When you finished install vmware server 2.0 in Slackware 12.2, it's time to create a new virtual machine for a guest operating system. VMware server v2 control panel is quite different from vmware 1.x. The vmware server 2.0 control panel is fully web based. Unlike Sun's Virtualbox, which can be run from command line terminal in default, vmware server 2.0 needs web browser with java installed, thus kde with firefox must be installed first.

This tutorial will explain how to create a new virtual machine for Ubuntu desktop guest operating system. Below is an example of vmware server 2.0 control panel opened in firefox:

Prerequisites

There are two ways of how to install guest operating system in vmware server 2.0. The first one is using cd or dvd installer insert in host dvd drive. The other one is using iso image from local hard disk. The first one should be no problem. So we will look at the second method, installing a guest Ubuntu desktop from iso image in a local hard disk.

First, we need to Add Datastore. The menu is on the top right vmware control panel, under the Commands menu. Before click on the Add Datastore menu, we need to do a few things first. Here is the list:

1. Create a directory named iso.
2. Put Ubuntu desktop iso image in the iso directory (and all other operating system iso images that you plan to install later).
3. Click Add Datastore menu and key in name and iso directory full path. See an example picture below:

Create Ubuntu desktop guest virtual machine

Click Create virtual machine from the Commands menu as well or from the Virtual Machine main menu at the top vmware server 2.0 control panel.

Give a name for your new virtual machine. In this case, I'll name it Ubuntu desktop. Choose Standard.

Choose Guest operating system and version.

Resize memory size for guest operating system. Ubuntu desktop needs at least 512MB for best performance. Of course, bigger is better.

Create new virtual disk.

Resize hard disk size for Ubuntu desktop. Default size is 8GB.

Add network adapter.

I chose NAT. It doesn't matter, you can always change it later if it doesn't work.

CD/DVD, here we must choose Use an ISO image.

Click browse, Inventory and iso directory. Choose Ubuntu desktop iso image.

Choose if you want to use a floppy drive.

Choose Usb controller.

That's it. If you want to add something else, click more hardware. I add sound adapter here.

Finish.

If there is nothing more to add, click finish. Power on your guest operating system virtual machine and begin Ubuntu desktop installation. You might get lost though, after start the virtual machine. You see nothing happened, do you? What you need to do next is clicking the Console tab. See the picture below:

Most probably you'll see this error:

The VMware Remote Console Plug-in is not installed or could not be found.

Please install the VMware Remote Console Plug-in to access this virtual machine's
console.

Install plug-in

Click here for installation instructions

What you need to do is install vmware remote console plug-in. Click on the Install plug-in. When the installation is finished, you'll see vmware logo like in the picture below:

If nothing happened after the remote console plug-in is successfully installed, stop the virtual machine. Check web browser setting and allow pop up from localhost. Mozilla Firefox didn't block pop up by default. If you use Seamonkey web browser, go to Edit menu, choose Preferences. Then, click on the Privacy & Security, choose Popup Windows. Click on the Allowed Sites and add 'localhost'.. VMWare virtual machine in Seamonkey didn't work right now even after popup windows is fully allowed. So use Firefox instead.

Restart virtual machine. Maybe you need to wait for a moment before the virtual machine fully uploaded the Ubuntu iso image. When it's done, you can click anywhere in the console area to open the virtual machine window. A new window pops up, which looks familiar if you have used vmware before. After that, everything else is the same.