This post shows students and new users steps to install VMware Workstation Pro on Ubuntu Linux. VMware Workstation Pro is a stable and mature virtualization solution that allows anyone to run multiple isolated virtual guest machines on a single host computer simultaneously.
These guest machines can then be configured to run multiple operation systems like Windows, Linux and MacOS in an isolated environment. VMware Workstation Pro is not free nor open source software. You’ll need a purchase a license to use it whether for personal or commercial use.
If you’re looking for a virtualization software that’s free to use anywhere, you may want to look at VirtualBox.
If you’re a student or new user learning Linux, the easiest place to start learning is on Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu is the modern, open source Linux operating system for desktop, servers and other devices.
To get started with installing VMware Workstation Pro on Ubuntu Linux, follow the steps below:
How to install packages on Ubuntu Linux
In order to install VMware Workstation Pro on Ubuntu, you must first install supporting packages and build dependencies.
To do that, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install wget gcc build-essential linux-headers-generic linux-headers-$(uname -r)
How to download and install VMware Pro on Ubuntu Linux
After installing the packages above, go and download VMware Workstation Pror from its download page and install it. The link below gets you there.
Alternatively, run the commands below to download the latest version of VMware Workstation Player on the terminal console.
At the time of this writing, the latest version of VMware Workstation Pro is at 16.1.2.
cd /tmp wget
After downloading above, run the commands below to make the package executable and install VMware Workstation Pro.
sudo chmod +x VMware-Workstation-*.bundle sudo ./VMware-Workstation-*.bundle
In Ubuntu, the installation will be run non-interactively. This means, you won’t have to complete an installation wizard.
After a brief moment, the installation should complete with a success message similar to the one below. Once you see the message below, you’re done.
Extracting VMware Installer…done. Installing VMware Workstation 16.1.2 Configuring… [######################################################################] 100% Installation was successful.
After the installation above, go and launch VMware Workstation Pro from the Activities Dashboard. Click the Show Application button at the bottom left.
On the apps dashboard, search for and select VMware Workstation.
Once you click on the app, it will open its Welcome wizard. Accept the license terms to continue
Accept to check for product updates on startup and continue
Skip the license key page for a 30 day trial period. After the 30 day trial period, you’ll be forced to purchase a license to use after that time.
Finally, click Install to begin the installation.
When you’re done with the wizard, VMware Workstation home should open up.
That should do it!
Conclusion:
This post showed you how to install and use VMware Workstation Pro on Ubuntu Linux. If you find any error above or have something to add, please use the comment form below.
