The IU Computer Science Department now supports VMware Player and VMware Workstation from VMware on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. VMware is software that provides a virtual machine, allowing the Linux systems to run other X86-based operating systems such as Windows XP. Here are the steps required in order to use VMware Player or Workstation.

1. VMware System Configuration - There are some configuration steps that must be performed by the system staff before you will be able to use VMware on your workstation. You will need to contact the CSG to request that your workstation be configured for VMware use.

2. Create a Virtual Machine Disk Image - By default, disk images are stored in /VMware-Images on the local machine.

   PLEASE NOTE THAT DISK IMAGES ARE NOT BACKED UP SO DO NOT STORE IMPORTANT DATA LOCALLY IN YOUR DISK IMAGE

   ALSO NOTE THAT A DISK IMAGE WAS PROBABLY CREATED FOR YOU WHEN THE SOFTWARE WAS INSTALLED SO YOU CAN LIKELY SKIP THIS STEP.

   An initial disk image has been created so that you don't have to start from scratch. Here is the step that you need to do to copy the default XP image to /VMware-Images/username/:

   % cd /VMware-Images/username
   % tar cCf /l/ks/VMware/images.NOBACKUP/Windows-XP-Pro-Bare-Image - . | tar xpvf -

   The disk image is 10GB. So this will take a while to complete.

3. Modify Gnome Configuration - If you are using the Gnome windowing environment, you are urged to make one change to your configuration. You will need to use the control-alt-delete key sequence when using VMware. However, Gnome uses that key sequence to mean "log out" by default. If you hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete when using vmware but it is seen by Gnome instead, it will result in you being logged out. To disable this behavior in Gnome, select Keyboard Shortcuts under Preferences from the Gnome System menu. Click on the Log out action and then hit the Backspace key to disable this action.

   Also note that vmware will sometimes not receive the Ctrl-Alt-Delete key sequence unless you first click in the window. Even if you have Gnome configured with focus following the mouse, when you first bring up vmware you will have to click in the window. Alternatively, you can select the 'Send Ctrl-Alt-Del' option from the vmware or vmplayer VM menu.

   Yet another methode is to hit Ctrl-Alt-Insert instead.

4. Start vmware or vmplayer - You start VMware by just running vmplayer (for VMware Player) or vmware (for VMware Workstation) from any command prompt or by selecting "VMware Player" or "VMware Workstation" from the "Applications/System Tools" menu in Gnome.

5. Open the Virtual Machine - Select "Open Virtual Machine" from the File menu in vmware. In the Selection box, enter the path to the virtual machine you want to use. By default, this will be:

   /VMware-Images/username/Windows XP Professional.vmx

   Please note that you may run into trouble if you browse from your home directory to /VMware-Images. You are urged to type (or cut/paste) the path above directly into the Selection box.

   If it finds the image properly, you should see a window showing the status of the virtual machine which will initially be "Powered Off".

6. Start the Virtual Machine - You can start the virtual machine by just clicking the green "play" button in the menubar or by clicking on "Start this virtual machine" in the virtual machine window. The first time you start the virtual machine, you will have to do the following:
   • Click OK when presented with the informational message about the Windows XP product activation feature.
   • When warned about the Linux kernel being newer than the newest series supported, just click the "Never show this hint again" box and then click OK.
   • When warned about the location of the virtual machine having changed, be sure the "Create a new identifier" option is selected (this is the default) and click OK.

   At this point, the virtual machine should start up and boot into Windows.

7. Login as admin - When you get the Windows login screen, you will need to login as the user admin with the password vmware. This account has full administrator rights.

   You will have to enter Ctrl-Alt-Delete to get the login window. Some window managers may capture Ctrl-Alt-Delete and not pass it to the application. If this happens, you can select "Send Ctrl-Alt-Del" from the vmware VM menu.

8. Change admin password - When you login as the admin user, the first thing you should do is change the account password. To do this, just hit Control-Alt-Delete and select "Change Password" from the Windows Security menu. After changing your password, just select Cancel from the Windows Security menu to return to the Desktop.

9. Set Up Printers - To add a printer, you need to know the printer name (eg. ps6), the server for that printer (eg. whale), and the printer model (eg. HP8150). This information is available for all printer in the printers man page available by running "man printers".

   Note that you should not use a printer name like ps6duplex or ps6simplex. You must just use the base printer name, like ps6, and you can select things like duplex options from the print properties when you print.

   Here is an example of the steps required to add a printer.

   1. Open "Printers and Faxes" from the Start menu.
   2. Double-click on the "Add Printer" icon.
   3. Click Next to continue.
   4. Make sure Local printer attached to this computer is checked and that Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer is unchecked and then click Next.
   5. Check Create a new port, select LPR Port from the pull-down menu, and click Next.
   6. Enter the name of the server (such as whale) for this printer in the Name or address of server providing lpd box. Enter the printer name (such as ps6) in the Name of printer or print queue on that server box. Once both boxes are filled in, click OK.
   7. Select the printer manufacturer (eg. HP) and Printer (eg. HP LaserJet 8150 Series PS) and click Next. The drivers for all of our printer should be installed so the printer should be in the list. If there are multiple listings for a printer (probably PCL and PS) you should always choose the PS version.

      Most of the black and white printers we have are HP 8150s and you should use the "HP LaserJet 8150 Series PS" driver.

      Most of the color printers we have are HP 8550s and you should use the "HP Color LaserJet 8550-PS" driver.

   8. Enter the Printer name. You probably just want to enter the name of the printer (eg. ps6). If you want this to be the default printer, select that option then click Next.
   9. Select the Do not share this printer option and click Next.
   10. Select whether you want to print a test page and click Next.
   11. Confirm the settings you entered and click Finish to add the printer.

   If this printer is capable of printing duplex (almost all of our printer are) then you need to enable this option as follows:

   1. From the Printer and Faxes window, right click on the printer and select Properties.
   2. Click on the Device Settings tab.
   3. Under Installable Options you will see a setting for Duplex Unit. Click on "Not Installed" and change it to "Installed".
   4. Click OK to complete the change.

   You will need to repeat this procedure for all the printers you want to use.

10. Install Windows Updates - The disk image is configured to install Windows updates periodically. However, with any new disk image you are encouraged to manually install all available critical and security updates. To do this, just select Windows Update from the Start/All Programs menu and then select the Express Install option. Install all of the recommended updates.

11. Install Anti-Virus Updates - The disk image is configured to install Symantec Anti-Virus updates daily. However, with any new disk image you are encouraged to manually install all available anti-virus updates. To do this, just select Symantec AntiVirus from the Start/All Programs/Symantec Client Security menu and then select Live Update. Install all of the available updates.

12. Create user account - It is recommended that you create a user account with the same username as your IU/CS account and use that account instead of the admin account. Here are the steps necessary to create this account:
    1. From the Start menu, right click on My Computer and select Manage.

    2. Click on Local Users and Groups under System Tools and click on the Users folder.

    3. Select "New User..." from the Action menu.

    4. Enter your IU username in the "User name" field and fill in the rest of the fields.

    5. Uncheck the "user must change password at next logon" box if you like.

    6. Click Create to create the account then click Close to exit the New User window.

    You will probably want to add your account to the Administrators group so you have full administrator privileges on your disk image. You can do this as follows:

    1. While still in the Computer Management window, double click the Groups folder to expand it.

    2. Right click Administrators and select "Add to group...".

    3. Click on "Add...".

    4. Enter your username in the Object Name box and click OK.

    5. Click OK in the Administrators Properties window to complete the addition.

    Once this is done, log out of the admin account and log into your own account.

13. Update VMware Tools - Under the VM menu of the VMware window select Install VMware Tools. Just click Next to accept all of the defaults.

14. Reboot Windows - Just select Shutdown/Restart from the Start menu. After the reboot, you should be good to go!

15. Shutting down VMware - When you want to exit vmware, be sure to shutdown Windows before exiting vmware. If you try to exit vmware without shutting down windows, it will warn you about shutting down first.

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Once you are up and running, here are some things you will probably want to do:

• Performance tip - You may want to set customize your performance options in Windows XP. For example, do the following to turn off some of the transition effects that may slow things down:
  1. Right click My Computer from the Start menu and select Properties.
  2. Click the Advanced tab and then click Settings under the Performance section.
  3. Under Visual Effects, select "Adjust for best performance".
  4. Click OK to make the change.

• Accessing your Unix home directory - Once you are up and running Windows, you can access your unix home directory using the CS samba servers just like you would from a laptop or other Windows machine. Just follow the instructions in the associated FAQ entry for all the details.

  For example, if you want to map your shark/burrow home directory to a drive, you can do the following:

  1. Right click My Computer from the Start menu and select "Map Network Drive".
  2. Select any drive letter you want to use.
  3. For Folder: enter \\samba1\USERNAME where you replace USERNAME with your username.
  4. Check the "Reconnect at logon" box if you want this drive to be available each time you login.
  5. Click Finish to make the change.

• Cut/Paste between Windows and Linux - The cut and paste is very seamless. Just cut or paste like you normally would in windows or linux. For example, you can highlight text in Windows and then select Edit->Copy. To paste that text into a linux window, just use the middle mouse button to paste like you normally would.

• Using vmware from a remote machine - You can just ssh to the system with the vmware disk image and run vmware remotely. It will be a little slower displaying over the network, but it should work fine.