10. Installing Windows 7 in a VMware Workstation virtual machine.
VMware Workstation- a popular program for system virtualization. VMware Workstation is a powerful solution for software developers and system administrators who create and test complete server-class network applications running in a variety of environments.
1) Go to the official website page to download the program: http://downloads.vmware.com/d/
3) On the page that opens, select VMware Workstation X.X.X to download for Windows(where X.X.X is the version number)
4) Click on the button Download Near Workstation for Windows 32-bit and 64-bit with VMware Tools.
5) Press the button Register and fill out the registration form and click Continue
6) At the bottom of the EULA agreement, click Yes and you find yourself on the download page. The program is free for full-function use for 30 days. After this period, you need to register it.
7) Download Workstation for Windows 32-bit and 64-bit Main installation file with Tools. Unlike other virtual machines, the installer VMware Workstation has a size of more than 500 Megabytes.
8) Install the program. Restart your computer; to do this, in the last program window, click Restart Now or click Restart Later and restart manually later.
9) Launch the program. Set the switch to Yes, I accept the terms in the license agreement and press OK
10) In the main program window, click on the icon New Virtual Machine.
11) Set the switch to Typical (recommended). Click the button Next.
12) Set the switch to Installer disk image file (iso). Click the button Browse and indicate the path to Windows ISO image 7. Click the button Next.
13) Enter your Windows 7 installation code, username and password and click the button Next. If you decide to enter this data later, then after pressing the button Next, click on the button Yes.
14) Select a name and location for your virtual machine file. Click the button Next.
15) Set the size of your virtual hard drive in gigabytes.
16) Click the button Finish, to create a virtual machine.
17) In the window VMware Workstation Activation click Enter Serial Number to enter the one you have serial number. If you do not have a serial number, then you can get a serial number for 30 days for full-function testing of the program: https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/?p=workstation&lp=default
18) After entering the trial number in the pop-up window Register your version of VMware Workstation now! click the button Register
19) In the main program window, go to the tab with the name of your virtual machine (by Windows default 7) and click the link.
20) Unlike other virtual machines, the installation of Windows 7 will start itself and most of the installation VMware Workstation will be performed automatically, your participation in the process Windows installations 7 is almost not needed.
21) After installing Windows 7 on the virtual machine, VMware Workstation will immediately launch Windows 7 inside the virtual machine.
22) Immediately after launch VMware Workstation will independently install additional tools for you VMware Tools, and if you have an Internet connection, it will independently install all the necessary drivers.
23) Use the Ctrl+G key combination to unlock the simultaneous use of the mouse in both the virtual system and the main one.
24) To shut down the virtual machine, shut down virtual Windows 7 as in regular Windows. Start -> Shutdown.
25) To launch installed Windows 7 in the main program window in the left column, select the name of your operating system. In the tab that opens with the name of your virtual machine (Windows 7 by default), click the link Power on this virtual machine.
VMware Workstation is a popular system virtualization program. VMware Workstation is a powerful solution for software developers and system administrators who create and test complete server-class network applications running in a variety of environments.
So let's get started:
1) Go to the official website page to download the program: http://downloads.vmware.com/d/
3) On the page that opens, select VMware Workstation X.X.X for Windows to download (where X.X.X is the version number)
4) Click on the Download button next to Workstation for Windows 32-bit and 64-bit with VMware Tools.
5) Click on the Register button and fill out the registration form (where you indicate your e-mail, which receives an activation letter, you can enter data that is not yours) and click Continue
6) At the bottom of the EULA agreement, click Yes and find yourself on the download page. The program is free for full-function use for 30 days. After this period, you need to register it. I advise you to download a key generator (Keygen) for your version of the virtual machine in advance so that you can enter the key during installation. Or immediately download VMware Workstation 10.0.2 Build 1744117 + keygen + Rus from here http://rsload.net/soft/10943-vmware-workstation.html
7) Download Workstation for Windows 32-bit and 64-bit Main installation file with Tools. Unlike other virtual machines, the program VMware installations Workstation is over 500 Megabytes in size.
8) Install the program. Restart your computer by clicking Restart Now in the last program window or clicking Restart Later and restarting manually later.
9) Launch the program. Set the radio button to Yes, I accept the terms in the license agreement and click OK
10) In the main program window, click on the New Vitual Machine icon.
11) Set the switch to Typical (recommended). Click Next.
12) Set the switch to Installer disk image file (iso). Click the Browse button and browse to the Windows 7 ISO image. Click Next.
13) Enter your Windows 7 installation code, username and password and click Next. If you decide to enter this data later, then after clicking the Next button, click on the Yes button.
14) Select a name and location for your virtual machine file. Click Next.
15) Set the size of your virtual hard disk in gigabytes (20 GB is enough).
16) Click the Finish button to create the virtual machine.
17) In the VMware Workstation Activation window, click Enter Serial Number to enter your existing serial number (This is where our Key Generator comes in handy)
18) After entering the number in the pop-up window Register your version of VMware Workstation now! click Register button
19) In the main program window, go to the tab with the name of your virtual machine (Windows 7 by default) and click the Power on this virtual machine link.
20) Unlike other virtual machines, the Windows 7 installation will begin itself and VMware Workstation will perform most of the installation automatically; your participation in the Windows 7 installation process will be almost not required.
21) After completing the installation of Windows 7 on the virtual machine, VMware Workstation will immediately launch Windows 7 for you inside the virtual machine.
22) Immediately after launch VMware Workstation will independently install additional VMware Tools for you, and also, if you have an Internet connection, will independently install all the necessary drivers.
23) Use the Ctrl+G key combination to unlock the simultaneous use of the mouse in both the virtual system and the main one.
24) To shut down the virtual machine, shut down virtual Windows 7 as you would in regular Windows. Start -> Shut down.
25) To launch the installed Windows 7, in the main program window, in the left column, select the name of your operating system. In the tab that opens with the name of your virtual machine (Windows 7 by default), click the Power on this virtual machine link.
Connecting removable devices to a virtual machine.
You can connect removable devices in the menu:
VM->removable devices
By checking the box next to the required removable devices, you connect them to the virtual machine; by unchecking the box, you disconnect them. As you can see, everything is very simple.
To make it even easier, I’ll give an example of connecting to a virtual machine USB storage:
Connect the USB drive to the computer and after a few seconds a new item will appear in the “VM->Removable Devices” menu with the name of the connected USB drive, in my case it is: Feiya Mass Storage Device;
Check the menu “VM->Removable devices -> Feiya Mass Storage Device->Connect (Disconnect from Host)” and after a few seconds a folder with the contents of the USB drive will open on the desktop of your guest operating system (in our case, Ubuntu);
For USB disconnect drive, uncheck the box in the same menu.
To switch from the guest operating system to the host operating system, press the key combination ctrl+alt. To return to the guest operating system, you need to click on the window with the guest operating system.
Virtual machine is a software or hardware system that emulates the operation of one or more operating systems (Windows, Linux, Mac). Since programs for creating virtual machines are equipped with different functionality, I would divide their use into home and for organizations. Homemade means using free software without technical support developers and with limited functionality (but often this functionality is enough), for organizations it is full functionality with the opportunity to ask a question to the developers, but sometimes paying a lot of money for it. In this article I will describe the installation and operation of one of the programs for home use (not for commercial purposes), VMware Player. VMware Player - free for non-commercial use software, based on the VMware Workstation virtual machine (which in turn is a paid product).
First of all, download the installer from the manufacturer’s website VMware Player
(at the time of writing, the latest version was VMware Player 5).
Launch it on your computer. In the welcome window, click "Next".
In the next window, leave the default path or indicate the location where the program will be installed and click "Next".
Then, if you don’t mind sending data to improve the performance of VMware Player, leave a checkmark and click "Next". The checkbox does not affect the operation of the program in any way. 
After that, you will choose to install shortcuts on the desktop and in the Start menu or not. You can leave everything as it is and click "Next".
If you are sure about the installation options, click "Continue".
At the end of the installation, a window indicating the successful installation of the program should appear, click "Finish".
When the program starts, a licensing window will appear, read the license and select Yes, I accept the terms in the license agreement(thereby you agree to the license) and click “OK.”
After this, the VMware Player console will launch, now let’s create a virtual machine, to do this, click on the right “Create a new virtual machine”.
In the new window that appears, select what you will install the operating system from, you can specify DVD drive in which there is a disk with the system or indicate the path to ISO image at the operating system. 
Then a window will appear in which you can enter the license key, select the version to install and specify the computer administrator login and password. You can skip everything except the login, but it is written down by default, after you have entered everything you wanted, click "Next".
After this, enter the name of the virtual machine, which will be displayed in the VMware Player console and indicate where the virtual machine will be located locally; I recommend leaving the default path. 
After this, specify the disk size for the virtual machine, in in this example I'm installing Windows 7 on a virtual machine, so the default is 60 GB, if you are satisfied with the disk size, you can leave this value, otherwise enter your values. 
After this, a window will appear in front of you with all the specified settings, if you think that you have specified everything correctly, click "Finish", otherwise with the button "Back" go back to the step where you would like to change the settings and make the changes.
After pressing the button "Finish" The installation of the operating system will start. It is worth noting that the installation will take place in automatic mode unlike VirtualBox. 
If you want to make changes to an installed virtual machine, you need to select the virtual machine in the main VMware Player console (after turning it off) and click “Edit virtual machine settings”.
In the window that opens Virtual Machine Settings in the tab Hardware you can change the hardware, in particular add or reduce the number random access memory, change the number of processors, add or remove a disk, change network settings or add network adapter etc.
In the tab Options, you can change the name displayed in the console, make it a shared folder, etc.
In this article we will look at the process of creating and configuring a virtual machine in a free (for non-commercial, home use) VMware Workstation Player program.
How to create a virtual machine
Below is an example of creating and configuring a virtual machine in VMware Workstation 12 Player. Although the program does not have a Russian interface, for most users it will not be difficult to understand the settings.
Some definitions
- Host operating system– this is the system that is installed on your computer;
- Guest operating system– this is an operating system (OS) running in a virtual machine (thus, on one physical computer we can run one host and from one to several guest systems);
- Virtual machine is a software or hardware system that emulates a real computer on which one or more operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, etc.) can be installed.
Let's take Windows 7 as the guest operating system, and Windows 10 as the host operating system. Since we will install the guest operating system on the created virtual machine from an image file (ISO), we will assume that you already have such an image (that is, how to download original ISO Windows image from the Microsoft website you can).
So let's get started:
- Launch VMware Workstation Player (download latest version with or of. site);
- Click "Create a New Virtual Machine";
- Using the "Browse" button, find and select in Windows Explorer ISO image file of the guest operating system (in our example this is Windows 7) → “Next”;
- The next window prompts you to enter your license key, select Windows edition for installation, and specify the computer administrator login and password. On at this stage It is not necessary to fill in all these fields, except for “Full Name” → “Next”;
- If you did not specify the key in the previous step Windows activation, you will see the following window, which says that you will have to activate the operating system manually after installation) → “Yes”;
- Next, you need to specify the name of the virtual machine, which will be displayed in the VMware Player console and select the location of the virtual machine on the computer → Next;
- Now we indicate the disk size of our virtual machine (you can leave it at the default – 60 GB, or specify your own value) → Next;
- After this, you will see a window that lists the main parameters of the installed system; by clicking here “Customize Hardware” you can fine-tune the hardware characteristics of the virtual machine: the amount of RAM, CPU properties, network parameters, etc.;
- The “Finish” button initializes the installation process of the operating system, and, unlike, the installation will take place automatically (no action is required from the user).
This completes the creation of a virtual machine in VMware Workstation 12 Player (in the screenshot is the guest operating system Windows system 7 running on Windows 10 host OS using VMware Workstation 12 Player). 
Virtual machine - software, emulating computer hardware. Allows you to create and simultaneously run several operating systems directly independent of each other.
The original, main or real operating system is called the host, while the OS installed through the virtual machine is called the guest, secondary or virtual. In this case, the host and guest OS will operate as separately as possible. In the event of a virus attack or other malicious activity on a virtual machine, the data of the real OS (host) will not be affected.
One of the most popular programs for creating a virtual machine is VMware Workstation or its reduced functionality, freely distributed version VMware Player. With its help, you can install a minor OS X on the main Windows OS or vice versa, as well as a number of other operating systems, for example, the Linux family. There are ample opportunities for setting up and debugging the virtual OS.
Before you create a virtual machine, you need to install special software that allows you to do this. In our case, this is VMware Workstation. If for some reason this particular program is not suitable for you, you can install a guest OS on a virtual machine Virtualbox.
Installing the VMware Workstation distribution is similar to any other software:
- Run the program's executable file. Preparations for unpacking will begin.
- Next, a window will appear in which you can select standard or custom installation. If you don’t know which components you need and are using a virtual machine for the first time, then choose the “standard” program package. If necessary, you can always expand the functionality and add them through the program menu.
- After clicking the Next button, you will be asked to select the directory in which the program will be installed.
- If necessary, you can mark the places where VMware Workstation shortcuts will be additionally placed for quick launch.
- At this point, the preparatory stage is considered complete, and after clicking the Install button, the distribution will begin the process of unpacking the main components.
Once the download is complete, a message will appear on the screen asking you to get started. This means that we have figured out how to install a virtual machine, and now we can start creating the virtual machine itself using VMware Workstation.
First start
The virtual machine and the guest operating system created in it will consume a certain amount of system resources. Therefore, before working with a virtual machine, it is recommended to close other resource-intensive programs, including those running in the background.
The next thing you need to understand is that the higher the production capacity of the computer, the more comfortable it will be to work with the virtual machine. It is not recommended to create, let alone run, more than one virtual OS on a device with weak hardware.
Will open immediately after launch home page programs. In total, the user will have access to two main menus: the top and side menus located on the left, as well as the main screen or “Home”.
The top menu is similar in its capabilities to most programs of this level. Here you will find all the tools you need to configure: file, edit, view, virtual machine, tabs, help.
On the left side of the screen is the “Library”. This is where all virtual machines installed in the program will be displayed. Using the same menu, you can find out how to delete a virtual machine.
The “Home” or central screen contains the most frequently used functionality. Allows you to immediately start creating a new virtual machine or launch a previously created one, even on another device (you must first copy the data), as well as connect to a remote server or synchronize with VMware vCloud Air.
Since it is impossible to install Windows on a virtual machine without first creating it, we suggest you familiarize yourself with this process.
Making a machine
To create a virtual machine, you must perform the following steps:
- Installation using a bootable DVD through a physical, not virtual, drive of a laptop or PC.
- Boot using a virtual drive and a ready-made image file (ISO).
- Postpone loading the OS until later and create only the VM shell.
If you decide to install a secondary operating system immediately by selecting one of the first two options, a window will appear on the screen with all the information regarding the installation of the application. In our case it is Windows. Here you can immediately enter all the necessary data, key and password, or postpone it until later.
If the first or second loading method was selected, then after all necessary settings The installation of the selected OS will begin. Otherwise, it will begin after debugging the basic configurations of the virtual machine itself.
If you decide to install a guest OS later, using the third option, the program will prompt you to select the OS type from the list: Linux, Windows, Other, etc. After this, you must specify the version of the OS that will be installed. As in the previous menu, you can mark it as “Other”, but only if the required version is not in the list.
The program has a huge selection of pre-installed configurations for a wide variety of operating systems and their versions. Therefore, there should be no problems.
Setting up the application shell
The next thing you need to do is give a name for the VM, and also indicate the directory in which the main components of the program will be installed.
If the device has several drives, for example, system C and D, then it is recommended to change the location of the main folders and other system data of the VMware Workstation virtual machine to D. That is, to the drive that is not the system drive. This must be done so that in the event of a virus attack, unauthorized access, or an ordinary failure of the host (real OS), the VM files are not damaged.
Before you set up your virtual machine, make sure you know exactly what settings you need. Otherwise, leave the settings at default.
Thus, after reinstalling the main operating system on drive C, the data of the secondary one will not be affected.
You will only need to re-download the VMware Workstation program shell, and then turn on the existing virtual machine, pointing the program to the path to the files. But before you run it, make sure everything is necessary tools already installed.
Now you need to select the maximum amount of disk memory that the virtual machine you are creating will occupy. The default is 60 GB. This is sufficient for most tasks, but you can change this setting to a higher or lower value if you wish.
Here it is also necessary to take into account the fact that while saving, without dividing the disk space into several components, the guest OS you created in the virtual machine and the included host will run much faster.
At this point, the VM configuration is considered complete. And after clicking the Finish button, the process of loading the secondary, virtual, operating system will begin.
Virtual machine configuration
Typically, the need for additional settings VM does not occur. VMware Workstation automatically adapts to the system and offers the most optimal option. Moreover, if during the installation most of the parameters did not change and were selected by default.
If necessary, some configurations can be changed after downloading. Namely:
- open shared or remote access to some files and folders;
- change the characteristics of the VM hardware;
- add or change a previously selected drive for installing a secondary operating system;
- change settings for connecting external and USB devices.
To make some files and folders available for shared use by the guest OS and the host, you must:
- Go to the tab " Options" and in the drop-down list find the line " Shared folders ", depending on the version which may have a different name.
- In the window that opens, check the box “ Connect as network drive in Windows guests».
- After this, an additional Add button will appear, by activating which you can create and select a folder that you plan to make publicly available for the guest OS and the host.
To avoid problems with data loss and reinstallation of the main OS, it is recommended to select a directory that is not located on the disk with the real operating system installed on it.
After completing the steps described above, the folder will automatically become public. When you configure the default settings, you will be able to use the system's capabilities drag-and-drop, both from the secondary OS to the host, and vice versa. If any of the described functions are not necessary, then do not forget to uncheck the unnecessary option.
As you can see, setting up a virtual machine does not take much time and does not require additional knowledge to understand how it works.
Common problems and their solutions
Most of the problems, as a rule, arise due to the lack of necessary components for correct operation. computer hardware(processor, video card, audio card, etc.) components. Do not forget that the secondary OS, like the main one, needs the most necessary programs, ensuring stable operation of the video adapter, audio card, etc.
To avoid unnecessary problems with finding and installing them, immediately after loading the VMware OS onto the virtual machine, you will be prompted to install an additional component - VMware Tools, made in order to simplify work not only with the VM, but also with external devices, for example, printers, faxes, USB drives.
If for some reason this does not happen, then you can start loading the tool yourself. To do this, go to the menu item “ Virtual machine» and in the drop-down list find an offer to download this package. Upon completion, you will be prompted to reboot the guest OS. The installed tool will start working automatically, and no additional operations need to be performed to start it.
One of the most common problems is the appearance of an error like: The VMware Authorization Service is not running. To solve it, just go to the “Services” menu on the main OS, this can be done through the Control Panel - Administration. Then, in the list of services, find the one you need and start it. If necessary, enter the name manually. If it appears that this service is already working, then turn it off and on again.
To avoid most problems, it is strongly recommended to install only official or verified builds of the program.
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