Launch VMware Instance at Startup

note that this approach is silly. You should almost certainly be using VMware Server if you need to start VMs at system startup!

A VMware virtual machine can be automatically launched at startup by using VMware's command line parameters and the system Task Scheduler:

Under the Task tab, place the following string into the Run edit box:


"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmware.exe" -x -q "PathToVirtualMachine.vmx"

In the Schedule tab, select "At System Startup" under "Schedule Task".

The next time your machine reboots, a corresponding vmware-vmx.exe process should appear in your Task Manager.