Tag Archives | VMware

Linux in Windows the Easy Way

By on February 25, 2010 in How-To Geek

Would you like to try out Ubuntu (or any other popular distribution of Linux) from the comfort of your Windows 7 (or Vista or XP) desktop?  With a quick download of the Ubuntu ISO and VMware Player, you can do this easily.  And, you can even run Linux apps side by side with your Windows Apps, and even see their icons in your taskbar!  This article is my latest on Virtualization, so check it out on How-To Geek to see how easy it is to run Ubuntu right inside Windows!

How To Run Ubuntu in Windows 7 with VMware Player

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Create your own XP Mode for 7 Home Premium and Vista!

By on February 23, 2010 in How-To Geek

My recent article on How-to Geek about running XP Mode without hardware virtualization got a lot of comments from people wanting to run XP Mode on other editions of Windows.  XP Mode is only licensed for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate, so if your computer is running 7 Home Premium or Vista you cannot run it.  But, if you have your own legal copy of XP, you can make your own XP Mode.  It’s actually very easy with VMware Player, and takes less steps than importing the standard XP Mode.  Check out my article at How-to Geek, which details all the steps involved and offers some tips on integrating your virtual XP with Vista or 7!

Create an XP Mode for Windows 7 Home Versions & Vista

This article was also listed at Lifehacker!  Check that out at:

Lifehacker: Create Your Own XP Mode for Any Version of Windows

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Run XP Mode without Hardware Virtualization

By on February 17, 2010 in How-To Geek

Several months ago I wrote about VMware’s release of VMware Player 3.0.  This was a major upgrade to VMware’s free desktop virtualization offering, adding support for creating virtual machines and running them in Unity mode.  Windows 7’s release, then on the other hand, boosted desktop virtualization’s position in the marketplace with XP Mode which brings a virtualized copy of XP to Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate.  Many people have been disappointed that Windows Virtual PC, required to run XP Mode, also  requires hardware virtualization support.  If your computer doesn’t have it, then you simply can’t run XP Mode.

Or can you?  Thanks to VMware Player, you can actually still use XP mode even without hardware virtualization!  And, even if your computer can run Virtual PC, you may get better performance or features using VMware player.  Check out my article at How-To Geek for all the inside information on how to do this!

Run XP Mode on Windows 7 Machines Without Hardware Virtualization

This article was also featured on Lifehacker today! Check out the Lifehacker article:

Run XP Mode on Windows 7 Machines Without Hardware Virtualization

And check back soon … I’ve got a lot more articles about virtualization coming to How-to Geek!

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VMware promotes VMware Player with Chrome OS!

By on December 7, 2009 in Techinch

I was doing a quick Bing search for the link to VMware Player for a previous article when I was dumbfounded to see the following link description:

VMware Player in Bing SearchVMware is promoting their product with an unreleased OS … Chrome OS !?!  When I opened the link, it was quick to see that this was indeed the case.  The first paragraph on the VMware player page says:

VMware Player is the easiest way to run multiple operating systems at the same time on your PC. With its user-friendly interface, VMware Player makes it effortless for anyone to try out Windows 7, Chrome OS or the latest Linux releases, or create isolated virtual machines to safely test new software and surf the Web.

Strangely, however, their Virtual Appliance Marketplace does not seem to list Chrome OS for download.  You can easily download a copy of it ready for use on any VMware product from GDGT.

The interesting thing about this is that VMware has promoted a browser appliance for years.  This preconfigured virtual machine essentially contains the Firefox browser in a stripped-down Linux environment, not at all unlike what Google is doing with Chrome OS.  Perhaps in the future they plan to offer a prebuilt virtual machine of Chrome OS instead of their own offering.

This is an interesting development for an OS that was only fully unveiled as ongoing project a little over a month ago.  Although I can’t imagine using an operating system that only contains a browser for my main operating system, I am very interested in what Google will do with Chrome OS.  Apparently VMware is too!

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VMware Player 3.0: The Desktop Virtualization Wars Begin

By on October 29, 2009 in Reviews, Techinch

Windows 7 marks the shift of desktop virtualization programs from a tool for IT pros to a standard program on every desktop.  Virtualization software enables users to run additional operating systems, such as XP or Ubuntu, as a program right inside their standard desktop, which enables users to test new programs or run legacy programs in a separate OS.  Microsoft has offered a free desktop virtualization solution for Windows 2000 and newer ever since 2006 with the release of Virtual PC 2003, but still it was only commonly used by IT pros and computing enthusiasts.  However, with the release of Windows 7, Microsoft has made XP Mode, a virtual copy of XP running in Windows Virtual PC, a standard feature for Professional and higher editions.  Additionally, Windows Virtual PC is available as a free download for users of all editions of Windows 7, and any user can add their own operating system or migrate their old computer into it for free.  Finally, in the range of products that affects consumers without most knowing it, Microsoft has added hypervisor-based virtualization, Hyper-V, as a free component of Server 2008 and Server 2008 RT that can also be downloaded as a free standalone product.

While these moves are great for consumers, it has increasingly made Microsoft at odds with a company who has built their entire business around virtualization solutions: VMware.  Many consumers know VMware for their Fusion software, which allows Mac users to run Windows programs seamlessly in Mac OS X.  But that is far from their only product; VMware offers a wide range of desktop and server virtualization products.  Most of their products cost, and are often fairly expensive; this immediately puts them at odds with their larger rival who is giving away their virtualization products for free.

However, today VMware has struck back at Microsoft with this week’s release of VMware Player 3.0.  Although VMware Player formerly only let users run existing virtual machines, this new release allows users to create and run their own virtual machines, just like Windows Virtual PC does.  VMware Player also supports video acceleration, including Aero desktop effects, inside virtual machines.  And this product is totally free, which puts it in the same market as Microsoft’s Virtual PC.

It also puts VMware in closer competition with Sun’s VirtualBox, another free desktop virtualization offering which works on Windows and Mac OS X.  VirtualBox, while lacking the polish of their competition, offers advanced features such as Remote Desktop Protocol and snapshots of the virtual machine.

This competition has heated up over the past couple years, and now that consumers are starting to use virtualization on a daily basis, it only appears that the competition will increase.  So while Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Opera, and Apple compete in the Browser Wars 2.0, a new tech war is brewing.  Consumers have benefited greatly from the competition in web browsers, as companies have worked harder to make their browsers faster, stable, and user-friendly.  It will be exciting to see what the competition in virtualization does to this exciting new branch of software!

Check out my comparison of desktop virtualization solutions at Digital Inspiration – http://www.labnol.org/software/free-virtualization-software-comparison/10968/

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