VMware Workstation

By: Philip McCartney
Reviewed: December 23, 2005
Description: Linux x86 (.tar)
Version: 5.5.1 Build 19175
Released: December 20, 2005
Website: www.vmware.com

In my last review, I covered Win4Lin Pro. If you read it, you learned about all the trouble I went through just to get something working. This time, I'm taking a look at VMware Workstation for Linux.

If you've ever had the opportunity to work with VMware Workstation, either on Windows or Linux, then you already know what this software is capable of. For those of you who don't know what VMware workstation is, it's an application that allows a user to install and run multiple "guest" operating systems on a "host" machine. The host being either a Windows or Linux box.

This was my first attempt at trying VMware Workstation on Linux, so I was hoping that the installation would run as smoothly as I've seen on Windows. Much to my surprise, it did. I made sure that my system and my Linux distribution met all the requirements. I then proceeded to followed the instructions in the User's Manual for the tar installer step-by-step. I accepted all the defaults when prompted, and within a few minutes, I had VMware Workstation installed. The entire process was flawless.

My next hurdle was to install Windows XP Professional as a guest OS. I opened a terminal window on my desktop, and typed in vmware at the prompt. I was presented with a VMware Workstation window that looks almost identical to the version for Windows. I accepted all the defaults except for the maximum disk size. I reduced it's default from 8.0GB to 6.0GB. Other than that, that was the only tweaking I actually did.

Below are some images for setting up a guest OS.


Click the images above to enlarge.

After setting up and configuring my guest OS, I was then able to run my virtual machine to begin the Windows installation process. The setup routine for Windows XP Pro took a lot longer than a typical, stand-alone installation would on a PC. That should be expected, because this is a virtual environment we are installing on instead. The virtual machine is designed to emulate the characteristics of the PC as if it were a stand-alone system. And because of this, the resources are being shared with the "host" OS.

After the guest installation is complete, it's important to install the VMware Tools. This procedure can only be performed after the guest OS is installed, and the virtual machine is running the new operating system. The VMware Tools are tools to help optimize and enhance the performance of the guest OS that is installed. Vmware Tools is already included, so you don't have to worry about downloading anything extra. VMware has done an outstanding job of making sure the user has everything necessary to install, configure, and work with VMware Workstation immediately, without any headaches.

Below are images after Windows XP Pro was installed and running.



Click the images above to enlarge.

In conclusion, VMware is a solid application for running many different operating systems, including all versions of Windows, Linux distributions, BSD, MS DOS, and Solaris.

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