Vmware Workstation Pro – Boot Menu and boot from USB

Initiate a boot process from a DVD, ISO file or USB drive, despite the presence of an existing operating system.
In situations where an operating system is pre-installed in VMware, booting from an alternate ISO file can be more challenging. VMware enables access to the boot menu using the ESC key. Nonetheless, the window of opportunity is quite brief before the operating system commences.

[frederic_millenial]

I had hope to start a Ventoy usb key this way but it never shows up in the boot menu.
- VMware Workstation 17.5.1 Pro, Windows machine with UEFI firmware ON, secure boot OFF or ON
- ventoy-1.0.97, partition style: GPT, secure boot support: ON
- or ventoy-1.0.97, partition style: MBR, secure boot support: OFF

The only way is adding the USB key to the machine (add Hard Disk) but then you won’t be able to clone the machine or create snapshot until you remove the hard disk pointing to the USB key. Too bad.

Edit: There is a way with the above method to enable snapshot.
- Edit virtual machine settings > select hard drive pointing to the USB > click “advanced” button
- check the “independent” box and “nonpersistent” unless you want to the opposite.