VMware offers Workstation Player for free. While it lacks Snapshots and multiple tabs, it supports running one powerful VM at a time. It supports Pro-made VMs.
| Feature | Standard VMware Workstation | Digiboyir VMware Workstation | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | RAM Footprint | ~600 MB idle | ~310 MB idle (optimized) | | NVMe Emulation | Standard | Ultra-fast with polling mode | | 3D Acceleration | DirectX 10.1 / OpenGL 3.3 | DirectX 11.0 / Vulkan via translation | | Clone Speed | Full or Linked | Instant "Digi-Clone" with delta differential | | Power Consumption | High (Background services) | Dynamic (P-states aggressive throttling) | digiboyir vmware workstation
The short answer is: Yes, with caveats.
The Digiboyir team maintains a stable branch (labeled v2-stable) and an experimental branch. For production environments—such as a remote desktop server or a CI/CD build agent—stick to the stable branch. The scripts do not modify the core VMware binaries permanently; they only patch memory during runtime. VMware offers Workstation Player for free
However, always back up your virtual machines before applying the optimizer. While the developers are reputable, third-party kernel modules (on Linux) carry inherent risk. | Feature | Standard VMware Workstation | Digiboyir
| Setting | Recommended Value | Reason | |-------------------------|---------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------| | USB Controller | USB 2.0 (not USB 3.0/3.1) | Legacy IR devices often lack xHCI support. | | Processor | 1 CPU, 2 cores (no passthrough) | Prevents timing inconsistencies for IR sampling. | | Virtualization Engine | Disable “Virtualize Intel VT-x” | Improves real-time USB polling reliability. | | CD/DVD | None (unless required) | Avoids IRQ conflicts with legacy COM port emulation. |
One of the most praised features of the Digiboyir build is its ability to run modern operating systems (Windows 11 24H2, Ubuntu 24.04) on host machines that do not officially support SLAT (Second Level Address Translation) or modern TPM 2.0 modules. It bypasses VMware’s rigid hardware checks, allowing you to virtualize modern OSes on 5-to-8-year-old hardware.