Vmware Server is a free to download virtual machine tool that allows you to install the various type of operating systems under a virtual environment.

Before you attempt to install Windows Vista, please make sure that your computer has at least 1GB of RAM (preferably 2GB), 16GB of hard disk space and a genuine Vista CD.

Here are the steps to install Windows Vista in Ubuntu using Vmware Server.

Download the VMware Server software from VMware download site. Remember to register to get your license key. You will need it for installation.

Launch Archive Manager and extract the downloaded file to /tmp directory

Next, we need to prepare our system for VMware installation.

In your terminal,

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential
sudo apt-get install xinetd

Now the installation,

cd /tmp/vmware-server-distrib (or whatever directory you have extracted to)
sudo ./vmware-install.pl

The installer will then guide you through the installation. Press “Enter” for all the questions. The last step require you to enter the license key.

Once installed, launch the VMware from Application -> System Tools -> Vmware Server Console

Click “Create a new virtual machines”

Choose “Typical” in the Virtual Machine Configuration

Under the Guest Operating system, choose “Microsoft Windows”. At below, scroll down to “Windows Vista (experiemental)”

Enter the name of your virtual machine and choose the location where you want to save it.

Under Network Condition, choose use “Network Address Translation (NAT)”.

Under the Disk Size, allocate 16GB to the disk size and make sure the split disk into 2GB files is checked. If you just want to try out Vista, uncheck the allocate disk space now.

Ok. Now insert in your Vista installer CD.

On the VMware console, click “Power on this virtual machine”.

The virtual machine will now boot up with your installer CD and guide you through the Vista installation process.

Once the installation of Vista is completed, press “Ctrl + Alt” to get out of the VMware console.

On the VM menu, select “Install Vmware tool”. Now you’ve got enhanced graphics and mouse cursor that can move in and out of the virtual machine.

That’s it. Done!

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