Im running pclinuxos 2007 and I am looking to install virtual machine. I have a lot to learn yet so all advice is welcome. I have been playing trying to install a virtual machine, if all goes well I hope to use linux as my main (and only o/s) very shortly and the virtual machine for any other windows apps that will not run or are unstable under wine.

I have go this far up till now using a console winsdow any help is much appreciated on where I am going wrong...

you need to install software as root, not steve.

thanks... as I was the only user on the system I thought I would already be the root? how would I log on as root, is it root as username then root password that i selected upon instalation?

yes.
In a normal console window (like where you were before installing things) use
su
to login as root.
Remember to log out again: exit

sudo <command you want to run as root> might also be an option. You don't login as root but just execute things as root.

Why did you choose the OS you did (stevelincsuk)? I haven't heard of that OS and I am sure there is something easier out there for you to use, like Ubuntu. Installing VMware Server on a system like Ubuntu or Fedora Core would be way better, at least in my opinion.

My current Linux OS has VMware Server installed and I run a copy of XP Pro, Ubuntu and FC5. It works great!

Thanks for the info there, I managed to install the software but now I have a problem running it. Upon running the vmware-server-console bin file, the program opens as normal but I can only connect to a host, I am unable to create a virtual machine, the option is greyed out, any ideas anyone...

The file/RPM you downloaded and installed from VMware's site.... which one was it? You have to watch for the FULL package, some of them only allow you to connect to a host machine... this means you can't host or create a virtual machine only connect to others.......

sorry bskrakes, I missed your reply as I had the initial reply window open for quite a while!! the reason I chose PCLinuxOS over other distros was that

a) It picked up on just about everything,
b) I can see my ntfs partitions (can you do this with ubuntu??)
c) I liked the 3d style graphics.

Im very new to linux and learning all the time, if you feel that all this can be acheived in ubuntu I may swap distros over, I did hear that ubuntu was not as secure too as other distros? any feedback on this...

No worries! Before we get into anything note that I am fairly new with Linux but have great teachers and try to dabble with it as much as I can, VMware Server has allowed me to play alot. ANYWAY to the point.......

a) It picked up on just about everything,
what do mean by this? does things like windows? I have not heard of this distro - will check it out
b) I can see my ntfs partitions (can you do this with ubuntu??)
you can do some very cool things with SAMBA, I am not sure if Ubuntu lets you see NTFS partitions
c) I liked the 3d style graphics.
haha yes they do look pretty, I just pulled up screen shots on GOOGLE

I can not say if Ubuntu will or will not do what you want it to. I would take this distro test:
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php
and see how your results turned out. When I took the test it recomended Ubuntu for me along with a few others and one of them was Fedora Core 5, which I choose to dive into to gain experience with RPM's, Shell, YUM and so on.

Do the quiz and see what results it gives you and then post back... I will be glad to look into the VMware as soon as you know for sure what OS is for you. Can I ask how you came across the PCLinuxOS, a friend, a test, besides those points you gave you must have done some research as to what OS for Linux/UNIX would be best.

Well through running the test I get the following..

1) Kubuntu
2) Ubuntu
3) Freespire (not heard of this myself before!)
4) Mandriva (which PCLinuxOS is based around from what I hear)

PCLinux picked up on all drivers, sound, graphics, my printer, nertwork conenctions (wired and wireless), I cant remember how I came across the distro originally, I think I was looking at a post on the forum about it and decided to grab a live disk and I went on from there

I have VMware installed on an XP Machine, I think I will stick a ubuntu distro onboard and have a play before commiting the system to any change of distros, I also have a copy of linux mint which I believe is a modded vers of ubuntu with a larger driver database onboard so I will place that on the XP VM too and see how it goes.

Nice to see someone else fairly new too

EDIT: The VMMachine was downloaded from this link here which is the only one I saw there for linux dload -> http://register.vmware.com/content/download.html - Just checked the download size and it rolls in at just 22.4 meg

Sounds like a plan. Ubuntu is probably your best bet.

On the download link you should have downloaded the Linux binary (RPM) - it says its the full version. The file below would be a compressed version, maybe faster to download but I just downloaded the uncompressed RPM.

VMware Server for Linux.
The core application needed to run VMware Server and interact with it on the local machine. TAR Binary

Let me know what you decide. Have fun!

Well just to say a big thanks to everyone involved with this thread. The main problem has now been sorted and it was down to the wrong package installed - thanks for the heads up on that one.

I decided to plug along with the version of linux that I already have, I thought it is no use changing distros everytime a problem occurs. I intend linux as a perm thing and not as a passing fad. As a result of battling away I now have VMWare installed and running, due to this I have now removed Mr Gates's software and am now running fully blown linux - windows is now reduced to a VMWare Server

I am pretty sure that if I hit any more problems ( no doublt I will) then I know where to seek help, many thanks everyone for the support and pointers you have given me so far.

Regards - Steve