VMWare 2.0 on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (minimal)

This small How-to contains the steps to install a virtualization host with VMWare 2.0 on a minimal ubuntu installation.

Ubuntu version was Server Jeos. Yep, it’s intended for virtual machines, but it works perfectly on old standard hardware (like my PIII).

Run the following command to install some necessary packages:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential xinetd

Then go to the location where you saved the VMware Server .tar.gz, unpack the file and run the installer:

tar xvfz VMware-server-*.tar.gz
cd vmware-server-distrib
sudo ./vmware-install.pl

The installer will ask you a lot of questions. You can always accept the default values simply by hitting .

When the installer asks you

In which directory do you want to keep your virtual machine files?
[/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines]

you can either accept the default value or specify a location that has enough free space to store your virtual machines.

At the end of the installation, you will be asked to enter a serial number:

Please enter your 20-character serial number.

Type XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX or 'Enter' to cancel:

Fill in your serial number for VMware Server.

After the successful installation, you can delete the VMware Server download file and the installation directory:

cd /home/falko/Desktop
rm -f VMware-server*
rm -fr vmware-server-distrib/

If you have accepted all default values during the installation, root is now the VMware Server login name.

You can access the management interface over HTTPS (https://:8333) or HTTP (http://:8222); the management interface can be accessed locally and also remotely.

The result was a charming VMServer running occupying 90MB of RAM. Impressive!

 

For the full step-by-step version (Ubuntu Desktop) check:
http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-vmware-server-2-on-an-ubuntu-8.04-desktop