Solved The New VMware Workstation Pro 17 - My Personal Opinion

It's a shame that VMware flat out refuses to listen to Beta testers. I'll come back to that in a moment.

During the life of VMware Workstation Pro 16, VMware removed the ability to autostart VMs. In other words, you need to logon in order for a VM to be started. Then they brought that feature back and stated that it would remain throughout the life of version 16, only to again remove the feature in a later build!

Now, they have brought it back in version 17 and want to tout it like it's a new feature that you need to pay to upgrade to. However, what they don't tell you is that the autostart feature will not work for encrypted VMs. And of course, they enforce encryption for Win 11 VMs.

They were specifically informed about this shortcoming during the Technology Preview (BETA), noting that Microsoft allows installation with a TPM but refused to acknowledge it. There are workarounds - you can lie to VMware and tell it that you are installation Win 10 which removes those requirements, but it's a shame that they don't listen and allow for that option in the VMware UI.

During the version 16 fiasco, I transitioned all my VMs to Hyper-V and I'm glad I did so.

Now that I've played with VMware Workstation Pro 17 for a bit, I see it as a useless option, at least for me personally.

I'm sure that there are others that may disagree, but I have to say that I'm very disappointed.

hsehestedt said:

During the version 16 fiasco, I transitioned all my VMs to Hyper-V and I'm glad I did so.

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I like Hyper-V too, most of my VMs are Hyper-V. But for a 'second string' I also like VirtualBox.

I keep VBox around just in case, but I'm running all of mine in Hyper-V now.

I cannot justify the cost of VMWare Workstation Pro, so I stick with Hyper-V.

pparks1 said:

I cannot justify the cost of VMWare Workstation Pro, so I stick with Hyper-V.

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I think most people use the free version which has less features.

I don't know if Hyper-V does this too, but I like the port sharing feature of VMware. I share my parallel port with a Windows XP guest in order to access my omd Iomega parallel ZIP-100 drive. The Windows XP x64 drivers don't work in Windows 8 64-bit and newer due to changes in the default parallel port driver.

spapakons said:

I don't know if Hyper-V does this too, but I like the port sharing feature of VMware. I share my parallel port with a Windows XP guest in order to access my omd Iomega parallel ZIP-100 drive. The Windows XP x64 drivers don't work in Windows 8 64-bit and newer due to changes in the default parallel port driver.

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Hyper-V cannot do this but you can certainly share usb ports in enhanced mode. Manbe it would work with a usb to parallel port converter?

I cannot imagine using old zip drives anymore.

Yes it should work with a converter if you pass control to the guest OS. But it feels weird using a converter while having an onboard parallel port.

spapakons said:

I don't know if Hyper-V does this too, but I like the port sharing feature of VMware. I share my parallel port with a Windows XP guest in order to access my omd Iomega parallel ZIP-100 drive. The Windows XP x64 drivers don't work in Windows 8 64-bit and newer due to changes in the default parallel port driver.

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You have an Iomega ZIP drive that still works? I am really impressed!

Of course I don't use it every day because 95MB by today standards is too little space, but I want it in working order just in case I need to access my old disks.

spapakons said:

Of course I don't use it every day because 95MB by today standards is too little space, but I want it in working order just in case I need to access my old disks.

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Sure but why go to complexity of using a virtual machine?

I was hoping that V17 (Player) would allow some setting/option to run my Win 11 Beta and RP VMs. Shame that they all are doorstops now since I'm on Win 11 and there seems to be no way to run them now, they are (BS) "incompatible".

f14tomcat said:

I was hoping that V17 (Player) would allow some setting/option to run my Win 11 Beta and RP VMs. Shame that they all are doorstops now since I'm on Win 11 and there seems to be no way to run them now, they are (BS) "incompatible".

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cereberus said:

Sure but why go to complexity of using a virtual machine?

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Up to Windows 7 I could use the Windows XP drivers (in 32-bit) or the Windows XP x64 drivers (in 64-bit) but due to changes in the default parallel drivers, Windows 8 or later don't detect the drive! The only workaround is to use a compatible Windows version. So I use a Windows XP guest.

cereberus said:

Add TPM to VMware Player Virtual Machine in Windows 11

Learn how to add or enable TPM 2.0 in VMware Player virtual machine. Enable TPM and install Windows 11 on VMware virtual machine.

www.thewindowsclub.com

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Thanks, Martin, but I've already gone thru several articles like that. My problem seems to be that it only applies to new installs. I have several existing VMs that went "incompatible" when MS got persnickety. I can't find any way to make them "compatible" and I really do not want to re-install them clean.

In that case bypass compatibility check and upgrade. See respective thread for details.

spapakons said:

In that case bypass compatibility check and upgrade. See respective thread for details.

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And what would that be? Please. I've tried all the posted registry hacks and .dll deletes.

The latest method involves replacing the .DLL file with an empty dummy, not delete it, and you must also disconnect from the internet before upgrading. If you stay online the upgrade fails.

spapakons said:

The latest method involves replacing the .DLL file with an empty dummy, not delete it, and you must also disconnect from the internet before upgrading. If you stay online the upgrade fails.

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Ok, so that implies any VM cumulative or feature update must be done with an ISO, an MSU, or other hard local source. A standard Check for Updates is out of the question. IMO, that constitutes a massive PITA. But thanks for the info, do appreciate.

f14tomcat said:

that implies any VM cumulative or feature update must be done with an ISO, an MSU, or other hard local source. A standard Check for Updates is out of the question.

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Cumulative updates are OK, any unsupported device will still get them through Windows Update.

Feature update to 22H2 won't be offered to an unsupported device, an in-place upgrade is the only way. The workaround is easy enough simply start the upgrade, and when it fails the check replace the .dll then click Back then Next to try again. You must perform the upgrade while offline else you won't see the Back button. I've updated all my unsupported devices to 22H2 that way.