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This section describes the following:

• Installing a Guest Operating System in a Virtual Machine
• Installing VMware Tools in the Guest Operating System
• About the VMware Guest Operating System Service

In most cases, you configure your virtual machine with a blank (unformatted) SCSI virtual disk. You can install an operating system on this virtual disk just as you would on a new physical machine, using a standard installation CD-ROM and formatting the virtual disk at the appropriate place in the installation process.

You may also install from image files — ISO image files of installation CD-ROMs and floppy image files of any floppy disks needed for the installation. Use the VMware Management Interface to connect the virtual machine's drives to the appropriate image files before you begin the installation.

Another approach is to start with a virtual disk created with VMware Workstation 3.2 or higher or with VMware GSX Server 2.5 or higher, then configure the guest operating system to work with VMware ESX Server.

Once your guest operating system is installed, be sure to follow the directions below for installing VMware Tools and the network driver.