How To Install VMware Workstation on Debian 11

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install VMware Workstation on Debian 11. For those of you who didn’t know, VMware Workstation is a virtualization software that allows users to create and run multiple virtual machines on a single physical machine. It is widely used by developers and IT professionals for testing software on different operating systems, and for creating secure testing environments.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the VMware Workstation on a Debian 11 (Bullseye).

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Debian 11.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• An active internet connection. You’ll need an internet connection to download the necessary packages and dependencies for VMware.
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install VMware Workstation on Debian 11 Bullseye

Step 1. Before we install any software, it’s important to make sure your system is up to date by running the following apt commands in the terminal:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install gcc build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Step 2. Downloading VMware Workstation.

To download the latest version of VMware Workstation, you need to follow these steps:

1. Go to the VMware website and navigate to the Products -> Workstation page.
2. Click on the Download Now button to download the installation file.

Step 3. Installing VMware Workstation Player on Debian 11.

After downloading the file, now navigate to the directory where you downloaded the installation file and run the following command to make the file executable:

chmod +x VMware-Player-Full-17.0.0-20800274.x86_64.bundle

Finally, run the following command to start the installation process:

sudo ./VMware-Player-Full-17.0.0-20800274.x86_64.bundle

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation process.

Output:

Extracting VMware Installer...done.
Installing VMware Workstation 17.0.0
Configuring...
[######################################################################] 100%
Installation was successful.

Step 4. Accessing VMware Workstation on Debian 11.

Once successfully installed, you can start VMware Workstation by searching for it in the Applications menu. When you start it for the first time, you will be prompted to enter a license key or use the software in trial mode.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed VMware. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the latest version of the VMware Workstation on Debian 11 Bullseye. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official VMware website.