Hey everyone,

I have a quick question.

I will soon try to set up Windows and Linux (don't know what distro yet) as "guest virtual" OSs via VMware Server.

I have read that you can use either the OS disc or the OS iso image when actually "installing" the "guest virtual" OS.

I have also read that using the ISO method makes your "guest virtual" OS faster than the disc method.

Is that true?

If that is true, then could I simply use k3b to make the correct type of iso image?

Thanks!

Well, it certainly makes installing the guest OS faster. Reading from a file on the hard drive is faster than reading from the CD drive, so the guest system will have faster access to the files by using an ISO.

However, that's just for the initial installation. If you're talking about the VM performance once the OS is installed, then it the installation media is irrelevant. It'll be the same either way.

AdaHacker (and anyone else reading):

So, for VM performance (which is all I care about), it does not matter if I use the orginal CD or and ISO?

What about "other things" I want to install on the guest Windows, say some office programs, firefox, etc? Can I just use the "real" version of those "other things" or do I have to find some "virtual" version of them?

For example: I want Nero on my virtual Windows. Can I install my "real" Nero (from Nero CD) on my virtual Windows, or must I find some "virtual" version of Nero?

Thanks!

Of course not. Why would it? You're just copying the program's file onto the virtual hard drive. Once they're on the virtual disk, it's all the same. They end up as the same files in the same location, regardless of whether they started out on a physical CD or an ISO image.

There are no "virtual" versions. You just use the "real" version. After all, that's the entire point of virtualization. The VM supplies virtual hardware, so anything that doesn't access the hardware directly, such as Office and Firefox, should function on a VM exactly as it does on a physical machine.

You can install Nero, but there's no guarantee that it will work. In general, you can't count on anything that needs direct hardware access to work in a VM. Or, rather, you can't count on the hardware access part working because the program doesn't have access to the physical hardware on the host. The only access it has is mediated through VMware, which may not provide full access to all your host machine's hardware. After all, that's the whole point of a VM - to run the software in a sandbox, so that it can't interfere with the host system.

As for Nero, I've read that some people have had luck burning CDs from a VM. I've never tried it on a Linux host. I guess the only way to know is to give it a shot.