Submitted by “This article shows how you can convert a physical Windows system into a VMware virtual machine with the free VMware Converter Starter. The resulting virtual machine can be run in the free VMware Player and VMware Server, and also in VMware Workstation and other VMware products. Vmware Converter comes in handy if you want to switch to a Linux desktop, but feel the need to run your old Windows desktop from time to time. By converting your Windows desktop into a virtual machine, you can run it under VMware Server/Player, etc. on your Linux desktop.”
That was exactly what I was looking for!
Edit: I want to use this to run Windows XP in VMWare on my existing Linux installation (OpenSuSe 10.2). Do I need to install VMWarePlayer, VMWareServer, or both?
Edited 2007-02-20 11:21
To run existing VM’s all you need is Player.
Okay, thanks.
So, let’s see if I got it right: to run an existing VM -which I can make with VMWare Converter- I only need VMWare Player.
But if I want to do stuff like creating a new VMware image, say I’m installing the latest Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, then I will need the VMWare Server to do that. Does that sound right?
Edited 2007-02-20 11:38
You can use http://www.easyvmx.com/ to create new virtual machines for use with vmware-player – one advantage of which is that player is installable in (n)ubuntu (and maintained through kernel updates) with only a simple “apt-get install vmware-player” direct from the repos.
Edited 2007-02-20 17:01
between the screen shots, I found this:
Select Workstation 5.x, VMware Server, VMware Player for Type of virtual machine to create and click on Next:<\I>
VMWarePlayer should work fine.
Enjoy, I know I will }-]
[Edit: Forgot to close <Italics>, doh!]
[i]Edited 2007-02-20 11:35
Think I’ll find this really useful for creating test environments which accurately represent my server configurations.
Does it work the other way? Create a Linux image to run in Windows?
Source physical machines running 64-bit Windows XP/2003, WinNT SP4+, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003
But the real question is why you would like to run linux under windows?
You can (re)build linux on the vmware/windows part but you’ll need vmware workstation to create a virtual machine. They had free test-serials and would work for 30 days. Don’t know if that still holds.
“But the real question is why you would like to run linux under windows? ”
Perhaps so you can try before you…err…buy.
Perhaps you have to develop for linux, but prefer Windows.
Perhaps you just want to play
1. To retain some semblance of decent computing when forced into a windows-only environment.
2. To retain some privacy by keeping your personal data off their Windows installation.
Sure, those are reasons too, but should be responding to the original poster
Could be made easier by dd’ing the partition into a file, than converting from img into vmdk with a tool from qemu package I forgot the name of.
Edited 2007-02-20 14:12
Won’t this be a problem with XP and its activation? Won’t XP “notice” that all the hardware has changed, and then require you to re-activate XP? Just wondering, because I would like to do this with an existing XP partition.
Won’t this be a problem with XP and its activation?
I haven’t tried XP, but Windows 2003 Servers Windows 2000 Pro migrate without issue. I’ll have to try an XP machine and see.
Just to clarify, I would then be removing my existing Windows partition, as I fully understand that I would need 2 licenses if I kept both the image and the original copy.
I primarily use Free (libre) software (Ubuntu, OpenBSD, Mandriva, etc), but when I do use Non-Free software, I do follow the license. Too many people in the FOSS world make excuses for not following Non-Free licenses. Nobody is putting a “gun” to my head making me run the Non-Free software. It is very laudable to only run Free software. But if, for whatever reason, you do use a Non-Free program, please follow the license. Otherwise it makes the FOSS world look like a bunch of bums, which I do not believe to be true.