vmware™ Question

[viscousmemories]

Until last night I had no idea how sophisticated virtualization technology has become. I told squian I wish I had a copy of Windows Server 2003 to do some testing on, and he gave me a disk with a vmware image of WS2003. All I had to do is download the (free) vmware player and voila, I'm running Windows Server 2003 in a window on my Windows XP box. How cool is that?!

Unfortunately there's a problem. The reason I needed the Windows Server 2003 is to install SQL Server 2005 on it, but I only have SQL Server on DVD and the virtual OS is only recognizing my CD-ROM drive, not my DVD-ROM drive.

Does anyone happen to know how to make it recognize additional devices?

[Sock Puppet]

I have no idea, but I just have to say, I thought this thread would be about software YOU designed. C'mon, admit it: the only reason you have any interest in "vmware" is because of the name. :narciss:

[viscousmemories]

:caught:

[Crumb]

You should totally change your name to virtualmachine.

[Sock Puppet]

Then everybody'd think he was bragging about his sexual prowess.

[Crumb]

:giggles:

[JoeP]

I'm thinking about messing about with vmware. Does it demand much in the way of free disk space and RAM on the host machine? I don't have much of either on my current machine but it's time to buy a new one.

[JoeP]

VM-Wear ... should probably be in the Sexuality forum.

[viscousmemories]

For a typical host system, we recommend that you have a 400MHz or faster processor (500MHz recommended) and 512MB RAM minimum (1GB RAM recommended). You must have enough memory to run the host operating system, plus the memory required for each guest operating system and for applications on the host and guest. See your guest operating system and application documentation for their memory requirements. VMware Player requires approximately 150MB of disk space to install the application. For more details on minimum PC requirements, see the Player specs.

And btw, I fixed the problem by sharing my DVD-ROM then attaching to it like a regular network share from the vmware player. This stuff is the shiznitz.

[JoeP]

For a typical host system, we recommend that you have a 400MHz or faster processor (500MHz recommended) Check :cheer:

approximately 150MB of disk space to install the application.Check :cheer:

and 512MB RAM minimum (1GB RAM recommended). FAIL :sadcheer:

Will buy new computer.

[squian]

Virtualization is very cool. Three years ago, I started using the MS Virtual PC. Since then, I've used VMWare and played a little bit with Xen. Each has a slightly different approach to virtualizing hardware resources and, hence, some advantages for certain situations.

JoeP, if you were just interested in learning more about virtualization, you might consider Xen. You need to be able to get around Linux and feel comfortable recompiling the kernel. If you do, you might be able to run a couple of virutal machines on Xen. Xen supports other OSes but any Windows flavor would likely eat all your memory.

[Corona688]

I don't think you can modify the virtual machine's settings just with VMWare Player, so, it won't be able to properly recognize your computer's hardware -- just whatever hardware it was given by whoever created it.

[viscousmemories]

Not so! It recognized all my hardware immediately (even got an Internet connection) despite the fact that squian made the image at his work. Also I can drag and drop files between the virtual machine and my desktop with no problems. It really is the coolest thing evah.

[Ensign Steve]

If you want to have your mind blown off about advances in virtualization, do a little googling on "blue pill" and "red pill" projects.

[Corona688]

Not so! It recognized all my hardware immediately (even got an Internet connection) despite the fact that squian made the image at his work. That's not quite what I mean.

You'll notice that the sound drivers your computer uses, aren't the sound drivers your vmware virtual machine uses. That's because it doesn't get the list of what hardware the virtual machine should have, from your computer. It's got it's own little list of bits of what hardware it should emulate. It's the emulated hardware that connects to your real computer devices, not the host OS.

In VMWare Player, you don't get to change this list. The virtual hardware it was configured for in the first place is what you're stuck with. That's what makes it trialware/crippleware.

[viscousmemories]

Ah, I see. Interesting. :thankee: