Running Windows And Linux On A Single System

Here are my top VMware Server hints and tips:

• Disk speed: Most distros contain the safest, most conservative options for determining hard-disk speed. You may be able to double your HD access speed. You can find out more this Stanford University "Tuning the System" page.

• Split your virtual drive (the flat file which is the VMware guest "hard drive") into a growable drive in 2-GB chunks. This will reduce your file size to the actual size of your files installed into the Windows virtual drive. I found this drastically increases access speed.

• Most Windows tips and tricks also apply to Windows run in a virtual environment. Utilities will work the same way. You secure it the same way, with a firewall and antivirals. It's just like native mode for the most part, except that it'll crash less.

• If a program on a network drive runs slowly or oddly, reinstall it in Windows to get it to run at acceptable speed. I had to do this with Eudora, MS Office, CorelDR AW, and Paint Shop Pro. If you have a native C:/Program Files on an original Windows installation that is being moved to a VMware Server guest, move Program Files to the virtual Windows drive. Don't leave it on Drive E: (i.e., /home/username/win).

Split the Virtual Disk for Higher Speed and Easier Backup

Before starting this part, find VMware hints and tips in the Reference section below, as it covers command line utilities and where to get them. Next, the following command does the actual splitting of the virtual disk using a VMware Server command line utility:

# VMware-vdiskmanager -r sourceDisk.vmdk -t 3 destinationDisk.vmdk

chown username:username *.vm*
chmod 777 *

Open the original *.vmx file. Make sure it points to the first of the series of split files the flat file originally created will become. VMware-associated files are listed in this text file: /etc/VMware/locations.

VMware Server running a Windows guest on a Linux host provides the user the advantages of both OSes. Namely, Linux stability and malware immunity, plus Windows program availability. It also provides future-proofing to the extent that this is possible on a modern computer system. As Linux programs become available that provide identical or better functionality, the user can easily move on to those Linux programs.

I use this setup myself, and I find myself increasingly using Linux applications that work just as well or better than Windows programs. Also, for the most part, Linux programs are free and can be installed from an installer GUI or a simple CLI command. By and large, once successfully set up, it just works.

References for VMware Server Installation and Operation Documentation

You can download documentation for VMware Server at the links below. This documentation will provide you with the information referenced in this Recipe. It will also provide background, supplemental information that can help you troubleshoot problems and extend the functionality of VMware Server.

The following manuals can be found on this VMware Technical Documents References page. I recommend you grab these three:

• Guest OS Installation Guide: This is for OS-specific information, including information on Vista, and 64 bit driver issues.

• Virtual Machine Guide: This provides details on the virtual machines which are created by VMware Server in which the guest operating systems run.

• VMware Server Administration Guide: This provides detail on how the overall VMware Server environment operates.

A. Lizard is an Internet consultant in the San Francisco Bay area. He has been writing for technology magazines and Web sites since 1987.