Good day!. Surely many of you, due to the power of modern computers, have on your personal computer various programs for virtualizing all kinds of systems. In the corporate segment, this is the ESXI 5.5 and higher hypervisor, and at home, this is Hyper-V on Windows 10 or Vmware Workstation 14. Namely, the latter will be discussed, at the moment the latest version is 14.1. Today I will tell you where to download and how it is produced installing Vmware Workstation 14, step by step. So that you can create your own test site for testing or work.
What is Vmware Workstation 14
For people who are just getting acquainted with the Vmware Workstation product, I will briefly tell you what kind of beast it is. In short and in simple terms, this is a program that is installed in operating systems of the Windows or Linux family in order to be able to install separate, isolated OS for further testing or work.
A simple example, I have Windows 8.1 installed locally, but that does not prevent me with Vmware Workstation 14 to have Windows 10 installed that I can break or study without fear of breaking the main OS. Since it's essentially a virtual machine, it's just a file on your computer. In more detail, about virtual stands, I advise you to read here at this link.
Where to download Vmware Workstation 14
The official site for downloading Vmware Workstation 14 can be found at the link below:
https://www.vmware.com/ru/products/workstation-pro/workstation-pro-evaluation.html
As you can see, there is a version for:
- Windows
- Linux
The Vmware Workstation 14 program itself is, of course, paid, and you will find a trial version at the link, this is enough to install it and take a closer look.
What's New in Vmware Workstation 14
Let's quickly tell you about the innovations of this version of the second class hypervisor. Added support:
- Windows 10 1803
- Windows Server 1803
- ESXI 6.5
Of course, this version also improves the support for the hardware of the system. Includes compatibility with latest processors including Intel Kabylake and AMD Ryzen. Implemented support for UEFI Secure Boot for virtual systems, which improves security. In addition, a Virtual NVMe virtual controller is included for fast SSD access (with support for vSAN testing).
Network management has been improved in VMware Workstation 14. New network settings allow you to simulate certain situations, which will be useful for testing. Adjusts the distance and network quality in addition to the previously existing latency and packet loss control functions. This is required to verify the fault tolerance of the applications under test. Also, other additional options have been added there, for example, setting the names of virtual network adapters, etc.
Added the function of scanning virtual machines to update resources. Systems located both on local disks and USB-drives, and remote ones are supported. Added support for power and simple power on / off operations for vSphere ESXi hosts. Remote management supports shutdown, restart, shutdown directly from VMware Workstation.
And that's not all. Among other things, the new version introduces many different improvements: added minor amenities, implemented automatic disk cleaning of the virtual system, updated the GTK + 3-based interface for GNU / Linux, fixed bugs, etc.
How to Install Vmware Workstation 14 on Windows
And so, for example, I will install on Windows 8.1, since I have it, but this is no different if you had Windows 7 or 10. After downloading the archive from Vmware Workstation 14, you will get this file structure. Run VMware-workstation-full-14.1.1-7528167.exe.
You will start the installation wizard, which will begin to unpack the exe file
At the first step of the installation wizard, click Next.
We agree with the license agreement by checking the box "I accept the terms in the License Agreement"
You can install an additional driver for the keyboard by checking the checkbox:
Enhanced Keyboard Driver (a reboot will be required to use this feature). This feature reguires 10MB on your host drive
Enhanced virtual keyboard function provides better experience with international keyboards and keyboards with extra keys. This feature is only available for Windows host systems.
We remove both jackdaws:
- Check for product updates on startup - check for updates after installation
- Join the Vmware Customer Experience improvement Program - join the improvement program
In the next step, the installation wizard will prompt you to create shortcuts on your desktop and start menu.
The last step remains, to complete our installation procedure for Vmware Workstation 14 Pro, click the install button.
In a minute, the master will finish his work. Here you can exit it by clicking the Finish button, or install the Vmware Workstation 14 license key through the License button.
Installing the license key
If you have your own key, then copy it, if not, then generate it from a special file. Copy the key generated by the generators here.
If you skipped this step, then don't worry, you will have at least two more options to do it. The first is when you start the Vmware Workstation 14 hypervisor. The first window will require you to activate the product. As you can see, there is a trial, trial period for 30 days.
Today I will review the program Vmware Workstation 10, which on your PC or laptop will simulate another system. And it doesn't matter which one, from the Windows or Linux series, and maybe even one and the second. It all depends on the needs and desires. But first, a little introductory text, so that the uninformed reader understands what it is about!
Well, let's get started. Starting with this article, I will post at least three links to download the programs that I am writing about here. I know that very often many have problems with this. And therefore it is worth considering this moment.
You can download Vmware Workstation 10 here:
- nnm-club.me - torrent (registration on the torrent is required);
I put myself a repack version, and I will conduct reviews on it. It all starts with downloading, then we click on the exe file and carry out the standard installation procedure. I will make a small digression and tell you what requirements this program has for your system, that is, what resources should be on the computer for normal use. Vmware Workstation 10.
System requirements:
- 64-bit Intel Core ™ Solo x86 processor or equivalent, AMD Athlon ™ 64 FX dual-core processor or equivalent
- Clock speed of 1.3 GHz or more
- 2 GB RAM minimum / 4 GB RAM recommended
Also, your computer should have at least 10 GB of free hard disk space, but you will need to install another system that requires a certain amount of disk space.
Understanding Workstation 10 Menu Control
We see 5 main VM menu items, although the main ones are rather two on the left, and the right three are, as it were, auxiliary. I will write a little about each of them. so that you understand what they are for and how you can apply them to yourself.
Creating a new virtual machine- the most important thing for us, here we will create a new virtual machine, indicate system parameters to it and all sorts of little things.
Opening a virtual machine- this is one of the cool features of this program, you can export and then open your installed system on another computer. Actually, this is the window for opening it.
Connecting to a remote server- you can use a virtual machine not only on your computer but also on a remote server. And this is actually a button for connecting to a remote machine.
Physical machine virtualization- This is a quick and comfortable transition of your PC to a virtual environment. Although it is on the menu, it will not work for use with a 30-day trial or a broken repack. You need to register and obtain a license to download a special add-on, which makes this transition.
Installing WIndows on a Workstation 10 Virtual Machine
Dismantled the theoretical part and it's time to move on to the practice of installing the OS on a VM. Go to the icon for creating a new virtual machine. A window opens to us with the right to select the installation mode:
- Normal mode
- Selective
If you have not had any experience with VM work before, then use the normal mode, I will take it as an example. After clicking further, we go to the next window, where you must carefully indicate the place from where our new OS will be installed. I advise you to read my post in order to have an idea of how this is done. I will install from an ISO image on my computer, you indicate what is relevant for you. If you also install from an image, then you also need to specify the path to the disk image on your computer. If the path you specified matches, then you will be given a similar entry, as in the screenshot below.
Go ahead, and, as usual, you will be asked for a key, as well as a personalized name and, if desired, a password for your future administrator account. Enter the data and continue. Now, be careful, the program asks you to specify the location where your new virtual machine will be installed, in simple terms, you specify the disk where the free space for your virtual system will come from. The default is drive "C", you can specify another.
Now we indicate the maximum size for your VM, by default it costs 40 GB, and also set the checkbox to split into several files or store data in one file. It also explains why this is generally needed. Decide and continue. Very carefully you need to consider the following parameters already selected by default by the program.
512 MB of RAM is not enough for me and I want to add it, that's for this there is a button Equipment setup in which you specify those system parameters that will be available to your virtual machine. There you can edit the following parameters:
- Memory (RAM)
- Number of processors used
- CD / DVD ROM
- Network adapter
- USB controller
- Sound card
- a printer
- Display
Now that's all, click ready and see how your OS starts to install. I was also asked to add a camera to the WEB devices, this can be done later, if desired. Well, the installation of the System itself is no different from any installation on a real Physical system, if you have difficulties with this, I gave a link above to an article about installing the system. So I'll make myself coffee, and you will be there, whatever you prefer, we will continue after installing our system.
I have completed the installation and I want to show you the main aspects of using the guest OS. Since it is difficult to describe in words, I will take a screenshot and post it here in this article.
On this I will say goodbye to you, I wish you good luck and more knowledge in mastering new technologies.
With all respect, Andrew.
After getting acquainted with such a software product as VMware workstation (see the article: Installation and first acquaintance with the VMware workstation emulator), many beginners encounter problems in the inconvenience of using certain functions, and there is not enough sensible help in Russian on all VMware workstation functionality , in order to eliminate the "white spots" in the setting, I decided to publish this article, where I will try to describe as much as possible everything that is hidden in the bins.
Let's proceed directly to the global settings of the program:
In the sidebar, we can place virtual machines into groups
Let's perform global program settings. Edit Menu - Preferences
1. Workspace. Allows you to set basic options for the workspace. Default Location for virtual machines and teams allows you to set the path to the directory where the default virtual machines will be saved. After we create a directory for virtual machines, and indicate the path to it, by default, upon subsequent creation, each virtual machine will be located in this directory.
- Remember opened tabs between session - Remembers open tabs between sessions - remembers open workspace tabs.
- Keep VMs running after Workstation closes - Run enabled guest operating systems in the background, a very convenient function if we want to have a parallel operating system, or a server running any services on our physical machine.
- Enable all shared folders by default - we will not use this function yet, and will touch it a little later, while this checkbox can be unchecked.
- Default hardware compatibuility - Default hardware compatibility - may be needed if you have a virtual machine from a previous version of VMware Workstation. By default, the Workstation 8 compatibility mode is set. You can also see the inactive option "Compatibility with: ESX Server", I will tell you what ESX Server is a little later in a separate article.
- Save screenshots to - Save screenshots to: (Clipboard) Clipboard, (File) File - the function allows you to make a PrintScreen of the virtual machine screen and save it, respectively, to the clipboard or to a specified location.
- "Show Aero Pick thumbnails for open tabs" if in Russian it sounds something like this: "Show thumbnails of tabs of open tabs of virtual machines in the Windows Aero theme." This function does not work in Windows XP.
- Function "Privacy" or "Privacy" with the button "offer to save login information for remote hosts" This function allows you to save information about the login / password when connecting to a remote virtual machine.
2. Input
"Grab keyboard and mouse input on mouse click" - Capture keyboard and mouse on mouse click
"Grab keyboard and mouse input on key press" - Capture keyboard and mouse on key press
Group "Cursor"
Warning: "You may need to install VMware Tools for these options to work correctly" - You may need to install VMware Tools for these options to work correctly.
"VMware Tools" drivers (utilities) for working with virtual machines are located in \ VMware \ VMware Workstation in the directory of the installed program. I think I need to tell you a little about them because the success of comfortable work with virtual machines depends on the integration of VMware Tools by 50%. We will need them after installing the guest operating system, I will say in a nutshell what they are:
as I said earlier, these utilities are located by default in the "\ VMware \ VMware Workstation" directory in the * .iso image format, and if you look into this directory, you will see, among other system files:
- freebsd.iso - for FreeBSD operating systems
- linux.iso - for Linux operating systems
- netware.iso - for NetWare operating systems
- solaris.iso - for Solaris operating systems
- windows.iso - for Windows operating systems
- winPre2k.iso - for Windows operating systems earlier than Windows 2000
These images, as I said, will come in handy after installing the above operating systems. Now let's go back to the "Input" setting
Ungrab when cursor leaves window - Releases the capture of the mouse cursor when the cursor leaves the guest operating system window. This function allows you to work with the guest operating system as with a regular browser (without pressing the hotkeys to switch the cursor capture).
"Hide cursor on ungrab" - Do not show the cursor in the guest operating system if an interception has occurred. That is, the cursor of the guest operating system and the main host is merged.
"Grab when cursor enters window" - interception of the cursor when it is over the window of the guest OS.
At the moment, all 3 of the above functions should be left enabled, since these functions will provide us with a convenient and comfortable principle of working with guest OS.
and the last function with the drop-down list "Optimize mouse for games" is to optimize the mouse cursor for games (we leave the default value "Automatic").
3. Hot Keys
Hot keys provide a shortcut to commonly-used virtual machine operations. Click the buttons below to modify your hot keys - Hotkeys provide quick access to frequently used operations on virtual machines.
Click the button below to change the hotkeys.
If these options are left by default, VMware will work with the following keyboard shortcuts:
- To release from the current virtual machine, press Ctrl + Alt - press Ctrl + Alt to release the intercepted cursor
- To enter or leave full screen mode, press Ctrl + Alt + Enter - to switch to / from full screen mode, press Ctrl + Alt + Enter
- To switch to the previous full-screen virtual machine, press Ctrl + Alt + Left Arrow - to switch from full-screen mode to the previous virtual machine, press Ctrl + Alt + Left Arrow
- To switch to the next full-screen virtual machine, press Ctrl + Alt + Right Arrow - to switch from full-screen mode to the next virtual machine, press Ctrl + Alt + Right Arrow
Autofit group - Auto-fit or auto-align
- Autofit window - automatic alignment of the main working area window. When the virtual machine display settings change, resize the application window to match - When the display settings are changed in the guest OS, the main workspace will automatically be resized.
- Autofit guest - automatic alignment of the guest OS window. When the application window is resized, change the virtual machine display settings to match - When you change the settings of the main work area, the display size of the guest OS will be automatically resized.
- Autofit guest (change guest resolution) Requires VMware Tools to be installed - Automatically change the resolution (resolution) of the display in the guest OS. The VMware Tools must be installed.
- Stretch guest (no resolution change) Stretches the guest screen to fill the host display - Stretch the display. Do not change the resolution (resolution) of the display when switching to full screen mode.
- Center guest (no resolution change) Guest may appear with borders or scrollbars - Center the display. Do not change the resolution (resolution) of the display when switching to full screen mode. The guest OS can hide outside the main working window and be viewed through the scrollbars.
- Use a single button for power controls - Use a single button for power controls (allows you to set the toolbar drop-down list or different power control buttons of the guest OS).
- Combine toolbar with menubar in windowed mode - combine menu and toolbar.
- Show toolbar edge when unpinned in full screen - Shows the edges of the unpinned toolbar in full screen mode.
Unity applications menu hot key. Hot key: Ctrl + Shift + U
For more information on Compatibility Mode, see the article: Compatible Mode in VMware workstation
6. Updates
There are three main options:
- Check for product updates on startup - Check for product updates at program start
- Check software components as needed - This is about checking for updates to newer versions of the previously mentioned VMware Tools.
- Automatically update VMware Tools on a virtual machine - automatically check for preinstalled VMware Tools utilities on guest OS.
Here it is suggested to improve and improve the program by sending anonymous data to the VMware center.
8. Shared VMs (Sharing guest operating systems, or sharing VMs)
Another new feature of VMware worstation is the ability to share operating systems. This is convenient if, for some reason, you cannot use one of the protocols for organizing access to a remote desktop. And also if you need to connect remotely to the console of the guest operating system. For example, you can demonstrate the capabilities of applications or functions directly inside the virtual environment without downloading the entire hard disk of the virtual machine from a remote server.
All ports for adding rules to the firewall, through which the protocol of remote VMware virtual machines works, can be viewed on the official website here
For VMs, a little information on configuring TCP \ IP ports on the official website
By default, to access a shared virtual machine in the firewall, you need to register rules for the following ports:
- HTTPS - port 443 TCP
- HTTP - port 80 TCP
- VM console port 902 ANY
- Virtual machine sharing and remote access is enabled and the Enable or Disable Sharing button is an option that allows you to start or stop a service that organizes access to a remote client.
- Port used by VMware Workstation Server: Use the port to connect clients to shared virtual machines.
- Shared VMs locations - Path to the directory where shared virtual machines are stored.
Reserved Memory Group
How mach host RAM should the system be able to reserve for all running virtual machines? - How much physical memory can be allocated for all running virtual machines?
Here we are talking, of course, about RAM (random access memory). If you have about 1024 Mb of RAM allocated for virtual machines, then it will not be possible to start two 1024 Mb machines. Accordingly, a maximum of 2 virtual 512 Mb each. You can allocate memory for virtual systems depending on how much free memory remains when working with the host operating system.
Additional memory group
How should the system allocate memory for all virtual machines - how to allocate a virtual memory system for all guest operating systems
I must note that virtual machines allow you to place RAM not only in RAM but also in the paging file of the host OS. And the next three options allow you to set the memory allocation parameters.
- Fit all virtual machine memory into reserved host RAM - Use only the physical memory of the host OS.
- Allow most virtual machine memory to be swapped - Allows most virtual machines to place virtual memory in the host OS paging file.
- Allow some virtual machine memory to be swapped - Allow some virtual machines to allocate virtual memory in the host OS paging file.
10. Priority
Default Process Priority group
- Input Grabbed - interception of the current guest OS
- Input Ungrabbed - Guest OS background mode
Snapshots group
- Take snapshots in the background when possible - Take snapshots in the background when possible.
- Restore snapshots in the background when possible - Restore snapshots in the background when possible.
11. Devices
Removable media group - Removable media
If the CD-DVD disks on the physical host allow autorun, we can temporarily disable it while the guest OS is running to connect the drive inside the virtual machine. This is done with the option:
- Disable Autorun on the host when a VM is running - Disable auto-start on the host when the virtual machine is running
Virtual machines: several computers in one (+ CD)
A.K. Gultyaev
Chapter 3
Virtual machinesVMware Workstation
Until Microsoft turned its attention to the virtual machine market, VMware was the undisputed leader in this market. However, it is still too early to say that the Virtual PC 2004 package has "pushed" products away from VMware to secondary roles. They remain very popular among users for three main reasons: thanks to truly successful technological solutions, thanks to the continuous improvement of the supported products, and, most importantly, thanks to the support of a wide variety of types and versions of operating systems, both as host and guest.
general characteristics
Currently, the family of products from VMware designed for creating and managing virtual machines includes several representatives:
VMware Workstation is a desktop application that allows you to create and manage “regular” virtual machines. Potential users of this product are software developers and testers, educators and other IT professionals.
VMware ACE is a desktop application for creating secure virtual machines (ACE stands for Assured Computing Environment). Each VM created with VMware ACE is equipped with personalized administration and protection against unauthorized access. The main contingent of users is employees of enterprises, for each of whom it is required to create their own protected environment on a common physical computer for all.
VMware GSX Server is an enterprise-level server application designed for creating a virtual enterprise infrastructure, testing distributed applications, and more.
VMware ESX Server is a server solution designed to create a virtual storage infrastructure.
As in the second chapter of the book, we are primarily interested in the tool for creating "desktop" virtual machines, namely - VMware Workstation. The book presents the last commercial version of the product to date - VMware Workstation 5.0. In the meantime, a beta version of VMware Workstation 5.5 is available for evaluation on the VMware website.
Features of workVMwareWorkstation
Each virtual machine created with VMware Workstation is a stand-alone computer with its own hardware resources, some of which are emulated by software, and some are “borrowed” from the host computer.
The virtual computer parameters are saved in a special configuration VMX file (in text format). This file (like other files that determine the operation of the VM), if necessary, can be transferred to another host computer in order to reproduce the parameters of the virtual machine. However, VMware does not include standard means of connecting such “foreign” VMs to the console. To work around this limitation, you can use some tricks, which are described in the section “Creating and configuring a virtual machine”.
Unlike Virtual PC, the name of the configuration file created by VMware does not coincide with the name of the VM, but is determined by the type of guest OS specified at the stage of creating the VM. For example, the configuration files for all VMs running a Windows 98 guest OS are named win98.vmx. The same goes for the names of the virtual hard disk files: for Windows 98 they are all named Windows 98.vmdk. For this reason (as well as for some other reasons), the files of each VM must be placed in a separate folder.
The list of operating systems that can be installed on VMware virtual machines as guests is quite extensive:
from the Windows family: Windows 3.1x, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and MS-DOS 6.22;
from the Linux family: Mandrake Linux (versions 8.0 to 9.2 inclusive), Red Hat Linux (versions 7.0 to 9.0 inclusive), Red Hat Enterprise Linux (versions 2.1 and 3.0), Red Hat Linux Advanced Server 2.1, SuSE Linux (versions from 7.3 to 9.0 inclusive), SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (7 and 8), Turbolinux 7, Turbolinux Workstation 8, Turbolinux Enterprise Server 8;
from the Novell NetWare family: NetWare Server (versions 4.2, 5.1, 6.0, 6.5);
FreeBSD OS (versions 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6.2, 4.8 and 5.0).
Due to this “versatility” of the VMware suite, its developers were unable to optimize the standard VM configuration for all guest operating systems. Therefore, for most of them, after installation, you have to perform additional configuration of the VM (in particular, manually install the most suitable versions of drivers for some devices). Fortunately, the VMware Workstation distribution includes a help file, install.chm, which contains detailed information on the installation specifics of all of the listed guest operating systems.
Running a little ahead of ourselves, this guide can be accessed directly from the VMware console window by selecting Guest Operating System Install Guide from the Help menu.
The following operating systems can be used as a host OS:
from the Windows family: Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 3 or 4, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows XP (Home or Professional edition), Windows Server 2003 (Web Edition, Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition);
from the Linux family: Mandrake Linux (versions 8.2 and 9.0), Red Hat Linux (almost all versions from among supported as guest OS) and SuSE Linux (versions 7.3 to 9.1 inclusive); for more information on supported Linux kernels, visit the VMware website.
A virtual machine typically uses devices that connect to a real computer, such as printers, modems, and external storage devices (including CD / DVD readers and writers). USB devices are fully supported: you can use two USB 1.1 ports per VM if this interface is supported by the host and guest OS. SCSI devices (including scanners and tape drives) are also supported. True, as an “intermediary” between physical devices of this type connected to the host computer and the VM, a special driver (SCSI Generic driver) is required, which is additionally installed on the guest OS.
VMware, like Virtual PC 2004, allows up to 3.6 GB of RAM to be allocated to each VM (while limiting the capacity of the real RAM of the host computer to 4 GB).
Working with virtual disks
VMware's VHD capabilities are "numerically" larger than Virtual PC 2004. In particular, you can connect up to four IDE VHDs and up to seven SCSI VHDs to each VM.
VMware provides two modes of allocating physical disk space for virtual disk files, similar to using fixed size disks and dynamic disks in Virtual PC.
When connecting CD / DVD devices to the VM via the IDE or SCSI interface, the available number of virtual hard disks decreases accordingly. That is, for example, if you include one CD / DVD IDE device in the VM configuration, you can connect no more than three IDE virtual hard disks to the VM.
The first of these modes assumes that all the requested space is allocated immediately when creating a virtual disk (hereinafter, for brevity, we will call such disks fixed).
When using the second mode, the file size of the virtual disk increases gradually as new data is written to the disk and programs are installed. Disks created using this method will be called dynamic.
It should be noted that in reality information about each virtual disk in VMware is stored not in one file, but in at least two. The first of these files is not a data store, but a descriptor, and, as shown in Fig. 3.1, contains information about the disk (disk size, its geometry, etc.) and links to data files (the link to the data file is highlighted in the figure).
Rice. 3.1. Contents of the virtual disk descriptor file
There can be one or several data files. This is due to the fact that VMware is able to create, as it were, "multivolume" disks. In this case, the size of each volume will not exceed 2 GB. The reason is that not all file systems are capable of handling larger files (for example, FAT16 cannot). When the virtual disk size exceeds the 2 GB limit, VMware automatically creates a new volume. Whether the disk needs to be divided into volumes is up to the user. Each data file name must contain a suffix such as -s001, -s002, etc. For example, the first data file for a virtual disk with a Windows 98 guest OS is called Windows 98 -s001.vmdk.
A physical hard disk of a host computer or one of the partitions of this disk can be connected to a VM as a hard disk (a similar feature, based on the use of a linked disk, is also available in Virtual PC). In VMware, such a physical disk attached to a VM is called a Raw Disk (in this case, this term can be translated as “raw disk”). The effect of using raw disks is available in cases when several system partitions with different operating systems are created on a physical disk (that is, when the host computer is configured for multiboot). A raw disk allows you to run one of the “real” alternative operating systems from under another real operating system using the boot.ini file.
VMware Workstation only supports booting from a raw disk that is connected to the VM via the IDE interface. Booting the guest OS from a SCSI disk is not possible. In addition, partitions on which Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP is installed cannot be used as a raw disk. It is also not supported to use dynamic volumes as raw disks, which are used in Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 for software implementation of RAID technology.
VMware implements a rollback mechanism (restoring some previous state of the VM and its disks), which differs from that used in Virtual PC. This mechanism is based on the creation of the so-called snapshots(snapshot) virtual machine. This snapshot can be created at any time while working with VMware. Then you can go back to the committed state. All changes made in the past period will be canceled. Optionally, you can exclude any of the virtual disks from the “group snapshot”. For more information on working with snapshots, see the “Working with a virtual machine” section.
The procedure for configuring virtual disks of various types is described in more detail in the "Creating and configuring a virtual machine" section.
Installation and configurationVMwareWorkstation
Installing VMware Workstation requires a slightly more thoughtful and attentive attitude from the user than installing Virtual PC. This is explained by the fact that at the final stage of VMware installation, some basic parameters of future virtual machines are configured.
System requirements
The minimum specifications for a host machine to install VMware to meet depend on the VM guest OS nomenclature.
For the operation of VMware Workstation itself, the following computing resources are required:
processor with x86 architecture and a clock speed of at least 500 MHz:
Intel: Celeron, Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium 4, Pentium M (including computers with Centrino mobile technology), Xeon (including the Prestonia model);
AMD: Athlon, Athlon MP, Athlon XP, Duron, Opteron;
also supports multiprocessor systems and (as an experiment) AMD64 Opteron, Athlon 64 or Intel IA-32e CPU;
the minimum required RAM capacity is 128 MB (preferably 256), without taking into account the needs of the host and guest OS, as well as active applications of these OS;
the amount of free space on the hard disk depends on the host OS used: for Windows-based OS - 100 MB, for Linux-based OS - about 20 MB; in addition, you need about 1 GB for each guest OS and its applications;
Super VGA video adapter with a color depth of at least 8 bits (16 is recommended);
from physical drives, it supports work with IDE and SCSI hard drives, as well as with CD-ROM / RW and DVD-ROM / RW devices (both in read and write mode).
If you plan to run several VMs at the same time with different operating systems, then their requirements for the OP capacity should, of course, be summed up.
Installation procedureVMwareWorkstation
The VMware Workstation 5.0 distribution is about 60 MB in size.
The installation procedure can be started in one of two ways:
by running “manually” the Setup.exe file;
specifying this file as an installation file in the Add or Remove Programs window.
In both cases, a wizard will start using the Windows Installer program.
A free 30-day trial version of VMware Workstation is available from the Microsoft website. The web version of the distribution is a single exe-file (VMware-workstation- version number.exe). For the evaluation version of VMware Workstation to be fully functional, you must obtain the appropriate registration key from the developer's website.
After you accept the license agreement, you need to determine if you need shortcuts to launch VMware from the desktop, from the taskbar, and from the Start menu. At the next step, you can select the installation directory for VMware Workstation (by default, the program is installed on the system drive to the Program Files folder).
After selecting the installation directory, click the Next button.
After that, the installer will scan the parameters of the host OS and some of them may not really like it. For example, if the AutoRun function for CD / DVD discs is enabled on the host computer, a warning will appear on the screen that it may lead to unpredictable effects when the host OS interacts with the virtual machine (Fig. 3.2). Therefore, it is better to allow the installer to disable this function (leaving the Yes disable autorun checkbox in its original position).
Once you have identified the autoplay function, click the Install button.
Rice. 3.2. VMware Workstation installation wizard suggests to disable the CD / DVD autoplay feature
During the installation of VMware Workstation on the host OS, additional drivers are also installed (required, in particular, to work with USB and SCSI devices). If you are installing VMware Workstation under Windows XP SP1 / 2, then some of these drivers may not be tested for compatibility with Windows XP, which the installer will warn you about (Figure 3.3).
Rice. 3.3. Some of the installed drivers may not be tested for compatibility with Windows XP
Since the software products from VMware are working quite correctly, you can safely proceed with the installation.
Before completing its work, the wizard will ask you to enter registration information (username, organization name, product serial number).
The installation procedure ends with the creation of the corresponding program group in the Start menu, which includes two shortcuts (Fig. 3.4):
Manage Virtual Networks - a shortcut to launch the panel for configuring the basic parameters of virtual networks created by VMware (this panel is discussed in the “Networking capabilities of VMware Workstation virtual machines” section);
VMware Workstation - a shortcut to launch the VMware Workstation control panel (analogous to the VM console used in Virtual PC).
Rice. 3.4. Program group for running VMware Workstation components
To improve the efficiency and convenience of working with VMware, it is recommended that after creating a VM and installing a guest OS on it, install the VMware Tools package of additional tools. The set of extensions is installed for each of the virtual machines individually, therefore the description of this step is given in the “Creating and configuring a virtual machine” section.
As stated above, VMware Installer uses the Windows Installer service. This way, if VMware program files are damaged or deleted, you can restore the application to work without reinstalling it. To do this, you need to do the following.
Rice. 3.5. VMware software in Add or Remove Programs
1. Run the Add or Remove Programs component, select the appropriate item in the list of applications and click the Change button (Fig. 3.5).
2. Make sure that the Repair radio button is checked in the window that opens, and click the Next button (Figure 3.6).
3.In the next window of the installation wizard, click the Install button.
Rice. 3.6. The first step in VMware recovery
To uninstall VMware Workstation from the host computer, you need to run the Add / Remove Programs component, select the appropriate item in the list of applications, and click the Remove button.
CustomizationVMwareWorkstation
When you start VMware Workstation for the first time, two windows appear on the screen: in the foreground is the Daily Tips window, followed by the main VMware Workstation window. We can do without advice from VMware developers, so let's go directly to working with the main window (Fig. 3.7).
Its interface is described in sufficient detail in the section “Creating and configuring a virtual machine”, but now we will focus on only one menu of this window - Edit, or rather, the Preferences command of this menu.
This command provides access to the main parameters of VMware, which are distributed across seven tabs of the dialog box (Fig. 3.8).
indicate the need to store a list of VMs that worked in the previous session by selecting the Remember opened virtual machines between sessions check box; in this case, the next time you start VMware, the right side of the main window will display tabs for all VMs that remained open at the end of the previous session;
Rice. 3.7. Initial VMware Workstation main window
Rice. 3.8. VMware Workstation Configuration Window
The first tab, Workspace, allows you to:
select the default folder for storing data about the created virtual machines (in the initial state, this is the folder My Documents of the active user);
indicate whether to store a list of VMs that were running in the previous session by checking the Remember opened virtual machines between sessions check box; in this case, the next time you start VMware, the right side of the main window will display tabs for VMs that remained open at the end of the previous session;
indicate the need for and set the frequency of automatic updates for VMware over the Internet.
The controls located on the Input, Hot keys, and Priority tabs determine how the mouse and keyboard are used by virtual machines and the host OS. These controls are described in more detail in the “Configuring external devices” subsection of the “Creating and configuring a virtual machine” section.
The Display tab allows you to choose the most appropriate way to display the main VMware window, as well as the virtual machine window when working in full screen mode (Figure 3.9).
The controls on the Memory tab determine how RAM is allocated between the VMware host and the running VM (Figure 3.10).
The Reserved Memory slider allows you to specify how much physical RAM VMware is allowed to use for its own needs and for running virtual machines. The minimum value of this parameter corresponds to the minimum amount of RAM at which VMware can work, the maximum value is determined by the remaining part of the RAM that is minimally required for the host OS to work. Moving the slider to one side or the other slows down the performance of either VMware and running VMs, or the host OS and its applications. However, it should be borne in mind that VMware does not immediately capture all the space allocated to it: it is allocated by the VM monitor as needed.
Rice. 3.9. Display tab of the VMware Workstation setup window
Rice. 3.10.
The Additional Memory group of radio buttons allows you to somewhat soften the limits on the amount of RAM used for the benefit of VMware:
Fit all virtual machine memory into reserved host RAM - VMs that are started can use only the physical RAM available to VMware; if, when starting the next VM (or a new application inside the VM), it turns out that there is no free memory, then the launch will not take place, and a corresponding message will appear on the screen;
Allow some virtual machine memory to be swapped - if, when starting another VM (or a new application inside the VM), it turns out that there is no free memory, then VMware will allow the host OS to move part of the data from the RAM to the hard disk (in system paging file); this will allow VMware to use the freed up part of the RAM to launch the next VM (or a new application inside the VM), however, the performance of all VMs will decrease due to the time spent on swapping;
Allow most virtual machine memory to be swapped - if, when starting the next VM (or a new application inside the VM), it turns out that there is no free memory, then VMware will allow the host OS to move a significant part of the data from the RAM to the hard disk.
It should be borne in mind that for each VM, you can individually set the amount of used RAM. However, the upper limit of the allocated memory depends on the maximum total RAM size specified by the Reserved Memory slider.
The next tab in the VMware Configuration window is called Lockout. The elements available on it allow you to control user access to the basic capabilities of VMware (Fig. 3.11).
Initially, the security settings are disabled — the Enable administrative lockout check box has been cleared. This means that a user with any account that has the right to run VMware is also allowed to change the parameters of VMware. To allow only those users who know the lock password to access certain VMware features, do the following:
1.Select the Enable administrative lockout checkbox.
2.In the Password and Confirm password fields, enter the “secret word”.
3.Select the checkboxes for the functions to which access should be blocked:
Create new teams and virtual machines - create new virtual machines;
Edit teams and virtual machine configurations - change the configuration of the virtual machine;
Manage virtual networks - management of virtual networks.
Rice. 3.11. Memory tab of the VMware Workstation setup window
As mentioned, the parameters set in the VMware Workstation configuration window are applied to all newly created VMs. Some of them can be further adjusted for each VM individually after its creation.
Creation and configuration of virtualcars
Unlike Virtual PC, in its initial state, the main VMware window combines both the virtual machine control panel and VM “monitor screens” (they are added as tabs on the right side of the window when a VM is created).
Virtual Machine Control Panel
Controls for virtual machines are distributed across three areas of the main VMware window (see Figure 3.7):
in the upper part of the window there is a menu bar and a toolbar, on which buttons for launching the most frequently used commands are located;
on the left side of the window is the Favorites panel, which is used to display a list of the most “popular” virtual machines; the panel can be closed by clicking on the button with a cross; to reopen it, select the Favorites command from the View menu;
the right most part of the window is occupied by the Home tab (initial position), as well as the tabs of the running VMs (if any).
After starting at least one VM, icons appear in the window status bar that provide access to the parameters of external VM devices (similar to how similar icons are used in Virtual PC).
The buttons located on the window toolbar are divided, in turn, into four groups (Fig. 3.12).
The first four (on the left) buttons control the state of the active VM (the one that is selected in the list or whose tab is open in the right part of the window):
Powers off - shutdown the VM (the button is available if the selected VM is up and running);
Suspends - put the VM in an inactive mode; during the suspension of the VM, the execution of all operations performed by the guest OS or its applications is interrupted; visually, the window (tab) of a suspended VM looks almost the same as the window of a stopped VM (how exactly is described in the “Creating a virtual machine” subsection);
Powers On - starting the VM, as well as resuming the VM in pause mode (the button is available if the selected VM is not already started or is in pause mode);
Resets - "warm" restart of the VM (the action of the button is similar to the action of the button of the same name on a real computer).
The following three buttons provide a snapshot of the VM state and return to the selected state if necessary:
Snapshot - create a snapshot of the VM state;
Revert - return to the state of the VM, saved as a snapshot;
Manage snapshots - opens an additional window for selecting the desired snapshot.
Two buttons control the size of the VM window.
When switching to the next version of the operating system of the Windows line, some users are faced with the lack of support for their favorite applications in the new OS. Or it's even more complicated - you have, for example, OS X, and you need applications that are compatible only with Windows.
At the moment, there are a large number of "virtual machines" that can resolve these inconveniences. For example, paid Parallel Desktop and VMWare Workstation, or free options like Microsoft VirtualPC or VirtualBox from Oracle.
We have already talked about VirtualBox in the articles:
- Creating a virtual computer and installing Windows on it using VirtualBox;
Today I will talk about working with.
The process of installing a virtual machine is no different from the process of installing regular programs, so you can skip it. After installation and reboot, the main program window will appear.
In this emulator, everything is easily customizable. On the left side are the virtual machines that you have installed. On the right is the "invitation" window of the program. With it, you can create or open an existing virtual machine, connect to a remote server, and much more. At the top there are several panels containing controls.
Creating a virtual machine
VMWare Workstation provides several options for creating a virtual machine. To describe all possible functions, we will choose a selective method of creating a machine.
In the next window, you must specify the compatibility with previous versions of the program.
This is usually used for teamwork on different configurations. The products that are compatible with this machine are displayed on the left side of the window, and the restrictions imposed on this configuration are displayed on the right. It doesn't matter now, so we leave everything as it is.
The next step is to install the system on a virtual machine.
In this case, you can specify both a real hard disk drive and a virtual image. Alternatively, you can select the installation media later, right when the virtual machine starts up.
Then you need to select the operating system that you are going to install.
In accordance with your choice, the program will offer the optimal set of settings for a specific system. Next, you need to come up with a name for the virtual machine, as well as the folder in which it will be located.
Most modern computers have more than one processor core. The program can also set the number of cores that you want to use in the guest system.
Note: Do not give too many physical resources to the virtual machine. The computer will become slower, and you will not get a large increase in the performance of the guest system.
At the next step, you need to specify the amount of RAM that will be given to the virtual operating system. The program will also warn you about the minimum amount of memory at which the system will function, and will also indicate the limit above which you should not go. In this case, it is recommended to leave the value that the emulator program specified initially.
The next step is to specify the type of network that you want to use.
In this case, if you do not understand networking technologies, you do not need to change anything. After installation, the virtual machine will have a network and you do not have to configure it separately.
At the next step, you are asked to select the disk on which the system will be stored.
You can create a new virtual disk, or use an existing one. You can also set aside a portion of the physical disk for system operation. In the first two cases, a virtual hard disk will be formed in the form of a specific file or a group of files. Then the configurator will prompt you to select the type of virtual disk. Since SCSI on older systems is either not supported or does not work confidently, it is advisable to choose an IDE interface.
Next, you need to specify the size of the future disk. In this case, you can specify the space slightly larger than what we need. In this case, you can allocate all the disk space at once, or you can fill it up gradually so that the empty space on the virtual disk does not take up real gigabytes. For convenience, the program will offer you to split the disk into several files, or save everything in one.
In conclusion, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the parameters of the created VMWare Workstation virtual machine. If everything is in order, then press the "Finish" button, otherwise - you can go back and change any parameter.
A black screen is now displayed on the right side of the program, indicating that the virtual machine is disabled, as well as information about the hardware of the virtual machine. The process of installing the system on a virtual machine should be skipped as it is no different from installing a real operating system.
Procedure for starting a virtual machine, suspending and shutting down
So now everything is ready to run. If there is already a system on the virtual machine (VM), then it is enough just to start it. Or put the system on a freshly created machine.
There are two options:
- If there is a VM, then in the window on the main tab, select "Open" and select the VM (file with the .vnw resolution).
- After adding (or after creating a new one), you need to start the VM by clicking on the start button located at the top of the window under the Edit menu, or by selecting the Virtual Machine - Power-> Resume menu item, or by pressing the Ctrl + B key combination.
It is worth noting that the virtual machine can be paused. At the same time, its full state at the time of shutdown will remain and the virtualizer program can be closed. After you resume work, all windows, open programs and even processes in memory will remain in the same state in which you left them. This is the most convenient way to use a virtual machine. you don't have to wait for it to load. There are three ways to pause the VM:
- Press the "Pause" button at the top of the window, under the "Edit" menu
- Select the menu item Virtual Machine - Power - Suspend
- Press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Z
There is also a less convenient way of shutting down the virtual machine and the virtualizer program - shutting down the guest operating system as if you were shutting it down on a regular computer. Moreover, if you turn off the machine through the capabilities of VMWare, the system will automatically shutdown, as if you had pressed the Power button on the system unit.
You can turn off the virtual machine in the following ways:
- Press the "Stop Virtual Machine" button, which is located under the "Edit" menu
- Select the menu item Virtual Machine - Power - Power Off
- Press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + R
It is worth noting that sooner or later you will have to turn off / restart the VM. garbage will accumulate in the guest operating system, which will disappear only after a reboot. It will gradually accumulate and, as a result, will make the work of the machine slow.
Everything is fine: the guest system is up and running, but it may not release the mouse outside of its working window. In this case, if you want to leave the virtual system, you need to press the Ctrl + Alt key combination. However, there is a set of drivers that you do not have to install after installing them. The system is integrated into the host machine and you can switch between them without any problems.
You can do this as follows: go to the Virtual Machine - Install / Reinstall VMWare Tools package.
The VMWare Tools package installs drivers for sound cards, video adapters, and other hardware.
An important fact is that VMWare Tools can work with several guest systems at the same time. Moreover, each system will work independently of the others. The number of simultaneously running systems is limited only by the physical capabilities of your computer. And you, as a user, can switch between them using tabs.
There is a problem: let's say that the system has become unstable and you need to press the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys, but the host system's task manager is called. You can send a similar combination to the guest system using the Virtual Machine menu - send the command Ctrl + Alt + Delete.
Everything is fine: the guest system works and you are satisfied with almost everything, but there is one problem: the system screen is too small and this makes the work inconvenient. There are several ways to fix this problem:
1. If you have a large diagonal monitor, you can simply increase the screen resolution.
2. There is also a more graceful approach: you can enable "single mode". This is the mode of integrating the guest operating system into the main operating system. In this case, you can work in parallel with applications of both the host and the guest system. It is worth noting. That the entire screen will be involved and the resolution of the guest system will be the same as that of the host. In order to switch to this mode, you must click on the "Single mode" button, which is located in the menu under the "Tabs" menu, or go to the View menu - Single mode
3. It is possible to expand the operating system to full screen, completely covering the main workspace. This can be done by clicking on the "Full Screen Mode" button, which is located between the Virtual Machine and Tabs menu, or go to the View - Full Screen Mode menu. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Enter. In this case, the VMWare Tools panel will appear at the top of the system, which will automatically hide if you do not hover over it.
So now we have a working system. It is necessary to add network folders to it - in this case, we will give the system access to the physical hard disk. To do this, you need to turn off the virtual machine.
The system on the virtual machine is the same as on the real one. Accordingly, you need to turn it off just like a regular system.
After shutdown, you must press the "Change settings" button and go to the "Parameters" tab.
In it, you need to find the "Shared folders" option, put the switch in the "Always on" position and select the necessary shared folders for your system. You can specify either a single folder or an entire hard disk partition.
Apply the changes and boot the virtual machine. Externally, the machine has a network, but internally, you need to connect a disk to the system. The easiest way to do this: open "My Computer" and select "Map network drive". Everything! The virtual system has access to real data.
There is another, easier way to transfer files and folders: to transfer data inside a virtual machine, you just need to drag the file from the real system into it with the mouse.
Connecting removable devices to a virtual machine
Sometimes the question arises: "What to do?" If you want to connect a flash card, printer and other devices directly to the machine. In this case, the developers have provided a number of operations that can connect external USB devices.
You can view the list of devices available to the machine in the Virtual Machine - Devices menu. There you can also see a list of the currently connected equipment. By checking the box next to the required device, you connect it in the guest system, unchecking it - disconnect it. It's that simple!
For example, if you want to connect a drive to a virtual machine, you need to do the following:
- Connect the flash card to your computer and after a few moments it will appear in the "Devices" menu;
- Check the box next to the device and after a while you will find a system message that the device is connected.
Conclusion
Another important point: suppose that you reinstalled the operating system, but you still have the VMWare Workstation virtual machine. To start it you need to open it in the program: Home - Open a virtual machine. After that, at startup, a window will appear.
In this case it is necessary to press the "I copied it" button. And the virtual machine will be loaded. Running virtual machine:
In conclusion, it should be noted that a virtual system is a very useful and, at times, irreplaceable device in work. The undoubted advantages of a virtual machine are such features as:
- If you wish, you can virtualize any operating system and, accordingly, if the system is old, then old programs that are not able to run on modern equipment will work with it;
- Each system is independent, which allows you to conduct experiments without fear of "killing" the OS;
- You can create almost any hardware configuration and check the system performance on it.
However, the medal also has a downside - the VMWare Workstation program is paid and costs 8,300 rubles. Buy it or use analogues - it's up to you.
