# Howto: qemu + vmplayer = free vmware

## Aries-Belgium

Howto: qemu + vmplayer = free vmware

Introduction

I was looking for a good way to emulate Windows on my computer without spending money on extra software to do that. My first choose was qemu, but there were a few problems: when qemu was running the cpu did 100% even when Windows was idle. The other problem was that I couldn't get the network to work on the virtual machine. A few vmware users said vmware doesn't have those problems and that I should use vmware.

Because I'm just a student, I can't effort the official vmware workstation. So I had to find a solution for my problem. Vmplayer was the solution. It can play vmware harddisk images, but it can't create them. You can download a few preinstalled vmware harddisk images from the vmware site, but I wanted to create them and install windows myself. Qemu can do that!  :Razz: 

Installing software

First we need to unmask a few packages:

Replace arch below with your architecture (x86, amd64, ...)

```
echo "app-emulation/vmware-player ~arch" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords

echo "app-emulation/qemu ~arch" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords

echo "app-emulation/qemu-user ~arch" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
```

Now emerge them:

```
emerge qemu vmware-player
```

If you get errors about packages that are masked, unmask them the same way as above ...

Create a diskimage

Change dir to the directory were you would like to place the disk image:

```
cd ~/win/
```

Now we create a vmdk image:

```
qemu-img create -f vmdk windows.vmdk 4G
```

4G is the maximum size of the virtual harddisk

Running vmplayer

Make sure you're in the vmware group:

```
groups
```

If you're not in the group, run as root:

```
gpasswd -a username vmware
```

First we need to create vmx file. That is the configuration file for the virtual machine. You can configure it yourself or you can use this wizard to do it for you. Paste the output of the wizard into a file with .vmx extension. Make sure the ide0:0 filename is the full filename of the vmdk image!

I've also got a tip for generating vmx files from one of the other forum users. EasyVMX provides an easy to use step-by-step configuration tool, which generate the vmx file for you. Thanks at240

As root, we need to configure vmware and start it:

```
/opt/vmware/player/bin/vmware-config.pl
```

Just follow the instructions ...

Now we need to start the vmware service:

```
/etc/init.d/vmware start
```

If you would like vmware to be loaded at boot:

```
rc-update add vmware default
```

Booting virtual machine

```
vmplayer
```

and browse to the .vmx file you just created ...

You can also specify the vmx file from the command-line:

```
vmplayer /path/to/file.vmx
```

Display driver

When you boot Windows you will see that you only have a resolution of 640x460 and 16 colors available, and that you can't change the resolution. For higher resolutions you will need the VMWare Display Driver.

On this link (provided by GetCool) you can find a guide to install the proper display driver using the windows.iso from the VMWare Workstation package. In the guide they say you have to mount it as loopback device and then share it with Samba, but there is a better way to do this. You can create an extra virtual harddisk in your vmx and mount the iso there:

```
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"

ide1:0.fileName = "windows.iso"

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

ide1:0.autodetect = "TRUE"

ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
```

Check if you haven't used ide1:0 yet, otherwise you should change it to another ide device.

The VMWare Tools also contain a nifty tool which enables automaticilly mouse (and keyboard) hooking on hover.

Sound

You can enable sound replay in your vmx, however you can't play sound on your host and guest at the same time. If you're playing any sound on your host, vmplayer give an error that "/dev/dsp" is busy and that the sound device is disabled. I haven't resolved this problem. If someone has a solution for this, let me know.

EasyVMX creates a sound device with the Soundblaster virtual driver, but this doesn't work on all os'es. You should be able to replay sound with this config:

```
sound.present = "TRUE"

sound.startConnected = "FALSE"

sound.virtualDev = "es1371"

sound.fileName = "-1"

sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
```

Usb, serial - and parallel ports

EasyVMX also provides the option to enable usb, serial - and parrallel ports, but I've only got usb to work with this vmx line:

```
usb.present = "TRUE"
```

Vmplayer doesn't want to enable the serail or parrallel ports.

Extra tips

1) When working on your vmdk disk image, you will notice it will increase in size on your host pc but it will not decrease when you uninstall software for example. With the VMWare Tools you can shrink your disk image to the minimun needed for the installation.

2) Setting MemTrimRate to "0" will give you a little performance boost.

Now that should do it! If you have problems, let me know ...

Have Fun!

----------

## panchonb

Interesting how to, but maybe not needed anymore?

Checkout the free VMWare Server.

Thanks for the tip though.

----------

## yabbadabbadont

The ebuilds for the beta server product are still a work in progress in bugzilla though.  vmware-player works now.  Once it hits the portage tree, then it would definitely be the better option.

----------

## cainlevy

I'm having problems with the vmware configuration step. I run vmware-config.pl, and follow the prompts to build a module for my custom kernel. It builds the vmmon module and the vmnet module with no errors. But when I try to run '/etc/init.d/vmware start' I get:

```

 * VMware Player is installed, but it has not been (correctly) configured

 * for the running kernel. To (re-)configure it, invoke the

 * following command: /opt/vmware/player/bin/vmware-config.pl.

```

I've tried rerunning the configure script, but I get nothing. Where should I start looking to troubleshoot?

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *cainlevy wrote:*   

> I'm having problems with the vmware configuration step. I run vmware-config.pl, and follow the prompts to build a module for my custom kernel. It builds the vmmon module and the vmnet module with no errors. But when I try to run '/etc/init.d/vmware start' I get:
> 
> ```
> 
>  * VMware Player is installed, but it has not been (correctly) configured
> ...

 

Hi,

Make sure you run the script as root.

----------

## cainlevy

Yep, I'm running as root. Though I did get much the same error message when I tried to run vmplayer as a user (who was part of the vmware group).

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *cainlevy wrote:*   

> Yep, I'm running as root. Though I did get much the same error message when I tried to run vmplayer as a user (who was part of the vmware group).

 

Can you rerun the configure script again and post every step, + your answer to it, here?

----------

## cainlevy

I gave default answers. Wasn't sure if networking might've been part of the problem, so I reconfigured that part for the sake of this output.

```

root /root/ > /opt/vmware/player/bin/vmware-config.pl

Making sure services for VMware Player are stopped.

 * ERROR:  "vmware" has not yet been started.

Configuring fallback GTK+ 2.4 libraries.

Trying to find a suitable vmmon module for your running kernel.

None of the pre-built vmmon modules for VMware Player is suitable for your

running kernel.  Do you want this program to try to build the vmmon module for

your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes] yes

Using compiler "/usr/bin/gcc". Use environment variable CC to override.

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running

kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.12-gentoo-r10/build/include] /lib/modules/2.6.12-gentoo-r10/build/include

Extracting the sources of the vmmon module.

Building the vmmon module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.

make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only'

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.12-gentoo-r10/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.12-gentoo-r10'

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only/common/cpuid.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only/common/hash.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only/common/memtrack.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only/common/phystrack.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only/common/task.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only/vmcore/moduleloop.o

  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only/vmmon.o

  Building modules, stage 2.

  MODPOST

  CC      /tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only/vmmon.mod.o

  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.12-gentoo-r10'

cp -f vmmon.ko ./../vmmon.o

make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config1/vmmon-only'

The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

This program previously created the file /dev/vmmon, and was about to remove it.Somebody else apparently did it already.

You have already setup networking.

Would you like to skip networking setup and keep your old settings as they are?

(yes/no) [yes] no

Do you want networking for your virtual machines? (yes/no/help) [yes] yes

Would you prefer to modify your existing networking configuration using the

wizard or the editor? (wizard/editor/help) [wizard] wizard

The following bridged networks have been defined:

Do you wish to configure another bridged network? (yes/no) [no] no

Do you want to be able to use NAT networking in your virtual machines? (yes/no)

[yes] yes

The following NAT networks have been defined:

Do you wish to configure another NAT network? (yes/no) [no] no

Do you want to be able to use host-only networking in your virtual machines?

[yes] yes

Configuring a host-only network for vmnet1.

Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help)

[yes] yes

Probing for an unused private subnet (this can take some time)...

The subnet 192.168.212.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.

The following host-only networks have been defined:

Do you wish to configure another host-only network? (yes/no) [no] no

Extracting the sources of the vmnet module.

Building the vmnet module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.

make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only'

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.12-gentoo-r10/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.12-gentoo-r10'

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/driver.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/hub.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/userif.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/netif.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/bridge.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/procfs.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/smac_compat.o

  SHIPPED /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/smac_linux.x386.o

  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/vmnet.o

  Building modules, stage 2.

  MODPOST

  CC      /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/vmnet.mod.o

  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only/vmnet.ko

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.12-gentoo-r10'

cp -f vmnet.ko ./../vmnet.o

make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config1/vmnet-only'

The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

 * Starting VMware services:                                              [ ok ]

 *   Virtual machine monitor                                              [ ok ]

 *   Virtual ethernet                                                     [ ok ]

 *   Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0                                    [ !! ]

 *   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 (background)                     [ ok ]

 *   Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet2                                    [ ok ]

 *   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background)                     [ ok ]

 *   NAT service on /dev/vmnet8                                           [ ok ]

The configuration of VMware Player 1.0.1 build-19317 for Linux for this running

kernel completed successfully.

You can now run VMware Player by invoking the following command:

"/opt/vmware/player/bin/vmplayer".

Enjoy,

--the VMware team

```

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *cainlevy wrote:*   

> I gave default answers. Wasn't sure if networking might've been part of the problem, so I reconfigured that part for the sake of this output.
> 
> ```
> 
> [... your code was here ...]
> ...

 

It seems vmware starts now.

Make sure vmware is started by running this:

```
lsmod | grep vm
```

This should show vmmon and vmnet.

Only this line disturbes me:

```
 *   Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0                                    [ !! ] 
```

I could be that networking will not work on your virtual machine. If it doesn't work reconfigure vmware again and answer yes to the question to brigde the network.

----------

## cainlevy

Yeah, it looks like vmware has started at the end of the configuration. When I do `ps ax | grep vm` I get a handful of scripts running from the vmware bin directory. When I do `lsmod | grep vm` I get vmmon and vmnet. However, when I actually try to execute vmplayer (as a non-root user who is in the vmware group) I get that message about vmware not being configured properly, and when I do `/etc/init.d/vmware stop` I get a message that vmplayer hasn't started.

I tried killing all the vm* processes spawned by the configure script, and then trying `/etc/init.d/vmware start` for a clean start, but that gets me the same message about an incorrect configuration.

Oh, I think the reason the bridged networking failed to initialize is because I tried to bridge my eth0 and ath0 both, even though I only usually have my ath0 up and active. I'm not too worried about networking if I can't even run vmplayer.  :Smile: 

----------

## cainlevy

I upgraded my kernel from 2.6.12-r10 to 2.6.15-r1, and now it works.

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *cainlevy wrote:*   

> I upgraded my kernel from 2.6.12-r10 to 2.6.15-r1, and now it works.

 

Great  :Very Happy: 

----------

## melbaum

I have a related question and maybe this thread is the place to ask. Is it possible to define, or link, or somehow copy over an existing Windows partition to a virtual machine for qemu or vmware player? The partition is a bit neglected but I prefer to avoid reinstalling all the software. The docs refer to a bootable install disk.

thanks.

----------

## drwook

Your windows install (almost certainly) won't run properly on the virtual machine - think about if you physically moved a hard drive with windows on into another machine and tried to boot it...  If you really want to try though, 'dd if=/dev/hdxx of=~/imagefile' should create an image

----------

## brazzmonkey

 *melbaum wrote:*   

> I have a related question and maybe this thread is the place to ask. Is it possible to define, or link, or somehow copy over an existing Windows partition to a virtual machine for qemu or vmware player? The partition is a bit neglected but I prefer to avoid reinstalling all the software. The docs refer to a bootable install disk.
> 
> thanks.

 

i also wish there was a way to emulate windows in linux, simply by using a windows already installed on another partition... but i haven't heard about such thing yet...

----------

## SimedonMyrrho

At first, thanks for this thread. After reading it I removed vmware-workstation and switched to vmware-player, since i  have a working image now.

As for the functionality "shared folder", which is from my point of view extremely handy (sharing programs and data files between windows and Linux with wine for example), one could of course use samba, with a limited setup (a server only listening on vmnet[0-9]).

One doesn't even need qemu for that, only a test version of vmware workstation.

 *Quote:*   

> I have a related question and maybe this thread is the place to ask. Is it possible to define, or link, or somehow copy over an existing Windows partition to a virtual machine for qemu or vmware player? The partition is a bit neglected but I prefer to avoid reinstalling all the software. The docs refer to a bootable install disk. 
> 
> 

 

I don't think that this is really useful. For one thing, inside a vmware-image a windows has a completely different hardware setup, so one has to use hardware profiles if windows still has to be available as a dualboot option.

I have stripped down the windows install concerning programs to the minimum, to programs which do not run under wine. Office and multimedia is all Linux-only now.

I will see whether i still need some other programs under windows, until then it remains as it is right now.

----------

## melbaum

I see your point about the hardware profiles. I have a dual-boot machine (actually 2, with factory installs) but long ago gave up booting the Windows. Still, there are some programs that work better in Windows than in Wine, and some annoying websites that don't work with Firefox. A virtual windows environment booted from Linux would be perfect, except for the annoyance of reinstalling all the software when it's already sitting there on the disk.

----------

## SimedonMyrrho

 *Quote:*   

> ... but long ago gave up booting the Windows.

 

Happened to me too. Could not boot Windows for a long time. Then i thought about vmware, and tried it, and switched to it, and it became quite usable after upgrading memory to 512 MB.

 *Quote:*   

> A virtual windows environment booted from Linux would be perfect, except for the annoyance of reinstalling all the software when it's already sitting there on the disk.

 

@melbaum: I see your point. But maybe there are newer versions available of the software that was installed there. And, btw., you do not seem to need the software since you did not use it for quite some time, as this would have required booting windows.

For those websites you mentioned, you may try opera (if didn't do so already), or the IE under wine.

With removing the windows, you could also repartition you harddisks, give linux more room. You could even start over with a new Gentoo snapshot. I did something similar when switching to vmare. I repartitioned my disk, and recently did rebuild my system with gcc-4.1-pre, and -Bdirect and friends. No more prelink(i had the impression it slows down the system when you frequently recompile libraries).

----------

## melbaum

Thanks for the advice. I tried setting up IE under wine, but gave up after a while. Also I need it on some secure sites and don't know how much to trust my configs. I have plenty of disk space because most of /home is linked onto a USB drive. 

The second reason for virtualizing is that the VPN at work doesn't speak linux. (yes, I've made a fuss about that.) The software on the Windows disk is licensed so reinstalling is a painful option.

----------

## brazzmonkey

running IE under wine, probably the best idea ever... why not using konqueror instead ?

imho, basically there's no point in using windows apps that have equivalence or counterfeits in the free software world. but there are many apps which exist only for windows... and wine proves to work only with a few of them that why i'ts definitely useless to me (i never achieved to get a window app work with wine... i suppose it mostly work with the most popular ones - those which have an equivalence in the linux world...)

for the rest i'll try that trick which sounds great.

----------

## pjp

Cool tip Aries-Belgium.  I'll have to try this out one of these days.  I also tried qemu, but didn't get very far.  Once Server is available in portage, I'll choose between it, Workstation, and this as solutions.

 *panchonb wrote:*   

> Interesting how to, but maybe not needed anymore?
> 
> Checkout the free VMWare Server.
> 
> Thanks for the tip though.

  My understanding is that Server doesn't offer all of the features of Workstation.  I haven't found a detailed feature comparison though.

----------

## panchonb

 *pjp wrote:*   

> Cool tip Aries-Belgium.  I'll have to try this out one of these days.  I also tried qemu, but didn't get very far.  Once Server is available in portage, I'll choose between it, Workstation, and this as solutions.
> 
>  *panchonb wrote:*   Interesting how to, but maybe not needed anymore?
> 
> Checkout the free VMWare Server.
> ...

 

I found this little comparison of Workstation to GSX Server (VMware server is replacing GSX):

"How does VMware Workstation compare to VMware GSX Server?

While both products are built on the same core Workstation virtualization technology and are hosted products (install on top of a host operating system) they are used in different ways and have different capabilities.

    * Workstation is installed on a PC and is used by an individual for testing and development. GSX Server is installed on a server, can be accessed remotely by multiple users, runs server-class applications in both production and test/dev environments to enable server consolidation, and offers server-class scalability. Often times software developers and IT professionals create, configure, and test server-class environments within a virtual machine using Workstation. These virtual machines are then often deployed on VMware GSX Server or ESX Server so others can access these virtual machines for both test/development and production uses.

    * GSX Server differs from Workstation in that it can concurrently run more virtual machines (GSX Server supports servers with up to 32 processors and/or 64GB of memory), offers remote management functionality, supports advanced API and scripting functionality, and can run in headless mode. Accordingly, GSX Server has a higher price point than Workstation."

From this I don't really see any practical differences.  Meaning, they both support the same features in the virtual machines, but the management features or UI might be geared slightly different.

----------

## pjp

IIRC, it had to do with image support.  I don't recall where I read it though.

----------

## panchonb

 *pjp wrote:*   

> IIRC, it had to do with image support.  I don't recall where I read it though.

 

Ahh, you mean the upgrade from Workstation 4 to 5.  There was an image change that meant if a new VM was created in the version 5 format then it wouldn't be able to be moved from Workstation to Server.  I think they have fixed this though.  The newer versions of server (I believe) can read the version 5 format. I took a look at the data sheet for VMWare server and it said:

" Support for any VMware or Microsoft

virtual machine format and Symantec

LiveState Recovery images (with VM

Importer)"

----------

## pjp

Hehe.  No, that wasn't it, but is way beyond the subject of this thread.  I hadn't heard about that issue.

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *drwook wrote:*   

>  *melbaum wrote:*   I have a related question and maybe this thread is the place to ask. Is it possible to define, or link, or somehow copy over an existing Windows partition to a virtual machine for qemu or vmware player? The partition is a bit neglected but I prefer to avoid reinstalling all the software. The docs refer to a bootable install disk.
> 
> thanks. 
> 
> Your windows install (almost certainly) won't run properly on the virtual machine - think about if you physically moved a hard drive with windows on into another machine and tried to boot it...  If you really want to try though, 'dd if=/dev/hdxx of=~/imagefile' should create an image

 

The image created with dd will only be "playable" under qemu. If you would like to run it with vmplayer you have to convert it to a vmdk file:

```
qemu-img convert imagefile_from_dd -O vmdk -o imagefile.vmdk
```

I haven't tried it myself, so I don't know it will work.

-----

I use wine to run IE and MusicBrainz Tagger and they both work great.

----------

## Robert S

 *Quote:*   

> qemu-img convert imagefile_from_dd -O vmdk -o imagefile.vmdk

 

This didn't work for me.  Got the BSOD and a Windows repair didn't work.  Don't remember the exact message, but it complained about problems loading the boot device IIRC.

Now a couple of my questions:

How do I switch consoles in a vmware session?  I realise I can use 'chvt', but sometimes I can't get root access from a graphical console (eg. the gentoo liveCD!).  In qemu you can use ctrl-2 etc.

Is it possible to get vmware-linux-tools installed?  You need to download the file manually and I can't find it anywhere on the vmware website.  May be you need to be registered for one of the commercial products.

Failing that - is there some way of getting better screen resolution than 800x600 with 16 colours in a windows session?  In linux you can use a framebuffer driver in xorg.conf and get nice resolution.

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *Robert S wrote:*   

>  *Quote:*   qemu-img convert imagefile_from_dd -O vmdk -o imagefile.vmdk 
> 
> This didn't work for me.  Got the BSOD and a Windows repair didn't work.  Don't remember the exact message, but it complained about problems loading the boot device IIRC.

 

Like a said, I didn't know if it would work. I haven't tried that yet.  :Very Happy: 

 *Robert S wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Failing that - is there some way of getting better screen resolution than 800x600 with 16 colours in a windows session?  In linux you can use a framebuffer driver in xorg.conf and get nice resolution.

 

You have to find the vmware driver for Windows. Normally it is included in vmware, but it's not included in vmplayer. I don't know if it's 100% legal to download the driver and install it under vmplayer. Can somebody confirm that? That's why I didn't want to put it in the howto ...

----------

## picklestix

Does anyone have a problem with their mouse being jerky? It's all but unusable for me.  Same in Windows and ReactOS...

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *picklestix wrote:*   

> Does anyone have a problem with their mouse being jerky? It's all but unusable for me.  Same in Windows and ReactOS...

 

Are you using vmware-tools?

Because I was using an older version of vmware-tools and then my mouse movements were jerky too. If you're using vmware-tools you should update or disable the option to automaticilly bind and unbind the mouse ...

----------

## picklestix

 *Aries-Belgium wrote:*   

> Are you using vmware-tools?
> 
> Because I was using an older version of vmware-tools and then my mouse movements were jerky too. If you're using vmware-tools you should update or disable the option to automaticilly bind and unbind the mouse ...

 

I don't think so. I emerged vmware-player.  I did try to emerge vmware-linux-tools to see if that would help but i noticed it had fetch restriction turned on so I assumed it wasn't a part of the player package.  In any case I'm assuming that's the same as vmware-tools....

Also I am on ~amd64 arch.  

I've downloaded the Internet Browser Appliance(which is ubuntu), and the mouse works fine.

It's horribly jumpy in windows me, reactOS and syllableOS.

----------

## Aries-Belgium

Like I already said above, I had the same problem with the mouse when I used the old version of vmware-tools. The problem is that vmware-tools isn't included in vmplayer and I don't know it's legal that I give you a download link.

----------

## yabbadabbadont

See here for the official word on this from the vmware-player support team.

Short answer, yes, it's legal.

----------

## picklestix

 *Aries-Belgium wrote:*   

> Like I already said above, I had the same problem with the mouse when I used the old version of vmware-tools. The problem is that vmware-tools isn't included in vmplayer and I don't know it's legal that I give you a download link.

 

Makes sense now, thanks... I've done a bit of reading on vmware tools and it seems that's what's nessicary for the video driver to work correctly as well, but all the download links I've found are broken.

----------

## picklestix

Well, I just completed a fresh install of windowsXP. It's running in 32 bit color with up to 1900x1440 res available, and I still haven't gotten the vmware-tools package installed.

Does XP have built in support for the vmware video?

When I converted my windows ME image file over from qemu, I'm stuck in like 640x480 with 16 colors.

Would I get better graphics if I did a clean install of windows ME?  I really don't want to re-activate windows on the emmulated specs...

(By the way, if anyone is having problems with the qemu image conversion, I ran

```
qemu-img convert -fraw OLDIMAGE.IMG -Ovmdk NEWIMAGE.IMG
```

You can't have any spaces after the -f or -O switches..

----------

## Aries-Belgium

Yes, Windows XP has builtin VMWare support, so you don't need vmware-tools for that. At least not for the display driver. vmware-tools also add support to automatically (un)bind the mouse when moving in the vmware window or out the window.

I don't believe it would change if you do a fresh install of WinME, because I'm using Win2k under VMWare and without the vmware display driver I also can't go higher then 640x480.

I will see if I can find the download link. If you would like to search yourself in the meanwhile you can search for the file "windows.iso". This iso file contains the vmware-tools. You can mount the iso in your vmx config file as a virtual cdrom driver ...

----------

## picklestix

 *Aries-Belgium wrote:*   

> Yes, Windows XP has builtin VMWare support, so you don't need vmware-tools for that. At least not for the display driver. vmware-tools also add support to automatically (un)bind the mouse when moving in the vmware window or out the window.
> 
> I don't believe it would change if you do a fresh install of WinME, because I'm using Win2k under VMWare and without the vmware display driver I also can't go higher then 640x480.
> 
> I will see if I can find the download link. If you would like to search yourself in the meanwhile you can search for the file "windows.iso". This iso file contains the vmware-tools. You can mount the iso in your vmx config file as a virtual cdrom driver ...

 

Thanks for your help! I got it working.  All the .iso files (linux windows and others) are all contained inside the lib directory of the vmware-workstation download.  I actually found install instructions with a link to the entire vmware-workstation tarball. (You only need a license to run it, apparantly not to download it.) So anyone else that needs it could probably get it from there.

It's pretty sweet with the auto mouse un-bind...

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *picklestix wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Thanks for your help! I got it working.  All the .iso files (linux windows and others) are all contained inside the lib directory of the vmware-workstation download.  I actually found install instructions with a link to the entire vmware-workstation tarball. (You only need a license to run it, apparantly not to download it.) So anyone else that needs it could probably get it from there.
> 
> It's pretty sweet with the auto mouse un-bind...

 

Oh, cool to know. If you're 100% sure that you don't need a licence for the iso files, I will put it in the howto ... Thank you for the tip.

----------

## picklestix

 *Aries-Belgium wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Oh, cool to know. If you're 100% sure that you don't need a licence for the iso files, I will put it in the howto ... Thank you for the tip.

 

From what I've read on the vmware forums and elsewhere, it doesn't seem like it's a legal issue to obtain the files.  What I do know is that direct from VMware, they don't make it easy to download the vmware-tools directly. Without registering for a trial of workstation, or you could also probably get them from the free server edition, but registration is also required for that prior to download. 

Doesn't seem like it's illegal, but it does seem like they want to make you work a little if you're not going to purchase their software =)  It's your call if you put it in the how to or not, I think if you're worried about it that people can figure it out from the above posts....

----------

## dTr

I have tried to get this to work but the image doesn't seem to be recognised by vmplayer. It doesn't even show up in the bios screen... Help!!!

----------

## picklestix

 *dTr wrote:*   

> I have tried to get this to work but the image doesn't seem to be recognised by vmplayer. It doesn't even show up in the bios screen... Help!!!

 

Can you be a little more descriptive of your problem and what you're trying to do?  For most setups I can't image you would need to even go into the BIOS.  I'm assuming you're trying to get windows installed.  If so, what version?  Before XP, very few windows cds actually boot directly.  If this is the case you can make a boot floppy or cdrom that will boot you into dos, then get windows setup from there.

Other than that you may need to post your vmx file so we can see your config, but it's hard to say without knowing exactly what you're trying to accomplish.

----------

## at240

Thanks for the howto, Aries-Belgium---worked perfectly and a *lot* faster than qemu.   :Very Happy: 

The link on the original post didn't work for me yesterday, so I found this

http://www.skrodahl.net/easyvmx/

which generates vmx files very easily.

----------

## dTr

Sorry about the brief post before. I am trying to install winxp pro. I have made a disk image as per the instructions. In vmplayer I can boot the xp disk but it stops with an error saying no hard drive is detected. This is why I checked in the vmplayer bios. Here is my 

```
#!/usr/bin/vmware

displayName = "winxppro"

guestOS = "winxppro"

memsize = "256"

#scsi0:0.fileName = "windows.vmdk"

ide0:0.fileName = "windows.vmdk"

ide1:0.fileName = "k3b_0.iso"

# DEFAULT SETTINGS UNDER THIS LINE

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "3"

MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"

MemTrimRate = "-1"

uuid.location = "56 4d f9 8c d0 b7 02 83-df 11 51 5d 5c 8a 8a df"

uuid.bios = "56 4d f9 8c d0 b7 02 83-df 11 51 5d 5c 8a 8a df"

uuid.action = "create"

checkpoint.vmState = "windows.vmss"

ethernet0.present = "TRUE"

ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"

ethernet0.addressType = "generated"

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:8a:8a:df"

ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

usb.present = "FALSE"

sound.present = "FALSE"

ide0.present = "TRUE"

ide0.virtualdev = "lsilogic"

#ide0:0.present = "TRUE"

ide0:0.deviceType = "disk"

ide0:0.mode = "persistent"

ide0:0.redo = ""

ide0:0.writeThrough = "FALSE"

ide0:0.startConnected = "FALSE"

scsi0:1.present = "FALSE"

floppy0.present = "FALSE"

#ide0:0.present = "FALSE"

ide0:1.present = "FALSE"

ide1:1.present = "FALSE"

ide1:0.present = "TRUE"

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

ide1:0.autodetect = "FALSE"

ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"

```

Thanks!

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *at240 wrote:*   

> Thanks for the howto, Aries-Belgium---worked perfectly and a *lot* faster than qemu.  
> 
> The link on the original post didn't work for me yesterday, so I found this
> 
> http://www.skrodahl.net/easyvmx/
> ...

 

No thanks  :Wink: 

Indeed, that vmx generator is pretty good. I will put it in the initial howto post ... Thanks for the tip  :Very Happy: 

----------

## picklestix

 *dTr wrote:*   

> Sorry about the brief post before. I am trying to install winxp pro. I have made a disk image as per the instructions. In vmplayer I can boot the xp disk but it stops with an error saying no hard drive is detected. This is why I checked in the vmplayer bios. Here is my

 

I'm by no means an expert at this but here is a modified vmx file for you to try. I saw a few things that may have been giving you issues.

Also make sure that the winxppro.img file is in the same directory as the .vmx file so that it can find the file...

```

#!/usr/bin/vmware

displayName = "winxppro"

guestOS = "winxppro"

memsize = "256"

# DEFAULT SETTINGS UNDER THIS LINE

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "3"

MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"

MemTrimRate = "-1"

uuid.location = "56 4d f9 8c d0 b7 02 83-df 11 51 5d 5c 8a 8a df"

uuid.bios = "56 4d f9 8c d0 b7 02 83-df 11 51 5d 5c 8a 8a df"

uuid.action = "create"

checkpoint.vmState = "windows.vmss"

ethernet0.present = "TRUE"

ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"

ethernet0.addressType = "generated"

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:8a:8a:df"

ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

usb.present = "FALSE"

sound.present = "FALSE"

floppy0.present = "FALSE"

scsi0.present = "FALSE"

ide0:0.present = "TRUE"

ide0:0.fileName = "windows.vmdk"

ide0:0.deviceType = "disk"

ide0:0.mode = "persistent"

ide0:0.redo = ""

ide0:0.writeThrough = "FALSE"

ide0:0.startConnected = "TRUE"

ide0:1.fileName = "k3b_0.iso"

ide1:0.present = "TRUE"

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

ide1:0.autodetect = "FALSE"

ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"

ide1:0.present = "FALSE"

ide1:1.present = "FALSE"

```

I'm assuming that you're trying to install windows off the k3b image, if it is already booting for you to the windows install that should be fine.  After you get it installed you can change the cdrom device settings back to your standard cdrom drive.

Hope this helps.

----------

## Robert S

When I start vmplayer from kde with arts enabled for sound I often get the message that /dev/dsp is busy. The usual solution is to use artsdsp, but I get the message "artsdsp works only for binaries" if I do this.  Apparently this is a feature of artsdsp in kde 3.5.x.

I've tried hacking the /usr/bin/vmware script, but I don't know where to put the "artsdsp" command.  I've tried the suggestion at http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=353760&#353760 but its only designed for vmware, not vmplayer.  Google has yielded no answers.

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *Robert S wrote:*   

> When I start vmplayer from kde with arts enabled for sound I often get the message that /dev/dsp is busy. The usual solution is to use artsdsp, but I get the message "artsdsp works only for binaries" if I do this.  Apparently this is a feature of artsdsp in kde 3.5.x.
> 
> I've tried hacking the /usr/bin/vmware script, but I don't know where to put the "artsdsp" command.  I've tried the suggestion at http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=353760&#353760 but its only designed for vmware, not vmplayer.  Google has yielded no answers.

 

Hi, sorry for the late response but could you post the output of this command:

```
cat /path/to/config.vmx | grep sound
```

----------

## Robert S

Better late than never  :Smile:   Still haven't found a fix on the vmware site.

 *Quote:*   

> $ cat win2000-linux.vmx |grep sound
> 
> ## This configuration makes VMware Player emulate an es1371 sound card.
> 
> sound.present = "TRUE"
> ...

 

----------

## Aries-Belgium

This is a long shot, but try to add these lines to your vmx config file:

```
sound.fileName = "-1"

sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
```

----------

## GetCool

I just want to say thank you for this guide.  I just followed it and vmware-player + Windows XP is working great!

Now I don't have to mess with Wine or OpenOffice anymore.  Even better, I don't have to dual boot!

----------

## brazzmonkey

yes, thanks again for this tip, it works fine. i don't have any sound (but i haven't tried to fix that yet), no mousewheel, and i find it generally slow (i have a celeron 1300 with 896 Mb RAM (256 Mb allocated to vmware). is my system a little weak to handle such emulation or is there a way to speed things up a bit ??

----------

## jeanfrancis

Thanks for these tips, but I still have a problem.

The VMPlayer is NOT using my memory  :Wink:   I could give him ~300 Mb but it seems to only use my hard drive... Which is slow (5400 RPM) because it's 2-years-old notebood  :Wink: 

Any advice?

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *jeanfrancis wrote:*   

> Thanks for these tips, but I still have a problem.
> 
> The VMPlayer is NOT using my memory   I could give him ~300 Mb but it seems to only use my hard drive... Which is slow (5400 RPM) because it's 2-years-old notebood 
> 
> Any advice?

 

Try to set MemTrimRate to 0.

----------

## jeanfrancis

Thanks, but I just found out how to fix that (but not understanding why  :Wink: )

I installed WinXP Pro yesterday using a CDRom Image because my disk is not working good (was able to do the image but the installation couldn't start).

So, that took all the day of yesterday to install... I don't know why, I thought that was because VMPlayer had to read the img AND write to the disk...

Created a new .vmx today and it's much faster...

----------

## GetCool

I just found this, in case anyone's interested:

http://www.brandonhutchinson.com/Installing_VMware_Tools_with_VMware_Player.html

It's a guide that explains how to install VMware Tools on a Windows guest OS with VMware Player.  It seems to be legal, as it just involves extracting a file from an official tarball you can download from the VMware web site.

I'm trying it right now; I'll post my results.

----------

## jeanfrancis

Very interesting  :Very Happy: 

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *GetCool wrote:*   

> I just found this, in case anyone's interested:
> 
> http://www.brandonhutchinson.com/Installing_VMware_Tools_with_VMware_Player.html
> 
> It's a guide that explains how to install VMware Tools on a Windows guest OS with VMware Player.  It seems to be legal, as it just involves extracting a file from an official tarball you can download from the VMware web site.
> ...

 

Yes, I know you can install windows.iso. I did this on my installation, but I wasn't sure this was 100% legal. That's why I didn't include it in my howto. I will put this in my guide  :Very Happy:  Thanks for the link

[EDIT]

Okay, adjusted the guide and provided some extra information.

----------

## brazzmonkey

great great great ! i'm eager to be back home to try all these worthy tips !

----------

## GetCool

Has anyone gotten sound working on their Windows host?  I have the sound device enabled in VMware but Windows doesn't detect any sound hardware...

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *GetCool wrote:*   

> Has anyone gotten sound working on their Windows host?  I have the sound device enabled in VMware but Windows doesn't detect any sound hardware...

 

I have, but not with alsa support. When I'm playing sound on my Gentoo, the sound doesn't work in Windows.

These are my sound options in my .vmx:

```
sound.present = "TRUE"

sound.startConnected = "TRUE"

sound.virtualDev = "es1371"

sound.fileName = "-1"

sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
```

----------

## GetCool

 *Aries-Belgium wrote:*   

> I have, but not with alsa support. When I'm playing sound on my Gentoo, the sound doesn't work in Windows.

 

You mean it just doesn't work at the same time?  All I want to be able to do is play the occasional windows media audio/video file in Windows Media Player, so I won't need to have sound all the time.

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *GetCool wrote:*   

>  *Aries-Belgium wrote:*   I have, but not with alsa support. When I'm playing sound on my Gentoo, the sound doesn't work in Windows. 
> 
> You mean it just doesn't work at the same time?  All I want to be able to do is play the occasional windows media audio/video file in Windows Media Player, so I won't need to have sound all the time.

 

Doesn't it work with the sound config I posted in my previous post?

----------

## GetCool

 *Aries-Belgium wrote:*   

> Doesn't it work with the sound config I posted in my previous post?

 

Yes it does; sorry, I had responded to your comment before trying it.  It's working fine now.

Maybe think about adding that sound config to your guide; at first, when I used EasyVMX to generate the vmx file, I chose the "Sound Blaster 16" option, and that didn't give me any sound (at least in a Windows XP guest).  Your config works.

Additionally, I have another tip.  I couldn't for the life of me get parallel port support working (because I wanted to be able to print to my parallel port printer from within my Windows guest), so I opted instead to set up samba and share the printer.  In my smb.conf file I have the hosts allow option set to only include the IP address of my Windows guest, so it's secure.  Plus, it's an easy way to share files between both operating systems.

I can provide further details about my samba config if anyone would like me to.

----------

## Aries-Belgium

Added sound and usb, serial - and parrallel ports to the guide ...

----------

## at240

Aries-Belgium,

I've just noticed that the vmx-file generator I told you about has moved website---maybe you should update the link in the original post?

As you'll see, it's now at:

http://www.easyvmx.com/

 :Smile: 

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *at240 wrote:*   

> Aries-Belgium,
> 
> I've just noticed that the vmx-file generator I told you about has moved website---maybe you should update the link in the original post?
> 
> As you'll see, it's now at:
> ...

 

Okay, thanks for reporting this

Updated  :Very Happy: 

----------

## linuxinit

Why download the latest archived version of the vmware tools? You don't have to register either. Just look at the archived URL, and play with the version number, and voila:

http://download3.vmware.com/software/wkst/VMware-workstation-5.5.1-19175.tar.gz

No registration required. And by the way... You can use the trial version of workstation to create you image/install your os, or whatever as well... When the trial expires just  use vmplayer. ;)

You can also get a ton of pre-built images here:

http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/

There are other sites that offer them as well.

----------

## GetCool

 *linuxinit wrote:*   

> Why download the latest archived version of the vmware tools? You don't have to register either. Just look at the archived URL, and play with the version number, and voila:
> 
> http://download3.vmware.com/software/wkst/VMware-workstation-5.5.1-19175.tar.gz

 

I believe this is mentioned in the link I posted above.

 *Quote:*   

> And by the way... You can use the trial version of workstation to create you image/install your os, or whatever as well... When the trial expires just  use vmplayer. 

 

Why do that when you can just create the vmdk file easily with qemu?  It's easier than bothering with multiple versions of VMware (especially since vmware-workstation blocks vmware-player in portage, and vice versa).

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *GetCool wrote:*   

>  *linuxinit wrote:*   Why download the latest archived version of the vmware tools? You don't have to register either. Just look at the archived URL, and play with the version number, and voila:
> 
> http://download3.vmware.com/software/wkst/VMware-workstation-5.5.1-19175.tar.gz 
> 
> I believe this is mentioned in the link I posted above.

 

There are more ways to get the vmware workstation package. Nobody said you HAVE to register.

 *GetCool wrote:*   

> 
> 
>  *Quote:*   And by the way... You can use the trial version of workstation to create you image/install your os, or whatever as well... When the trial expires just  use vmplayer.  
> 
> Why do that when you can just create the vmdk file easily with qemu?  It's easier than bothering with multiple versions of VMware (especially since vmware-workstation blocks vmware-player in portage, and vice versa).

 

Yes, I have the same opinion as GetCool. And also qemu is max 2mb in download, vmware-workstation is a 98mb download.   :Rolling Eyes: 

----------

## linuxinit

 *GetCool wrote:*   

>  *linuxinit wrote:*   Why download the latest archived version of the vmware tools? You don't have to register either. Just look at the archived URL, and play with the version number, and voila:
> 
> http://download3.vmware.com/software/wkst/VMware-workstation-5.5.1-19175.tar.gz 
> 
> I believe this is mentioned in the link I posted above.
> ...

 

It mentions to get the archive... Not the current version. You can download the archive version without registering. You supposedly have to register to get the current version. Just play with the filename and version and you don't have to register. That's not anywhere in the link you posted. Chill.

 *Quote:*   

> 1. Download the latest "Archived Version" of VMware Workstation in ".tar.gz" format at http://www.vmware.com/download/ws/. You do not need to be registered nor have a VMware Workstation license key to download this version.

 

I already have vmware installed on another box. So its easiest to just vnc over and make a virtual machine and then copy it over. Or you can use one of 100s of premade ones. :)

Qemu has limitations as well... But if that's all you have, or don't need any other features... That's fine.

And BTW I have sound working with Windows 2000 Pro in vmplayer:

```
sound.present = "TRUE"

sound.virtualDev = "es1371"

sound.fileName = "-1"

sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
```

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *linuxinit wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Qemu has limitations as well... But if that's all you have, or don't need any other features... That's fine.
> 
> 

 

The only thing you need to do with qemu (qemu-img to be exact) is creating an image. Otherwise it is useless indeed.

I know you can create images with vmware-workstation, but why should you use vmplayer if you have vmware-workstation. This whole howto was to offer a free and easy alternative to vmware-workstation. Of course what you do on your computer is your own choose!  :Very Happy: 

 *linuxinit wrote:*   

> 
> 
> And BTW I have sound working with Windows 2000 Pro in vmplayer:
> 
> ```
> ...

 

Yes, sound works, but also simultaneous? Like you can play music on your host and have sound in win2k?

----------

## cyb0rg51

First off I want to thank you for the tutorial.. I used it and installed a copy of windows xp pro..

Everything seems to be working except one thing.. Windows can't detect my network drivers.

I installed vmware-tools on the guest OS but still my network can't find the right drivers..

This is driving me crazy. The vmware-tools find a lot of hardware for windows xp but not my network drivers..

I have network enabled bridged off my eth0, all the services running.. However the vmware windows detects that there is a network device but can't find any drivers to install it with. So for now I am without a network connection

just wondering if anyone knows how to fix this?!?!

thanks for the help

----------

## GetCool

 *linuxinit wrote:*   

>  *GetCool wrote:*   I believe this is mentioned in the link I posted above.
> 
>  
> 
> It mentions to get the archive... Not the current version. You can download the archive version without registering. You supposedly have to register to get the current version. Just play with the filename and version and you don't have to register. That's not anywhere in the link you posted. Chill.

 

I apologize for so harshly attacking you   :Rolling Eyes: 

In any case, the whole point of downloading any version of VMware Workstation is to extract the VMware Tools ISO file, which is almost certainly the same between build 18463 and build 19175 (since the only documented change between builds is a security fix in NAT networking).

Before you go thinking I am posting this just to attack you, let me say that I am merely trying to show that people need not worry about which version they obtain (for the purposes of this guide).  If they want to actually use VMware Workstation, then yes, the security fix warrants obtaining the latest version.

On another note, those pre-made images you posted a link to are indeed useful (there's a ton of good stuff on there), but unfortunately, anyone who wants to install a Windows guest OS is obviously out of luck.Last edited by GetCool on Wed May 24, 2006 11:37 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## GetCool

 *cyb0rg51 wrote:*   

> Windows can't detect my network drivers.

 

Well, Windows XP really should detect the network adapter even before you install VMware Tools.

Can you post your VMX file?  Maybe your problem lies in there.

----------

## linuxinit

:) No hard feelings. Everyone has their days.

----------

## Aries-Belgium

 *cyb0rg51 wrote:*   

> Windows can't detect my network drivers.

 

Well, I sometimes have the same problem with Win2k. This is when I don't shutdown the win2k system the proper way (meaning: Start -> Shutdown -> ...) and just closing the vmplayer window. Try a clean shutdown/reboot and see if that works ...

Can you also, together with you vmx, the output of this commad: ps -A | grep vmnet

Thanks for showing interests for this howto  :Wink: 

----------

## cyb0rg51

First off I want to thank you for your help with my network...

After about 4 hours of working with the stupid NIC card inside the VM (winxp pro)

I finally found the solution...

The problem was literally windows couldn't find the drivers for the nic.

While when I boot up the virtual system it was recognized as INtel e1000 (thinks that right)

So what I did was went onto the Intel site and downloaded their drivers for that model..

By mounting and unmonting my flash drive I copied over and installed the driver

(the flash driver would sometimes lock and be unable to dismount from the VM and mount onto gentoo,

but thats a whole different story   :Confused:  ) 

ANyways windows detected and installed the Intel e1000 driver, and it works now..

However regarding the OP, Since gentoo doesn't support vmware-server yet in there portage, it seems like this is the only option for running a "FREE" virtual machine.. I found that by using qemu to create winXP, vmplayer to run winXP and Microsoft Remote Desktop to Log Into winXP, its a way for those who don't want to install vmware but loginto their system from windows to do so.

EDIT: the reason for using remote desktop is that, vmware sets up and runs background services and applications for winXP even when your not connecting to the remote machine.. (i guess i just don't like how it ties up system resources and re-configures my system, just so i can log into the remote system).

----------

## GetCool

 *cyb0rg51 wrote:*   

> (the flash driver would sometimes lock and be unable to dismount from the VM and mount onto gentoo,
> 
> but thats a whole different story   )

 

I've had this problem, too, and I started just pulling the drive out and reinserting it when switching between the guest and host.

 *Quote:*   

> the reason for using remote desktop is that, vmware sets up and runs background services and applications for winXP even when your not connecting to the remote machine.. (i guess i just don't like how it ties up system resources and re-configures my system, just so i can log into the remote system).

 

I'm not quite sure what you mean here.  You need to start the vmware initscript to run VMware Player and load your Windows XP image.  So why use RDP to connect to the guest OS, when it is already running (since it has to be running in order to host Terminal Services)?  Maybe I'm missing something in your post; if so, please correct me.

----------

## EmmEff

 *cyb0rg51 wrote:*   

> However regarding the OP, Since gentoo doesn't support vmware-server yet in there portage, it seems like this is the only option for running a "FREE" virtual machine.

 

You could always install it manually...    :Confused: 

 *Quote:*   

> . I found that by using qemu to create winXP, vmplayer to run winXP and Microsoft Remote Desktop to Log Into winXP, its a way for those who don't want to install vmware but loginto their system from windows to do so.
> 
> EDIT: the reason for using remote desktop is that, vmware sets up and runs background services and applications for winXP even when your not connecting to the remote machine.. (i guess i just don't like how it ties up system resources and re-configures my system, just so i can log into the remote system).

 

Do you mean "guest OS", not "remote machine"?  I'm confused by what you're saying here...  running qemu isn't much different from VMware in that they both virtualize the hardware.

Xen is also an option as well if you have Intel VT hardware or are hosting Linux.

----------

## cyb0rg51

hmmm i'm still figuring out the possiblities for Virtual machines. To better explain my reason for using Remote Desktop, i'll tell you my situation.  

The actual PHYSICAL computer is running a native gentoo operating system (i love gentoo   :Very Happy:  ) This will run all my

web development needs such as apache2 php, mysql, perl, etc..

However under my situation I want to be able to give a family member remote access to the same computer running Windows XP by using VMWARE. That person can't install any VMWARE to connect to the Guest OS b/c the computer they are connecting from is borrowed and not theirs..

So my workaround for this is for me to run and install vmware-player, running WindowsXP (but not logged in)

So that my family member can run Remote Desktop without having to install any additional software..

I realize that it's not really designed for that, and with Remote Desktop, you don't have as much control over the system as you do with using vmware.

About installing vmware-server, gentoo recommends never doing a manual install of tar files b/c it can disrupt the integrity of the system (unless your an expert). However i read an article about being able to ebuild/emerge vmware-server using a test build of some sort. The link can be found ***here****..

P.S. Thank you for all your help, and sorry for the long posts

----------

## GetCool

 *cyb0rg51 wrote:*   

> 
> 
> So my workaround for this is for me to run and install vmware-player, running WindowsXP (but not logged in)
> 
> So that my family member can run Remote Desktop without having to install any additional software..

 

Just out of curiosity, what is the performance like with RDP on this setup?  I know RDP is fast, but I'm wondering how hosting Terminal Services inside a VMware guest affects the speed...

I'm asking because this gives me an idea for something I might want to try.

----------

## EmmEff

I'm sure there's some benchmarkable performance hit, but unless you knew it was running in a VM, you couldn't tell the difference.

----------

## GetCool

 *EmmEff wrote:*   

> I'm sure there's some benchmarkable performance hit, but unless you knew it was running in a VM, you couldn't tell the difference.

 

Good to know, thanks.

----------

## Kaso_da_Zmok

I have no issues running WMware Server on any Gentoo. Also tried to run my WinXP from the native partition and without issues. I just recommend to have a separate HW profile for the Windows XP, 

You can also create a Ghost Image of your Windows partition and use the free VMware Importer to import it to your VMware server. If you would like to control the Vmware server from different computer there are VMware server consoles for Windows and Linux too.

If there are any issues than try to ask me. (i work for that vmwear  :Smile: 

----------

## Clapper

I am trying to get VM player running. I am following the tutorial:

Howto: qemu + vmplayer = free vmware:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-435223-highlight-vmware+player.html

I am running the config script, below. Looks like "virtual machine monitor" and "virtual ethernet"

are not starting. Then when I try and run to run the program, I get the

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> vmware is installed, but it has not been (correctly) configured
> 
> for this system. To (re-)configure it, invoke the following command:
> ...

 

again. I am running kernel

linux-2.6.16-ck9

Can anyone help??

("workstation" below is my machine's name, and "virtual" is the directory I was

in when I cut and pasted the output)

```

workstation virtual # /opt/vmware/player/bin/vmware-config.pl

Making sure services for VMware Player are stopped.

 * WARNING:  vmware has not yet been started.

Configuring fallback GTK+ 2.4 libraries.

Trying to find a suitable vmmon module for your running kernel.

None of the pre-built vmmon modules for VMware Player is suitable for your

running kernel.  Do you want this program to try to build the vmmon module for

your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes]

Using compiler "/usr/bin/gcc". Use environment variable CC to override.

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running

kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.16-ck9/build/include]

Extracting the sources of the vmmon module.

Building the vmmon module.

Building for VMware Player 1.0.x or VMware Workstation 5.5.x.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.

make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only'

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.16-ck9/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.16-ck9'

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/common/cpuid.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/common/hash.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/common/memtrack.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/common/phystrack.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/common/task.o

cc1plus: warning: command line option "-Wstrict-prototypes" is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++

cc1plus: warning: command line option "-Wdeclaration-after-statement" is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++

cc1plus: warning: command line option "-Wstrict-prototypes" is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++

cc1plus: warning: command line option "-ffreestanding" is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/vmcore/compat.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/vmcore/moduleloop.o

  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/vmmon.o

  Building modules, stage 2.

  MODPOST

  CC      /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/vmmon.mod.o

  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.16-ck9'

cp -f vmmon.ko ./../vmmon.o

make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config2/vmmon-only'

The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

This program previously created the file /dev/parport0, and was about to remove

it.  Somebody else apparently did it already.

This program previously created the file /dev/parport1, and was about to remove

it.  Somebody else apparently did it already.

This program previously created the file /dev/parport2, and was about to remove

it.  Somebody else apparently did it already.

This program previously created the file /dev/parport3, and was about to remove

it.  Somebody else apparently did it already.

This program previously created the file /dev/vmnet0, and was about to remove

it.  Somebody else apparently did it already.

This program previously created the file /dev/vmnet1, and was about to remove

it.  Somebody else apparently did it already.

This program previously created the file /dev/vmnet8, and was about to remove

it.  Somebody else apparently did it already.

You have already setup networking.

Would you like to skip networking setup and keep your old settings as they are?

(yes/no) [yes]

Extracting the sources of the vmnet module.

Building the vmnet module.

Building for VMware Player 1.0.x or VMware Workstation 5.5.x.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.

make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only'

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.16-ck9/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.16-ck9'

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only/driver.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only/hub.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only/userif.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only/netif.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only/bridge.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only/procfs.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only/smac_compat.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only/smac_linux.x386.o

  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only/vmnet.o

  Building modules, stage 2.

  MODPOST

  CC      /tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only/vmnet.mod.o

  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only/vmnet.ko

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.16-ck9'

cp -f vmnet.ko ./../vmnet.o

make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config2/vmnet-only'

The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

 * Starting VMware services:                                                                                                           [ ok ]

 *   Virtual machine monitor                                                                                                           [ !! ]

 *   Virtual ethernet                                                                                                                  [ !! ]

 *   Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0                                                                                                 [ ok ]

 *   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 (background)                                                                                  [ ok ]

 *   Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background)                                                                                  [ ok ]

 *   NAT service on /dev/vmnet8                                                                                                        [ ok ]

The configuration of VMware Player 1.0.1 build-19317 for Linux for this running

kernel completed successfully.

You can now run VMware Player by invoking the following command:

"/opt/vmware/player/bin/vmplayer".

Enjoy,

--the VMware team

workstation virtual # /opt/vmware/player/bin/vmplayer

vmware is installed, but it has not been (correctly) configured

for this system. To (re-)configure it, invoke the following command:

/opt/vmware/player/bin/vmware-config.pl.

workstation virtual # lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

vmnet                  29476  -

vmmon                 183980  -

snd_seq_midi            6336  -

snd_emu10k1_synth       6568  -

snd_emux_synth         33928  -

snd_seq_virmidi         5192  -

snd_seq_midi_emul       6568  -

snd_pcm_oss            47648  -

snd_mixer_oss          16424  -

snd_seq_dummy           2444  -

snd_seq_oss            31040  -

snd_seq_midi_event      5704  -

snd_seq                48816  -

fuse                   36816  -

loop                   13040  -

dm_crypt                9936  -

dm_mod                 49752  -

snd_emu10k1           120036  -

snd_rawmidi            19872  -

snd_ac97_codec         91208  -

snd_ac97_bus            1640  -

snd_pcm                80044  -

snd_seq_device          6516  -

snd_timer              20684  -

snd_page_alloc          8080  -

nvidia               4544212  -

snd_util_mem            3112  -

snd_hwdep               6764  -

e1000                 107484  -

snd                    44708  -

workstation virtual #
```

----------

## Aries-Belgium

Try to do the configure script again and choose, "no" here:

```
Would you like to skip networking setup and keep your old settings as they are?

(yes/no) [yes] 
```

And configure the network settings again ...

----------

## GetCool

 *Aries-Belgium wrote:*   

> Try to do the configure script again and choose, "no" here:
> 
> ```
> Would you like to skip networking setup and keep your old settings as they are?
> 
> ...

 

That is certainly worth a try, but it looks like something else may be wrong here (see those errors during the compilation of the module?).

Part of me wants to blame possibly unstable CFLAGS, but they might be irrelevant here in any case.  Still, I'm curious to know what your CFLAGS are.

You could also try purging all vmware-related files and reinstalling (but I doubt this will make much of a difference):

```
/etc/init.d/vmware

/etc/vmware

/etc/env.d/90vmware-player

/lib/modules/*/misc/vm*

/home/*/.vmware
```

----------

## Clapper

 *GetCool wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Part of me wants to blame possibly unstable CFLAGS, but they might be irrelevant here in any case.  Still, I'm curious to know what your CFLAGS are.
> 
> 

 

Here is my /etc/make.conf

Thanks for your help!!!

# These settings were set by the catalyst build script that automatically built this stage

CFLAGS="-O2 -march=pentium4 -fomit-frame-pointer"

LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1"

MAKEOPTS="-j2"

CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

USE="fuse gimpshop avi live matroska mpeg oggvorbis real theora xanim font-server kqemu mouse oss arts kdeenablefinal kdexdeltas hal alsa kde qt sse nptl dvd avi cdr cups mozilla mpeg ncurses opengl perl png ssl truetype xmms win32codecs nvidia mmx real"

CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

ALSA_CARDS=emu10k1

LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1"

SEARCH_DIRS_MASK="/usr/lib/openoffice /usr/X11R6/lib/openoffice /opt"

PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/local/portage"

PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/local/portage"

----------

## GetCool

 *Clapper wrote:*   

> Here is my /etc/make.conf

 

Well, I don't see anything too bad in there, although you do have a couple redundant entries.

I'm also intrigued by those device node errors you were getting.

Try our previous suggestions: get rid of vmware-player completely, reinstall, and then go through all of the setup again, reconfiguring your networking settings:

```
# emerge -C vmware-player

# rm -rf /etc/vmware

# rm /etc/init.d/vmware

# rm /lib/modules/*/misc/vm*

# rm -rf /home/*/.vmware

# emerge vmware-player

# /opt/vmware/player/bin/vmware-config.pl
```

----------

## MrGreen

Errr how do you like get rid of that horrible bar at the top of the screen  :Wink: 

I go Ctrl+Atl+Return to get full screen & its still there 

TIA

----------

## GetCool

 *MrGreen wrote:*   

> Errr how do you like get rid of that horrible bar at the top of the screen 

 

I think you can just click on the pin icon, if I remember correctly.

----------

## MrGreen

well I cannot click on panel mouse just goes under it ?

I thought there was an option you could use in vmx file to hide ;-S

----------

## mooron

```
comp home # cd /tmp

comp tmp # ls

vmware-config0  vmware-config1  vmware-config2  vmware-config3

comp tmp # rm -rf vm*

comp tmp # ls

comp tmp # cd vmware-config0

-bash: cd: vmware-config0: No such file or directory

comp tmp # /opt/vmware/player/bin/vmware-config.pl

The correct version of one or more libraries needed to run VMware Player may be

missing.  This is the output of ldd /opt/vmware/player/bin/vmware:

        linux-gate.so.1 =>  (0xffffe000)

        libm.so.6 => /lib/tls/libm.so.6 (0xb7f95000)

        libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0xb7f90000)

        libpthread.so.0 => /lib/tls/libpthread.so.0 (0xb7f7d000)

        libX11.so.6 => /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 (0xb7e8b000)

        libXtst.so.6 => not found

        libXext.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXext.so.6 (0xb7e7c000)

        libXt.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXt.so.6 (0xb7e29000)

        libICE.so.6 => /usr/lib/libICE.so.6 (0xb7e10000)

        libSM.so.6 => /usr/lib/libSM.so.6 (0xb7e07000)

        libXrender.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXrender.so.1 (0xb7dfe000)

        libz.so.1 => /lib/libz.so.1 (0xb7ded000)

        libc.so.6 => /lib/tls/libc.so.6 (0xb7cd5000)

        /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7fbe000)

        libXau.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXau.so.6 (0xb7cd2000)

        libXdmcp.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6 (0xb7ccc000)

This program cannot tell for sure, but you may need to upgrade libc5 to glibc

before you can run VMware Player.

Hit enter to continue.

Making sure services for VMware Player are stopped.

/etc/vmware/init.d/vmware: line 726: [: -: integer expression expected

 * ERROR:  "vmware" has not yet been started.

Configuring fallback GTK+ 2.4 libraries.

Trying to find a suitable vmmon module for your running kernel.

None of the pre-built vmmon modules for VMware Player is suitable for your

running kernel.  Do you want this program to try to build the vmmon module for

your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes]

Using compiler "/usr/bin/gcc". Use environment variable CC to override.

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running

kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.16-gentoo-r12/build/include]

Extracting the sources of the vmmon module.

Building the vmmon module.

VMware 2 or VMware Express detected, building for VMware 2, VMware Express and VMware Workstation 4.0.x.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.

make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only'

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.16-gentoo-r12/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.16-gentoo-r12'

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/cpuid.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/hash.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/memtrack.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/phystrack.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/task.o

cc1plus: warning: command line option "-Wstrict-prototypes" is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++

cc1plus: warning: command line option "-Wdeclaration-after-statement" is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++

cc1plus: warning: command line option "-Wstrict-prototypes" is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++

cc1plus: warning: command line option "-ffreestanding" is valid for C/ObjC but not for C++

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmcore/compat.o

  CC [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmcore/moduleloop.o

  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.o

  Building modules, stage 2.

  MODPOST

  CC      /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.mod.o

  LD [M]  /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.16-gentoo-r12'

cp -f vmmon.ko ./../vmmon.o

make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only'

Unable to make a vmmon module that can be loaded in the running kernel:

insmod: error inserting '/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon.o': -1 File exists

There is probably a slight difference in the kernel configuration between the

set of C header files you specified and your running kernel.  You may want to

rebuild a kernel based on that directory, or specify another directory.

For more information on how to troubleshoot module-related problems, please

visit our Web site at "http://www.vmware.com/download/modules/modules.html" and

"http://www.vmware.com/support/reference/linux/prebuilt_modules_linux.html".

Execution aborted.
```

Can anyone help me please?

I followed the instructions on the main page, then I read through the pages and no one seems to be stuck where I am, or have the problem with the libc5 / glibc thing.  I have glibc, so maybe I have to activate it somewhere to be used for this?

I then removed everything hoping that GetCool's method may work for my problem, no help.

The output of vmplayer

```
comp ~ # vmplayer

vmware is installed, but it has not been (correctly) configured

for this system. To (re-)configure it, invoke the following command:

/opt/vmware/player/bin/vmware-config.pl.
```

I'm running kernel 2.6.16-gentoo-r12

----------

## Aries-Belgium

Which X version are you using?

----------

## mooron

ungh   :Smile: 

maybe thats the problem.. I had hoped I could just get around installing X, but I guess not

----------

## Doogman

Is your mouse not working in vmware-player with Xorg 7.0 and the evdev mouse driver?  Mine quit working in vmplayer after the modular X upgrade and WinXP is a bit difficult to operate without a mouse.  :Razz:    The regular mouse driver in Xorg works fine with vmplayer, but then all my mouse buttons don't work correctly in Linux.

The solution to the problem is to have vmware-tools installed in the guest system.  Your guest image might already have them installed, but my home-brewed image didn't.  

Here's a link on a way to easily install vmware-tools with vmware-player:

http://www.brandonhutchinson.com/Installing_VMware_Tools_with_VMware_Player.html

In a nutshell, you d/l the vmware-workstation tarball, extract and then locate windows.iso, which is a cdrom image installation file of vmware-tools.  Load that image on a loopback file system and copy the installation files into your guest system.  I use winscp to copy files in and out of my Winxp guest system.  Then simply install vmware-tools in the guest.

There are 3 advantages to having vmware-tools installed in your guest system:

Now vmware-player works with evdev.  :Smile: 

The guest clock will sync to the host.

A big performance increase.

I wish I knew about vmware-tools earlier, it makes vmplayer even nicer to use.

By the way, vmware doesn't have a problem with this.  Probably they wish to make it a little hard to setup to encourage vmware-workstation sales.

http://www.vmware.com/community/message.jspa?messageID=300296#300296

----------

## pi-rho

 *panchonb wrote:*   

>  *pjp wrote:*   Cool tip Aries-Belgium.  I'll have to try this out one of these days.  I also tried qemu, but didn't get very far.  Once Server is available in portage, I'll choose between it, Workstation, and this as solutions.
> 
>  *panchonb wrote:*   Interesting how to, but maybe not needed anymore?
> 
> Checkout the free VMWare Server.
> ...

 

 *VMWare wrote:*   

> Q: How is VMware Server different from Workstation? Will Workstation also be free?
> 
> A: VMware will continue to charge for Workstation and has no plans to drop its price. Workstation has unique, advanced features that are not available in VMware Server. These features include the ability to manage multi-tier configurations and multiple snapshots. Workstation is a productivity tool used by developers and technical professionals on an individual PC. VMware will continue to develop compelling features on this product that dramatically streamline software testing and development. 

 

http://www.vmware.com/products/server/faqs.html

----------

## tpf80

 *drwook wrote:*   

> Your windows install (almost certainly) won't run properly on the virtual machine - think about if you physically moved a hard drive with windows on into another machine and tried to boot it...  If you really want to try though, 'dd if=/dev/hdxx of=~/imagefile' should create an image

 

I have actually done this myself... I did it just as I would on a real PC. 

I used booted vmware by mounting an ISO of the ghost cd, and added my real windows hard drive as a second drive to the virtual machine. I then ghosted the windows from the hard drive into the virtual hard drive, booted up and everythign workedperfectly.

----------

## manouchk

I installe vmplayer following as much as possible the instructions given here. It seems to work but it is very slow. The computer seems to freeze during few seconds (sometimes up to 10 seconds). The computer is thus unusable. I'm running windows 2000 in vmplayer

Is this a know problem with known solutions? or is there any solutions?

I have a laptop, I first thought that it could be due to swapping but looking at gkrellm I didn't find any increase of the used part of the swap. I didn't identify the source of the problem.

vmplayer is 1.0.2.29634

vmmodules is 1.0.0.15-r1

When running vmplayer I see this error :

/opt/vmware/player/lib/bin/vmplayer: /opt/vmware/player/lib/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0: no version information available (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)

could that be the problem?

----------

## jeanfrancis

Hi!

Should not.

Verify the amount of memory you gave to your vm. If you put too much, it may use 0 and 100% of your Windows 2000 swap.

----------

