Understanding guest operating system support levels

Products

• VMware
• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article describes the support levels that exist for guest operating systems.

 

When creating a new virtual machine, choosing the guest operating system displays the level of support, if it is anything other than Supported.

 

Note: VMware requires you to install an operating system minor update or service pack release that is supported by the operating system vendor. In the case where the operating system vendor no longer supports the major release, VMware requires you to install the latest operating system minor update or service pack.

Environment

VMware Workstation Pro 12.x (Windows)
VMware Player 6.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 8.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation Player 12.x (Windows)
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware Player Pro 7.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Windows)
VMware Player 7.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 12.x (Linux)
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0VMware Workstation Pro 12.x (Linux)
VMware Fusion 5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware Fusion 7.x
VMware Player 7.x (Windows)
VMware Fusion 6.x
VMware Workstation 7.x (Linux)
VMware Player Pro 7.x (Linux)
VMware Player 6.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 6.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 10.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 6.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Windows)
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware Workstation 7.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 8.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 10.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Linux)
VMware vSphere ESXI 8.0

Resolution

Tech Preview

 

Operating system (OS) releases that have a Tech Preview level of support are not certified for use as a guest operating system for one or more of these reasons:

 

The operating system vendor has not announced the general availability of the operating system release.

• Not all blocking issues have been resolved by the operating system vendor.
• One or more required enabling changes are not available in the form of a VMware product update or patch release.
• Compatibility testing of a new OS update release is not complete.

 

VMware publishes usage recommendations and known issues that should be considered when attempting to use these operating system releases for evaluation and testing purposes. VMware is interested in obtaining feedback and problem reports of these operating systems through VMware community forums. However, VMware does not provide support for these operating system releases and does not recommend using these releases for critical production workloads. Publishing tech preview support does not obligate VMware to deliver features or full support in any generally available product.

 

Supported

 

Operating systems with this support level are fully supported by VMware. This includes technical support and engineering fixes.

 

Legacy

 

The Legacy support level is between Supported and Deprecated. These guest operating systems are typically no longer supported by the original vendor. As a result, VMware's ability to support this guest operating system is reduced because VMware may not be able to collaborate with the OS vendor to provide the highest level of support.

 

VMware continues to provide support for OS agnostic features. These include:

• Virtual Machine lifecycle operations such as suspend, resume and power on/off/cycle.
• Snapshot, revert operations and management.
• Virtual Machine mobility operations such as vMotion and DRS.

 

VMware does not implement support for new VMware features and functions on operating system releases that are classified under this support level. Additionally, VMware puts best effort to continue to provide access to OS dependent features. However, the these considerations apply:

• VMware Tools and drivers may be frozen and bug fixes, including critical and security fixes, may no longer be provided.
• In limited cases, if a fix is made available, you may be required to install unsigned drivers for older Windows releases.
• Guest customization may not be available or updated.
• Hot add of CPU and Memory may not be available or supported.

For more information, see the Guest OS section of the VMware Compatibility Guide for specific guidance regarding each operating system you are currently running a guest operating system that is at the Legacy support level, VMware recommends that you plan to move to a newer supported release.

 

Deprecated

 

Prior to terminating support for operating system releases, VMware announces that the support for selected operating system releases has been deprecated in the product release notes and the VMware Compatibility Guide shows the support level for these releases as Deprecated.

 

In all other respects, operating system releases in the Deprecated level are the same as in the Legacy level. A Deprecated operating system release is still supported by VMware and still receives technical support and engineering fixes until it moves to the Terminated support level.

 

If you are currently running a guest operating system that is at the Deprecated support level, VMware recommends that you plan to move to a newer supported release.

 

Terminated

 

VMware does not provide support for operating system releases with terminated support.

 

Operating system releases with terminated support do not appear in the search results in the VMware Compatibility Guide.

 

If you are currently running a guest operating system that is at the Terminated support level, VMware recommends moving to a newer release immediately. VMware support does not provide assistance with any issues relating to this operating system release.

 

Unsupported

 

VMware does not provide support for operating system releases with Unsupported support level. This includes technical support and engineering fixes.

 

Additional Information

For more information on support level status of all supported guest operating systems, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.