VMWare Tips

VMWare Player is free, and it works ok, the UI is a little slow, but it works well otherwise.

VMWare Server is also free, and it works well but does not support audio.

VMWare Converter is free, it can make a VM from a physical computer (as well as do some other things I haven't looked into yet)

I am very much a rookie at VMWare, but I have found out a couple things about VMWare workstation Settings:

• It is a hassle to increase the size of the C:\ drive so make it big enough to start.
• It is easy to add drives, but you have to format them in Windows before you can use them.
• Use Bridged networking if you need to browse network shares.
• Make sure the sum of RAM available to your VMs does not exceed the amount of RAM on your machine, leaving around 512mb for the root OS (for win XP pro).
• Install VMWare tools or the UI is very clunky
• Use the shared folders feature on the Options tab of the Settings dialog to share drives on the root OS with drives on the VM.
• Don't take a snapshot of a paused machine, or a running machine if you ever want to clone it. You can't clone a running or paused snapshot.