Creating a VM of an operating system

hondo · 01-27-2007, 01:04 PM

Hi

Im using VMware player for fedora. I own a legal version of Windows XP pro, but i dont have any VM (virtual machine image with the file extension .vmx) of it. Is there any way to create such a file of the windows xp pro OS without having to use the vmware workstation version?

Could it work to use the try-out version of vmware, then install windows xp and then use that image in vmare player? I guess it will, but the main question is then will the image always work or will it be unavailble at the end of the trial eventhough im using vmware player instead of vmware workstation?

acid_kewpie · 01-27-2007, 01:06 PM

there are plenty of sites where you can legally download prebuilt vm's suitable for this, but why not just use vmware-server???

hondo · 01-27-2007, 01:25 PM

I cant install an operating system using vmware server can i?

From vmware.com:
Evaluate software in ready-to-run virtual machines without installation and configuration.

Means i have to have a .vmx file which i dont have of windows xp pro.

Quote:

Originally Posted by acid_kewpie

there are plenty of sites where you can legally download prebuilt vm's suitable for this, but why not just use vmware-server???

acid_kewpie · 01-27-2007, 02:06 PM

yes you can. vmware-server IS vmware gsx. you can do anythign on it, it just doesn't scale to enterprise applications. all part of VMwares game plan to lock in small companies when they get big.

you can also install windows over an existing vm, and you can even write your own from scratch in notepad too.. it's really not a difficult thing to do.

AdaHacker · 01-28-2007, 08:19 AM

YOu can install an OS using any version of VMware. What VMware Player can't do is create new blank virtual machines. But as acid_kewpie said, that's not really a big deal. You can just hop over to a page like this and download a pre-built .vmdk disk image and a template .vmx which you can edit by hand.

asimba · 01-28-2007, 08:32 AM

Last time I tried that was about 2 years back.

And I still do for a few friends :

I usually download vmware server - get the keys (Its all free / vmware server)

Install it - Execute it : It simply gives you environment to install windows xp.

There are a few things (they all are easy and you could simply hit enter to select defaults)

One you are through installation/executing - just install windows xp and you are ok.

sundialsvcs · 01-28-2007, 10:16 PM

All good things considered ... perhaps VMWare, Inc. has surely earned the few dollars that they require? Perhaps it is but a pittance that they ask, if it does for you what they promise (and it does), and thus be it "money well and wisely spent"...?

(Commerce.. what a concept..

)

acid_kewpie · 01-29-2007, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sundialsvcs

All good things considered ... perhaps VMWare, Inc. has surely earned the few dollars that they require? Perhaps it is but a pittance that they ask, if it does for you what they promise (and it does), and thus be it "money well and wisely spent"...?

(Commerce.. what a concept..

)

huh? who said anything about ever spending any money? they don't "require" and dollars...

Micro420 · 01-29-2007, 09:47 AM

If someone had the commercial version of VMware, does this mean they could theoretically create blank images of an OS and distribute it legally for free?

AdaHacker · 01-29-2007, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Micro420

If someone had the commercial version of VMware, does this mean they could theoretically create blank images of an OS and distribute it legally for free?

I believe so. A blank VM is just a text file and an empty disk image. I don't think there's there anything to copyright. The real question is, why would anyone bother?

acid_kewpie · 01-29-2007, 04:00 PM

well there are already dozens of sites where you can get these. there really isn't anything to a "blank image of an os" as above...

hondo · 01-31-2007, 11:37 AM

I only get it working when booting from an ISO on a CD or DVD-ROM. When i try booting from an ISO on the harddrive i get some of these messages:

Code:

"Uknown keyword in config file"
...
..
"Could not find kernel image: linux"

boot:

I have installed a system not long ago with the same ISO file. I was using the .vmx and .vmdk file for linux which i found on this page: http://www.ffnn.nl/pages/articles/li...e-creation.php

I also tried to install Windows XP Pro. I used the windows .vmx file and .vmdk file on the site mentioned above and started up with the CD-ROM. I got the same error messages as listed above.

So, what i got working was booting from an ISO file on a CD. Why am i getting these errors? And when specifying which iso to start from when using the windows .vmx file, what should i write here?

I was using VMware player here.

hondo · 02-02-2007, 03:57 PM

I just installed vmware-server, i though it would be like vmware player but it wasnt at all. Thanks for awesome help here !

bskrakes · 02-05-2007, 05:47 PM

So from your last post you said that VMware Server is nothing like the VMplayer.... is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I browsed through the thread and just thought I would see how you like VMserver so far. I just installed it and am running a few different OS's just to see what the tool is like. So far it is really awesome!

Cheers,
Brendan

Micro420 · 02-05-2007, 05:50 PM

I have never used VMplayer so I have no idea what it's like. I use VMware server and it's the best thing that has ever happened in systems and network testing. Before I deploy anything out, I mess around with VMware to see how things will hold up. All I can say is that it has saved my butt on the job so many times because of the neat save/restore image state. It's so fast!