I'm brand new to the forum and pretty new to Linux. I am trying to run Ubuntu as a vm on my laptop so I can practice C++ programming in a linux development environment. I need to learn how for school. Anyways, I've been following online tutorials and so far have downloaded VMWare Player and Ubuntu, but I cannot find the os.zip file I need. It is supposed to be on linux.wolphination, which just takes me to some spam site. I have been looking for hours and cannot find a download for this file. Anyone know where this os.zip can actually be found or have a suggestion on how else I should go about running Ubuntu as vm?

You don't need anything but VMware player and the Ubuntu ISO file to install a VM of Ubuntu.
Just install VMware Player, create a VM, choose Ubuntu as OS and point it to the ISO file when it asks.

Got it working. I didn't even try running it before because I thought I needed that zip file first. I'll be on the programming forum quite a bit hereafter. Thanks for the help.