There is actually no function in VMware Player to do that.
- Any VMware product in the chart above, with the exception of VMware Player, is able to upgrade the version of a virtual machine's hardware to the highest version that it supports.
VMware Knowledge Base
It may be as simple as manually editing the .VMX file for the virtual machine.
Power off the VM, do not just suspend it.
Navigate to the folder containing the VM
Make a copy of the existing .VMX file
If possible, make a copy of the entire VM... just in case.
Open Notepad and then drag the original VMX into Notepad's window.
In VMware Player, open the virtual machine's .vmx file using a text editor.
Locate the entry virtualHW.version = "x".
Change the above entry to:
virtualHW.version = "14"
Save and close the .vmx file.
Save the file, then double-click on the .VMX to open it.
If a WIndows VM then you should get prompted about changed hardware
Install the newer VMware tools to get newer drivers, etc.
- Note: Changes made to the .vmx file do not take effect until the next time VMware Workstation or VMware Player is opened.