Our office want's to run RedHat Linux and Windows XP Workstations. However there is an issue over dual booting because of security updates. The powers above want to make sure that the XP side is checked for OS Security and Virus updates as often as possible. Also, having a regular user keep rebooting to change OS might cause some issues.

Can anyone who is using this solution offer their opinion on using VMWare in this type of situation. Do you like it, or would you recommend something else?

I already have a dual boot system set up with RedHat Enterprise and Windows XP. Can VMware be installed on this existing type of setup or will it require that on or the other OS be reloaded?

Loosing data at this point is not an issue for me, as these are new test systems, that Im trying to get permission to use on our network. Im just hunting around for the best solution.

Im trying to get the security issues worked out. Like it's pretty easy to secure and update linux, but Windows XP is another story (especially when it is not on the network).

Does anyone know if a the VMWare software will allow for both OS's to be updated. Is this a pain or does it work like normal?? Does the VMWare software allow for both OS's to be on the network at one time?

Obviously Im still hunting around for answers...but thought I'd ask the brains here on linuxquestions.org if they have an opinion.

Thanks!

J.

In terms of maturity and robustness you'd have to either
use VMWare or VirtualPC ... VP however, will only
allow to host on a Windows-basis which doesn't seem
to be what you want. And to answer your other question:
The VMWare Virtual machine can co-exists on the network
with the hosts OS in several ways.


If you're not planning on running Games in XP on the
virtual box you should be reasonably happy on a comp
with some grunt and lots of RAM.


Cheers,
Tink

Hi Tink,

Thanks for the info. Maybe I will try the 30 day trial download and see how it functions. Just not sure I want to deal with reloading things once the trial is over. I'd have to go through some possible red tape to get a purchased copy.

Heh..and no games to be played. The servers we purchased have plenty of RAM and CPU umph.... So I think we will be OK there.

Thanks again.

You don't have to. All you do is put the file
with the license info in the right place.


Cheers,
Tink

Ok..so I've decided to make XP the host and Red Hat the guest OS. Was reading that making XP the host is better since it is more of a resource hog and linux is more streamlined. Opinions on this??

I already have a dual boot system. Has anyone installed VMware on an existing dual boot system? Can you offer some newbie advice on the correct setup. Im trying to follow the documentation, but Im having some trouble understanding what to do in my situation.

Should I just reinstall Linux Red Hat or can this work on an existing dual boot setup.

So far... I've installed the vmware software on XP. Then..

I went to create a new virtual machine. Picked linux as guest OS. On memory selection, I kept the default of 256. (Should this be higher?)

I can get a static IP for the system (no problem). But what is the recommended way to set up network access?

1. Use bridge network
2. Use NAT

With the first option if Im reading correctly I'll need two different IP addresses. For NAT only one shared IP. I chose NAT.

Then Select a Physical Disk option comes up...I only have one disk. This is where Im really unsure what to do since I already have the second OS loaded and everything is on on drive. I dont want to mess this up. Should I select Use a physical disk, then choose the partitions? If so what partitions do I select? I was thinking I should choose Partition 1 and Partition 3

This is the current disk layout.

Partition 1 Win95FAT 32 (LBA) 42.1 GB
Partition 2 Linux 0.1 GB
Partition 3 Linux 30.3 GB
Partition 4 Linux Swap 1.9 GB

If anyone could help me not kill my system, that would be very cool.

Thanks!!