I do know something similar has been done with small distributions of linux, but I don’t know it’s been done with vmware specifically.

CAKE! I’m installing Ubuntu onto my virtual drive now… will be installing OSX, once I get a good IMG.

i don’t want to sound too stupid, but what is this for?

The vmware player poses great potential for modification of exsisting files. If someone would write a howto on editing your own files. If some one create a site then it could, in effect, create a free vmware for hardcore geeks.

awesome one :) *bookmark*

Hmm… I wonder if I can get Windows going well enough using VMPlayer under Linux to use Launchcast. I’ve had no luck getting Launchcast to work under QEmu or WINE.

Considering i wrote this :)

#1- been thinking about that. VMware uses its own drivers to hook onto the host system’s networking so its a little tricky. If i figure it out, i’ll be sure to let you know.

I do believe that technically you *could* make a live CD with VMware player for linux, and add in the appropriate drivers for accessing images from a HDD(maybe Knoppix?).Its a total cludge IMHO, but could work.

Ravi “Faileas” Mohan

#5-Its a workaround for some functionality missing in the free version of VMware.

#7- i’m going to be working on that next holidays and trying to document the VMware player’s config files, and methods of editing the HDD images(IE adding in files into the client from the host).

#12- If the processor on the host is 64 bit,you can run 64 bit operating systems. The process is almost the same on linux, and you can, by editing the config file to point at a windows ISO, or windows install cd, get XP on it. In fact, i have (thanks to one of my computers getting fried) a stripped down (using http://www.nliteos.com/ nlite to modify the cd to remove unwanted components) install of windows XP running happily on 64 megs of ram on VMware, so yeah, it works, and is pretty much the same as installing any other OS

#14: i did some checking up, apparently windows XP lacks the SCSI drivers that VMware virtutal SCSI hdds need.

http://www.vmware.com/support/reference/common/guest_win_scsidrv.html
you can download the driver from there, edit the line in the config file from floppy0.fileName = “A:” to point to the driver image, and when installing tell the win XP installer that you need additional SCSI drivers. I haven’t had a chance to test this out personally, but it should work.

alternately you could find a IDE based disk image, such as the syllable OS disk image ( http://www.fprintf.net/atheos/atheosvm.html ) uses, and use that directly

The syllable vm rocks! #16 was right-on. I think the key to hacking success will be in the proper documentation of the vmx and vmdx files. So far, I think they’re not documented too well because everyone has relied on the official tools to create the files for them.

Any links to the specific files format values are welcome.

Some interesting links I’ve found:
VMware files: http://www.vmware.com/support/ws5/doc/ws_learning_files_in_a_vm.html
Some tools and links: http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware/index.html
VB/GUI front-ends to official tool console apps: http://petruska.stardock.net/software/VMware/index.html

Thanks to VMWare for opening the door to us hackers in a somewhat legitimate fashion. I forsee a lot of converts. My experiences so far will probably allow me to get rid of a computer or two that I use for client/server testing.. The money saved may very well go into a full version of this software!

It was only a matter of time until someone did this. I’m glad you guys were quick about it. This should be fun. :)

so..does this let me run a virtual copy of mac osx on my windows xp machine?

#22 (pman)

No, not with the PPC version at least. Maybe the x86 version is supported, although I doubt it.

Hah, my school blocks your site under the category of \’hacking\’.

Actually, if I’m not mistaken, it looks as if the image that everyone is downloading to install os x is a vmware image.

I’d have to say it may work then.

Has anyone noticed that although the VMware player site says you can only run one image at a time, that’s not in fact true! Just by double-clicking on the container files, you start up another copy of the program and can run as many images as you want simultaneously. By the way I had a WinXP image left over from an expired trial download and it ran fine in the player. Saved all changes etc, just as good as the full program. I wonder if they’ll dumb it down when it comes out of beta – I think they may not have realised just how much they were giving away :-)

I’ve got the qemu-img volume working just fine, no SCSI drivers required. I’ve got two images running on my XP machine – a 2000 server and a FreeBSD server, both using 8G virtual disks and 128M memory, bridge-mode networking. Couldn’t be smoother. The instructions for running the qemu-img command were a touch lacking – the actual command line is:
qemu-img create -f vmdk filename.vmdk 8G
(or whatever size/filename you need). Worked perfectly (at least under XP pro). Make sure you customize the .vmx to point to seperate nvram and vmdk files, include ONLY the CD section you need (attached to real drive or image, not both), then just double-click on the .vmx.

I forgot to mention that you will have to download the full package (qemu-0.X.X) as the img program is not distributed by its self.

A little howto based on stuff I read here (installing XP Pro, but also works for Win2Kpro):http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2005/10/26/vmware-player-windows-xp.html

Does anyone know if it is possible to coax vmware player into using the native partitions of a dual-boot Windows/Linux setup?

I can confirm that post #21 works great for creating an image and installing Windows 2000. Just need to get the video drivers now. Usually they come with vmtools and are part of the VM Workstation package. Any idea how I can get them otherwise? Also, in response to #39′s post… you may want to check and make sure the drive your vm lives on is compatible with VMPlayer. I was using an ext2 drive mounted under Windows 2000 (using ext2fsd drivers) and it just would not work. Put it on an ntfs partition, and all was good.

In reply to post #38. This site on VMWare deals with booting from a raw disk. I haven’t tried it though.
http://www.vmware.com/support/ws45/doc/disks_dualboot_ws.html

I an tring to boot off an Longhong.iso but its a DVD image. I have tried the above configurations, but no luck. I am able to use a CD image(XP).
Any suggestions.

hello I am quite new to vmplayer and I was wondering if I choose the option in fdisk to delete my non-dos partition.
I am goign to really format it and then loose all my datas on that partition? as i use my computer for work it will be hoffic to loose those data.

Thanks for you help.

“One limitation is that you cannot use this disk image to install an OS without SCSI support.”

I don’t seem to undestand why SCSI support is nessary for this to work? Dosn’t VMware support virtual IDE disks?

#47
Quite simply because the disk i was working off was scsi based. The method that was suggested later (to use QEMU instead to create the disks) bypassed that, but quite simply i was “stuck” with a scsi disk.

it should however work with an IDE image as well, though a great deal of what i ended up doing could be bypassed

#45/46
I assure you in the method i was using its totally safe. You need to think of it as a computer in a computer and whatever you do in the VM (or in VMplayer) should not affect the rest of your system.

Though, i think the QEMU based method, together with the script provided in a later hackaday links post seem to be a better way to do it, once you figure out the config file.

#21. I have try the QEMU method and it works. Forget the SCSI image stuff, just create an file image using QEMU and boot using an ISO cdrom image (for some reason, the reading from phyical CDROM does not work, for WINXP anyway).

this is great! perfect tool for those who like to tests and try apps before install on “production” mashine.

But we come to the next step in exploring posibilities of vmware toy.
Actually I need to have two NIC cards on VM in order to be able to test some software routers (i.e. MikroTik). So, is tehre a way to get second virtual NIC card?
I’ve checked on the net but with no success.
Any idea?

beamer: maybe its an issue with the install CD. I got win 3.11 working (over what seems to be a GPLed MS dos7), and managed to install win 95 over it with no problem

Zox: i think dual virtual NICs are a feature thats only on their server based systems. Its a hardware issue and VMware hardware is generally fixed.

should solve any scsi problems

#!/usr/bin/vmware
config.version = “8″
virtualHW.version = “3″
scsi0.present = “FALSE”
scsi0.virtualDev = “lsilogic”
memsize = “256″
MemAllowAutoScaleDown = “FALSE”
scsi0:0.present = “FALSE”
scsi0:0.fileName = “x.vmdk”
ide0:0.present = “TRUE”
ide0:0.filename = “x.vmdk”
ide1:0.present = “TRUE”
ide1:0.fileName = “auto detect”
ide1:0.deviceType = “atapi-cdrom”
floppy0.present = “FALSE”
ethernet0.present = “TRUE”
usb.present = “FALSE”
sound.present = “FALSE”
sound.virtualDev = “es1371″
displayName = “TEST1″
guestOS = “ubuntu”
nvram = “x.nvram”
MemTrimRate = “-1″

ide1:0.autodetect = “TRUE”
ide0:0.autodetect = “TRUE”

scsi0:0.redo = “”
ethernet0.addressType = “generated”
uuid.location = “56 4d 85 72 dd 09 67 73-96 00 f8 f3 02 29 1f 18″
uuid.bios = “56 4d 85 72 dd 09 67 73-96 00 f8 f3 02 29 1f 18″
ethernet0.generatedAddress = “00:0c:29:29:1f:18″
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = “0″

tools.syncTime = “TRUE”
ide1:0.startConnected = “TRUE”

uuid.action = “create”

checkpoint.vmState = “”

ide0:0.redo = “”
tools.remindInstall = “TRUE”

for more info on vmx files:
http://blog.lorenzoferrara.net/

working or template files for creating your own virtual machine. qemu-img.exe is included along with some very terse guide/example text files.

http://s42.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1BE5NA22M9B6C0VVKQMJF51HVJ

@#63
yep, i’m thinking who needs cygwin anymore?
i’m running an ftp server on my virtual machine and accessing it from anywhere. for some reason, it’s VERY slow to connect, but once it connects, response times are fine. i’m working on setting up an apache/web server now…

OK i have figured it out.
For those who want a truly VMWare experience with the mouse that hops out at the edge of the screen and all here is what to do (BTW this is legal and it doen’t involve wares, i think)

1) Get a copy of VMWare Workstation by Evaluation the latest version.
>> NOTE: You will need to register for the download. I recommend using a site like Dodgeit .com for a temp email or look at Bubmenot.com for an email/pass. Try bugmenot first.

2) If you have installed the player already you will need to uninstall it as VMWare Workstation will not side by side.

3) After installing it go to the folder you installed it at. (On windows it is most likely C:Program FilesVMWareVmware Workstation)

4) In the folder there are a few ISO images. (freebsd, windows, linux, netware) these contain the VMTools that make things look, sound, and act better for the guest environment.

5) Copy which one you want or copy them all it doesn’t matter to me to a different folder.

6) Now uninstall VMWare Workstation and reinstall VMWare Player. (This is where the leagaities get shakey. If by keeping the tools and deleting the rest of the program did i break the EULA, bla bla bla … ah well)

7) Change your VMPlayer config to reflect the ISO file.

8) Procede with the install and you are done.

Now you can delete the installers and you are back to using free programs with the vmtools.

This works great with Auditor. Thanks.

rhys your vmxwizard worked fine to create an Ultimate Boot CD for Windows (UBCD4Win) config file. Nice work!

chido

jeje

i just found out how to install the video driver..
all you have to do is, open the virtual player.. within the virtual os which is win xp, grab the .iso files from the installer, extract that .iso file, open and grab the driver from there..

this is a very “light article”; as of making vm portable…why would you want that? You could do this though: a flash drive it is a DRIVE after all, once is mounted (plugged in) will act as a regular drive so if you will install VMplayer on that drive and set the paths to be read from flash drive, it will work, remember that you also need to have the vmx image there; you might be able to force a persistent install on the flash drive, or to use a second flash drive on a different bus. If you want it to be both usable as boot option you’ll need to additionally create a bootable partition on that drive have a script that will point to the image file, if any of you needs more help in figuring it out give me you email and I will sent you the details or maybe the files that you need for booting up from usb.

If you’re running VMware Player under WinXP and need to install the guest image from several different .iso files, I found the following trick worked great.

Create a hardlink from command prompt:
fsutil hardlink create C:SUSE_10.0.iso C:SUSE-10.0-CD-OSS-i386-GM-CD1.iso

Edit the .vmx file:
ide1:0.fileName = “C:SUSE_10.0.iso”
ide1:0.deviceType = “cdrom-image”

Start installation.

Create hardlink to 2nd CD from command prompt:
del C:SUSE_10.0.iso
fsutil hardlink create C:SUSE_10.0.iso C:SUSE-10.0-CD-OSS-i386-GM-CD2.iso

The installation now proceeds on CD2.

wow thats cool i have created a VM with MS-DOS 7.1 .

VmPlayer complain if you use qemu-img’s vmdk files as virtual SCSI disks. To get rid of this, I’ve hacked a bit QEMU 0.7.2 and introduced the “vmdks” disk format. How to use it?
Go to http://www.ro.kde.org/ftparea/work/qemu-vmdks/
and start reading README.txt for instructions. It’s very easy.

A few cross-os vmware images:
http://www.thoughtpolice.co.uk/vmware/

hi guys,
i can’t install winxp. dsl, kubuntu works but not winxp. i get to the point where you have to choose between “F3″,”R” and “Enter” for installation. then i get an error message that no hd is installed.
here my conf file. i install via cd.

ide0:0.present = “TRUE”
ide0:0.filename = “winxp.vmdk”
#ide0:0.mode = “independent-nonpersistent”
#snapshot.action = “autoRevert”
#snapshot.disabled = “TRUE”
ide1:0.present = “TRUE”
#ide1:0.fileName = “dsl-2.0.iso”
#ide1:0.deviceType = “cdrom-image”
ide1:0.deviceType = “cdrom-raw”
ide1:0.startConnected = “TRUE”
ide1:0.autodetect = “TRUE”

i created the vmdk file via qemu-img create -f vmdk winxp.vmdk 2G.
host is kubuntu 5.10.
any ideas?

This is a great hack. I successfully installed a nice clean WinXPSP2 as a guest to my rather cluttered XP host. This allowed me to install my development environment (Visual Studio 2005) in its entirety with no conflicts. VS2005 would not even get past the .net framework install on the host. Very nice!

The only thing I have not figured out is how to get around the 30 day activation period for this virtual install of Windows XP. Copying my host “wpa.dbl” to the guest/system32 directory did not solve the problem.

I also installed Mandriva 2006 with all the bells and whistles from DVD-R. The only issue I had was with the video. The workaround is easy though. Accept the VmWare graphics driver and the generic monitor during Mandriva install. The Mandriva grub bootloader provides a pick of “no fb” (no video frame buffer) on startup. The display is fine with this selected.

The Mandriva OS connected to an ftp site and successfully downloaded and installed all the latest package updates. Impressive and fast.

I really like running Linux on an XP box in this manner. I do not have to mess with grub/lilo on the host C:drive to allow dual boot. It is just there. You can have as many Linux OSes as you like. You are only limited by available disk space. I’m using a second 300GB hard drive to create all these VMDKs. And, I really like being able to remove an OS by simply deleting the guest VMDK folder.

see also http://www.virtualization.info/2005/12/guide-to-create-vmx-files-for-vmware.html

Mac Operating systems can be run on windows/linux with PearPC http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/

After faffing about with qemu for two days (no kqemu support, compiled sources had kqemu but qemu wouldn’t use it, argh!)I followed the instructions given and now have Windows 2000 SP4 running a dream. Thank you, thank you!

I did not need to go through all these steps to install W2K VM.

All I have to do was to run vmplayer and inserted 4 the set up floppies then the win2k CD

I needed to download the VMware evaluation copy in tgz format and grep the windows.iso to install the mouse deiver and video driver.

is there any tool for freedos to clone the hard disk on a network?
i need a tool to copy files on network using freedos.so is there any tool available.