Software Update: VMware Workstation 6.5 Beta Build 110068

VMware has released a new beta version of its virtualization software Workstation 6.5 with build number 110068. This package works under Linux and Windows and is able to run various operating systems on the host computer via a virtual machine. For the guest computer you can use different BSD variants, various Linux distributions, Solaris and Windows. For more information, we refer you to this page and this manual in pdf format. The list of changes focuses on a complete overview of all changes in the 6.5 beta and looks like this:

New Support for 32-Bit and 64-Bit Operating Systems

This release provides experimental support for the following operating systems:

• 32-bit Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2008 as a guest operating system
• 32-bit and 64-bit CentOS 5.3 as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit Oracle Enterprise linux 5.3 as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8 as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit openSUSE 10.3 as host and guest operating systems

This release provides full support for the following operating systems in addition to those operating systems supported in previous releases:

• 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, Home Basic and Premium, and Ultimate as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard, Datacenter, Enterprise, and Web Editions as guest operating systems with or without Hyper-V
• 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 as a host operating system
• 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows PE (preinstallation environment) and RE (recovery environment) as guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit Asianux Server 3 as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit CentOS 5.0-5.2 as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.0-5.2 as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.6, 4.7, and 5.0-5.2 (AS, ES, WS) as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 and 10 SP1 as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2 as a guest operating system
• 32-bit and 64-bit Turbolinux Server 11 as a guest operating system
• 32-bit and 64-bit Mandriva Linux 2008 as a guest operating system
• 32-bit and 64-bit Ubuntu Linux 7.10 and 8.04 as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit Novell Netware 6.5 SP 6 as a guest operating system

Major New Features:

• Enhanced VMware ACE authoring — Use ACE (Assured Computing Environment) features to package and deploy Pocket ACE and desktop virtual machines with encryption, restricted network access, and device control. VMware ACE authoring features are now fully integrated with Workstation, and no special ACE Edition is required. In addition to the new features listed here, be sure to read about new ACE-specific features in the VMware ACE 2.5 beta release notes.
• Unity mode — Integrate your favorite guest applications with your host. Open the application window, enter Unity mode, and the Workstation window is automatically minimized. The guest application windows look just like host application windows, but with color-coded borders. You can access the virtual machine’s Start menu (for Windows virtual machines) or Applications menu (for Linux virtual machines) by placing the mouse pointer over the host’s Start or Applications menu, or by using a key combination.
• Accelerated 3-D graphics on Windows XP guests — Workstation 6.5 virtual machines now work with applications that use DirectX 9 accelerated graphics with shaders up through Shader Model 2.0 on Windows XP guests. Hosts can be running Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Linux.
• Virtual machine streaming — You can now download a virtual machine from a Web server and power it on without waiting for the download to complete. Use the command-line startup command (vmware for Workstation or vmplayer for VMware Player) with the URL of the virtual machine. The download can also be paused and restarted. Note that this feature is not available for ACE instances.

Usability Enhancements:

• Integration with VMware Converter 3.0.3 — This release includes the Conversion wizard component from VMware Converter 3.0.3. You can now use File > Import to create virtual machines from Acronis True Image files in addition to the Microsoft Virtual PC, Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery, and StorageCraft ShadowProtect file types previously supported. You can also convert Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF) appliances. For Microsoft Virtual PC and Microsoft Virtual Server virtual machines, you now have the option of sharing the source virtual hard disk (.vhd) files.
• New features for VMware Player — VMware Player now includes the following features, which were previously available only in Workstation:
  • While in full screen mode, you can now switch from one powered-on virtual machine to another.
  • Unity mode is available, so that you can open your favorite guest applications in windows on your host desktop.
  • Both Windows and Linux hosts now support suspending the virtual machine when exiting.
• Installer bundle for Linux hosts — Installing Workstation on Linux hosts just got a lot easier. The new bundle format provides a graphical UI wizard for most Linux operating systems. With a few mouse clicks, Workstation is installed. For users who want a custom installation, a command-line interface provides complete control.
• Easy Install option for Windows and Linux guest operating systems — When you create a virtual machine, you now have the option of entering a few pieces of information so that installation of the guest operating system and VMware Tools is performed in an unattended fashion. Easy install is supported on newer Windows operating systems and some version of the following Linux operating systems: Red Hat, Mandriva, and Ubuntu.
• Virtual Network Editor for Linux hosts — On Linux hosts, the new Virtual Network Editor now provides a graphical user interface for creating and configuring virtual networks.

Performance Improvements:

• Networking performance using NAT — You will see significant improvements in networking performance if a virtual machine is configured to use NAT. Performance is at times better than in the previous release in some cases.
• Folder sharing and dragging, dropping, copying, and pasting text and files — Transferring files between virtual machines or between host and guests using these features is up to 25 percent faster.
• USB devices — Several optimizations have reduced latency of I/O to USB devices by as much as 50 percent.
• I/O performance — A new asynchronous I/O manager boosts performance on Windows hosts under heavy I/O loads.
• VMCI performance — Applications that make use of VMCI will see a significant increase in throughput. Several optimizations have been added.

New Platform Capabilities:

• New virtual hardware version — This new hardware version lets you use the following new features if the guest operating system supports them: Add or remove some virtual devices while the virtual machine is powered on (“hot-plug”). Use LSI Logic SAS (serial attached SCSI) adapters in the virtual machine. Hot-add virtual CPUs and memory to guests that support this functionality. For virtual machines with this hardware version, 3-D graphics capabilities are enabled by default for Windows 2000 and later guest operating systems and most Linux guests.
• Support for smart cards in virtual machines — You can plug a smart card reader into a host and insert your smart card to authenticate yourself on your host or on a guest. Smart cards can be shared between the host and guests or between guests.
• Replicate the physical network connection state for mobile users — If you use virtual machines on a laptop or other mobile device, enable this new link state propagation feature if you use bridged network connections (not NAT). As you move from one wired or wireless network to another, the IP address is automatically renewed.
• Text copy and paste enhancements — On Windows guests, you can copy and paste text in rich text format, and copy up to 4MB of text. (On Linux guests, the old limitations still apply. You can copy and paste up to 64K of plain text.)

Developer Tools:

• More powerful record/replay of VM execution activity — Easily enable this powerful debugging tool, which records full system behavior, including all CPU and device activity. You can now insert markers while creating or playing back a recording and quickly navigate to these markers during replay. You can also browse a recording to replay from any spot.
• (Experimental) Replay debugging — Record the execution of an application you want to debug and then use the Integrated Virtual Debugger for Visual Studio to examine the recording repeatedly. No debugging is performed during the recording process, so debugging activities do not affect the normal execution of an application. This powerful tool enables you to fix bugs that cannot be reliably reproduced.
  You can also use reverse-execution debugging, which is analogous to forward execution, except the application runs until it reaches the previous breakpoint, data breakpoint, or exception. For the most up-to-date documentation on this feature, see Appendix C of the Workstation User’s Manual.
• VMCI Sockets interface — Developers who want to write client-server applications for virtual machines can now use this sockets interface for the Virtual Machine Communication Interface. VMCI provides a faster means of communication among applications running on the host and in virtual machines. See the VMCI Sockets Programming Guide.
• Updated VIX 1.5 API — The VIX API allows you to write scripts and programs to automate virtual machine operations. The API is available in the C language. There are additional language bindings for Perl and COM. See the VIX API 1.5 release notes and the VIX API Reference Guide.
• (Experimental) VAssert API for inserting replay-only code to debug applications — Use virtual assertions as you would regular assertions in the applications you develop. The benefit of VAsserts is that they appear only when you replay a recording using the application and so are overhead-free. Currently available for Windows guests. See the VAssert Programming Guide.
• VProbes tool for investigating guest behavior — You can write VProbes scripts that inspect and record activities in the guest, VMM, VMX, and virtual device state, without modifying that state. For example, VProbes can track which applications are running or indicate which processes are causing page faults. See the VProbes Reference Guide.
• vmrun enhancements — Many command-line options have been added to this command-line interface for operating virtual machines. See Using vmrun to Control Virtual Machines.