VMWare Fusion is great for running all kinds of virtual machines on my Mac and the new version 6 is a great upgrade. I’ll use it to run older versions of Mac OS X for testing, the Internet Explorer VMs from Microsoft for browser compatibility with web apps, and for running server apps on a virtual Linux box. Often when running a Linux server I’ll connect to the VM using SSH and use native Mac apps and iTerm 2 rather than access the VM through the virtual display. It’s always bothered me having that extra window around, even when minimized, so went in search of a way to run a VM without it, in a "headless" mode.
The answer is a tool called vmrun, and it’s included (but hidden) with VMWare Fusion. In the VMWare Fusion application bundle you’ll find a Contents/Library folder with a number of scripts and tools, one of them being vmrun. On my Mac I created a symlink to the vmrun binary in /usr/local/bin so it’s available in my PATH.
/usr/local/bin/vmrun -> /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmrun
With that taken care of I can start up a headless VM instance with something like:
vmrun -T fusion start "/path/to/Ubuntu-12.04.vmwarevm/Ubuntu-12.04.vmx" nogui
Check out some of the other arguments and options such as list, clone, installTools and the Guest OS set of commands — there are some really useful tools to let you manage and interact with your VM from your OS X command line.
If you call vmrun without any options you’ll get the complete usage, listed here:
vmrun version 1.13.0 build-1331545
Usage: vmrun [AUTHENTICATION-FLAGS] COMMAND [PARAMETERS]
AUTHENTICATION-FLAGS
--------------------
These must appear before the command and any command parameters.
-h <hostName> (not needed for Fusion)
-P <hostPort> (not needed for Fusion)
-T <hostType> (ws|fusion)
-u <userName in host OS> (not needed for Fusion)
-p <password in host OS> (not needed for Fusion)
-vp <password for encrypted virtual machine>
-gu <userName in guest OS>
-gp <password in guest OS>
POWER COMMANDS PARAMETERS DESCRIPTION
-------------- ---------- -----------
start Path to vmx file Start a VM or Team
[gui|nogui]
stop Path to vmx file Stop a VM or Team
[hard|soft]
reset Path to vmx file Reset a VM or Team
[hard|soft]
suspend Path to vmx file Suspend a VM or Team
[hard|soft]
pause Path to vmx file Pause a VM
unpause Path to vmx file Unpause a VM
SNAPSHOT COMMANDS PARAMETERS DESCRIPTION
----------------- ---------- -----------
listSnapshots Path to vmx file List all snapshots in a VM
[showTree]
snapshot Path to vmx file Create a snapshot of a VM
Snapshot name
deleteSnapshot Path to vmx file Remove a snapshot from a VM
Snapshot name
[andDeleteChildren]
revertToSnapshot Path to vmx file Set VM state to a snapshot
Snapshot name
GUEST OS COMMANDS PARAMETERS DESCRIPTION
----------------- ---------- -----------
runProgramInGuest Path to vmx file Run a program in Guest OS
[-noWait]
[-activeWindow]
[-interactive]
Complete-Path-To-Program
[Program arguments]
fileExistsInGuest Path to vmx file Check if a file exists in Guest OS
Path to file in guest
directoryExistsInGuest Path to vmx file Check if a directory exists in Guest OS
Path to directory in guest
setSharedFolderState Path to vmx file Modify a Host-Guest shared folder
Share name
Host path
writable | readonly
addSharedFolder Path to vmx file Add a Host-Guest shared folder
Share name
New host path
removeSharedFolder Path to vmx file Remove a Host-Guest shared folder
Share name
enableSharedFolders Path to vmx file Enable shared folders in Guest
[runtime]
disableSharedFolders Path to vmx file Disable shared folders in Guest
[runtime]
listProcessesInGuest Path to vmx file List running processes in Guest OS
killProcessInGuest Path to vmx file Kill a process in Guest OS
process id
runScriptInGuest Path to vmx file Run a script in Guest OS
[-noWait]
[-activeWindow]
[-interactive]
Interpreter path
Script text
deleteFileInGuest Path to vmx file Delete a file in Guest OS
Path in guest
createDirectoryInGuest Path to vmx file Create a directory in Guest OS
Directory path in guest
deleteDirectoryInGuest Path to vmx file Delete a directory in Guest OS
Directory path in guest
CreateTempfileInGuest Path to vmx file Create a temporary file in Guest OS
listDirectoryInGuest Path to vmx file List a directory in Guest OS
Directory path in guest
CopyFileFromHostToGuest Path to vmx file Copy a file from host OS to guest OS
Path on host Path in guest
CopyFileFromGuestToHost Path to vmx file Copy a file from guest OS to host OS
Path in guest Path on host
renameFileInGuest Path to vmx file Rename a file in Guest OS
Original name
New name
captureScreen Path to vmx file Capture the screen of the VM to a local file
Path on host
writeVariable Path to vmx file Write a variable in the VM state
[runtimeConfig|guestEnv|guestVar]
variable name
variable value
readVariable Path to vmx file Read a variable in the VM state
[runtimeConfig|guestEnv|guestVar]
variable name
getGuestIPAddress Path to vmx file Gets the IP address of the guest
[-wait]
VPROBE COMMANDS PARAMETERS DESCRIPTION
--------------- ---------- -----------
vprobeVersion Path to vmx file List VP version
vprobeLoad Path to vmx file Load VP script
'VP script text'
vprobeLoadFile Path to vmx file Load VP file
Path to VP file
vprobeReset Path to vmx file Disable all vprobes
vprobeListProbes Path to vmx file List probes
vprobeListGlobals Path to vmx file List global variables
GENERAL COMMANDS PARAMETERS DESCRIPTION
---------------- ---------- -----------
list List all running VMs
upgradevm Path to vmx file Upgrade VM file format, virtual hw
installTools Path to vmx file Install Tools in Guest
checkToolsState Path to vmx file Check the current Tools state
deleteVM Path to vmx file Delete a VM
clone Path to vmx file Create a copy of the VM
Path to destination vmx file
full|linked
[-snapshot=Snapshot Name]
[-cloneName=Name]
Examples:
Starting a virtual machine with Workstation on a Windows host
vmrun -T ws start "c:\my VMs\myVM.vmx"
Stopping a virtual machine on an ESX host
vmrun -T esx -h https://myHost.com/sdk -u hostUser -p hostPassword stop "[storage1] vm/myVM.vmx"
Running a program in a virtual machine with Workstation on a Windows host with Windows guest
vmrun -T ws -gu guestUser -gp guestPassword runProgramInGuest "c:\my VMs\myVM.vmx" "c:\Program Files\myProgram.exe"
Running a program in a virtual machine with Server on a Linux host with Linux guest
vmrun -T server -h https://myHost.com:8333/sdk -u hostUser -p hostPassword -gu guestUser -gp guestPassword runProgramInGuest "[standard] vm/myVM.vmx" /usr/bin/X11/xclock -display :0
Creating a snapshot of a virtual machine with Workstation on a Windows host
vmrun -T ws snapshot "c:\my VMs\myVM.vmx" mySnapshot
Reverting to a snapshot with Workstation on a Windows host
vmrun -T ws revertToSnapshot "c:\my VMs\myVM.vmx" mySnapshot
Deleting a snapshot with Workstation on a Windows host
vmrun -T ws deleteSnapshot "c:\my VMs\myVM.vmx" mySnapshot
Enabling Shared Folders with Workstation on a Windows host
vmrun -T ws enableSharedFolders "c:\my VMs\myVM.vmx"
