That’s it, if you are at this step, congratulations you just got yourself a new Mac running inside a Windows Machine! If you don’t feel like to be an early adopter, we have an excellent guide on how to install Mac OS X Lion as a virtual machine in your Windows machine, be sure to check that out as well. Hello, you would definitely need a different license to keep the operating system in a virtual machine. I am not sure with windows 7, but with server 2003/vista as an example, you could install 2003/vista in a virtual machine and keep it as a trial for an amount of days. This way you could install it without entering a license at installation time.
VMware ACE Configuring the Virtual Machines and Installing Software Configuring the Virtual Machines and Installing Software To finish preparing your project, review the configuration of all virtual machines and be sure that the appropriate operating system and software are installed in each virtual machine. Reviewing the Configuration of a Virtual Machine Reviewing the Configuration of a Virtual Machine Select a virtual machine in the project list. The display shows the virtual machine overview.
Devices Devices The Devices list provides an overview of the devices configured for this virtual machine and the basic settings for each device. The list includes the virtual machine's memory and such virtual devices as hard disks, CD-ROM drives, floppy disks, Ethernet adapters, USB controllers and audio devices. To change the settings for an existing device, double-click the name of the device, then change the settings as needed. To add a device click Edit virtual machine settings in the Commands list, click Add, then follow the instructions provided by the wizard.
Note: In this release, you may experience problems if you configure a virtual machine to use hardware such as a floppy disk or a CD-ROM drive but the host computer does not have corresponding hardware. Be sure the computers on which you plan to run this virtual machine have the physical devices needed to support those virtual devices for example, CD-ROM drives, floppy disks, Ethernet adapters, USB controllers and audio devices. Policies Policies The Policies list provides an overview of the policies set for this virtual machine. To change the policies for the virtual machine, click Edit virtual machine policies in the Commands list, then change the settings as needed.
Notes Notes To add notes about this virtual machine, click inside the notes field and type. The notes are saved with the virtual machine configuration. Installing an Operating System and Applications in the Virtual Machine Installing an Operating System and Applications in the Virtual Machine Before deploying virtual machines to your end users, be sure they have the necessary operating system and software installed. If you created a new virtual machine and added it to the project, you must install a guest operating system in the virtual machine.
The steps in this section describe how to install a Windows XP guest operating system from an installation CD. For notes on installing all supported guest operating systems, see the Guest Operating System Installation Guide, available from the VMware Web site or from the Help menu.
If you added an existing virtual machine, it may already have a guest operating system installed. Be sure the guest operating system has the appropriate updates. If you are deploying a Windows virtual machine to multiple users, you must set up Sysprep in the guest operating system just as you would on a physical computer you intended to clone for a large deployment. Sysprep prepares the operating system for deployment by installing special software that reconfigures the operating system on the next boot.
Installing a Guest Operating System Installing a Guest Operating System A new virtual machine is like a physical computer with a blank hard disk. Before you can use it, you need to partition and format the virtual disk, and install an operating system. The operating system's installation program may handle the partitioning and formatting steps for you.
Installing a guest operating system inside your VMware ACE virtual machine is essentially the same as installing it on a physical computer. The basic steps for a typical operating system are:.
Start VMware ACE. Insert the installation CD-ROM or floppy disk for your guest operating system. Note: In some host configurations, the virtual machine is not able to boot from the installation CD-ROM. You can work around that problem by creating an ISO image file from the installation CD-ROM.
Use the Virtual Machine Control Panel to connect the virtual machine's CD drive to the ISO image file, then power on the virtual machine. Power on your virtual machine by clicking the Power On button.
Follow the instructions provided by the operating system vendor. Installing Windows XP Installing Windows XP The next section provides notes on installing a Windows XP guest operating system. Insert the Windows XP CD in the CD-ROM drive. Note: If you plan to use a PXE server to install the guest operating system over a network connection, you do not need the operating system installation media.
When you power on the virtual machine in the next step, the virtual machine detects the PXE server. Power on the virtual machine to start installing Windows XP. Follow the Windows XP installation steps as you would for a physical computer.
Install VMware Tools in the guest operating system. Note: Be sure to install VMware Tools in the guest operating system. A number of key features in VMware ACE are provided by the VMware Tools package. The installers for VMware Tools for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and NetWare guest operating systems are built into VMware ACE Manager as ISO image files. VMware Tools for Windows supports Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Longhorn guest operating systems. Installing VMware Tools in a Windows Guest Operating System Installing VMware Tools in a Windows Guest Operating System The detailed steps for installing VMware Tools depend on the version of Windows you are running.
The steps that follow show how to install VMware Tools in a Windows XP guest. Some steps that are automated in newer versions of Windows must be performed manually in Windows 9x and Windows NT.
Note: If you are running VMware ACE Manager on a Windows host and your virtual machine has only one CD-ROM drive, the CD-ROM drive must be configured as an IDE or SCSI CD-ROM drive. It cannot be configured as a generic SCSI device. Power on the virtual machine. When the guest operating system starts, prepare your virtual machine to install VMware Tools. Choose VM Install VMware Tools.
The remaining steps take place inside the virtual machine. Note: You must log on to a Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 or Longhorn guest operating system as an administrator in order to install VMware Tools. Any user can install VMware Tools in a Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Me guest operating system. If you have autorun enabled in your guest operating system (the default setting for Windows operating systems), a dialog box appears after a few seconds. It asks if you want to install VMware Tools.
Click Yes to launch the InstallShield wizard. If autorun is not enabled, the dialog box does not appear automatically. If it doesn't appear, run the VMware Tools installer. Click Start Run and enter D: setup setup.exe where D: is your first virtual CD-ROM drive. Note: You do not use an actual CD-ROM to install VMware Tools, nor do you need to download the CD-ROM image or burn a physical CD-ROM of this image file. The VMware ACE software contains an ISO image that looks like a CD-ROM to your guest operating system and even appears as a CD-ROM in Windows Explorer.
This image contains all the files needed to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system. When you finish installing VMware Tools, this image file no longer appears in your CD-ROM drive. Follow the onscreen instructions. Note: At some stages in the installation process, you may see Digital Signature Not Found dialog boxes. You can safely ignore the messages and click the button to continue installing these drivers. On Windows Server 2003, Windows Me, Windows 98 SE and Windows 98 guests, the SVGA driver is installed automatically and the guest operating system uses it after it reboots. With Windows 2000 and Windows XP guests, you do not have to reboot to use the new driver.
Installing VMware Tools in a Linux Guest Operating System Installing VMware Tools in a Linux Guest Operating System. Power on the virtual machine. After the guest operating system has started, prepare your virtual machine to install VMware Tools.
Choose VM Install VMware Tools. The remaining steps take place inside the virtual machine.
You may install VMware Tools in text mode or from a terminal in an X window session. As root ( su -), mount the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image, change to a working directory (for example, /tmp), uncompress the installer, then unmount the CD-ROM image. Note: You do not use an actual CD-ROM to install VMware Tools, nor do you need to download the CD-ROM image or burn a physical CD-ROM of this image file. The VMware ACE software contains an ISO image that looks like a CD-ROM to your guest operating system. This image contains all the files needed to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system. Note: Some Linux distributions use different device names or organize the / dev directory differently.
If your CD-ROM drive is not /dev/cdrom or if the mount point for a CD-ROM is not /mnt/cdrom, modify the following commands to reflect the conventions used by your distribution. Mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom cd /tmp tar zxf /mnt/cdrom/vmware-linux-tools.tar.gz umount /mnt/cdrom.
Run the VMware Tools installer. Cd vmware-tools-distrib./vmware-install.pl Respond to the questions the installer displays on the panel.
Be sure to respond yes when the installer offers to run the configuration program. Log off of the root account. Exit. Start X and your graphical environment if they are not already running. Note: If this is the first time you have installed VMware Tools in this virtual machine, you must restart X to activate graphics and mouse features in the VMware Tools package. In an X terminal, launch the VMware Tools application in the background. Vmware-toolbox & Note: You may run VMware Tools as root or as a normal user.
To shrink virtual disks, you must run VMware Tools as root ( su -). Starting VMware Tools Automatically in a Linux Guest Operating System Starting VMware Tools Automatically in a Linux Guest Operating System You may find it helpful to configure your guest operating system so VMware Tools starts when you start your X server. The steps for doing so vary depending on your Linux distribution and your desktop environment.
Check your operating system documentation for the appropriate steps to take. For example, in a Red Hat Linux 7.1 guest using GNOME, follow these steps. Open the Startup Programs panel in the GNOME Control Center. Main Menu (click the foot icon in the lower left corner of the screen) Programs Settings Session Startup Programs.
Click Add. In the Startup Command field, enter vmware-toolbox. Click OK, click OK again, then close the GNOME Control Center.
The next time you start X, VMware Tools starts automatically. Installing VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Guest Operating System Installing VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Guest Operating System. Power on the virtual machine. Prepare your virtual machine to install VMware Tools.
Choose VM Install VMware Tools. The remaining steps take place inside the virtual machine, not on the host computer. You may install VMware Tools in text mode or from a terminal in an X window session. As root ( su -), mount the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image, change to a working directory (for example, /tmp), uncompress the installer, then unmount the CD-ROM image. Note: You do not use an actual CD-ROM to install VMware Tools, nor do you need to download the CD-ROM image or burn a physical CD-ROM of this image file.
The VMware ACE software contains an ISO image that looks like a CD-ROM to your guest operating system. This image contains all the files needed to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system. Mount /cdrom cd /tmp tar zxf /cdrom/vmware-freebsd-tools.tar.gz umount /cdrom.
Run the VMware Tools installer. Cd vmware-tools-distrib./vmware-install.pl. Log off of the root account.
Exit. Start X and your graphical environment if they are not already running. Note: If this is the first time you have installed VMware Tools in this virtual machine, you must restart X to activate graphics and mouse features in the VMware Tools package. In an X terminal, launch the VMware Tools application in the background. Vmware-toolbox & Note: You may run VMware Tools as root or as a normal user. To shrink virtual disks, you must run VMware Tools as root ( su -). Note: In a FreeBSD 4.5 guest operating system, sometimes VMware Tools does not start after you install VMware Tools, reboot the guest operating system or start VMware Tools on the command line in the guest.
An error message appears: Shared object 'libc.so.3' not found. The required library was not installed. This does not happen with full installations of FreeBSD 4.5, but does occur for minimal installations.
To fix the problem of the missing library, take the following steps:. Insert and mount the FreeBSD 4.5 installation CD or access the ISO image file. Change directories and run the installation script. Cd /cdrom/compat3x./install.sh Installing VMware Tools in a NetWare Guest Operating System Installing VMware Tools in a NetWare Guest Operating System. Power on the virtual machine. Prepare your virtual machine to install VMware Tools.
Choose VM Install VMware Tools. The remaining steps take place inside the virtual machine.
Load the CD-ROM driver so the CD-ROM device mounts the ISO image as a volume. Do one of the following. In the system console for a NetWare 6.5 virtual machine, type LOAD CDDVD.
In the system console for a NetWare 6.0 or NetWare 5.1 virtual machine, type LOAD CD9660.NSS. When the driver finishes loading, you can begin installing VMware Tools. In the system console, type vmwtools: setup.ncf When the installation finishes, the message VMware Tools for NetWare are now running appears in the Logger screen (NetWare 6.5 and NetWare 6.0 guests) or the Console screen (NetWare 5.1 guests). Restart the guest operating system. In the system console, type restart server Configuring VMware Tools Configuring VMware Tools This section shows the options available in a Windows XP guest operating system. Similar configuration options are available in VMware Tools for other guest operating systems.
When VMware Tools is running, an icon with the VMware boxes logo appears in the guest operating system's system tray by default. If you prefer to hide this icon, change the setting on the Options tab. To open the VMware Tools control panel, double-click the VMware Tools icon in the system tray. If the VMware Tools icon does not appear in the system tray, go to Start Control Panel. Locate the VMware Tools icon and double-click it.
The Options tab shows the Miscellaneous Options. Time synchronization between the virtual machine and the host operating system Note: You can synchronize the time in the guest operating system with the time on the host operating system only when you set the clock in the guest operating system to a time earlier than the time set on the host. Under some circumstances, the virtual machine may synchronize time with the host even though this item is not selected.
If you want to disable time synchronization completely, open the virtual machine's configuration file (.vmx) in a text editor and set the following options to FALSE. Tools.syncTime tools.synchronize.restore time.synchronize.resume.disk time.synchronize.continue time.synchronize.shrink. Show VMware Tools in the taskbar The Scripts tab (available only in Windows guests) lets you enable, disable and run scripts that are associated with the Suspend, Resume, Power On and Power Off buttons. If the virtual machine is configured to use DHCP, the script that is executed when suspending a virtual machine releases the IP address of the virtual machine.
The script that is executed when resuming a virtual machine renews the IP address of the virtual machine. To run one of these scripts at some other time, select the script you want from the drop-down menu, then click Run Now. To disable all scripts, deselect Use Scripts.
Note: Scripts cannot be run in Windows 95, NetWare or FreeBSD guest operating systems. Note: Scripts in Windows NT and Windows Me guest operating systems do not release and renew the IP address.
The Shared Folders tab provides information on where to find your shared folders. For more information on shared folders, see. The Shrink tab gives you access to the controls you need if you wish to reclaim unused space in a virtual disk. In some configurations, it is not possible to shrink virtual disks. If your virtual machine uses such a configuration, the Shrink tab displays information explaining why you cannot shrink your virtual disks. Using the System Console to Configure VMware Tools in a NetWare Guest Operating System Using the System Console to Configure VMware Tools in a NetWare Guest Operating System You can configure certain virtual machine options such as time synchronization, CPU idling and device configuration with VMware Tools in a NetWare virtual machine using the system console. The VMware Tools command line program is called vmwtool.
To see the options associated with this command, at the system console, type vmwtool help Each command in the following table must be entered into the system console after the VMware Tools command vmwtool. Use the following format: vmwtool. The idler program is needed because NetWare servers do not idle the CPU when the operating system is idle.
As a result, a virtual machine takes CPU time from the host regardless of whether the NetWare server software is idle or busy. Installing Application Software Installing Application Software If you plan to distribute application software in the virtual machine, be sure the correct software is installed. You may install application software in the virtual machine just as you would on a physical computer using a CD or an installer file on a network server, for example. If you are installing from a file on the network, you may need to change the networking configuration of the virtual machine or network settings of the guest operating system in order to navigate to the installer file.
If you need to make such changes, be sure to reconfigure the settings as needed after you finish installing the application software.
What is a Virtual Machine A virtual machine is the emulation of a computer system within our physical PC. It functions exactly as a physical PC would. It powers up, boots, shuts down, and reboots. We can hook up peripheral devices, from USB Flash drives to printers and scanners. The virtual machine even has a BIOS or UEFI of its own, and it needs drivers for the emulated GPU and soundcard.
As with any PC, we must install an operating system to use a virtual machine. If it is a Windows version, we need to activate it with a legitimate product key.
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If there is a problem, the virtual machine can and will crash, and even produce a blue screen in Windows. We can also infect it with malware, by mistake or on purpose.
The use of a virtual machine can unlock exciting opportunities within our computer. From testing alternative operating systems and less than trustworthy apps to extreme multitasking, our imagination is the limit. And the resources of our physical PC, of course. How are virtual machines used Even if you've never heard of a virtual machine, you've used at least one, without realizing it. In fact, you are using a virtual machine this moment, just by reading these lines. More on that later. The most common use of virtual machines is server virtualization.
Server virtualization Have you heard of? VPS stands for 'Virtual Private Server', which is a fancier name for a 'virtual machine'. It works like this: the web hosting company uses a. It could have eight Intel Xeon processors, fifteen cores each, 12TB of RAM. Or even more of everything.
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When we order a VPS package, the company creates a virtual machine for us within this enormous server. Each VPS has an operating system - usually Linux - with a complete web server. And it runs on the CPU cores and RAM we are paying for. Many of the websites that you visit are on a VPS, including the one you are reading now. Apart from web servers, virtualization works with other types of server: mail servers, file servers, domain controllers, etc.
Virtualization allows for better usage of the hardware resources. Separate servers would have separate mainboards, cooling systems, power supply units, physical enclosures. Having a single large server with virtualization is cost and space efficient. Of course, this has the drawback of reduced redundancy. If the server's motherboard fails, all the separate virtual machines go down. It's an all-eggs-in-one-basket scenario.
This is great for the corporate world, but none of us has or needs a $50,000 server at home. And we definitely don't need to run two dozen virtual servers all at once. So, what's the use of a virtual machine at home? Virtualization at home - the greatest testing environment Let's say we've never tried a Linux distribution, and we want to see what the fuss is all about. One option is to dual-boot Windows and Linux on our PC. Dual boot is a commitment, though. We need to reboot to change operating systems.
And if we don't like Linux, we need to jump through a few hoops to remove it. With a virtual machine, we can have a full Linux installation within Windows. Changing the operating system is as simple as switching between open windows.
If we get bored with it, we just delete the virtual machine, and Linux is gone. Just like that. It works the other way around too. We can have a full Windows installation running within our Linux distribution.
This way, if we need a Windows-only application, we can run it on the virtual machine. Or we can operate the scanner for which there are no Linux drivers. Even within the same family of operating systems, we can use a virtual machine. Microsoft itself had added the ' to the professional Windows 7 versions.
It was nothing more than a virtualization platform specialized for XP. It's always useful to have access to previous OS, in case of incompatible hardware and software. A virtual machine is also great for testing unstable and experimental operating systems.
It is the best way to install e.g. Windows 10 Technical Preview, or the alpha of the next Ubuntu Version. This way, we can give it a try, without having to put up with the instability. Also, it's important to remember that a virtual environment is separate from our primary operating system. If we try a shady program, and it infects the virtual system, the malware will not spread.
Most of the virtual machine applications can also create 'snapshots' with the exact condition of the operating system. No matter how much we wreck the virtual OS, we just restore an earlier snapshot. We will have a 100% functional virtual system in no time flat.
The fact is, if you get used to working with virtual machines, it's hard to do without them. Can we play games on a virtual machine? Virtual machines aren't any good for gaming. Not with anything more exciting than browser and flash games. The primary inhibiting factor is that a virtual machine doesn't use the system's GPU. Instead, it creates a virtual GPU to draw on-screen.
You see, a virtual machine shares the system's processor with the primary OS. But it can't do the same with the GPU. There is no way, so far, to split a GPU's horsepower between the physical and virtual PC. For a virtual machine to use the system's GPU, it needs a 'VGA passthrough'.
A passthrough would give the virtual system complete control over the GPU. But then the primary system can't use the GPU.
There is a way to do a VGA passthrough with some specific virtual machines (such as QEMU or Xen). But we need a Linux host, two GPUs installed, and the knowledge of how to tinker with the Linux Kernel. As you imagine, the procedure. Can any PC run a virtual machine? A virtual machine borrows CPU power and RAM from the physical system. Both the virtual OS and the main OS run together. That means we must have enough CPU and RAM to go around.
Of course, we can choose how many CPU cores and how much RAM the virtual machine will use. But it all depends on the virtual operating system we plan to install. And the applications we intend to run. That means that if we have a PC with 2GB of RAM, we theoretically can run a 32-bit Windows 8 virtual machine,. But not 64-bit Windows.
We can't allocate all the system's RAM to the virtual machine. For a decent virtual experience, we would recommend at least a dual-core CPU and 4GB RAM.
With an i7 and 16GB RAM, we can run multiple virtual machines simultaneously. We also need a CPU and motherboard that support IOMMU (input/output/memory management unit). It is what allows the system to split up the CPU power and RAM between the main and the virtual OS. For Intel CPUs, we will find IOMMU as VT-d. AMD refers to it as AMD-V. To be continued: How to create a virtual machine There are many platforms to create virtual machines. The two best known for home use are.
VirtualBox is available for free, and mostly open source. VMware has the free VMware Player, and some advanced paid solutions. In following posts, we will see in detail, and even. Relevant Posts. Support PCsteps Do you want to support PCsteps, so we can post high quality articles throughout the week? You can like our, share this post with your friends, and select our affiliate links for your purchases on. If you prefer your purchases from China, we are affiliated with the largest international e-shops:.
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