Run VMware Player with no GUI(Headless) by editing .vmx file

Question

I used to run VMware Player with no GUI by editing the .vmx file and disabling a preference to confirm before closing a virtual machine. The process was to disable that option in VMware Player preferences by adding two lines to the end of the .vmx file.

This will make closing VMware Player send the VM to background and close the Player GUI.

I searched the Internet to find out what those two lines were but have had no luck; all the posts just talk about using vmrun command or using VMware Server.

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Edit 1

Headless is the terminology for the service not without GUI

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Does any one know what those two lines are?

Solution

The terminology you're looking for is to run VMs (not VMware Player, which is actually a UI to interact with the VM) headless.

Close all VMware Workstation and Player instances and try editing your preferences file (%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\VMware\preferences.ini on Windows, ~/.vmware/preferences on Linux) to add the lines:

pref.vmplayer.exit.vmAction = "disconnect"
pref.vmplayer.confirmOnExit = "FALSE"

Comments

[AnAs51993]

this will make any instance of VMs headless there is an alternative code to be added to .vmx file to make only one VM headless maybe pref.exit.vmAction = "disconnect" or exit.vmAction = "disconnect" I tried them but did not work any way this is good for now thanks

[jamesdlin]

No, there is no way to do this on a per-VM basis. The preferences file affects the UI behavior; the .vmx files affect VM behaviors.

[G_Style]

Just to add, after doing this and launching a VM, it is safe to click the X and close your VM console window. It will continue to run in the background and not crash. Your sanity is secure. :)