Capturing Movie Files Using VMware Workstation 10

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VMware Workstation 10 is a powerful virtualization platform that allows users to run multiple operating systems on their host machine with ease. One of its many features is the ability to record screen activity as movie files, which can be incredibly useful for various purposes such as creating tutorials, demonstrations, or even just simply capturing important steps.

In this article, we will walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to capture movie files using VMware Workstandad 10. We'll cover everything from preparing your virtual machine (VM) environment to saving and playing back the captured video file.

Preparation

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Before starting, make sure that you have:

1. A valid copy of VMware Workstation 7 or later installed on your host machine.

2. The VIX (Virtual Infrastructure SDK for perl/Python/C++) libraries installed in your guest operating system (OS). You can download them from the official VMware website.

Capturing a Movie File

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To capture movie files using VMware Workstation 10, follow these steps:

1. Open VMWare Workbench and select the virtual machine whose screen activity you want to record.

2. Go to View > Switch to Full Screen or press F11 on your keyboard.

3. Click on 'Capture' from the top toolbar in full-screen mode.

A new dialog box will appear with several options for capturing movie files:

* Entire desktop: Records everything that appears on your host machine's entire screen, including any other running applications and windows.

* Last 60 seconds: Captures only the last minute of activity from when you started recording (default).

* Select a specific area by dragging your mouse cursor over it.

4. Choose your desired capture region or leave everything checked if you want to record everything on your entire desktop.

5. Click 'OK' to proceed with setting up additional options for your movie file:

* File format: Choose either AVI (Audio Video Interleave), WMV3 (Windows Media Player 9/10 compatible), FLV, or MP4 as the output video format.

6. Enter a name and location where you'd want to save your captured movie in 'Save as' field.

7. You can also optionally specify other settings like resolution, frame rate, etc., depending on what works best for your specific needs but keep in mind that higher resolutions will resultantly increase file sizes significantly so use them sparingly if possible!

8. Once you're satisfied with all the options, click 'Save' to start recording.

Playing Back Your Captured Movie

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After capturing a movie file using VMware Workstation 10, playing it back is relatively straightforward:

1. Open any media player that supports your chosen video format (e.g., Windows Media Player for WMV/AVI or VLC Media Player for FLV/MP4).

2. Navigate to the location where you saved your captured movie and double-click on its icon.

3. Your default media player should now open, allowing you to watch and play back your recorded screen activity as a regular video file.

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In conclusion, capturing movie files using VMware Workstation 10 is an incredibly useful feature that can save time and effort in various situations. By following the simple steps outlined above, you'll be able to record high-quality movies of your virtual machine's screen activity with ease, making it perfect for creating tutorials, demonstrations, or even just simply keeping a permanent record of important steps.

Remember always ensure proper permissions are set up before sharing any sensitive information captured through these methods!

Vmware workstation 10 capture movie