VMware

VMware is actually virtualization software, you can download VMware server which allows you to create custom virtual machines or you can download the VMware player which only allows you to run prebuild virtual machines, which is fine for some people

VMware allows you to try a virtual OS (Win, *nix, BSD, Solaris or any OS) there are a few VMware installation guides like but there are not many that are as good as this
but i haven't found any guides to use VMware, so there is one now, vmware is available on a few different platforms, VMware is available for FREE download here

BTW: don't forget to register VMware to receive your 20 digit serial number via email (you can enter the serial during installation, or enter the serial number by selecting Help > Enter Serial Number, on the menu bar)

a virtual machine is called a guest OS whereas your computer is called a host machine

VMware requires a few things installed, like a C compiler (gcc) and kernel headers for your installed kernel, personally i think VMware is great, for example: if you use Windows you can try *nix without changing anything on Win and if you use a virtual bridged NIC on your virtual machine you actually share your internet connection or if you decide to use NAT the virtual macine will actually share the host computers IP or yo can setup a virtual network that will only access the host machine

the virtual machine do suffer from a lack of performance, however you can improve performance by not splitting the virtual HDD into 2Gb files and by installing VMware tools, but it will still suffer performance wise unless you assign a least 1Gb of virtual RAM (dependant upon the guest OS, but you get a v v good idea what using the actual OS is like

before add any VM's edit the host setting

General tab

this screen basically sets the location of your VM's (as you can see mine are in /var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines)

Memory tab

this tab selects how much of your RAM is assigned to each OS (usually a minimum of 192Mb) & weather that RAM is shareable between VM's

Priority tab

this tab allows yo to specify if snapshots are taken in the background or not (snapshots are one of the best parts of VMware)

Connection tab

this tab allows you to choose if you want to allow secure (SSL) on this host

basically snapshots allow you to use Win98 and if you take a snapshot of the VM running 98 then if you upgraded 98 to Win 2k or XP you can the revert back to 98 by restoring the snapshot

Your First VM
this is the new VM wizard startup screen (after choosing "Create new VM")

now we choose a comfiguration (i recommend using the typical configuration at first)


next we choose the OS

this doesn't change different things for different OS's, it is only to name the OS tab, first select the OS type and then select the OS version

now we decide where to put the VM & it's name

here you can choose the location & name of the VM (the name appears on the OS tab bar)

then we choose a netwoking connection type

if you choose Briged connection the guest OS accesses the network diretly, if you access the network statically then the VM must be assigned it's own IP address, or if you use NAT (Network Address Translation) this actually shares the networking with the host & shares the host's IP address, or you can host only networking, this basically means that the VM can only network with the host machine, or you can totally disable networking

next we are allowed to choose the size of our VM's HDD

this is where you deselect "split disk into 2Gb files

if for whatever reason a new VM won't boot try using the custom creation of a VM and select an IDE virtual HDD and not SCSI (Scuzzy)

now to the VM options

press the highlighted button, to get to this screen

now here we can adjust the amount or your RAM VMware can borrow from your sysytem for the VM, as you can see my VM borrow's 256Mb's, you can either adjust the slider or move the amount of RAM up or down depending on how much RAM your VM can borrow


here you can defragment your virtual HDD
and if you select advanced you arrive at thit screen

now the drive 0:0 means that the device is the primary master, 0:1 would be the primary slave, 1:0 is the secodary master & 1:1 is the secondary slave,

default is actually using an actual CD / DVD drive attached to your system, however you cad even boot your VM from an actual .ISO CD / DVD image on your HDD

allyou have to do is select "Use ISO Image" then browse for your choosen ISO image, you can also select which IDE device (master or slave on the primary or secondary IDE)
on this screen

you can either choose to use the floppy disc drive on you system or use a disc image

you install an OS exactly how you install an OS on a real system, put the boot CD / DVD or floppy in your drive and power on the VM, a new VM automatically trys to boot from floppy or CD / DVD however if you want to choose what device you want to boot from, power on the VM and left click the mouse to make the VM active and press <Esc> and after a few seconds you will be presented with a menu allowing you to choose which device to boot from

have you noticed the "add" button


this is where you can add diferend virtual hardware to your VM

BTW: adding a virtual sound card will actually will actually make you sound card available to your VM & adding a USB controller will make USB available to your VM however USB devices will NOT be available, to enable them use the menu VM > Remoable Devices > USB Devices and select the device you wish to enable

apparently you can network 2 or more VM's although i've never even tried it

although this guide is slightly incomplete, but you will be able to do most things that VMware does

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