General Guidelines for All VMware Products

Before starting to install a guest operating system, create a virtual machine and be sure that its devices are set up as you expect. For example, if you would like networking software to be installed when you install the guest operating system, be sure the virtual machine's Ethernet adapter is configured and enabled.

The tool you use to configure the virtual machine depends on the VMware product you are using.

You should disable any screen saver that may be running on the host system before you start to install the guest operating system.

A new virtual machine is like a physical computer with a blank hard disk. Before you can use it, you need to partition and format the virtual disk and install an operating system. The operating system's installation program may handle the partitioning and formatting steps for you.

Installing a guest operating system inside a virtual machine is essentially the same as installing it on a physical computer. The basic steps for a typical operating system are:

  1. Start Workstation.
  2. Insert the installation CD-ROM or floppy disk for your guest operating system into the CD-ROM drive being used by your virtual machine.

    Note: In some host configurations, the virtual machine is not able to boot from the installation CD-ROM. You can work around that problem by creating an ISO image file from the installation CD-ROM. Use the configuration tool for your VMware product to connect the virtual machine's CD drive to the ISO image file, then power on the virtual machine.

  3. Power on your virtual machine by clicking the Power On button.
  4. Follow the instructions provided by the operating system vendor.

As with physical computers, a separate operating system license is required for each virtual machine you run.

Note: Some Microsoft Windows OEM discs included with new computers are customized for those computers and include device drivers and other utilities specific to the hardware system. Even if you can install this Windows operating system on your actual computer, you may not be able to install it in a virtual machine. You may need to purchase a new copy of Windows to install in a virtual machine.

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