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VMware Workstation — Point & Click (GUI)

Import and run the RTA entirely from the VMware Workstation Pro graphical interface. No command-line tools are required.

Before you start

Review the VMware Workstation overview. You will need the OVA file provided by your engagement lead and a host machine running VMware Workstation Pro 17 on Windows or Linux.

1. Import the OVA

  1. In Workstation Pro, open File → Open.
  2. Browse to <OVA_PATH> (the OVA provided by your engagement lead) and click Open.
  3. In the Import Virtual Machine dialog:
    • Name: enter a descriptive name (e.g. rta-engagement).
    • Storage path: accept the default or choose a folder with at least 40 GB of free space.
  4. Click Import.

Workstation converts the OVA to a .vmx VM. A progress bar shows the import status. If Workstation reports a conformance error, click Retry — this relaxes the OVF spec checks and usually succeeds on the second attempt.

2. Set CPU and memory

  1. Right-click the imported VM in the library and choose Settings, or open VM → Settings.
  2. On the Hardware tab, click Processors:
    • Set Number of processors and Number of cores per processor so the total is 4 vCPU (recommended) or at least 2.
  3. Click Memory:
    • Set to 8192 MB (8 GB, recommended) or at least 4096 MB.
  4. Click OK.

3. Set the network adapter

  1. In VM → Settings → Hardware, click Network Adapter.

  2. Choose the connection type for your use case:

    Use case Setting
    Engagement LAN (Layer-2 to targets) Bridged: Connected directly to the physical network
    Isolated lab / dev NAT

  3. For Bridged mode, click Configure Adapters and select the host NIC that is wired into the engagement network.

  4. Click OK.

Bridged requires a wired uplink

VMware Workstation cannot bridge over Wi-Fi. The host must have a wired Ethernet adapter connected to the engagement network for the appliance to have true Layer-2 adjacency to targets.

4. Power on

Click Power On This Virtual Machine or press Ctrl+B.

The appliance is customized for your engagement, so it boots already registered and establishes an outbound VPN tunnel to the Sophos headend automatically — there is no activation step. The VM console displays its live status dashboard.

Verify

Open the VM console tab in Workstation Pro. The console shows a live status and troubleshooting dashboard (network interface, VPN tunnel, connectivity health). Under normal conditions (outbound internet reachable) the appliance connects on its own and no manual action is required.

Network access

The appliance makes one connection to do its job: an outbound tunnel to the Sophos headend. Nothing inbound is ever required — you never open or forward any ports to the appliance.

Allow this outbound destination
Destination connect.remotetesting.secureworks.com
IP addresses 3.33.194.251 and 15.197.255.2 (static — these do not change)
Port / protocol TCP 443, carrying OpenVPN (not HTTPS)
Direction Outbound only

Allow egress on TCP/443 to that destination from the appliance's network. On a next-generation firewall or NAC-controlled network, an L3 "allow 443" rule is often not enough — Layer-7 application control, TLS/SSL decryption, or NAC can still drop the tunnel even when the port is open. See Connectivity Troubleshooting for the exact firewall and NAC exceptions to request.

Troubleshooting

Deployed but something isn't right?

See VMware Workstation troubleshooting for the most common issues on this platform and how to fix them.