The previous section described the menu options Power On and Power Off to start and stop a virtual machine. All remaining menu options are described in the following sections.
"File" Menu Options
Most of the options under File pertain to the use of configuration files; the only exception is the Exit option.
Use the New option to create a new configuration file using the VM configuration editor. This option is not available when a VM is currently powered on.
Use the Wizard option to create a new configuration file using the VM configuration wizard. This option is not available when a VM is currently powered on.
Use the Open option to open an existing configuration file. The standard file browser appears from which you select the desired configuration file. Then you can either edit or review that file using the VM configuration editor (menu option Settings > Configuration Editor) or you can simply power on.
Use the Save option when you have made changes to a configuration file using the VM configuration editor and you wish to save those changes. This option only makes sense if you have altered the definition (configuration) of the virtual machine; it is not useful during a typical VMware session when you simply power on, use the guest operating system and power off. Note that this option only relates to the current configuration file. (For example, it has no effect on an undoable virtual disk file.)
Use the Save As option when you have made changes to a configuration file using the VM configuration editor and you wish to save those changes in a new file.
Use the Exit option to exit this instance of the VMware application. If a VM is currently powered on, you should first shut down the guest operating system and select Power/Power Off. Then you can select File/Exit. The VMware application window closes.
"Power" Menu Options
See earlier in this chapter for a description of the two options Power On and Power Off.
Use the Reset option when you need to reboot a VM. If a VM does not respond properly or appears to be hung, you can usually stop the VM without affecting other programs running on the host operating system.
To recover a hung VM:
Use the following steps, stopping at the point when the machine responds properly.
Make sure that your mouse cursor is grabbed by the guest operating system when you press Control-Alt-Delete.
Data in the guest OS may be lost if you do this.
Also note that the hot-key combination Control-Alt-Esc (or Control-Alt-Shift-Escape if you are not using the default) always returns control to the host operating system, no matter what you are doing. If you encounter a problem while working in a VM, you can always press Ctrl-Alt-Esc to return control to the host OS.
Use the Suspend/Resume option to suspend or resume the virtual machine's processing. This option is useful if you are running the VMware application on a portable computer and wish to save power but do not want to power off the virtual machine. It is also useful if the guest OS consumes resources while idling (for example Windows 95 or 98).
You should not power off or exit the VMware application while a VM is in suspended mode. You should resume the VM and perform an orderly shut down before powering off and exiting.
An OS must support the advanced power management feature in order to support suspend/resume (both Windows 95 and 95 do). If you try to use suspend/resume on a guest OS that cannot support this feature, you will see a pop-up window with a message to that effect.
"Settings" Menu Options
The Configuration Editor option opens the VM configuration editor. Use this option to review or change the configuration of a VM. You cannot modify a VM that is currently running. If you have defined multiple virtual machines by creating multiple VM configuration files, make sure that you have opened the desired configuration file (check the title that appears in the VMware application window).
This menu option only appears after a virtual machine is powered on. It lists any device (such as a floppy drive, parallel port, or CD-ROM) that can be attached to or detached from the current VM. Use this option to attach or detach one of the devices.
"View" Menu Options
Use the Full Screen option to view the current VM in full screen mode. When you go to full screen, the mouse is automatically grabbed (see "When the VM Grabs the Mouse Cursor" ).
When you are using full screen mode, press Ctrl-Alt-F7 to view that VM in window mode.
See "Choosing Full Screen or Window View" for more information about moving between windows and changing from full screen to windows mode.
The Fit option is only useful when AutoFit is off. Use it to make the VMware application window fit the current size of the VM window. (If the guest OS then changes the screen size again, you may need to click Fit again, as it only fits the screen once, in contrast to AutoFit.)
The AutoFit option can be set to on or off. By default it is on. When AutoFit is set to on, you cannot resize the window manually.
When AutoFit is set to off, the VMware application window does not automatically "nest" around the virtual display. That is, the two windows size themselves independently. If the virtual display is smaller than the VMware application window, the virtual display appears centered in the VMware application window. If the virtual display is larger than the VMware application window, scroll bars appear so you can scroll to different parts of the virtual display.
When AutoFit is set to on, the VMware application window automatically resizes to fit the VM window. The size of the VM window varies depending upon the guest operating system, and may change during one VM session, particularly as the guest OS boots.
As you work in a VM you may periodically see popup windows with a hint. Each hint includes a checkbox that you can use to request that the hint not be shown again. If you enable the Show All Hints menu option, then all hints will be shown, regardless of whether you checked that box.
"Help" Menu Options
Use this button to view online help.
Use this menu option to automatically connect to the product information pages of the VMware Web site.
Use this menu option to automatically connect to the technical support pages of the VMware Web site.
Use this option to display license information and information about the current version of the VMware application.