Introduction
VMware Workstation Player (formerly VMware Player) allows you to run entire operating systems in a virtual machine, which runs on top of Ubuntu or Windows. To the guest operating system (the one running inside the virtual machine), it appears as though it were running on its own PC. The host operating system runs the VMware Workstation Player, which provides the guest with resources like network access. It can be downloaded for free from VMware.
Virtual machines configured with an operating system and applications ready to perform a specific function are called virtual appliances. An appliance can be created using certain VMware products, or you can download ready-made appliances. A wide variety of appliances (both certified and other-wise) are available from VMware's Appliance Marketplace.
Installing VMware Player
On Ubuntu 14.04 and later
Install build-essential:
sudo apt install gcc build-essential -y
Download the VMware bundle from VMware
Open a terminal then run the package using gksudo:
gksudo bash VMware-Player-14.0.0-6661328.x86_64.bundle
*If nothing appears, you may need to make the file executable. You can do so with this command:
chmod +x VMware-Player-14.0.0-6661328.x86_64.bundle
Improving Performance
You can improve performance by using the VMware/Tools on your guest OS.
Support
VMWare Player is currently not available via the Ubuntu repositories. While the package page for vmware-player in Launchpad does exist, no packages exist. Please do not report bugs against vmware-player, or add bug tasks for vmware-player on current bug reports. Instead, please seek support via: http://www.vmware.com/support/product-support/player.html and http://www.ubuntu.com/support.