Windows 7: Virtulization newbie.

Back again with a few questions, whats the difference between the VM player and VM workstation? and i am a little confused on how i would install a l a program on my VM Guess OS, i would do it the same way i installed the OS?, by pointing to a file within the VM?



Thanks in advance.

VMWare Workstation is a more comprehensive virtual environment in which I think VMWare Player is a part. I've never considered it myself as it costs $200.

Yes you install a program in the guest just as you would on the host. Download an installer in the guest and run it. The program will install itself in the guest. That is the main reason I run a Win 7 VM to test out new software before I install it in the host.

Thanks, i will see if i can install a suite on the guest OS in the VM,

It should be just the same as installing a program on the host but done inside the VM.

Hi there
installing a guest OS on vmplayer is simple.

1) make an ISO image of the os you want to install and copy it to your HDD.
2) start the vmware player program.
3) on file==>open_>create new virtual machine.

The wizard will guide you through the whole process. It will even suggest disk size to allocate for your vm.
Note don't allocate too much when installing a guest vm -- you can add more virtual disks later.

4) power on the vm -- eventually you'll see the same logon screen as you did for your normal OS -- just logon with your user account and password.

5) when the vm has booted up the first time you might find screen resolution strange and mouse not very reponsive -- you need from the powered on virtual machine's menu go to intall vmware tools.

it will do thes and then restart the virtual machine.

You should then be able to adjust the screen resolution and have decent mouse control.

To get the vm into FULL SCREEN mode simply press CTRL-ALT-ENTER.

In Windowed mode you wil need to press CTRL-G to release the mouse from the VM.

Have a look at Brink's Tutorials -- they are excellent but using the wizard is probably the easiest way to get up and running.

To install software on your VM just install exactly as you would on the Real machine. Note on the VM you can dynamically add and remove devices too so you can add things like usb printers, HDD's, usb sticks, CD/DVD drives and iso images as emulated DVD drives.

Cheers
jimbo

Hello everyone, Well i managed to install a couple of programs on my VM 2008 server and on my VM Windows 7, it seems simple enough, just a tad slower than using the host, now that i kind of understand the VM here is my new question, ( maybe i should post it in the Networking section) but i will give it a shot here first.

I am trying to simulate the MCITP lessons on my VM's that i do in class, i have created a few non admin users on the VM WIN 7 and i have administrator account on there also, i have created a shared folder on the host C:\ drive, which i am able to see if i turn on network discovery. (security issue i know )

i am looking for the safest way to simulate these lessons on the VM's without actually having to share anything on the C:\ drive.

Also since i have a 192.168.X.X internal IP address, would it be possible to assign different IP addresses to each of the VM's and not have them be seen outside the 192.168 X.X

Thanks.

I'm not really an expert on Networking but it may be worth looking at the Host Only option which I believe can be used to network between VMs without internet access.

Perhaps someone with more experience of this will step in.

Ok, you mean the Host only options on VM? or my local host machine? thanks Kado you have been of great help, i will see if anyone has any suggestions here then i will try the Networking section,
Thanks.

I have posted on another private thread asking if anyone else can help out.

Thanks, one other question, i noticed that VM 2008 sever's default installation required 40GB of HD space, and VM Win 7 default required 60GB and the each Guest OS is only taking up 20 and 10 Gigs respectively, why such a big difference in the VM default requirements? and the actual Guess OS install requirement, also since there will not be much being installed on the VM's anyways, can i reduce the VM's default HD space allocation to something more suitable like say 20GB for the 2008 sever VM, and 20 for the Win 7 VM ?

Thanks.