Installing vmware server on windows
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Installing VMware Tools is part of the process of creating a new virtual machine, and upgrading VMware Tools is part of the process of keeping your virtual machine up to current standards. Although your guest operating systems can run without VMware Tools, many VMware features are not available until you install VMware Tools. When you install VMware Tools, the utilities in the suite enhance the performance of the guest operating system in your virtual machine and improve the management of your virtual machines.
For information about creating virtual machines, see the documentation for the applicable VMware product.
The installers for VMware Tools are ISO image files. The CD-ROM in your guest operating system detects the ISO image file. Each type of guest operating system, including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X, has an ISO image file. When you select the command to install or upgrade VMware Tools, the virtual machine’s first virtual CD-ROM disk drive temporarily connects to the VMware Tools ISO file for your guest operating system.
You can use the Windows Easy Install or Linux Easy Install feature to install VMware Tools as soon as the operating system is finished installing.
The most recent versions of the ISO files are stored on a VMware Web site. When you select the command to install or upgrade VMware Tools, the VMware product determines whether it has downloaded the most recent version of the ISO file for the specific operating system. If the latest version has not been downloaded or if no VMware Tools ISO file for that operating system has ever been downloaded, you are prompted to download the file.
VMware Workstation 4.5
Installing VMware Workstation 4 on a Windows Host
Installing VMware Workstation 4 on a Windows Host
Getting started with VMware Workstation is simple. The key steps are
- Install the VMware Workstation software as described in this section.
- Start VMware Workstation and enter your serial number. You need to do this only once the first time you start VMware Workstation after you install it.
- Create a virtual machine using the New Virtual Machine Wizard. See Creating a New Virtual Machine.
- Install a guest operating system in the new virtual machine. You need the installation media (CD-ROM or floppy disks) for your guest operating system. See Installing a Guest Operating System and VMware Tools.
- Install the VMware Tools package in your virtual machine for enhanced performance. See Installing VMware Tools.
- Start using your virtual machine.
Before you begin, be sure you have
- A computer and host operating system that meet the system requirements for running VMware Workstation. See Host System Requirements.
- The VMware Workstation installation software. If you bought the packaged distribution of VMware Workstation, the installation software is on the CD in your package. If you bought the electronic distribution, the installation software is in the file you downloaded.
- Your VMware Workstation serial number. The serial number is included in the VMware Workstation package or in the email message confirming your electronic distribution order.
- The installation CD or disks for your guest operating system.
Installing the VMware Workstation Software
Installing the VMware Workstation Software
- Log on to your Microsoft Windows host as the Administrator user or as a user who is a member of the Windows Administrators group.
Note: You cannot install VMware Workstation on a Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 system that is configured as an Active Directory server.
Caution: Do not install VMware Workstation on a Windows NT Server 4.0 system that is configured as a primary or backup domain controller.
Note: On a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 host computer, you must be logged in as a local administrator (that is, not logged in to the domain) in order to install VMware Workstation.
Note: Although you must be logged in as an administrator to install VMware Workstation, a user with normal user privileges can run the program after it is installed. Keep in mind that you need one license for each user.
If you are installing from a CD, from the Start menu, choose Run and enter D:\setup.exe, where D: is the drive letter for your CD-ROM drive.
If you are installing from a downloaded file, from the Start menu, choose Run, browse to the directory where you saved the downloaded installer file and run the installer. (The filename is similar to VMwareWorkstation- .exe, where is a series of numbers representing the version and build numbers.)
The Welcome dialog box appears.
Acknowledge the end user license agreement (EULA). Select the Yes, I accept the terms in the license agreement option, then click Next.
Choose the directory in which to install VMware Workstation. To install it in a directory other than the default, click Change and browse to your directory of choice. If the directory does not exist, the installer creates it for you. Click Next.
Caution: Do not install VMware Workstation on a network drive.
Note: Windows and the Microsoft Installer limit the length of a path to a folder on a local drive to 255 characters. For a path to a folder on a mapped or shared drive, the limit is 240 characters. If the path to the VMware Workstation program folder exceeds this limit, an error message appears. You must select or enter a shorter path.
The installer has gathered the necessary information and is ready to begin installing the software.
If you want to change any settings or information you provided, now is the time to make those changes. Click Back until you reach the dialog box containing the information you want to change.
If you do not need to make any changes, click Install. The installer begins copying files to your computer.
This naming convention was introduced in VMware Workstation 3. If your virtual disk files already use the .vmdk extension, click No to skip this process. Click Yes if you want to search all local drives on the host computer and make this change.
The converter also renames the files that store the state of a suspended virtual machine, if it finds them. It changes the old .std file extension to .vmss. However, it is best to resume and shut down all suspended virtual machines before you upgrade from VMware Workstation 3 to VMware Workstation 4.
Besides renaming files, the converter updates the corresponding virtual machine configuration files so they identify the virtual disks using the new filenames.
If you store your virtual disk files or suspended state files on a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 host or if you may do so in the future it is important to convert the filenames to avoid conflicts with the System Restore feature of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
If you wish, enter your name, company name and serial number, then click Next. The serial number is on the registration card in your package. The user and company information you enter here is then made available in the About box (Help >About VMware Workstation). If you skip this step, you are prompted to enter your serial number the first time you run VMware Workstation.
One chance to rename disk files The Rename Virtual Disks dialog box appears only once. If you click Cancel, you will not have another opportunity to update the filenames and configuration files automatically.
Installing VMware Workstation Silently
Installing VMware Workstation Silently
If you are installing VMware Workstation on a number of Windows host computers in a corporate environment, for example you may want to use the silent install features of the Microsoft Windows Installer.
Before installing VMware Workstation silently, you must ensure that the host computer has version 2.0 or higher of the MSI runtime engine. This version of the installer is available in versions of Windows beginning with Windows XP and is available separately from Microsoft for versions of Windows beginning with Windows NT 4.0.
The following steps outline the procedures for a silent install. For additional details on using the Microsoft Windows Installer, see the Microsoft Web site.
- Silently extract the administrative installation image from the VMware Workstation installer:
setup.exe is the name of the installer on the CD distribution. If you are using a downloaded installer, the filename is similar to VMwareWorkstation- .exe, where is a series of numbers representing the version and build numbers.
is the full path to the folder where you want to store the administrative installation image.
Run a silent installation using msiexec and the administrative installation image you extracted in the previous step:
msiexec -i " \VMware Workstation.msi" [INSTALLDIR="
"] ADDLOCAL=ALL [REMOVE= ] /qn
Enter the command on one line. If you want to install VMware Workstation in a location other than the default, change the path that follows INSTALLDIR= to specify the desired location.
You may use the optional REMOVE= property to skip installation of certain features. The REMOVE= property can take one or more of the following values:
