Guest operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and even nested virtualization, are supported. It allows running a wide range of guest operating system platforms, regardless of the host operating system. You can even run things like VMware vCenter in VMware Workstation (not supported but works). If you have a workstation or laptop with additional resources, it is a great tool to use to build out your home lab environment. VMware Workstation is a great platform for an inexpensive home lab. It is software that is equally supported for commercial use or personal use and is a great virtualization platform for a Type 2 hypervisor. All you need is a host machine with extra resources to spare. It offers a streamlined desktop virtualization application for the host OS.

In case in the rare event that you have not heard about VMware Workstation, what is it? VMware workstation, now called VMware Workstation Pro is the flagship desktop offering from VMware for running your virtual machine workloads and various operating systems on your Windows or Linux desktops.

It contains many new features and capabilities for running virtual machines on your desktop. Those new features and capabilities have now materialized in the VMware Workstation 17 Pro release. I wrote about the latest Workstation beta release with some exciting new features not long ago. VMware Workstation is arguably one of the premier desktop virtualization platforms today and provides an excellent platform for development, POCs, and even home labs.

Workstation 16