New VMWare Player 16.1.0

Hi folks
I'd stick with V15 if I were you -- V16 doesn't (AFAIK) allow shared VM's - also seems user has to be logged on while VM is active -- i.e you can't have the VM running with no user logged on to the Host.

I like to run servers headless so having accessible VM's in the background that I can access remotely is what I need to do -- I don't need to be logged on to a Host system to be able to access a VM !!!!!! - Nothing wrong in using a remote laptop via RDP / VNC etc to access a VM. on a remote machine with no users logged on to it.

Stick to V15 or HYPER-V or if you can use Linux - KVM/QEMU.

If you use Linux Hosts - seems 99% of the time if there's a kernel update then VMWare fails to install for one reason or another -- latest bit of "Bonkosity" is with Fedora 33 - the Linux headers are at a different level to the kernel so VMWare just fails. (Arch Linux with AUR just compiles OK with dkms but it's not for "the faint hearted".

Not sure why VMWare seems to be sliding backwards - especially as the Workstation version isn't cheap -- Virtual Box (not my favourite) is getting better --long way still to go for me though, HYPER=V seems also to be getting its act together for non Windows VM's (although sound can be a problem) and KVM/QEMU just "keeps on truckin'".

Afraid VMWare seems to have lost the plot recently.

Cheers
jimbo

VMWare Workstation has always been a really nice product, and in previous work roles my employer paid for a copy for me. However, it's not required at my current role, so I no longer have a copy.

I've been using VirtualBox for quite some time now. It works well for me for my Windows and Linux labs.

I've never historically gotten along with Hyper-V. But with Docker and WSL2...these typically require Hyper-V be enabled on the machine, so this renders other Hypervisors like Virtualbox unable to run without making a bcdedit and reboot your workstation.