VMware Workstation is powerful desktop virtualization software for software developers/testers and enterprise IT professionals that runs multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single PC. Users can run Windows, Linux, NetWare, or Solaris x86 in fully networked, portable virtual machines—no rebooting or hard drive partitioning required.
As I had VMware Workstation running on all my previous *SUSE distros, I as well installed the latest available version 6.0.2 on my openSUSE 10.3 desktop. Even though the latest openSUSE 10.3 comes with Virtualbox, problem being with it is that even the latest Virtialbox 1.5.2 doesn’t support running 64-bit guest OS. Though it seems that Virtualbox is catching up very fast in performance and features, especially their seamless integration. But by my count, KVM should be the king in future, as it is still in very ealry development stages.
Release notes for more information on VMware Workstation 6.0.2.
IMPORTANT: Current and previous versions of VMware can’t coexist on the same box. The kernel drivers that are the virtualisation can’t exist twice.
I. Prerequisites
1. kernel-source | 2. gcc | 3. gcc-c++ | 4. make | 5. binutils
(The kernel-source packages must match the installed kernel!)
Grab a copy of latest available VMware Workstation 6.0 build (RPM file). Download the version that suits your distribution, i.e. 32-bit or 64-bit.
II. Installation and Configuring
1. Change to root and then install the rpm where you downloaded the file :
# rpm -ivh VMware-workstation-6.0.x-xxxx.yyy.rpm
(where xxxx is the build version and yyy is the architecture)
2. Once installed we need to configure VMware and create kernel modules that will be loaded when booting your openSUSE 10.2. For this execute the following command as root:
# vmware-config.pl
While configuring I accepted all of the defaults to the questions that are asked, meaning the paths to directories that were listed, “yes” wherever there was [yes] as default option, and “no” where it was [no]. There will be instances where you will be directed to read certain license agreements as well as network configuration install - you will need to use “Shift” -then- “q” to exit the editor mode. Once the modules have been compiled, the next phase is to configure networking. As I have ethernet connection for internet I selected eth0 as I want my guest OS to have access to internet.
There are some new features that 6.0 presents and some more configuration questions. I opted not to install Eclipse Integrated Virtual Debugger, as I don’t think I will ever need it, but agreed to install VMware VIX API Installer. Once it’s all configured, the final stage follows, which creates the list of modules that are supposed to be loaded when your openSUSE 10.3 boots, as well as loads them right away to start using your VMware Workstation.
Once completed, you will find VMware Workstation has been addded to your KDE menu under System -> More Programs (not sure about where it goes under Gnome menu). You can also run it by issuing a command as user - vmware
Tip: USB Access to Guest OS
Execute the following as root to have access to USB:
# mount -t usbfs /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb
or try running the following command as root to mount the file system to the expected location:
# mount -t usbfs none /proc/bus/usb
Good luck.
Reviews: A look at Mandriva Linux 2008
