This was my first attempt installing a Linux operating system, and I decided to run it over VMWare on top of my Windows XP system.  Its the perfect way for me to trial an operating system without changes to my system boot-up.  This post shows how I got the Guest OS Ubuntu 8.10 (Desktop) running on the Host OS Windows XP (32-bit). And it was fairly easy it turned out.

Source files: [Ubuntu.zip]

Step 1 – Download the ISO Live CD image

Download the Ubuntu ISO / Live CD image, ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso

Step 2 – Create the VMWare disk image (.vmdk) file

This is the hard disk file for VMWare which is initially < 1MB in size and growable to a limit which is setup during creation, 4.7Gb for this example.  There are a various tools/ways to create this file.  The hassle-free way is using EasyVMX, an online utility to create the necessary files for VMWare.  Select the “EasyVMX” flavour and fill in “Virtual Hardware”, “Hard Disk Drives”, and “CD-ROM” as per below.  The other options is up to you to fill in.

Create the virtual machine and save the zip file that it generates.  You should end up having a bunch of .vmdk and .vmx files.  These all the files you’ll need for VMWare.  Place them all in the same folder with the iso file.

Step 3 – Modify the VM descriptor (.vmx) file

The Ubuntu.vmx file created above may not always work depending on your hardware setup.  In that case, you will need to manually modify it.  In my setup, i mapped the hard disk as the 1st virtual SCSI device, and the ISO download on the 1st virtual IDE device.  This will boot Ubuntu from the Live CD.

#!/usr/bin/vmplayer

# Basic Info
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"
displayName = "Ubuntu"
guestOS = "ubuntu"
nvram = "Ubuntu.nvram"
memsize = "320"
MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"
MemTrimRate = "-1"
workingDir = "."

# Hard disk
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.filename = "Ubuntu.vmdk"
scsi0:0.mode = "independent-persistent"
scsi0:0.redo = ""

# CD-ROM
ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
ide0:0.autodetect = "TRUE"

ide0:0.fileName = "ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso"
ide0:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

#ide0:0.fileName = "auto detect"
#ide0:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

# Other devices
floppy0.present = "FALSE"
usb.present = "TRUE"
sound.present = "TRUE"
sound.virtualDev = "es1371"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"

Run the VMWare player, and open Ubuntu.vmx, and it should boot from the Ubuntu Live CD.  You can run the Live CD without modifications to the virtual SCSI hard disk device (non-persistance), or you can install Ubuntu on the hard disk (persistance).

Step 4 – Install Ubuntu on the Virtual SCSI Device (Optional)

On the Ubuntu bootup welcome screen, select ‘Install Ubuntu’.

Go through the installation steps and select the entire SCSI disk for the Ubuntu installation partition.

After installation, the ISO image is no longer needed.  To prevent the Live CD from booting up again, the Ubuntu.vmx file should be modified by commenting out the lines:

#ide0:0.fileName = "ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso"
#ide0:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

And un-commenting the following lines:

ide0:0.fileName = "auto detect"
ide0:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

The next time VMWare loads Ubuntu it should boot over the SCSI hard disk with the virtual CD-ROM mounted.

Related Posts:

1. Enable & Setup Sharing Folders in VMWare Player 2.0+