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VMware Fusion 12 Player - Free (Personal Use) @ VMware

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VMware Fusion 12 Player - Free (Personal Use) @ VMware
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krouton24 on 04/02/2021 - 19:44 my.vmware.com (3072 clicks)

Yes, I know it's been free since the release of version 12 late last year, however I thought I'd post as some may not realise. Retails for US$149 (~AUD$195).

Previous deals (as recent as Nov 2020) have been going for AUD$158

Fusion Player offers a Personal Use License, available for free with a valid MyVMware account. Home users, Open Source contributors, students, and anyone else can use Fusion Player Free for Non-Commercial activity.

Just create a free account, you will be issued with a key. Download, input key and activate.

Great alternative to Parallels or even VirtualBox for what most users would need. Pro will cost you US$199. For that you get the below over 'Player'.

  • Create/Manage Encrypted VM
  • Virtual Network Customization (NAT, network rename)
  • Connect to vSphere/ESXi Server
  • Create Linked Clones
  • Create Full Clones
  • Remote vSphere Host Power Control
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Comments

  • axcairns on 04/02/2021 - 19:58
    -7

    Mac only

    • krouton24 on 04/02/2021 - 20:07
      +18

      They've been doing the Windows version for free for quite a while now

    • [Deactivated] on 04/02/2021 - 20:28

      forewa!

  • Magical Sound Shower on 04/02/2021 - 20:09
    +3

    Been using this to play Command & Conquered Remastered (steam) and it works surprisingly well.

    • Worf on 04/02/2021 - 22:35

      Do you have to pay for ms windows os?

      • Morien on 04/02/2021 - 22:53
        +5

        You have to provide it, if that’s what you mean.

      • Agret on 04/02/2021 - 23:42
        +2

        No, can download it free from the Microsoft website as an ISO. After a certain number of days without entering a key you get a watermark in the bottom right saying WIndows is not activated and your wallpaper gets set to just black but otherwise it's the same as buying it.

        • [Deactivated] on 05/02/2021 - 10:09

          I noticed a number of these disappeared… maybe it was the older one as could not see the windows 7 VM anymore for testing some old component

  • [Deactivated] on 04/02/2021 - 20:18

    Thanks!

  • deme on 04/02/2021 - 20:20
    -6

    Is freeware a deal?

    Can I post VirtualBox as a deal, you can't create VMs in VMware Player but in Virtualbox you can.

    • Magical Sound Shower on 04/02/2021 - 20:32
      +1

      I created a VM in VMware Fusion Player 12 and it's working fine. I am using the same personal (free) license. Might be different on the non-mac versions.

    • krouton24 on 04/02/2021 - 20:36

      Create/Manage Encrypted VM

      Most users won't need to create an encrypted VM.

      Otherwise you create as many VM's as you wish.

    • [Deactivated] on 04/02/2021 - 20:51
      +1

      you can't create VMs in VMware Player

      im making new debian VM right now

    • deme on 04/02/2021 - 20:57
      +8

      Revoked neg.
      Thanks to those correcting me.

    • dcash on 04/02/2021 - 22:57

      Is freeware a deal?

      Anything is a deal, if it gets enough up-votes.

  • atj on 04/02/2021 - 20:30
    +3

    you can't create VMs in VMware Player but in Virtualbox you can.

    When Fusion become Fusion Player it retained all the features of Fusion. Unless something's changed recently, it's not the same Player feature set as on other platforms.

  • Nilfunds on 04/02/2021 - 20:31

    thanks.
    this is awesome!

  • frewer on 04/02/2021 - 21:28

    How good is this compare to Oracle VM virtualbox ?

    • Magical Sound Shower on 04/02/2021 - 22:01
      +4

      Not sure what VirtualBox is like these days but Fusion 12 has a nice native interface and DirectX 11 support. I'm getting better performance than Parallels too.

    • slowmo on 05/02/2021 - 04:54
      +3

      I steer clear of oracle on my personal desktop as much as I can.

      • frewer on 05/02/2021 - 10:12
        +1

        Any particular reason ?

    • nickj on 05/02/2021 - 11:40
      +2
      • Virtualbox (the base product) is open source, so it can be used for commercial activity, unlike this.
      • I believe that was the case before the VMware version became free for personal use (so in the same way that where practical, I favour shopping at the store that first offers a discount, rather than the store that pricematches, I think all things being equal that it's better to use the software that moves towards openness first, rather than the one that attempts a semi-but-not-actually the same openness match).
      • With Virtualbox you don't have to register / create an account / etc, you just download and run.
      • The Linux version of Virtualbox has a repository - i.e. it auto-updates via the package manager - no idea if that's how VMware works?
      • The recent versions of Virtualbox seem fine, I've not run into any problems. The interface seems fine and quite sensible. If I was going play with 3D stuff I'd probably go with something else (or just go native), I don't get the impression that 3D is Virtualbox's strong suit.
      • Performance is supposed to be better in VMware.
      • There's a big table comparing the 2 products here: https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/virtualbox-vs-vmware/ - scroll down to half way to see the table.
      • Ignore the whinging about Oracle - you'd barely even know Virtualbox is from Oracle, apart from 3 places: the app name, the about screen, and one entry in the help menu. Other than that, you wouldn't know, and it's very low key. (and I say that having no allegiance to Oracle whatsoever).
      • frewer on 05/02/2021 - 22:50

        That is very informative, thank you

  • Enjj0y on 04/02/2021 - 21:46

    has anyone tried successfully to create Mac VM on windows amd ryzen5 new 4000 series pc/laptop?

  • deltakilo on 04/02/2021 - 22:38

    Edit: NVM, rebooted and got through
    WTF is with registration? snip ……..

  • zoltanc on 04/02/2021 - 22:45

    What networking options does the Player have? I noticed Pro has advanced networking settings, but it is not clear what is in Player.

    Is it hard coded to NAT or Bridged mode, or something else?

    • banana365 on 04/02/2021 - 23:34
      +1

      I've not played with it for a few months and it may be the previous version, but the last time I did there was the option for NATed, bridged and pass through (or whatever they call dedicating a physical NIC to a VM).

  • BargainBuddy on 04/02/2021 - 23:40
    +1

    Windows 10 pro has an inbuilt visualization manager

    • Agret on 04/02/2021 - 23:44

      "Run Windows on Mac - VMware Fusion"

      VMware Fusion is their MacOS offering. MacOS doesn't have inbuilt virtualization.

  • hollykryten on 05/02/2021 - 00:21

    No love for Linux with this.

    It's the Workstation 16 Player version which supports Linux. But darn if that costs $149 USD.

  • kyteflyer on 05/02/2021 - 05:44

    Thanks, grabbed it. Have used VMWare in the past, but switched to Virtualbox. Will be interesting to compare

  • killingtime on 05/02/2021 - 06:36
    +4

    Wow haven’t used vm’s since docker came out

    • BigLeviathan on 10/02/2021 - 20:51

      Is that correct that docker is best to run services application (due to small footprint and the ability to create a snapshot), but for general use, such as word processing, I suspect you would need a vm still?

      • killingtime on 10/02/2021 - 22:02

        Nah for that just use direct on metal

        • BigLeviathan on 10/02/2021 - 22:17

          metal? as in direct on the origin O/S (whether it's Windows/MacOsx/Linux?)

  • Blue Cat on 05/02/2021 - 07:02

    Thanks, will try to replace VirtualBox or probably use alongside it.

  • gentlecrack on 05/02/2021 - 09:29

    What do you guys use this in a Windows PC for? Seedbox?

    • BigLeviathan on 10/02/2021 - 20:37

      Fx trading software (metatrader)

  • jaimex2 on 05/02/2021 - 09:40
    +1

    Alternatively virtual box has always been free.

  • DAT on 05/02/2021 - 09:48

    Thanks OP, I got 2 ;)

  • brilliantmik on 05/02/2021 - 10:09
    +1

    Does it run on M1 Macs?

    • atj on 05/02/2021 - 10:21
      +1

      Nope. There's also been no indication that either Parallels or Fusion will do anything other than same-architecture VMs.

  • harrywwc on 05/02/2021 - 10:39
    +2

    why would you pay for this when there is VirtualBox (virtualbox.org) that is (also) cross-platform, Hyper-V on Windows, or KVM on Linux?

    • CammKelly on 05/02/2021 - 16:28
      +2

      3D performance is probably the number one reason. Edge case for most people I'd garner however.

      • harrywwc on 06/02/2021 - 11:17
        -2

        then… buy a PC :)

        PCMR! PCMR! PCMR! :) :) :)

  • Gordzirra on 05/02/2021 - 10:47

    Soz guys. Noob here re VM stuff. Never used before, tried once years ago and didn't seem as easy as everyone said to get it going … I was prob on win7 or win 8 back then…. Sooo… Can I use this to put a free running copy of a Mac system on my PC? (And how do I get that? ) Just want to test and play around with Mac iOS to get more familiar with it… Cheers

  • Gordzirra on 05/02/2021 - 10:50

    Soz guys. Noob here re VM stuff. Never used before, tried once years ago and didn't seem as easy as everyone said to get it going … I was prob on win7 or win 8 back then…. Sooo… Can I use this to put a free running copy of a Mac system on my PC? (And how do I get that? ) Just want to test and play around with Mac iOS to get more familiar with it… Cheers

    • skittlebrau on 05/02/2021 - 12:16
      -1

      It is possible. You'll find several YouTube tutorials on how to run virtual macOS guests on Windows hosts. However, it performs pretty terribly because macOS really needs direct access to a GPU to function well. The only way to get it running smoothly in a VM is to use Linux and QEMU/KVM with GPU passthrough which is reasonably difficult for a novice.

      • Gordzirra on 05/02/2021 - 20:46

        Thanks mate..yeah like I thought not easy which is crazy..in this day and age should be able to have both legit or hacked working quite easily. By no means a novice with tech and PCs but this stuff perhaps, may give it a go anyway

      • slowmo on 05/02/2021 - 21:53

        not really, vmware already posted a solution for big sur if thats what you meant.
        https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/81657

      • WinBargain on 07/02/2021 - 03:33

        Ran fine for me the one day a was using it

  • skittlebrau on 05/02/2021 - 12:23

    Cheers OP. I knew VMWare Workstation Player for Windows was free, but didn't know the Mac version (Fusion) was free too. Guess I'll switch to this from Parallels.

  • kukul on 06/02/2021 - 10:12

    No good on Apple M1 chips? I assume

  • chad87 on 11/02/2021 - 11:44

    Whats the difference between VM Fusion and VM Workstation?

    • slowmo on 12/02/2021 - 14:01

      host platform, mac or windows

      • chad87 on 17/02/2021 - 13:14

        Thanks mate

  • freemoneyhunter on 17/01/2024 - 07:20

    I'll try it, I've been using a free vmware player from 10 years ago.

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