Hello Enthousiasts !

I am a Linux Newbie and have still all to discover of this new-world-for-me.

After installing the Distro in Vmware Player, I have to adapt Region, Language, Input (keyboard-layout), screen/display settings etc.
OK, no problem.
But every time I want to work "in the sandbox" I have to perform those same changes over and over to the settings.

Now for the question: Is there a possibility (do-able by a newbie !) to make these changes "permanent", i.e. like a part of Linux, or like an extension, an add-on etc. Changes that won't be lost at next reboot ?

Thank you for your help !

Jack (from Antwerp, Belgium)
(Desktop PC, Windows 8.1, 16 GB Ram, VMware 12 Player)

It sounds to me like you just booted the iso and did not actually install it so that every time you are booting the iso which is a read-only system and changes are never saved. If you actually created a partition in the VM and went through the install process it should work to save changes.

3 members found this post helpful.

Hi Jack - I agree with yancek.

If you install the linux distro in a VMWare VM (or Virtualbox, KVM-QEMM VM or whatever hypervisor ...), changes will be saved. Your experience will be as though you were using the linux distribution natively, albeit with a performance hit, depending on the capacity of your host machine and the configuration you gave to the VM in VMWare.

You are indeed most likely just booting the ISO in "live" mode within the VM. You need to go the extra step and install it. You don't mention the distro you are using, but often the live boot presents you with an icon on the desktop offering to "Install **** To Disk" or something similar, the **** being the name of the distro (e.g. Mint, Unbuntu ...).

Hope this helps, Cheers !

2 members found this post helpful.

Thank you to both of you !

I enrolled in a UDEMY course "Ethical Hacking from Scratched to Advanced Technique" by M. Atef. The Distro is primarly Kali-Linux (but there is also Gnack Track 6) and that is one of the reasons why we have to work inside a "sandbox".
I understand that I just "use" the content of the ISO and that I'll loose all changes whenever I reboot my computer.

So I have to create a partition in the VM and install the Distro there...
Well, you lost me when you ask me to "install the Distro into a partition in the VMware Player (or in the Virtual Box)". When I reboot my PC, I suppose that this empties the (virtual) content of VM or VB, including their content, or am I wrong ?
I could install the Distro in a partition on my "Windows-root drive" and use a "dual boot" or even "multi-boot" to start-up, but we are not allowed to do this.
I am also going to read the VMware Player's Documentation about this "partition". I'll be back to you here, if it does work or if it doesn't work !
Best regards,
Jack

I apologize...
I have to apologize, because the question I asked was already asked five times on LQ. So I did not look attentively enough before posting my question. I hope it won't happen again !
Best regards,
Jack-Henry

No need to apologize, Jack-Henry.

Sorry myself, actually, if I was confusing in my last post.

Just to try and clear things up:

- The operating system *physically* installed on your computer is Windows.

- VMWare is a hypervisor application that allows one to run "virtual machines". These are essentially virtualized computers that may be running a variety of different operating systems. This is done without ever installing another operating system on your computer's hard drive - you are running strictly within the virtual environment created by VMWare.

- I may have confused matters by mentioning other applications that do the same thing as VMWare (VirtualBox and KVM-QEMM). This was simply for your information - you can safely ignore.

- When yancek and I suggested that you "install" your linux distro instead of just using the live ISO session, it was meant that you would install it within the virtual machine created in VMWare and not physically on your computer. This would enable you to retain any changes and data between restarts of the linux system in VMWare.

Hope this clears some stuff up. Feel free to pop back with any other questions you may have.

Cheers,

2 members found this post helpful.

Thank you, Rickkkk !
I didn't know one can actually "install" Linux in the VMware Player. In the course we put the different ISO-files as Virtual Machines (we adapted the size of the Ram and of the harddisk). When an OS is needed, it is "started" and then I guess that it is deployed in the sandbox directly from the ISO-file ("live ISO session" ?!). But then I have to find the settings for the Language, Keyboard, Display sizes. Settings which were reset after reboot, of course.

In the course we'll use about 8 different OSses (Kali, Gnack-Track, Backtrack 6, Windows XP, 7 and Server 2003 etc). Will I be able to INSTALL more than 2 or 3 OSses the same time ?

I'm using a Windows 8.1 desktop computer, with 16 GB Ram and sufficient free harddiskspace.
Thank you for your help !

Regards,

You can install or use/boot an iso of as many operating systems in virtual software as you want, the primary limitation being hard disk space which doesn't seem to be a problem in your case. If you are going to be booting an iso file in VMWare, none of your changes will be saved so each time you run whichever OS you are using in the virtual software, you will need to make any changes each time. If you intall it, you can save changes.

1 members found this post helpful.

Hey Jack,

As yancek said, your system sounds like it has the capacity to allow you to create all of the virtual machines you mentioned. You can continue running them straight from the ISO files if that's what your course plan dictates, but you will be required to reconfigure any setting changes each time you start up and any data you want to save must be saved to an external device or to the physical hard disk of your computer.

If you want help permanently installing a distro within your VMWare virtual environment, let us know.

Cheers !

Thank you very much to the both of you !

I think I understand now how it works, and I'll follow the course to see where it brings me.

The course after this one is a "Linux-course" and seems to use only CentOS (to learn how Red Hat works); the practical exercises will also be executed in the "sandbox".
In that case I think that it will be convenient to "install" CentOS in VMware, and I will be back to you then, if that is ok (of course only after checking LQ to see if I can't find the answers in one of the forums

Thank you again, and best regards !

Absolutely it's OK :-) ... that's what this forum is for - please feel welcome at all times.

Best of luck with your courses - Hope everything goes well !

Cheers,