Windows Just Keeps VM-waring On Me
Next post in the Ubuntu rebuild series is here! There are times when I still haven't been able to shake the need to use some Windows only apps, but since I've cut the cord with mother MS (or crazy aunt MS, might be better suited), I'm no longer going to be wasting my time with a dual boot. Instead, thanks to the bounteous goodness of virtualization giant VMware, I now have a much more attractive option. I am going to be stepping through getting VMware Server installed and running on my system. Not really very hard to do, but might as well go through it.
Doing this will allow me to install Windows (or another other useful OS for that matter) on inside my Ubuntu install and also allow me to start and stop it at will, all for the cost of a few minutes of setup. I figure you can't beat that. Once I get the basic install setup, I will save the virtual hard drive onto my file server, and thereafter, within a couple of minutes, have a fresh and so clean, clean install of Windows. Not that I really plan to use it too much, but there are always a few Windows apps that come in handy every once in a while. Not that I am anti-Windows either, because it has its place, it's just not in my everyday life anymore!
First thing's first, I need to gather the appropriate file and registration key to continue with the install. I first went out to the VMware website and downloaded the VMware Server install for Linux (.tar.gz). Doing so requires accepting their license agreement, but for free, who cares! I also had to register and request some licenses to install a copy of it. I just signed up and requested them, and then received an email containing the key. If you want, you can even ask for multiple keys at once. This really is pretty sweet, since a while back I was thinking about purchasing a copy of VMware Server, and the cheapest I could find it was for $150!
After downloading the software and getting the registration key, I used the following steps to get it installed and running:
1. Double click the installer tar.gz file and extract it.
2. cd into the vmware-server-distrib folder that you extracted.
3. Execute the install script by typing:
$ sudo ./vmware-install.pl
This should bring up a bunch of prompts that I just went through and accepted the defaults on. At one point I had to scroll through a whole hoarde of lines of the EULA, but once again, can't really complain because its so awesomely free. Then problems again. When trying to probe for an unused subnet, the program encountered an error saying that /usr/bin/vmware-ping was not found. I killed the script and tried again, getting the same error.
The fix was in this posting, where it suggested the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
After installing ia32-libs, I reran the vmware-install.pl script and this time I almost all the way through, but there was an issue with the configuration script finding inetd, so I installed it:
$ sudo apt-get install inetd
I also had to create the inetd conf file, and added a blank line to it:
$ sudo nano /etc/inetd.conf
Finally, running /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl finished successfully:
$ cd /usr/bin
$ sudo ./vmware-config.pl
4. Firing up Applications->System Tools->VMware Server Console now starts up the app!
Doing this will allow me to install Windows (or another other useful OS for that matter) on inside my Ubuntu install and also allow me to start and stop it at will, all for the cost of a few minutes of setup. I figure you can't beat that. Once I get the basic install setup, I will save the virtual hard drive onto my file server, and thereafter, within a couple of minutes, have a fresh and so clean, clean install of Windows. Not that I really plan to use it too much, but there are always a few Windows apps that come in handy every once in a while. Not that I am anti-Windows either, because it has its place, it's just not in my everyday life anymore!
First thing's first, I need to gather the appropriate file and registration key to continue with the install. I first went out to the VMware website and downloaded the VMware Server install for Linux (.tar.gz). Doing so requires accepting their license agreement, but for free, who cares! I also had to register and request some licenses to install a copy of it. I just signed up and requested them, and then received an email containing the key. If you want, you can even ask for multiple keys at once. This really is pretty sweet, since a while back I was thinking about purchasing a copy of VMware Server, and the cheapest I could find it was for $150!
After downloading the software and getting the registration key, I used the following steps to get it installed and running:
1. Double click the installer tar.gz file and extract it.
2. cd into the vmware-server-distrib folder that you extracted.
3. Execute the install script by typing:
$ sudo ./vmware-install.pl
This should bring up a bunch of prompts that I just went through and accepted the defaults on. At one point I had to scroll through a whole hoarde of lines of the EULA, but once again, can't really complain because its so awesomely free. Then problems again. When trying to probe for an unused subnet, the program encountered an error saying that /usr/bin/vmware-ping was not found. I killed the script and tried again, getting the same error.
The fix was in this posting, where it suggested the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
After installing ia32-libs, I reran the vmware-install.pl script and this time I almost all the way through, but there was an issue with the configuration script finding inetd, so I installed it:
$ sudo apt-get install inetd
I also had to create the inetd conf file, and added a blank line to it:
$ sudo nano /etc/inetd.conf
Finally, running /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl finished successfully:
$ cd /usr/bin
$ sudo ./vmware-config.pl
4. Firing up Applications->System Tools->VMware Server Console now starts up the app!
posted by Bryce at 3:43 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for posting this! I'm in the middle of installing (well, TRYING to install) VMware Server 1.0.2 on Ubuntu 6.10 AMD64, and just ran into the very same "/usr/bin/vmware-ping not found" issue. Your post just saved me a lot of time and frustration, and so I am truly grateful that you donated some of *your* time to writing this up, thereby helping at least one total stranger.
May your internet karma be rewarded, and may the gods of technology keep your motherboards cool, stable, and speedy. :)
Thanks!!
-Dan Rochman
Props right back at you Dan! Thanks for reading! Ping me if you have other problems with Ubuntu. I am actually considering going back to 32 bit when Fiesty Fawn comes out because there are some things that just aren't there in AMD64 yet (like a Flash player and support for some proprietary video codecs).
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