Installing Vmware Workstation On Windows 2008 Server

Many data center managers are interested in testing Windows Server 2008. But you can't simply jump the gun and..

use it in a production environment right away. Windows Server 2008's functionality and compatibility with existing applications needs to be tested in a secure test environment. VMware Workstation makes the perfect place to test it. Here we explain why you should use VMware Workstation and how to run Windows Server 2008 from Workstation.

Benefits of testing Windows Server 2008 with VMware Workstation

Jun 27, 2009 - I usually check new Microsoft OS's on VM. I use VMware Workstation for this (6.5.2). I played around with Windows server 2008 for something. When the desktop is loaded, click VM in the virtual machine menu, then click Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools and click OK. Navigate to CD in the Windows Explorer and double-click setup.exe or setup64.exe to begin the wizard.

Why test Windows Server 2008 in VMware Workstation? Here are just a few of the reasons:

Snapshot functionality and Snapshot Manager - With snapshots, you can easily save your Windows Server 2008 configuration at any point in time, make changes and go back to that point at which the virtual machine (VM) was snapped. This is excellent for testing installation, patches, configuration changes and application installs. While snapshot functionality isn't really unique with virtualization products, Workstation's Snapshot Manager is. No other virtualization program has a snapshot manager as robust as Workstation's. With the Workstation Snapshot Manager, you can view all of your snapshots in a treed display and move back and forth, through time. Here is what it looks like:
Guest OS teaming – With teaming, you can configure multiple VMware Workstation guest VMs to start up all at the same time, as a team. What this means is that you could have a Win 2008 DC, an Exchange 2007 Server, and say, a Windows 2008 OCS Server, all as different guest VMs. You can push a single button and start that entire group of VMs, together.
Private Networking – With Workstation's private networking (also called 'host-only'), you can take your entire team of guest OS systems (or just two machines), put them on a private network, and only allow them to communicate with themselves. This is the best way to prevent your Windows Server 2008 testing from interfering with your current Windows Active Directory domain.

In my opinion, any way that you can use virtualization to test Windows Server 2008 is a decent option but some options are better than others. So what are the other VMware tools options for testing Windows Server 2008?

VMware Server – One benefit of VMware Server over Workstation is that it is free. However, for desktop virtualization testing, I think you will like the ease of use of Workstation better.
VMware ESX Server – Certainly you aren't going to buy ESX Server just to test Windows Server 2008 but if you already have an ESX Server installed, using it to test Windows Server 2008 is a great idea!

How to install Windows Server 2008 inside VMware Workstation

Installing Windows Server 2008 inside VMware Workstation is not much different than installing other new guest operating systems inside VMware Workstation but there are a few things you need to know. So, here is how to do it, step by step:

If you don't already have VMware Workstation, you can download a fully functioning limited-time demo at this website: VMware Workstation Evaluation.
Obtain Windows Server 2008 either on a DVD or a downloadable ISO file that contains that DVD. Make sure that the version of Win 2008 matches the hardware of your computer. Thus, if you have an AMB 64-bit CPU, you need the Windows Server 2008 AMB 64-bit Edition.
Make sure that you have the latest version of VMware Workstation to ensure that you have Win 2008 as a listed guest OS. In my case, I have Workstation 6.0.1 and Windows Server 2008 is listed.
Open VMware Workstation and click New Virtual Machine on the Home tab.
Take the default and Select that you want to create a Typical virtual machine.
For the VM type, keep the default of Windows and select the Windows Server 2008 version for your hardware (32-bit or 64-bit).
Enter the VM name of your choice. I called my VM 'Win2008-1' because I plan on having multiple.
In the next tab, you are asked what kind of network type you want to connect this VM to. I recommend private networking (host-only) if you have an existing Windows AD domain. However, if you aren't concerned with that or if you need interaction between your VM and, say, the Internet, then you may choose the Bridged Networking option.
For Windows Server 2008, the default virtual disk size is 24 GB. If you choose not to use dynamic (allocate disk space now), then this disk space won't really be used until it is needed. I recommend taking the default and clicking Finish.
At this point, you need to setup the VM to boot the Windows Server 2008 media. You can either insert your DVD and map the virtual CD/DVD to it or direct it to the ISO file you downloaded, like this:
Make sure that the drive is 'connected at power on'.
Depending on the amount of RAM you have in your host system, I recommend changing the amount of RAM for the VM to one or two GB (although it will boot and run, very slowly, with the 512 MB that was allocated by default).
Now, Power On / Start your new Windows Server 2008!
Go through the normal Windows installation process, entering your license key, accepting the license agreement, etc. and let the install complete.
After the files are copied, expanded, and the OS is loaded, you should see this:
Now, don't forget to load the VMware tools!

Conclusion

The Snapshot Manager, teaming of guest VMs, private networking and ease of loading Windows Server 2008 make VMware Workstation an excellent choice for testing Windows Server 2008. In fact, in my opinion, VMware Workstation is the best desktop OS testing tool I have found.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: David Davis (CCIE #9369, VCP, CWNA, MCSE, CISSP, Linux+, CEH) has been in the IT industry for 15 years. Currently, he manages a group of systems/network administrators for a privately owned retail company and authors IT-related material in his spare time. He has written hundreds of articles, six video training courses - including the Train Signal VMware ESX Server video training series. His websites are HappyRouter.com. and VMware Videos.com.

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. 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. Install the VMware Tools package in your virtual machine for enhanced performance. 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. 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. 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. If the installer detects that the CD-ROM autorun feature is enabled, you see a message that gives you the option to disable this feature. Disabling it prevents undesirable interactions with the virtual machines you install on this system.

You may see one or more Digital Signature Not Found dialog boxes when the installer begins to install the VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapters. You can safely ignore these warnings and click Yes or Continue to approve installation of the drivers. A dialog box appears, asking if you want to rename existing virtual disks using the.vmdk extension. 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.

Click Finish. The VMware Workstation software is installed. A prompt suggests that you reboot your PC.

Reboot now to allow VMware Workstation to complete the installation correctly. 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 /a /s /v'/qn TARGETDIR=' 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.

Download minilyrics for winamp. 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. The virtual NAT device If you specify more than one value, use a comma to separate the values.

For example, REMOVE=Authd,NAT. Note: If you specify REMOVE=Network, the installer skips installation of certain networking components, including NAT and DHCP. There is no need to specify DHCP or NAT separately. You may customize the installation further by adding any of the following installation properties to the command using the format PROPERTY= ' value '. A value of 1 means true; a value of 0 means false.

If you use the serial number property, enter the serial number, complete with hyphens ( xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx).