Desktop hypervisor fiends. Both of you. VMware's testing a new cut of Workstation

Complete with a REST API for automated amusement

VMware’s quietly slipped out a Tech Preview of an update to Workstation, its desktop hypervisor for Windows and Linux.

The most notable new bit appears to be a REST API that matches the one added to the 2017 edition of Fusion, VMware’s desktop hypervisor for the Mac. Once it arrives in Workstation it’ll allow automated testing, cloning, network-wrangling and more. Another new feature is better view of remote hosts and clusters.

As plenty of developers use Workstation to dummy software-defined designs and test interactions between VMs, the API and better views of remote resources suggest a push to allow more complex testing.

Also new is support for the Wayland Architecture, a popular remote desktop tool.

Testers can also play with better USB detection in VMs – devices will just mount without intervention.

DirectX 10.1 and auto-updating of guest VMs to match the available screen resolution are also included.

The software’s available for download here for those of you with VMware accounts. Forum comments suggest it’s resource hungry and buggy, which you’d expect of a Tech Preview.

The Register expects those issues to clear soon, as VMware often launches new versions of Workstation and Fusion a week before VMworld to make sure they get their own moment in the sun (and perhaps warm the world up for a big burst of vNews). With VMworld kicking off on August 26th, a debut a few days earlier would surprise nobody. ®