VM Ware?

PTRMAN · March 10th, 2008

My work uses Cisco VPN, which doesn't work with the 64-bit rig in my sig. Since I really don't want to go back to the old sucky laptop when I need to work from home I'm thinking about my options.

1) Buy 32-bit XP Pro (recommended by my IT) and dual-boot
2) Buy 32-bit XP Pro and VM Ware just to run VPN. Supposedly this will allow me to boot into Vista 64 and then run the VPN in a XP window without having to dual boot. Vista works fine for everything else I do, so this sounds like a better option to me (other than cost).

Anybody have any experience with this program? I've seen a lot about dual booting (haven't looked but I'm sure there are lots of threads here about it) but I know nothing about VM ware. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

garetjax · March 10th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by PTRMAN

Anybody have any experience with this program? I've seen a lot about dual booting (haven't looked but I'm sure there are lots of threads here about it) but I know nothing about VM ware. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I personally think VMWare is an excellent program and I have successfully used it on a Windows XP 32 bit machine and VM'd a Windows Server 2003 AD/Domain environment. It's stable, solid, and extremely easy to use.

screwballl · March 10th, 2008

VMWare is excellent but I also use MS VirtualPC 2007 without a problem... not sure about VPN support though

polobunny · March 10th, 2008

VMWare from my last experience (when I was testing Vista in january before getting my new stuff) is much faster than MS VirtualPC 2007 and also more complete.

**Hitman** · March 10th, 2008

VMware is a good program. It does cost money where MS VirtualPC 2007 is free. Me personally I would dual boot, but a virtual PC is not a bad option. It also depends on what your doing on the VPN, if you just need to check email and do some non resource hungry work then a Virtual PC should work fine.

polobunny · March 10th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hitman

VMware is a good program. It does cost money where MS VirtualPC 2007 is free. Me personally I would dual boot, but a virtual PC is not a bad option. It also depends on what your doing on the VPN, if you just need to check email and do some non resource hungry work then a Virtual PC should work fine.

VMWare Player is free though. :)

screwballl · March 11th, 2008

VMware Server is too... I may have to do some playing now that I see the Server is free..........

VMware Server, Virtual Server Consolidation, Free Virtualization - VMware

VMware Player, virtual machine, virtual PC - VMware

Thats the problem with Player... you can only use a preconfigured or previously created VM, but not create your own...
but with Server you can create and do whatever else is needed...

Quote:

With VMware Player, you can use any virtual machine created by VMware Workstation, VMware Server or VMware ESX Server, as well as Microsoft virtual machines and Symantec LiveState Recovery disks. Use 32- and 64-bit Windows, Linux, NetWare, or Solaris x86 operating systems side-by-side, without rebooting or partitioning your hard drive.

tryten · March 11th, 2008

You don't have to use a preconfigured VM for the player. VMXBuilder and VMXWizard are two programs you can use to easily build yourself a VM. I have built many VMs using these tools. I have build Win 98 VMs, XP, Vista as well as 7 different Linux OSes.

Both programs are free and work rather well. I use the Wizard to create VMs and the Builder to modify them. VMPlayer is a very very nice tool. I honestly don't know what I would do without it.

PTRMAN · March 11th, 2008

I appreciate all the help, but a lot of what you're talking about has left my head spinning. I get the general concept of using a VM to run XP, but not the details. Is there such a thing as "VM for dummies" site?

PTRMAN · March 11th, 2008

Quick Google search on xp within vm on vista brings up a few sites, but they all seem to use virtual pc 2007.

Geek to Live: Run Windows XP inside Vista with Virtual PC

Run XP in Vista and vice-versa | Vista Rewired

http://www.vistahunt.com/how-to-run-windows-xp-under-windows-vista.html

for a **** like me it seems like these walk-throughs might be the best approach. I think I'll try this and see just how slow it is. If too slow I could then try something a bit more robust. My IT guy said he'd use VM Workstation.

March 10th, 2008	#1
PTRMAN Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: New Jersey Posts: 698	VM Ware? My work uses Cisco VPN, which doesn't work with the 64-bit rig in my sig. Since I really don't want to go back to the old sucky laptop when I need to work from home I'm thinking about my options. 1) Buy 32-bit XP Pro (recommended by my IT) and dual-boot 2) Buy 32-bit XP Pro and VM Ware just to run VPN. Supposedly this will allow me to boot into Vista 64 and then run the VPN in a XP window without having to dual boot. Vista works fine for everything else I do, so this sounds like a better option to me (other than cost). Anybody have any experience with this program? I've seen a lot about dual booting (haven't looked but I'm sure there are lots of threads here about it) but I know nothing about VM ware. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

March 10th, 2008	#3
screwballl Colonel Calamity Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Sandy South Posts: 6,281 Blog Entries: 6	Re: VM Ware? VMWare is excellent but I also use MS VirtualPC 2007 without a problem... not sure about VPN support though Thanks HL and Corsair! My opinions are my own and not representative of this site or its members.

March 10th, 2008	#4
polobunny T-Rex Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 4,575 Blog Entries: 6	Re: VM Ware? VMWare from my last experience (when I was testing Vista in january before getting my new stuff) is much faster than MS VirtualPC 2007 and also more complete.

March 10th, 2008	#5
Hitman Functional Alcoholic Join Date: May 2006 Location: 14S E:561116 N:3830189 Posts: 4,221 Blog Entries: 2	Re: VM Ware? VMware is a good program. It does cost money where MS VirtualPC 2007 is free. Me personally I would dual boot, but a virtual PC is not a bad option. It also depends on what your doing on the VPN, if you just need to check email and do some non resource hungry work then a Virtual PC should work fine.

March 11th, 2008	#8
tryten Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 4	Re: VM Ware? You don't have to use a preconfigured VM for the player. VMXBuilder and VMXWizard are two programs you can use to easily build yourself a VM. I have built many VMs using these tools. I have build Win 98 VMs, XP, Vista as well as 7 different Linux OSes. Both programs are free and work rather well. I use the Wizard to create VMs and the Builder to modify them. VMPlayer is a very very nice tool. I honestly don't know what I would do without it.

March 11th, 2008	#9
PTRMAN Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: New Jersey Posts: 698	Re: VM Ware? I appreciate all the help, but a lot of what you're talking about has left my head spinning. I get the general concept of using a VM to run XP, but not the details. Is there such a thing as "VM for dummies" site?

March 11th, 2008	#10
PTRMAN Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: New Jersey Posts: 698	Re: VM Ware? Quick Google search on xp within vm on vista brings up a few sites, but they all seem to use virtual pc 2007. Geek to Live: Run Windows XP inside Vista with Virtual PC Run XP in Vista and vice-versa \| Vista Rewired http://www.vistahunt.com/how-to-run-windows-xp-under-windows-vista.html for a **** like me it seems like these walk-throughs might be the best approach. I think I'll try this and see just how slow it is. If too slow I could then try something a bit more robust. My IT guy said he'd use VM Workstation.

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