Beginner’s Guide: Run Linux like any other program in Windows
There are many reasons people are hesitant to try Linux. The biggest of these reasons is that installing Linux generally requires people to do a list of difficult and unfamiliar tasks. However, I am going to introduce “virtualization” which is a fancy term for running Linux like any other program in Windows. The following article will guide you through the process of setting up Linux so you can run it like any other program in Windows. Don’t be intimated, these directions are designed for the absolute beginner and will not require you to do anything unfamiliar, threatening, or permanent to your computer. When you are finished you will be able to run Linux like any other program in Windows and share files between Linux and Windows.
The first step is to install VMWare Player. This is a free program and it installs just like any other Windows program. You can go to the VMWare player homepage and download it. You will have to answer a short survey.
The second step is to download Linux. There are many different kinds of Linux with varying programs and setups. Understanding this can be difficult if you have never tried Linux. You can compare the different versions of Linux to Windows XP. There is Windows XP Home, Windows XP Professional, and Windows XP Media Center Edition. When you download Linux, it will be in the format of .ISO. Don’t worry if you have never seen this file type before. I will list several different versions of Linux below. You need to download only one version. The different flavors of Linux differ in size and thus, how long they will take to download. For the remainer of this tutorial, I will be using a version of Linux known as Fedora. However, it is 682MB in size and can take a long time to download. If you do not want to wait for Fedora you can complete the remainer of this tutorial equally well with any other version of Linux. Please note that this list is by no means exhaustive and there are hunderds of other versions of Linux available. I wanted to compile a short list to make choosing easier:
Fedora (682 MB)
Ubuntu (698.4 MB)
Suse (679.3 MB)
Damn Small Linux (50.8 MB)
Puppy Linux (84 MB)
The third step is to setup VMWare to communicate with Linux. You need to do this by downloading a file from Wolphination.The following is the direct link: OS.zip. After you download OS.zip extract its contents to your C: drive. You should now have C:\OS. Inside the OS folder I want you to put your version of Linux. So on my computer, inside C:\OS I have OS.VMX, OS.vmdk, and FC-6-i386-livecd-1.iso (this is shown above). We are almost ready to run Linux for the first time.
The fourth step is to setup your VMWare configuration file. This file is called OS.VMX you need to right click on this file and select “Open with…” and choose Notepad. On the line that says ide1:0.fileName “C:\Your file” you need to change this to point to the Linux version you downloaded. So in my case it would get changed to C:\OS\FC-6-i386-livecd-1.iso. Now resave the file and you are ready to go. Click on OS.vmx and VMWare will open and Linux will start. It may take a minute or two for Linux to fire up (depending on how much RAM your computer has).
Congratulations, you can now run Linux like any other program in Windows! In order to create a shortcut to put on your desktop, right click OS.VMX and choose Create Shortcut. Drag the shortcut to your desktop (or the location of your choice) and Linux will launch when you click it. My shortcut is shown above.
Sharing files between Linux and Windows
Using Linux on Windows will be much more helpful if you can share files between Linux and Windows. This process is really easy to set up. The first thing you need to do is to create a “New Folder” on your Windows desktop. Right click on the folder and choose “Sharing and Security…”. On the following screen, choose “Share this folder on the network” and “Allow network users to change my files.” This will let Linux read and write to the folder.
In Linux, go to Places >> Network Servers and you should see your computer. Double click on your computer and you will see all your shared folders. Any data you would like to be used in both Linux and Windows should be saved into this folder.
Please feel free to pose any questions in the comments. We will walk you through any portion of this process if you get stuck. Enjoy!
Notes: the following notes are somewhat technical in detail:
1. The download links listed above are for “Live CDs.” Live CDs allow you to use Linux without installing anything on your hard drive.
2. If the mirrors linked to above are very slow, you can find alternative download links on the homepage of each version of Linux.
3. Since Linux will be running as a Live CD, if you powerdown and exit the virtual machine (exit VMWare) you will lose your information. However, there is a way around this. Simply choose “suspend” and VMWare will suspend and exit your virtual machine state. This will not take any memory and will allow you to “save” data to your virtual machine.
4. The above steps work equally well on Linux and Mac.
Tags: 
Comments
dandellion says on January 31st, 2007 at 11:10 am
well… that is fine… though it is much better idea to use VMware to run windows in linux’ window….
there is no point to run linux on unstable and security weak platform, except introducing the interface.
Bard says on January 31st, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Great tutorial! I’ve been looking for this. Is it possible to have more than 600*800 in resolution?
KylePott says on January 31st, 2007 at 5:44 pm
@Bard: Absolutely, you can make it fullscreen
@Dandellion: Good point. As it says in the notes, the tutorial works equally well if you would rather put Windows on Linux.
Amon says on January 31st, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Actually, if you want a little more control over it, your better off to buy vmware workstation (http://www.vmware.com/products/ws/) it’s a bit on the expensive side, $189 but worth every penny I paid.
rohit says on January 31st, 2007 at 10:50 pm
great article, right now i am downloading linux will comment further about how the entire process went
Joan M. Mas says on February 1st, 2007 at 1:15 am
I’m not sure if this whole setup is worth trying. With Linux installations becoming easier all the time, if you want to use it more seriously, you can just install Ubuntu, Fedora, Red Hat or any of the more beginner-friendly distributions. On the other hand, if you just want to evaluate Linux, grab a live CD and it will do without much trouble.
Lawrence says on February 1st, 2007 at 8:44 am
Only to know the linux. Unix on Windows is nonsense. Windows on Linux has many possibilities.
Linux Rulez.
P.S.V. says on February 1st, 2007 at 11:18 am
I appreciate the article.
There will always be Linux zealots who will tell you that these articles are pointless - these are the very same people that will hold Linux to a distant and mediocre third place position behind Windows and OS X.
John says on February 1st, 2007 at 11:24 am
Does it have to be a live CD iso? Is there a way to install Linux into a windows directory, where info can be saved without the “suspend” option? Why is this issue not covered. It was simply stated that these are live CD images, but whether or not that is required was not mentioned.
Jimmy says on February 1st, 2007 at 11:32 am
@Lawrence: “Unix on Windows is nonsense.”
Yeah, but what about the Windows person who wants to get familiar with Linux? Running it in a virtual machine is a great way to learn and there’s no fear in wrecking the installation - you can just start over. Yeah, I know, you’re way cooler than everyone else.
madmax says on February 1st, 2007 at 11:36 am
I am running this very setup using the virtual application for Ubuntu that vmware supplies. I need to do this at work since IT does not allow linux machines to connect to the network as well as forcing the use of IE and Lookout. I would like it to run much faster though!
WL says on February 1st, 2007 at 11:38 am
You could also download a complete virtual machine to run in VMWare without installing linux.
It would save a lot of time for someone just trying things out.
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/app.....ory/cat/45
hfolmt says on February 1st, 2007 at 11:50 am
What is the process to load windows into linus?
regeya says on February 1st, 2007 at 11:56 am
A time when we’re going to get hammered by MS fanboys is no time to come off as a raving 13 year old. Shame on you, dandellion; please try to reserve non-constructive comments for yourself, and try to be more constructive in your criticism. As many folks at MS have said, it’d be entirely possible to make Windows secure; the problem is that no one would buy it. Making childish comments will not convert Windows users, and do nothing to rectify the situation.
That said, I always scratch my head at these types of stories. I suppose if you’re at work and have to run Windows but are allowed to install software, though, this would be sweet.
Bear in mind that one can install Linux on QEMU, and if you’re looking for *n?x command-line tools you can always use cygwin. Neither have the ease-of-use or coolness factor of VMWare, but both will help get you where you want to go.
QEMU: http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/
Cygwin: http://www.cygwin.com/
HTH
zorgulator says on February 1st, 2007 at 12:05 pm
dandelion - you make a good point. If I am running Linux in Windows and I have a keylogger, can it get get my keystrokes before they reach the VMWare Linux ?
Cheers,
zorg.
Emile says on February 1st, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Another site about VMWare Player, with torrents of VMWare player images for Fedora core 4, 5, and 6, Debian, FreeBSD and Ubuntu.
Muruga says on February 1st, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Good one
Emile says on February 1st, 2007 at 12:49 pm
oops, URL for VMWare player Linux images: http://www.thoughtpolice.co.uk/vmware/
BeReasonable says on February 1st, 2007 at 12:50 pm
I’ve been looking for something like this ever since I figured out Linux was actually going to stick around and be useful. (I’m just sort of lazy) I did put Linux on my iPod at one point, but that just seemed kind of pointless.
Anyway, thank you very much for the tutorial. I can’t wait to try it out.
Cartt says on February 1st, 2007 at 1:02 pm
This is something that I have been wanting to do for a while however can I swap out the Live CD ISO with the install ISO?
Cartt
Tristan Rhodes says on February 1st, 2007 at 1:14 pm
If you want to be able to change settings on your Virtual Machines or if you want to create new ones, then you don’t need to buy VMware Workstation for ~$200.
There is a new open source virtualization tool called VirtualBox which runs on Windows and Linux. It has great features and is very easy to use. See my review of VirtualBox here:
http://useopensource.blogspot......mware.html
Pat says on February 1st, 2007 at 1:49 pm
You can always get Parallel (a vmware replacement) that is has good and that only cost 50$ to run on windows.
You can also run linux natively and run windows in parallel inside linux.
Mattk says on February 1st, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Good tutorial, yes windows on linux is more useful but cool all the same and could be a good intro.
So you say yes it can be made bigger than 800×600 but you don’t say how. It’s very small as it is and hard to use.
Georgi says on February 1st, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Fine article, finally I’ve got a good reason to try VMWare at last.
Thanks!
boy2flirt says on February 1st, 2007 at 3:54 pm
hey can i even use Internet and USB port in that live CD thing?
hadi says on February 1st, 2007 at 3:59 pm
How about a tutorial on using internet from with in linux vm and windows host??
James says on February 1st, 2007 at 4:37 pm
I have been a Linux user for a while, but as of late I have been forced to run a Windows box. I have never been all that good with VMware and this tutorial jogged some of the neurons to where they should be, thank you.
jim says on February 1st, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Just did this on my work computer, with Linux flavor CentOS. Thanks so much for the walkthrough! This is just what I needed to get started on learning more about Linux.
Anthony says on February 1st, 2007 at 5:25 pm
If you really want to try Linux and don’t want to go through the hassle of burning and such, there are two excellent new solutions:
http://www.goodbye-microsoft.com
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/install.exe/Prototype
Both of the above links allow you to install a Linux distro by downloading the associated .exe file and running it, then rebooting the machine.
austin says on February 1st, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Of course you can do the same thing the other way around i.e. run VMWare in Linux so you can play with Windows and switch back to Linux when you want to do serious work. Plus when Windows crashes you can just restart the VM … doing it the way you suggested, when Windows crashes, you lose your Linux and Windows sessions. VMWare also makes a nifty tool that will take an existing Windows install on real hardware and convert it to a VMWare image.
Also VMWare for the Mac is in beta … so you could just take your Linux VM, convert your existing Winblows computers to VM images, and run each of them on a Mac within a VM.
chris says on February 1st, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Sounds great – you can install a VM nobody cares about, and a VM that doesn’t work, on a candy ass OS X that’s so futuristic that no one wants to run a business on it
Google save us!
chris says on February 1st, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Sounds great – you can install a VM nobody cares about, and a VM that doesn’t work, on a candy a** OS X that’s so futuristic that no one wants to run a business on it
Google save us!
KylePott says on February 1st, 2007 at 5:37 pm
@John: Absolutely, if you download any other install CD (not a live CD) just go through the installation steps that come with the CD and it will install Linux to a “virtual” partition within Windows. If you do this you can save data and shutdown the virtual machine in the same way you do in Windows.
@HFolmt: The process is exactly the same for loading Windows into Linux. Just download and install VMWare. I find this easiest to do with Automatix.
@Zorg: I certainly think your key logger would get the keystrokes before getting to Linux.
@MattK: Just double click the title bar to move to full screen (CTRL+ALT to exit full screen).
@boy2flirt: Yes, you will be able to use the Internet and USB in the live CD.
alan lindsey says on February 1st, 2007 at 5:54 pm
If you just want to run Linux applications under Windows (and learn some Linux at the same time), try the free Ubuntu-based andLinux (http://wiki.gp2x.org/wiki/AndLinux), which runs under Windows. I couldn’t get the pre-beta to work, probably because I didn’t delve far enough, but the POC 2.1 behaved very well. andLinux is fast, and each application runs in its own Windows window - a bit eerie, but cool! You can install/uninstall applications (it has Ubuntu under its hood) and even - if you know enough to do so - run a Gnome or KDE desktop. Just remember in the early stages to add a space and ‘&’ after the app name in the console window (you’ll understand that as soon as you try it), and remember to shut it down with ‘poweroff’. Great fun, and can also do some serious work.
Matt says on February 1st, 2007 at 6:05 pm
how can i connect to the internet whilst using vmware?
Mike Cane says on February 1st, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Link luv:
http://mikecane.wordpress.com/.....ndows-app/
Thanks!
cenourinha says on February 1st, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Great article…
Rekzai says on February 1st, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Thanks a lot for this, just one question … Approximately how much RAM does this require ??
Trent says on February 2nd, 2007 at 1:24 am
ok, maybe i’m missing something, but i still can’t make the vm’d linux screen more than 800 x 600…sure, it goes fullscreen, but i just get an 800 x 600 linux desktop in the middle of a black background. any further pointers?
KylePott says on February 2nd, 2007 at 6:22 am
@Rekzai:I would not recommend less than 512MB.
@Trent: Try putting the virtual machine into full screen when it is booting up.
trine says on February 2nd, 2007 at 8:00 am
If set up windows in linux will I be able to create a full backup with Acronis True Image 9.0, as I’m scared of losing everything if it all goes wrong.Thanks for any replies.
Keith says on February 2nd, 2007 at 8:03 am
This is great because I tried using Ubuntu on a Virtual PC this morning and the display messed up really badly because of an incompatible screen res that I couldnt seem to change easily. All good now though!
lovelinux says on February 2nd, 2007 at 9:37 am
VMware offer ready made virtual appliances that you download and run inside the VMware player. No hassle no risk. I found this article:
Run virtual appliances and here’s the downloads URL at VMware VMware. Most are free. Very cool.
JeffP says on February 2nd, 2007 at 10:17 am
I did this exact thing a year ago. I had no clue about Linux. I only knew that Windows was not everthing that Microsoft said it was. I used Virtual PC first, then VMWare to virtualize a Linux machine. After a while I swapped hard drives and installed Linux for real. (I kept my old drive just in case) I am now Windows free and I will never go back! I can play harder and work faster with Linux. That other drive is now for data storage only. The only exception is that I virtualized XP on the Linux machine so I can still run AutoCAD.
carlos says on February 2nd, 2007 at 11:42 am
I did everything but vmware is asking for bootable cd.
JohnDoe says on February 2nd, 2007 at 3:48 pm
You missed the obvious choices for creating virtual machines.
VMX Builder and EasyVMX:
http://petruska.stardock.net/software/VMware.html
http://www.easyvmx.com
Vazel says on February 2nd, 2007 at 4:08 pm
When I try to install Ubuntu it says I have 107GB free in the vmware virtual IDE drive when I don’t have that much free on the drive I installed vmware and the os folder on(I only have a little over 20gigs free). Is there something I can edit that manages the vmware virtual drive? How is it managed?
Help Me says on February 2nd, 2007 at 6:45 pm
I can’t get the Puppy distro to see my networked windows folder please help thx
Rekzai says on February 2nd, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Is it okay to install ubuntu using this ?? When i click on install i make it past the first couple of steps and then it says “how do you want to partition the disk ?” I’m a bit paranoid and need confirmation before i go on any further lol
Harry Mangurian says on February 2nd, 2007 at 7:36 pm
I am using vmware player. I am running the version of ubuntu downloaded from the vmware site. It works great, except I have not figured out how to run it in a decent sized window. It comes up about 640 wide. Has anyone out the tried to fix this ?
thanks,
Harlocke says on February 2nd, 2007 at 10:52 pm
i did EXACTLY wut you said to do and it tells me —- File “c:\OS\FC-6-i386-livecd-1.iso” does not exist and therefore cannot be connected as a CD-ROM image.
Virtual device ide1:0 will start disconnected.
i even uninstalled it and tried again, same thing…any help?……lol
thx
KylePott says on February 3rd, 2007 at 10:07 am
@Rekzai: Yes, feel free to select “use entire disk.” The VMWare “virtual partition” will appear anywhere between 107 GB and 157 GB. Like the post says, this will not do anything permanent to your computer. Feel free to install and write to the entire disk.
@Harlocke: Please check to make sure your FC file is located in C:\OS and not C:\OS\OS which would happen if you just copied the entire OS.zip file to C:\. Otherwise, check to make sure your FC.ISO file successfully completed when you were downloading. Sometimes I find that ISOs say they’re complete, but actually they are between 70 and 100MB short of being fully downloaded. Please double check and let me know if it doesn’t work.
maxor says on February 3rd, 2007 at 10:47 am
Just as Help Me, I cannot get Ubuntu and Windows to share files, although I followed all the instructions. Any suggestions?
KylePott says on February 3rd, 2007 at 10:54 am
@Maxor, Help Me: Make sure you have file sharing turned on in Windows and make sure you have Internet access in Linux.
Please elaborate on your problems a bit more…Can you see your Windows computer in Places >> Network Servers in Linux? If not, you need to turn on network sharing in Windows.
maxor says on February 3rd, 2007 at 11:15 am
Thanks for your quick reply! Ubuntu’s live CD does recognize a Windows Network with my computer in it, but that’s as far as it goes. It does not display the folder on my desktop, which was set up for that purpose.
Perhaps it’s due to the Live CD of Ubuntu, which does not allow any change and may not be configured to store files on the hard disk by default. Oddly enough, this seems not necessary, as it does this through Windows.
KylePott says on February 3rd, 2007 at 11:18 am
@Maxor: I think that if your Windows computer is being recognized in Linux, the problem is with folder sharing in Windows.
maxor says on February 3rd, 2007 at 11:24 am
Thanks for the help, I fixed it by installing Samba and another thing in Ubuntu, allowing me to access My Shared Documents.
bkahn says on February 3rd, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Hi. Thanks for the article. I’m running Windows XP on my iMac. I went through your instructions and downloaded Umbuntu. On the desktop in Linux is a Intall icon. Do I want to do that?
Thanks,
BK
KylePott says on February 3rd, 2007 at 1:47 pm
@bkahn: Yes, you can install to the hard disk, or you can leave Ubuntu running as a “live CD”. Please read some of the comments above, I address your question.
Harlocke says on February 3rd, 2007 at 7:08 pm
yeh i double checked and its not c:\OS\OS its just c:\OS and i double checked the file it says 682MB, i still have it, but im d/l it again…ill use the new file and try again, but if it doesnt work, wut should i do next?
Twenty5 says on February 4th, 2007 at 12:18 am
…hmm….
im getting the following “errors”
“PXE-E53: no boot filename recieved
PXE-m0f: operating system not found…”
what did i do wrong?
Thx….
Indraneel says on February 4th, 2007 at 4:43 am
I have never tried a Virtual Machine or a Live CD. I do however dual boot between XP and FC4
I would be interested in reading an article that compares the 3 methods and talks of the pros and cons of the same.
Edward Brent says on February 4th, 2007 at 9:52 am
I tried this, but I couldn’t complete the last step because I couldn’t find ide1:0.fileName “C:\Your file”. Rather, I only found these options:
ide0:0.fileName = “OS.vmdk”
ide1:0.fileName = “c:\image.iso”
KylePott says on February 4th, 2007 at 9:54 am
@Edward: You want to change the line that says “ide1:0.fileName = c:\image.iso”
Edward Brent says on February 4th, 2007 at 10:03 am
I spent hours trying to do this, but it didn’t work. Instead, after I tried to run it, I got three windows saying three different things. The last window said this:
File “C:\OS\FC-6-i386-livecd-1.iso” does not exist and therefore cannot be connected as a CD-ROM image.
Virtual device ide1:0 will start disconnected.
Edward Brent says on February 4th, 2007 at 10:05 am
Thanks, Kyle.
KylePott says on February 4th, 2007 at 10:08 am
@Edward: Here is a copy of my OS.VMX.
config.version = “8″
virtualHW.version = “3″
memsize = “512″
ide0:0.present = “TRUE”
ide0:0.fileName = “OS.vmdk”
ide1:0.present = “TRUE”
ide1:0.fileName = “C:\OS\FC-6-i386-livecd-1.iso”
ide1:0.deviceType = “cdrom-image”
floppy0.fileName = “A:”
ethernet0.present = “TRUE”
ethernet0.connectionType = “nat”
usb.present = “TRUE”
sound.present = “TRUE”
sound.virtualDev = “es1371″
displayName = “Test OS”
guestOS = “other24xlinux”
nvram = “testos.nvram”
scsi0:0.redo = “”
ethernet0.addressType = “generated”
uuid.location = “56 4d f3 a5 03 8c cb b9-ed bb 8f 10 a3 de b0 10″
uuid.bios = “56 4d f3 a5 03 8c cb b9-ed bb 8f 10 a3 de b0 10″
ide1:0.autodetect = “TRUE”
ethernet0.generatedAddress = “00:0c:29:de:b0:10″
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = “0″
checkpoint.vmState = “”
tools.remindInstall = “TRUE”
ide0:0.redo = “”
Edward Brent says on February 4th, 2007 at 10:09 am
By the way, in case there was miscommunication, the above problem occurred after I successfully completed all of the steps. Again, after I tried to run it, I got three windows saying three different things. The last window said this:
File “C:\OS\FC-6-i386-livecd-1.iso” does not exist and therefore cannot be connected as a CD-ROM image.
Virtual device ide1:0 will start disconnected.
Harlocke says on February 4th, 2007 at 11:58 am
got mine to run when i redownloaded Fedora, works great….
NOW i have another question for you..lol
just say, i was to make several copies of the folder OS with the VMR player, like \OS, \OS1, \OS2 etc…and copied the vmx and vmdk files to each and copied each of the other Linux files to them i.e. vmx vmdk fedora like i have now and vmx vmdk ubunto and so on with the others in each of their own folders\os1 \os2 etc could that work, this way i wouldnt have to keep changin the files to try different versions to see which i like better or is easier?….i guess it SHOULD work right?……LOL i wont try till i hear from you then i could just drag each one to my desktop and run each like the fedora, and compare..
Rekzai says on February 4th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Do I still need the live cd after I install ??? How do I get it to stop running the live cd because its on my desktop
i2ainman says on February 4th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
I already have Vista (beta), XP, Ubuntu installed on separate partitions on my primary disk.
Is there a way to load these in XP using Vm’s? So far I can only figure out how to do it using an iso
Rob says on February 6th, 2007 at 10:56 am
using the Fedora live CD, gets to the part where it says “press I to load the interactive startup. I did, but it does not do anything, What I am i doing wrong
Forrest says on February 6th, 2007 at 11:18 am
You know what? I love the comments about Windows being unstable.
I used to work on Mainframes, they ran for all but 1 hour every year.
I have a production environment running 2003r2 servers that have been up and running since built (6 months ago).
I have an XP Pro box here and a Linux box and both are as stable as a rock.
If you want to learn a new O/S then this is great but please bear in mind that it is an Operating System.
I would love to know what the real work is that can only be done on 1 O/S that cannot be done on another.
I shall now delete my VM and go try another version of Linux as it gives me a chance to have a play when I have free time.
Naimesh says on February 8th, 2007 at 7:32 am
Great Info
Bill Gates says on February 16th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
“….The only exception is that I virtualized XP on the Linux machine so I can still run AutoCAD…..”
funny how many of you ‘N1x guys need to say just one exception, or but i still keep one copy of M$ for…..
also funny to me is the security lines when reports even from your open source community show that 2003 server is more secure than RHEL or CentOS
this is a good idea i actually run 4 or 5 linux flavors from vmware - it is a great way to learn exactly how overrated these products are and why SUse now is hoping to hop into bed with BillY
as for key loggers and virii as one of you N1x GurU’s who actually know nothing about coding will jump to as your defense - anyone stupid enough to catch a vrius or inexperienced enoguh to dl a rootkit or K.L is also to naive to install your products - those people give M$ the bad name because M$ chose to provide them with “something” they could operate besides there thumb as a prostate massager.
just as funny how many M$ users will recomend a nix education for the sake of learning but how many nix users cna do nothing but talk smack about M$
then again - where we have morons who get virii - you guys have orons of the same ilk who think they are instant H4cK3r DuD3s just for installing from a cd -
i like windows i like most linux flavors -
but like most educated comp guys that have chosen M$ as their primary Focus for both stability and security I simply laugh at some of your minor league comments about M$ and get even more humor out of knowing your comments are the reasons why you will NEVER get enough market share to be taken seriously ever…
Chris says on February 20th, 2007 at 7:39 am
(i) Is there a way of installing in other primary partitions other than C:?
(ii) Is it posible to download packages and programs which is written onto the hard drive of the host computer, other than just using a frozen “live” ISO?
(iii) CAn you give step by step instructions for the above?
(iv) Noting that I have one primary partition that I am not using; the C: drive , and E: drive were made primary, then there is a cluster of 3 logical partitions in the one allowed extended partition (F:,G:, and H:) and the last I: primary since no other choices are available under WINDOWS. It was almost impossible to partition these drives without commercial software to install a dual boot system. So, do you have a way of installing on just primary I: a linux distribution which is not live and frozen?
Can you help here?
noob says on February 28th, 2007 at 10:42 am
it sucks…. use Xend anyway
Noob says on March 1st, 2007 at 8:30 pm
which skin did u use when making this tutorial? The pic that shows the the shortcut for linux is the skin i have been looking for a while now. Can u tell me the name and where you got that from? thx
KylePott says on March 1st, 2007 at 8:57 pm
@Noob: Royale Theme:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/D.....inXP.shtml
Patrick says on March 2nd, 2007 at 4:44 am
I’ve tried this, but when it gets into fedora using the vmware player, it says:
“The partition table on device hda was unreadable. To create new partitions it must be initialised, causing the loss of ALL DATA on this drive.
This operation will override any previous installation choices about which drives to ignore.
Would you like to initialise this drive, erasing ALL DATA?”
What do I click? So far i’ve just clicked no and it hasn’t worked, but I don’t really want to delete everything on my drive (I could just be installing Linux as usual then).
Patrick says on March 2nd, 2007 at 5:29 am
ah, i think i worked it out, i need a live cd install (i thought that was one, but it’s not)
mrking says on March 3rd, 2007 at 2:30 am
Hi all, im using all the configuration that have been mention here and it works just fine for me.
im using the damn small linux distribution and there is only one problem which is i cant find the places>>network places as mention in the tutorial.
Hope you guys could help.Thanks in advance.
Francis says on March 3rd, 2007 at 8:31 am
Hi, I have a problem connecting to the Internet via Vmware Linux Guest. And I would also like to be able to copy and paste between Windows XP Host and my vmware Linux Guest. If you have you could be of assistance that would be great. Also feel free to give me point by point detail as I am new to Linux.
Thanks in advance.
Patrick says on March 3rd, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Just a quick word of advice for people having trouble connecting to their internet or even to their computer through the network places, make sure that your firewall isn’t blocking it!
My firewall was blocking my Linux from seeing my computer in the Network Places (so it could be a reason why its not working for others?).
Good luck everyone!
mrking says on March 5th, 2007 at 11:31 am
HI Patrick,
just a query for you. Do you have any idea if Damn Small Linux provide a GUI for the network places thing for copying and pasting or we just gotta stick to the typing of commands in the Linux shell for transferring file between Linux and windows.
Hope to hear from you again.
Tony says on March 10th, 2007 at 11:28 am
ok i got everything but i need to which ISO program you used to open it so can you help me out
Tony says on March 10th, 2007 at 11:35 am
i got everything except that iso program you used so if you would be so kind and tell me which ISO program you used i would be most appreciative
Austin says on March 28th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
I have done all of this and it still doesn’t run. It says cannot find operating system. Is this for booting form a cd? If it is I don’t understand what to put on a cd.
Dan Z says on April 7th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Wow! I did it. It’s very cool. And there’s Linux running in a Window on Windows XP! It was very easy, although you have to follow the directions very carefully. Also you left out that you do have to reboot the computer after installing VMWare. And VMWare is sluggish on a 3.0 Ghz P4 with 2 Gb RAM, but that’s a complaint I’ve seen with VMWare in general. It’s like accessing a remote computer over the Internet with LogMeIn or GoToMyPC.
Some free Linuxes to try are Myah OS 2.3-SE and Knoppix. Both come with tons of programs. Slax 5.1.8 and Sauver Desktop 1.171 have some good programs and look nice. PC Linux OS TR3 and Simply MEPIS are limited to 800×600 pixels, but also have a good collection of stuff. Kanotix 2006, Ubuntu 6.10 and Puppy Linux are simple and uncluttered. And BeatrIX 2005 1F is “small, simple and elegant” with nothing but Linux and Firefox.
If you wind up liking Linux and want to do some serious work with it, you might decide to boot up your PC directly from these ISO images burnt to a CD, or doing a dual boot and partitioning your hard drive because of VM’s sluggishness. Good luck.
altonbr says on April 15th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
My tutorial on the Ubuntu forums works quite well too: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=342631
Jade says on April 17th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Hi,
I followed the steps mentionned above but I got the same error as Twenty5:
“PXE-E53: no boot filename recieved
PXE-m0f: operating system not found…”
What did I do wrong?
Thanks.
Jade says on April 17th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
My problem is resolved. I just click on player/reset and it worked.
Jade says on April 19th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
When I exit Linux and wmware player and got back to it, all my settings was losted. It looks like it’s reset everytime we start vmware. What can I do?
Thx