VMware Workstation Pro

vmware.com

VMware Workstation is a hosted (Type 2) hypervisor that runs on x64 versions of Windows and Linux operating systems. It enables users to set up and manage virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical machine, allowing for the execution of multiple operating systems simultaneously.

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🌐 Resources 🔗

• VMware Workstation Pro 17.0 - Docs

• VMware Workstation Pro Download - Broadcom (free, no license required)

• VMware Workstation Pro - Chocolatey Software

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Install and Windows tweaks

❗ I do not assume any responsibility for the potential risks or consequences associated with the disabled memory integrity and Virtualization-based security.

🔗 Options to optimize gaming performance in Windows 11 - Microsoft Support

🔗 Enable or Disable Core Isolation and Memory Integrity in Windows 11

🔗 How to Disable or Remove Hyper-V in Windows 11

🔗 Download Device Guard and Credential Guard hardware readiness tool

🔗 Disabling Hyper-V hypervisor on Windows 11 Pro host (to get VMWare 17's CPL0 vs. ULM monitor mode) - 📌 The following steps include some key points from this highly informative article, which provides an excellent explanation of the issue.

Nesting considerations

The following is done to ensure VMware Workstation virtualization operates smoothly without any performance issues, using its own VMware virtualization engine, instead of the slower Hyper-V API, to create the virtualized environment.

• CPL0 (Current Privilege Level 0): The VMM (Virtual Machine Monitor) runs directly on the host hardware using Intel VT-x or AMD-V, providing full control and optimal performance, with no nested layers.

• ULM (User-Level Monitor): The VMM runs on top of Hyper-V, allowing coexistence with VMware Workstation but with added overhead and reduced performance, with an extra level of nesting.

  • these values can be seen by searching Monitor Mode: in the vmware.log file of a running VM.

• VMware and Hyper-V can coexist using the newer VMware version and Windows Hypervisor Platform (WHP), but nested virtualization can be slower than normal. Your choice.

• Memory integrity (hypervisor-protected code integrity) is a security feature of Core isolation that prevents attacks from inserting malicious code into high-security processes. Take your own risk by disabling it.

1. Run the commands from an elevated Powershell to DISABLE Hyper-V, all its subfeatures, Windows Hypervisor Platform, Virtual Machine Platform, and Windows Sandbox:

# Disables the Windows Hyper-V
bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux,VirtualMachinePlatform,Microsoft-Hyper-V-All -NoRestart

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *WindowsSubsystemForLinux* | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers

# Check the state of the features, should be State: Disabled
Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform
Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V-All

1. Run the commands from an elevated Powershell to DISABLE Memory Integrity and Virtualization-based security (Device/Credential Guard) via Registry:

reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceGuard\Scenarios\HypervisorEnforcedCodeIntegrity" /v "Enabled" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceGuard\Scenarios\SystemGuard" /v "Enabled" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceGuard" /v "EnableVirtualizationBasedSecurity" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceGuard" /v "EnableVirtualizationBasedSecurity" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

# Check the state of the reg keys
$keys = @(
    "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceGuard\Scenarios\HypervisorEnforcedCodeIntegrity",
    "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceGuard\Scenarios\SystemGuard",
    "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceGuard",
    "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceGuard"
)

$values = "Enabled", "EnableVirtualizationBasedSecurity"

foreach ($key in $keys) {
    if (Test-Path $key) {  # Check if the registry key exists
        foreach ($value in $values) {
            $result = Get-ItemProperty -Path $key -Name $value -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
            if ($result -and ($result.PSObject.Properties.Name -contains $value)) {
                Write-Output "$key\$value : $($result.$value)"
            }
        }
    }
}

In case this is still not working, use the Device Guard and Credential Guard hardware readiness tool with the -Disable command.

1. ❗ Reboot PC

2. Install VMware Workstation Pro

   • use the downloaded exe file - https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/downloads (login necessary)

     • Stop and avoid installing Windows Hypervisor Platform (WHP) (feature) when asked by the VMware Workstation installer - this means Hyper-V has not been fully disabled, try again the entire disabling process.

   • or install latest VMware Workstation Pro package via Chocolatey

# Chocolatey install + VMware Workstation

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

choco install vmwareworkstation -y

1. Disable power throttling for the VMware executables

# Disables power throttling for the VMware virtual machine executable (64-bit version)
powercfg /powerthrottling disable /path "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\x64\vmware-vmx.exe"

# Disables power throttling for the main VMware Workstation executable
powercfg /powerthrottling disable /path "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmware.exe"

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VMware tips

Verify the Monitor Mode

• To check, open the VM directory in VMware Workstation, locate vmware.log, and search for Monitor Mode:

• The vmware.log should show “Monitor Mode” as CPL0 instead of ULM (Hyper-V)

Delay the bios boot in a VM

# Add line to .vmx file:

bios.bootDelay = "5000"

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