VMware workstation 5.5.4 install howto

VMware workstation 5.5.4 install howto

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What is VMWare Workstation?

VMware workstation allows you to install, setup and configure and run multiple operating systems inside your currently running system at the same time. It gives your more and effective real time throughput from parallel multi virtual systems.

Basically that means, you can install CentOS, Fedora, RedHat, WinXP, Windows 2000, Solaris virtually inside your desktop. This gives your enough time to study and evaluate them further before any production use with your servers. I have met a lot of linux distros via VMware without compromising disk storage, separate device requirements, evaluation period without real hardware reboots and so on.

This document entry covers detailed vmware workstations 5.5.4 (VMW) installation procedures on Fedora 7. For more info of VMware products, check out more info from this link.

I am assuming you have successfully downloaded the VMware workstation rpm installer. If not, check out their download site then. You need to download VMW linux installer before proceeding the these next steps unless you have very fast internet connection.

Here's how to install VMware Workstation for Linux. I have tested these procedures to work with VMware workstation 5.5.4 and Fedora 7 with my desktop.

Now, one overview of VMW requirement is that this linux virtual OS player makes use of a post-install setup of this pre-built VMW modules. That means, an important modules needed by vmware needs to be recompiled by your currently installed and running linux kernel.

Basically, this calls for the required rpms to be installed. To start with, verification of these rpm packages needs to be done first as follow

# rpm -qa kernel-devel gcc gcc-c++

If your system has more than one kernel versions installed, it is not required to uninstall the rest of them. VMW should work fine with it AS LONG AS your currently running kernel version matches the system's kernel development rpm package. This can be confirmed by issuing

# uname -r

should match the results from

# rpm -qa kernel-devel*

See sample results:

# rpm -qa kernel-devel*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

kernel-devel-2.6.21-1.3194.fc7

kernel-devel-2.6.21-1.3228.fc7

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

# uname -r

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2.6.21-1.3228.fc7

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In case, both results don't match, you need to upgrade your kernel like so

# yum -y upgrade kernel kernel-devel

Reboot, and select the new kernel version before boot up. Then check again the two versions.

Update your mlocate database like so

# updatedb

and locate kernel_stat.h file. This procedure makes sure you have your kernel devel files in place.

# locate kernel_stat.h

or

# find /usr/src/kernels -name kernel_stat.h

You should get a results similar to this:
/usr/src/kernels/2.6.XXX/include/linux/kernel_stat.h

Kernel_stat.h should always be there when you issue find or locate commands.
The system should return a value where kernel_stat.h is currently located.

Go back to where you have downloaded VMW rpm installer. And install VMW like so

# rpm -ivh VMware-workstation-5.5.4-44386.i386.rpm

This version needs a patch which I have already prepared. You can get the patch here or simply issue

# wget -c "http://vertito.googlepages.com/vmware-any-any-update108.tar.gz"

# tar zxvf vmware-any-any-update108.tar.gz

# cd vmware-any-any-update108

# ./runme.pl

In case your kernel is messed up and vmware does not execute any more, simply revert back to this scripts - it works like a charm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you want this script to invoke the command for you now? [yes] yes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The perl script asks several questions. Typically, answerable by yes or no.

For additional overview, here are several questions by the perl script

The first three questions are moer of image and document locations, Simply hit ENTER key from there.
1. [/usr/share/icons] = Enter

2. [/usr/share/applications] = Enter

3. [/usr/share/pixmaps] = Enter

This is the reason why we execute this vmware patch.
4. Do you want this program to try to build the vmmon module for your system? yes

5. What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.21-1.3228.fc7/build/include] = Enter

Answer yes with the below question if you need your virtual OS to use your host network interface.
6. Do you want networking for your virtual machines? (yes/no/help) [yes]

Wizard makes vmware things easier with the below question.
7. Would you prefer to modify your existing networking configuration using the wizard or the editor? (wizard/editor/help) [wizard] = Enter

Since for many cases, we only need two bridge ethernet interface, you can answer yes below if you need more ethernet interface for more parallel virtual OS .

Simple answer no when you're done adding bridged network.
8. Do you wish to configure another bridged network? (yes/no) [no] = No

NAT makes your virtual OS to communicate the web or the network via your host network interface. So if you wish to accomplish this, you need to answer 'yes' for the NAT question.
9. Do you want to be able to use NAT networking in your virtual machines? (yes/no) = Yes

For single virtual OS, more NAT setup is not needed unless you need more.
10. Do you wish to configure another NAT network? (yes/no) [no] = no

Write down the NAT network that VMWare shows from answering the question above. Most likely it is something that starts with vmnetN where N stands for number.

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

Answer Yes from above if you need more NAT enabled interface.

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

If your OS evaluation and VMWare installation objective covers packet transfers between the master OS host and virtual host only, you can answer Yes from above. But if you need your virtual OS needs to be seen from WWW, you can answer No alternatively.

Now, to execute VMW

# /usr/bin/vmware

For VMW serial number, you can try to get one here .

Assuming your serial number has been authorized by VMW, at that point, you can now start creating a new virtual OS by simply going to File > New > Virtual Machine and follow the next steps.

Enjoy! :)