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How to create a vmwarevm file?

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Gary

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Dec 10, 2010, 2:41:41 PM12/10/10
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I have a disk containing WindowsXPPro.exe. In order to create a
virtual machine in VM Fusion, I need to have a vmwarevm file. How can
I create one from the other on a Mac?

Richard Maine

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Dec 10, 2010, 2:59:27 PM12/10/10
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Gary <gar...@hotline.com> wrote:

Just because you have something named WindowsXPPro.exe, that doesn't
actually tell anyone what it is. A single executable file is not a
normal way for Windows XP Pro to be distributed, though that's what the
name seems to hint at. One might make a wild guess that this is some
illegal version that you downloaded from somewhere. There being lots of
different illegal things, that doesn't tell much useful about how to use
it. Of course, one's wild guess could also be wrong; I did just say it
was a wild guess.

The normal procedure to create a new virtual machine in VMWare is to
start VMWare and click on "New" in the "File" menu. It pretty much leads
you from there. That does, however, assume that you have install media
for the OS in question. In the case of Windows XP, that would almost
always be a CD. If you can create a CD from your .exe file, that would
be the answer, but you'd have to ask at wherever you got the file from.
For my part, I'd be very hesitant about doing much of anything with .exe
files that I got from random download places on the net.

--
Richard Maine | Good judgment comes from experience;
email: last name at domain . net | experience comes from bad judgment.
domain: summertriangle | -- Mark Twain

Alan Browne

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Dec 11, 2010, 11:23:41 AM12/11/10
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The "usual" way to install a VMWare machine resembles installing an OS
on a "Windows" machine.

-You start VMWare Fusion
-under File, do a "New" virtual machine
.install the OS from the media (eg: a WinXP disk).

from there it looks exactly like you're installing WinXP on a PC. All
the appropriate files are created in the "container" file on the Mac
according to the install process. Likewise for Linux, BSD, Solaris,
etc. You can have as many virtual machines as you like (only 1 can run
at a time).

--
gmail originated posts filtered due to spam.

Alan Browne

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Dec 11, 2010, 11:24:33 AM12/11/10
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On 10-12-10 14:59 , Richard Maine wrote:

> For my part, I'd be very hesitant about doing much of anything with .exe
> files that I got from random download places on the net.

I wouldn't hesitate to not use it.

P.J. Meisch

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Dec 11, 2010, 12:29:28 PM12/11/10
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Alan Browne <alan....@FreelunchVideotron.ca> wrote:

> You can have as many virtual machines as you like (only 1 can run at
> a time).

Funny. Just at the moment I have Fusion running with both a Windows and
a Linux machine powered on at the same time.

Greetings
Peter

Alan Browne

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Dec 11, 2010, 5:29:47 PM12/11/10
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You're right. I must have mistaken the message that comes up saying
that a drive was not available meaning the 2nd virtual machine couldn't
boot. The only time I tried that in the past, I canceled the 2nd boot
at that point.

Right now I have XP and Ubuntu running on the iMac (4 GB Core Duo 2.8 GHz).

(Somewhat useless - but a good way to gobsmack some Windows users...)

P.J. Meisch

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Dec 12, 2010, 1:47:57 AM12/12/10
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Why useless? You might be testing web development with a Linux box
running Apache and MySQL and use the Windows Box to Test IE while
developing on the host Mac.

Greetings
Peter

Alan Browne

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Dec 12, 2010, 9:47:43 AM12/12/10
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What coding I do is for simulations/modeling.

On 4 GB, the system is a little sluggish with all 3 running. Not
exactly a coders paradise.

Scott Lowe

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Dec 16, 2010, 10:02:19 AM12/16/10
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On 2010-12-11 11:23:41 -0500, Alan Browne said:

> On 10-12-10 14:41 , Gary wrote:
>> I have a disk containing WindowsXPPro.exe. In order to create a virtual
>> machine in VM Fusion, I need to have a vmwarevm file. How can I create
>> one from the other on a Mac?
>

> <snip>


>
> You can have as many virtual machines as you like (only 1 can run at a time).


The constraint on the number of virtual machines that can run at the
same time is available RAM. There is no reasonable limit of which I am
aware in VMware Fusion otherwise. I have regularly run two, three, or
even four VMs at the same time (of course, I have 8GB of RAM installed).

--
Scott
http://blog.scottlowe.org

Alan Browne

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Dec 16, 2010, 5:28:27 PM12/16/10
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On 10-12-16 10:02 , Scott Lowe wrote:
> On 2010-12-11 11:23:41 -0500, Alan Browne said:
>
>> On 10-12-10 14:41 , Gary wrote:
>>> I have a disk containing WindowsXPPro.exe. In order to create a virtual
>>> machine in VM Fusion, I need to have a vmwarevm file. How can I create
>>> one from the other on a Mac?
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> You can have as many virtual machines as you like (only 1 can run at a
>> time).
>
>
> The constraint on .. <snipped>

P.J. Meisch beat you to it by only 5 days.

Scott Lowe

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Dec 22, 2010, 10:25:31 PM12/22/10
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I'm aware that PJ had mentioned it was possible to run more than one
virtual machine at a time, but I felt like it might be helpful to point
out that the constraining factor when running multiple VMs is available
RAM.

--
Scott
http://blog.scottlowe.org

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