What is Exclusive Mode in VMWare?

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So what exactly is exclusive mode in VMWare? I see that when I use it it puts me in to full screen basically. But is there any other benefit than just aesthetic reasons?

Does Exclusive Mode make it so that the virtual machine runs on a higher priority on the processor? I guess what I'm trying to find out is if there are any performance benefits in running in Exclusive Mode?

7wp

Posted 2011-02-01T03:15:06.520

Reputation: 1 410

Answers

8

Exclusive mode changes two things:

  1. It gives the guest control over the system display resolution(s).
  2. It removes any VMWare "toolbars" and such -- it makes the guest OS behave as if it were the OS, rather than a full screen guest. You don't have to worry about the guest losing focus if exclusive mode is on, other than the "Secure Attention Sequence/Three Finger Salute/Ctrl+Alt+Del" and the "breaking key combination" you set (which is Ctrl+Alt by default).

Billy ONeal

Posted 2011-02-01T03:15:06.520

Reputation: 7 021

Right, I already noticed these behaviors. But more specifically I wanted to know if there are any performance benefits in using exclusive mode. – 7wp – 2011-02-01T03:42:18.027

@FooBook: Then the answer is "no" :) See Page 164 of the VMWare Workstation Manual -> "You might want to use exclusive mode to run graphics‐intensive applications, such as games, in full screen mode."

– Billy ONeal – 2011-02-01T03:44:14.967

Asked: 2011-02-01T03:15:06.520

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Active: 2014-10-20T20:53:28.590