How to set up a VM in VMware Player?

Hi guys. I want to set up a virtual machine is VMware Player buy I am not sure how. I do not have any OS disks so that is a problem. How do I set up a VM without a OS disk. If it helps I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

 

You need an OS to install. Maybe you have old Win XP discs? Or you could try some flavor of Linux, such as Ubuntu or Xubuntu.

 

Is there a way to clone my Window 7 OS and use this in VMware Player.

 

There probably is, but I don't know VMware Player well enough to say how. But, even if you did that, Win 7 in the VM wouldn't validate.

 

You would need to download and install VMware Converter from here:
http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/
It has an option where you can convert the physical machine, i.e. your host machine, into a virtual disk that VMware player can run.

 

Just want to add/suggest, that you trim your physical system as much as possible before converting it. Converting a system with hundreds of gigs of space used would be a major undertaking in terms of time and would/could put significant strain on your host system when you want to use it. I recently converted an XP system with 33 gigs of used space and it took about 40 min to do the conversion. My understanding (admittedly somewhat limited at this point) is that a VM with 33 gig of used space out of the gate would be considered by many to be on the large side.

I would suggest you image your drive, remove anything that is not essential re the VM as you want it, create the VM using VMWare Convert, and then restore the PC from the image.

If you want to go from scratch you can find retail versions of XP or 7 installation disks on ebay or Amazon. You must use a unactivated retail version of the OS or you will not be able to set up the OS. I have purchased an XP Home Edition disk for $149 on ebay and an XP Pro disk from someone on Amazon and paid $199 for it.

My understanding is that converting a physical machine to a virtual one (P2V) is a good way to get into virtualization. Its simpler to create the VM from a physical one than to create it from scratch and there is less of a learning curve. Once you have your feet wet and are good with the converted system and you want to get deeper into VMs you can spend the money on VMware Workstation, or get one of the free programs and go from there.

By the way, both VMWare Convert and VMWare Player are free and there are active a wide array of forums for VMWare products so if you need help with any one of the programs you can easily access folks who know the app in some depth. You can find a list of the forums at http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/

I hope this helps.

 

$150/$199 for XP discs?! When was this? 08/09 we picked up a couple XP Home discs (made integrated SP3 discs; just needed the licenses) for $40-43 each. I wouldn't pay more than ~$50 for Pro. Or is XP suddenly very expensive now?

Anyway, you can download Vista (w/o SP I think), 7, 7 SP1, in most editions, 32- and 64-bit ISOs for free from Microsoft's Digital River online download store thing. (I'd have to dig up the links again.) None like that for XP. I guess you could download one somewhere (file sharing, etc.), but I wouldn't trust those, unless you have a hash to compare the ISO with, which I couldn't find either -- not that I need it. (I guess I could try to get a hash from my Home SP2 and SP1? discs...)

An XP install will only work for 30 days I believe. Vista and 7 are supposed to be able to be "rearmed" a couple times for 90 days total.


MS also has their IE Test Virtual Machines (32-bit) available (so you don't have to wait for install).


BTW, I use VirtualBox (when I've played with a VM, limited amounts), and feel better recommending that, for whatever reason. And I guess it's the same for VMWare Player: You can use a 32- or 64-bit guest OS on your 64-bit system; and on a 32-bit system, like my XP, you can also run 32- or 64-bit (I believe hardware virtualization CPU support is a requirement for the latter; along with being 64-bit capable, of course).


P.S. I could download 64-bit 7 SP1 ISO (3.09 GB, 15 mins), mount in VirtualBox's virtual DVD drive, and install in about 20-something minutes I think. Just so you have an idea.

 

This was a few months ago, I will be needing to use these VMs for as many years as I am alive (probably) since I have some legacy programs that will not run on anything later than XP. It is critical to me that I not lose the ability to run these apps. A 30 day or even 90 day run would not be acceptable. I use these apps daily and the data they process needs to be intact on an ongoing basis in order for the current data to be processed properly. To have to recreate the OSs etc every 30 or 90 days would be a major PITA.

I had asked a number of times on a number of forums where I could get XP install disks that would allow me to create an XP VM and the few replies that I got suggested Amazon and eBay,,,,so that what I did. $43 is a very very good price. If you can get these at this price that will do the job then I think there is clearly a way for you to make some easy money.

 

Oh, maybe you bought new, full versions of XP (wasn't even thinking of that, sorry). Mine were used "Upgrade" versions since I just needed licenses, like I said, so don't care about "used" and was using Win 2000 previously so used that disc for XP's "Upgrade" check (twice, yes , you can use any 98-2000 disc for Upgrade to work).

Also, yes, don't worry, yours WILL allow you to create a VM that will work forever after you activate Windows! What I was talking about was how long a VM install (or any install) will function without a valid or activated [additional] license key, etc.

 

Ah, understood. Thanks for the clarification.