Difference between revisions of "HowTo Install Virtual Machines with VMware Player"
(→Create a New Virtual Machine: Chapter complete.) |
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== Installing Xubuntu 12.04 x86_64 == | == Installing Xubuntu 12.04 x86_64 == | ||
− | Now onward to installing Xubuntu 12.04 inside the virtual machine: | + | Now onward to installing Xubuntu 12.04 x86_64 inside the virtual machine: |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_012.png|thumb|center|400px|0. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_012.png|thumb|center|400px|0. Now we are back to the main window of VMplayer. On the left you have a list of the latest virtual machines you've opened and clicking on them will show on the right a brief summary of what they have and how they are.<br /><br />Press the ''giant'' <tt>Play virtual machine</tt> button.]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_013.png|thumb|center|400px|1. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_013.png|thumb|center|400px|1. This is the main window of your new virtual machine. On the top left you have a menu that you can use for configuring properties and sending hard commands to the machine, such as the power or reset buttons.<br /><br />On the lower right corner you have a row of icons that represent the hardware in the virtual machine. Left or right clicking on each icon should give you control options, such as disabling or enabling the component, or changing the ISO to be used for installing an Operating System.<br /><br />As disclaimed in the lower left corner of the window, a message indicates that you can get keyboard control inside the virtual machine if you hit the key combination <tt>Ctrl+G</tt>; you can also simply left click inside the window.<br /><br />In the middle of the window you have the virtual BIOS screen. Pressing the key <tt>F2</tt> (with keyboard control active inside it) will show you the set-up options for the virtual machine. In this tutorial we wont detail how to configure it, but it is in there that you can change the priority for booting first from the (virtual) CD/DVD drive or from the hard-drive.<br />If you take too long to press <tt>F2</tt>, you can use the key combination <tt>Ctrl+Alt+Insert</tt>, which is the same as if you pressed <tt>Ctrl+Alt+Delete</tt> on your real machine, i.e. sending the command for rebooting.<br /><br />]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_014.png|thumb|center|400px|2. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_014.png|thumb|center|400px|2. Since the hard-drive is empty, the CD will ''kick in'' and start the live CD with Xubuntu on it.<br /><br />Ubuntu is a bit... minimalist when it comes to booting from the CD. So you'll have to press the up or down cursors for a menu to show up, otherwise it will do the default: boot the live session.]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_015.png|thumb|center|400px|3. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_015.png|thumb|center|400px|3. After the menu shows up, it will show a second menu for selecting the language you want to install. The advised language is English, because it is the default testing language for OpenFOAM. Use the cursor keys to select the language you want and press the <tt>Enter</tt> key to select.]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_016.png|thumb|center|400px|4. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_016.png|thumb|center|400px|4. Next press the <tt>F4</tt> key, to select the keyboard map to be used, because if you don't have a USA keyboard, it can get ''very annoying'' during installation or live session.]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_017.png|thumb|center|400px|5. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_017.png|thumb|center|400px|5. Here choose the <tt>Install Xubuntu</tt> entry (use the cursor keys once again and <tt>Enter</tt> key).]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_018.png|thumb|center|400px|6. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_018.png|thumb|center|400px|6. And it's booting!]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_019.png|thumb|center|400px|7. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_019.png|thumb|center|400px|7. The window will probably resize for matching the new resolution used during installation.]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_020.png|thumb|center|400px|8. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_020.png|thumb|center|400px|8. Now the Xubuntu installation process starts. Here you can choose the language for the installation once again. Hit the <tt>Continue</tt> button.]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_021.png|thumb|center|400px|9. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_021.png|thumb|center|400px|9. Here the choice is yours: you can either leave the <tt>Download updates</tt> option checked or not.<br />Third-party is pretty useless inside the virtual machine.<br /><br />''Continue''...]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_022.png|thumb|center|400px|10. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_022.png|thumb|center|400px|10. This is where you configure how the disk is used. Here you can leave the default as shown, since the objective is to test OpenFOAM, but it's up to you if you want to create a more representative disk partition structure.<br /><br />''Continue''...]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_023.png|thumb|center|400px|11. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_023.png|thumb|center|400px|11. Here you choose the disk partition to be used. There should be only one, given the choices made so far.<br /><br />''Install now''...]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_024.png|thumb|center|400px|12. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_024.png|thumb|center|400px|12. Wait a bit for ''it'' to think about what to do next...]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_025.png|thumb|center|400px|13. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_025.png|thumb|center|400px|13. Now it will install Xubuntu in the background, while you configure some important details. In this case, the time zone.<br /><br />As shown, here's a big Hello from Portugal!<br /><br />''Continue''...]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_026.png|thumb|center|400px|14. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_026.png|thumb|center|400px|14. Yep, Portuguese keyboard in my case ([[User:Wyldckat|Wyldckat]] 11:51, 7 July 2012 (CEST)).<br /><br />''Continue''...]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_027.png|thumb|center|400px|15. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_027.png|thumb|center|400px|15. Here you can configure your user information. '''Do not''' choose a <tt>username</tt> with spaces in it! <tt>Your name</tt> can have spaces and periods and so on, but the ''username'' should be as simple as possible!<br />Log in automatically is very useful for testing OpenFOAM installations, so leave it on.<br />Nonetheless, '''always''' define a password. Just because it's a virtual machine, it doesn't mean it's safe from potential security problems!<br /><br />''Continue''...]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_028.png|thumb|center|400px|16. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_028.png|thumb|center|400px|16. And now you wait for it to install...]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_029.png|thumb|center|400px|17. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_029.png|thumb|center|400px|17. While you wait, press the key combination <tt>Ctrl+Alt</tt>, or move the mouse to the outside of the virtual machine. On the main window of VMplayer, choose the menu entry <tt>File -> Player Preferences</tt>. The window above will appear. The options shown in this image are personal preferences ([[User:Wyldckat|Wyldckat]] 11:51, 7 July 2012 (CEST)), but feel free to configure as you desire.<br /><br />Press the <tt>Close</tt> button when done.]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_030.png|thumb|center|400px|18. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_030.png|thumb|center|400px|18. In the mean time, Xubuntu might have finished installing. Press the <tt>Restart Now</tt> button.<br /><br />*Note*: If you didn't already have control inside the virtual machine, you will have to click a second time. You have control in the virtual machine when the message on the lower left shows <tt>press Ctrl+Alt</tt>(...).]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_031.png|thumb|center|400px|19. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_031.png|thumb|center|400px|19. While starting to reboot, Xubuntu will ask you to hit the <tt>Enter</tt> key. This is because there is an intermediate step of ejecting the CD.]] |
− | [[File:VMplayer_tut_032.png|thumb|center|400px|20. | + | [[File:VMplayer_tut_032.png|thumb|center|400px|20. After it boots up, onward to installing the valuable VMware Tools for refining the interaction between real and virtual machines. This basically means that you'll be able resize the virtual screen on-demand, as well as using copy-paste for transferring text or files between the two.<br /><br />Therefore, start a new terminal window.]] |
[[File:VMplayer_tut_033.png|thumb|center|400px|21. TODO...]] | [[File:VMplayer_tut_033.png|thumb|center|400px|21. TODO...]] |
Revision as of 09:51, 7 July 2012
Contents
1 Introduction
Testing OpenFOAM installations on several different Operating Systems can take its toll. But at least with virtualization, one person can handle 3, 4 or even more virtual machines at the same time or in sequence, all with a single real machine.
For the readers that don't know what machine virtualization is, here are some pages on this subject at Wikipedia:
- Page about what a Virtual machine is.
- The global description of what Virtualization is.
- Extended descriptions of selected virtualization software.
From the last link there are 2 popular and free virtualization applications for the general public:
- VirtualBox - The preferred among the open-source community, given the code is open-source.
- VMware Player - The one described in this How To page and which will be referred to from here on as VMplayer.
The choice of using VMplayer is somewhat simple: it's free, very good (if not best) performance and easy to use. (and personal preference - Wyldckat 00:11, 7 July 2012 (CEST)) Nonetheless, VirtualBox is a very good competitor, specially for testing PXE boot images. (Wyldckat 00:11, 7 July 2012 (CEST))
This wiki page is divided into the following chapters:
- How to install VMplayer
- How to create a new virtual machine
- Troubleshooting - as in don't shoot your computer, shoot only the troubles themselves
Final introductory note: this tutorial would probably be more appreciated as a video tutorial, but that exercise is left to the readers that wish to contribute!
2 How to install VMplayer
First a few links for reference:
- The official page for VMware Player: www.vmware.com/vmplayer
- Official documentation: Getting Started with VMware Player
Go to the first link and take care of registering and downloading VMplayer for your desired Operating System (Windows, Linux or Mac OS X). (If you don't want to register... search on-line for other possible solutions, but be careful not to download damaged software.)
TODO:
- Describe existing installers and how to run them on each OS.
- Show pictures of the installation process, which should be nearly identical for all of them.
3 How to create a new virtual machine
TODO... 1st upload pictures, then write dialogue...
Here it will be exemplified how to create and install a virtual machine with Xubuntu 12.04 x86_64 (64bit). This assumes you've already downloaded the desktop ISO of Xubuntu 12.04 x86_64, which we'll leave to the reader to figure out how and were to get it.
3.1 Create a New Virtual Machine
This section will take you step by step on how to create a new virtual machine, mainly oriented to test building OpenFOAM. This example will use Xubuntu 12.04 x86_64 (aka 64bits and amd64).
To run the VMplayer, it will depend on the Operating System you are using on your real machine:
- Windows
- Should be on the programs menu, on the lower left corner of the screen, in the button also known as the Start button.
- Linux
- Depends a bit on the distribution. The more modern ones work the same way you run any other application: you write the name of what you want to run (vmplayer, vmware or even player) and it will show you what it thinks you mean. On the more classic ones, it usually is put in the System Tools section.
You can also go old school and run in a terminal/console window:vmplayer
- Mac OS X
- If you have one, then you should already know where to look ;)
So, after you've managed to figure out how to run VMplayer, here are the steps to be taken (you can click on the images to see them bigger):
3.2 Installing Xubuntu 12.04 x86_64
Now onward to installing Xubuntu 12.04 x86_64 inside the virtual machine:
4 Troubleshooting
On this chapter is shown various known issues and solutions. Other issues and solutions can be found in the official documentation (see chapter How to install VMplayer) and on-line.
4.1 The yield() function is not activated
Issue: A message dialogue box appears saying:
The yield() function is not activated
And doesn't allow running the machine.
Note: This is happens on Linux with kernel versions greater or equal to 2.6.31.
Solution: To fix this until next boot, run as root:
echo "1">/proc/sys/kernel/sched_compat_yield sysctl -w kernel.sched_compat_yield="1"
For a permanent solution, run as root as well:
echo -e "\n\n#This is needed for Virtual Machines to run at full power\!\nkernel.sched_compat_yield = 1" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
4.2 Unable to operate the VMplayer window
Issue: Error and warning windows sometimes pop to the wrong side of the window, namely to the back of the VMplayer window!
Note: This is more common on Linux.
Solution: The main window is sometimes still usable, in the sense that it can still be moved out of the way, to reveal the small error/warning dialogue in the back of the main window.
4.3 /dev/vmmon does not exist
Issue: A dialogue appears with the message:
/dev/vmmon does not exist
Note: This is more common on Linux.
Solution: run as root:
/etc/init.d/vmware stop /etc/init.d/vmware start
5 History
Readers are welcome to improve this document if they so see fit to do it. Links to video tutorials directly related to this tutorial are also welcome.
Below is a short edit history. For the complete history, see the History link at the top-right of the page.
- Wyldckat 00:30, 7 July 2012 (CEST) - Still editing the page...