YSK That VMWare Fusion 12 is Free (for Personal Use)

[Roswell]

With the uptick in Mac adoption recently in the community and the frequent recommendation of Parallels for Windows virtualization, I figured I would make this PSA in hopes that it will save someone some money. If posting a PSA like this is against the rules, feel free to delete.

 

Unknown to most, VMWare actually offers VMWare Fusion 12 (player) for free for personal use. This is a recent change starting with the latest version. They absolutely bury this info into the ground though, it's completely missing from all of their advertising and it's virtually impossible to find organically on their website unless you navigate to Fusion's overview page and spot a very specific info box. Here's a direct link: https://customerconnect.vmware.com/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=fusion-player-personal

 

If the link doesn't load, don't worry, it's not just you. Another awesome tactic they seemingly apply is routinely redirecting that URL to a 404 error for hours on end every day. Just try back again in a few hours. Once you finally gain access to the link, you can sign up for the free license and they'll show you an activation key (on the site, not to your email) that you must immediately copy down unless you want to go through another insane round of intentional 404 errors and convoluted site navigation to retrieve it.

 

If you're on Windows, this process is much easier. Just Google "VMWare Workstation 16 Player personal" and download the installer from their site. No site registration/keys/intentional 404 errors required.

 

In comparison to Parallels:

 

Parallels is great, but it's expensive. Either $100-120/yr for a subscription or $130 for a stripped down lifetime version. It DOES have some benefits over VMWare, though. It has automated downloading of common operating systems, somewhat quicker access (via menu bar) to hardware passthrough, macOS spacebar preview integration and a better performing implementation of coherence/unity/seamless/whatever mode. 

 

VMWare has its own advantages. Mainly no restrictions on resource allocation (core count, RAM, etc) and a MUCH BETTER start menu implementation from the macOS dock. It also wipes the floor with Parallels in power efficiency on Intel models, mainly due to being able to run VMs smoothly with the iGPU.

 

Tips for new users or those who may switch to VMWare on Mac:

 

• Use the automated unattended "easy mode" for the initial Windows installation, skip any customization of the VM, you can configure it later. This will automatically install your guest drivers and tools. Manually installing them during a "custom" install after the fact can lead to some extremely poor performance.
• Contrary to the warning it spits out if you don't type in a Windows key, the "easy mode" unattended install will finish just fine, at least for W10.
• Don't import your old Parallels VM. It may seem enticing, but I've had nothing but issues with the guest drivers/tools conflicting with each other.
• In the VM's settings, make sure to visit the "isolation" section and enable universal copy/paste and drag/drop.
• In the VM's settings, you'll likely want to disable "side channel mitigations" in the "advanced" section to improve performance. The likelihood that you would be targeted with the malware that the feature protects against is extremely unlikely.

[FIXXX]

>Page Not Found>

 

Will try again later.

[shadow_ray]

2 hours ago, Roswell said:

Another awesome tactic they seemingly apply is routinely redirecting that URL to a 404 error for hours on end every day.

I think it's just unintentionally bad I tired to register but it showed me an error message stating the reg. process failed, and that I should try again later. When I tried to register again, it stated that I already have an account... catch 22!

[Lightwreather]

I stumbled upon that page once, got a licence. Then proceeded to lose the page whilst I was trying to find my product key. Found it eventually tho.

And really the UI is quite nice compared to Virtualbox's