux) VMware Player Pro 7.x (Windows) VMware Workstation Player 16.x (Windows)

Resolution

Table of Contents

• Before starting
• Downloading VMware Player
• Installing VMware Player
• After installation

Before starting

• Ensure that your physical machine meets the system requirements for VMware Player. For more information, see the System Requirements section of the user manual for the product:
   
  • VMware Workstation Player 12.x User Manual
  • VMware Workstation Player 15.x Tech Specs 
     
• Ensure that you are planning to use a supported guest operating system. 

Note: The download for VMware Player is common for both the Free and Professional versions. After installation, adding a license key licenses the product for commercial use.

Downloading VMware Player

To download VMware Player:

1. Navigate to Broadcom Support.
2. From the Software menu section, select VMware Cloud Foundation then My Downloads.
3. Click on VMware Workstation Player.
4. Click on your release.
5. Click Download.

If the installer fails to download during the download process:

• Delete the cache in your web browser. 
• Disable the pop-up blocker in your web browser. 
• Try to download using a different web browser application.
• Disable any local firewall software.
• Restart your machine.
• Download the installer from a different computer or network.

Installing VMware Player

Notes:

• You can only have one version of VMware Player installed at once. You must uninstall any previous version of VMware Player before installing a new version.
• If the installer reports an error when you run it, you may want to verify the download.

To install VMware Player on a Windows host:

1. Log in to the Windows host.
2. Open the folder where the VMware Player installer was downloaded. The default location is the Downloads folder for the user account on the Windows host.
   
   Note: The installer file name is similar to VMware-Player-####-####.exe, where ####-### is the version and build numbers.
    
3. Right-click the installer and click Run as Administrator.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the installation.
5. Restart the host machine.

To install VMware Player on a Linux host:

Note: VMware Player for Linux is available as a .bundle download from the VMware Download Center. The Linux bundle installer starts a GUI wizard on most Linux distributions. On some Linux distributions, the bundle installer starts a command-line wizard instead of a GUI wizard.
 

1. Log in to the Linux host with the user account that you plan to use with VMware Player.
2. Open a terminal interface. For more information, see Opening a command or shell prompt
3. Change to root. For example:
   
   su root
   
   Note: The command that you use depends on your Linux distribution and configuration.
    
4. Change directories to the directory that contains the VMware Player bundle installer file. The default location is the Download directory for the user which initiated the download from the VMware Download Center.
5. Run the appropriate Player installer file for the host system. For example:
   
   sh VMware-Player-e.x.p-####.architecture.bundle --option
   
   Where e.x.p-#### is the version and build numbers, architecture is i386 or x86_64, and option is a command line option.
   
   The command line options available are:
    
   • --gtk
     Opens the GUI-based VMware installer, which is the default option.
      
   • --console
     Use the terminal for installation.
      
   • --custom
     Use this option to customize the locations of the installation directories and set the hard limit for the number of open file descriptors.
      
   • --regular
     Shows installation questions that have not been answered before or are required. This is the default option.
      
   • --ignore-errors or -I
     Allows the installation to continue even if there is an error in one of the installer scripts. Because the section that has an error does not complete, the component might not be properly configured.
      
   • --required
     Shows the license agreement only and then proceeds to install Player.
6. Accept the license agreement.
   
   Note: If you are using the --console option or installing VMware Player on a Linux host that does not support the GUI wizard, press Enter to scroll through and read the license agreement or type q to skip to the yes/no prompt.
    
7. Follow the on-screen instructions or prompts to finish the installation.
8. Restart the Linux host.

 

After installation

On Windows host systems:

• The installer creates a desktop shortcut, a quick launch shortcut, or a combination of these options in addition to a Start Menu item.
• To start VMware Player on a Windows host system, select Start > Programs > VMware Player.

On Linux host systems:

• VMware Player can be started from the command line on all Linux distributions.
• On some Linux distributions, VMware Player can be started in the GUI from the System Tools menu under Applications.
• To start VMware Player on a Linux host system from the command line, run the vmplayer command in a terminal window. For more information, see Opening a command or shell prompt. For example:
  
  /usr/bin/vmplayer &

Additional Information

If you purchased VMware Fusion Pro, you can use the Fusion Pro license key in VMware Player to license it for commercial use. To add the license key in VMware Player, click Player > Help > Enter License Key.
Note: A Workstation Pro license key will not unlock VMware Player in the same way that the Fusion Pro license key does.