Since I used VMware for the first time I have been fascinated about the virtualization technology.
On this page I put up some useful things for use with VMware products. Have fun, but use at your own risk.
If you want to contact me, see the end of the page.
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VMware Workstation 5 includes a very nice tool, vmrun, that allows the user to control some VMware functions via the command line, mostly to start and stop virtual machines.
The tool VMRemote takes this further by exposing vmrun's commands to the network so they can be executed from another computer. VMRemote and its client require the .NET Framework 1.1.
Features of version 1.2:
Download VMRemote 1.2 Requires .NET Framework 1.1
Download VMRemote 1.2 Client API docs (for developers, extract into client directory)

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On the offical VMware page the command-line tool DiskMount can be downloaded which allows offline mounting of VMware virtual disks as a drive letter.
The shell extension lets you mount such virtual disks via a Windows Explorer context menu.

Update August 23, 2008: Starting with version 6, VMware Workstation includes its own feature to mount virtual disks offline. This feature also contains a shell extension. Since there is some functional difference to DiskMount, there are still reasons to use DiskMount rather that the Workstation mechanism.
There's one difference between the two mounting mechanisms that almost kills the Workstation feature for me: Safety. DiskMount doesn't let you mount a disk that is part of a snapshot chain. If you modify such a disk, you'll damage your snapshots. The Workstation mechanism doesn't have this safety net and you are on your own. That's why they recommend to mount disks read only. Now, how can you copy files into a VM and feel safe that you don't accidentially corrupt it at the same time?
DiskMount is no longer a standalone download, it is now part of the VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit.
Update October 25, 2008: Updated shell extension to version 1.1 for compatibility to the VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit.
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I've put together a package containing drivers and tools for using with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 within VMware products. For Windows for Workgroups drivers, take a look at this other package.
The package contains:
Basically, I recommend copying all files in the archive into an INSTALL directory within the virtual machine, such as C:\INSTALL. Below I'll outline the steps to install each component.
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Microsoft Network Client 3.0 / Network card driver:
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Activating the network in Windows 3.1:
Important: The MS-DOS network drivers must be loaded for the network to function in Windows. |
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CD-ROM driver: In DOS mode, go into the CDROM directory and run INSTALL.EXE. You should use the "Easy Install" option unless you have problems. |
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Sound driver:
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DOSidle tool:
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I've put together a package containing drivers and important updates for running Windows for Workgroups 3.11 within VMware products. For MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 drivers, take a look at this other package.
The package contains:
Basically, I recommend copying all files in the archive into an INSTALL directory within the virtual machine, such as C:\INSTALL. Below I'll outline the steps to install each component.
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If you have an MS-DOS or older Windows system running (Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98/ME or below), logon attempts from such versions to a Windows Server 2003 domain fail out of the box because Windows Server 2003 domain controllers have communication signing (SMB signing) enabled by default and the old systems do not support it. SMB signing was introduced to prevent malicious users from tampering or intercepting network traffic.
If you need a quick-and-dirty solution for compatibility reasons, simply turn of SMB signing at the domain controller - see below for how to do this. For more details about this issue and ways to resolve it, see Microsoft's KB entries 811497 and 555038.
How to disable communication signing on Windows Server 2003:
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The default sound card emulated in VMware Workstation is a Sound Blaster PCI 128. By modifying the machine configuration file (VMX file), the card can also be changed to a different one, like the Sound Blaster 16, which is especially useful for MS-DOS and Windows 3.x VMs.
The following table shows which drivers to use for for Windows and MS-DOS operating systems:
| Card short name | Card name(s) | Operating systems | VMX file entry1 | Driver to use2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES1371 | Sound Blaster PCI 128, Creative AudioPCI (ES1371, ES1373) | Windows Vista (32-bit), Windows Server 2008 (32-bit) (probably older systems too) (probably 64-bit too) | sound.virtualDev = "es1371" | The VMware VMaudio sound driver that is included in the VMware Tools that come with VMware Workstation 6.5 (probably VMware Server 2.0 too). |
| ES1371 | Sound Blaster PCI 128, Creative AudioPCI (ES1371, ES1373) | Windows 2000, Windows XP (32-bit), Windows Server 2003 (32-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit), Windows Server 2008 (32-bit) | sound.virtualDev = "es1371" | Sound Blaster PCI 128 driver for Windows 2000 (SBPCI128Setupus_w2k.exe) |
| ES1371 | Sound Blaster PCI 128, Creative AudioPCI (ES1371, ES1373) | Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME | sound.virtualDev = "es1371" | Sound Blaster PCI 128 driver for Windows 9x (SBPCI128Setupus_w9x.exe) |
| SB16 | Sound Blaster 16 | Windows 95 MS-DOS mode, Windows 98 MS-DOS mode | sound.virtualDev = "sb16" | Sound Blaster 16 driver for Windows 95 MS-DOS mode (95dosapp.exe) |
| SB16 | Sound Blaster 16 | MS-DOS, Windows 3.1 | sound.virtualDev = "sb16" | Sound Blaster 16 driver for DOS/Windows 3.1 (sbbasic.exe) |
1The entry is only for selecting the sound card device, not to add a new virtual sound card. It might not be present if the default emulated sound card is in use.
2Some of the systems might already include the necessary drivers and in this case no separate driver needs to be installed.
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I also like playing games, not only current ones, but also older games. The following is a list of operating systems that can or cannot be used for playing games in a virtual machine.
This list is specific to VMware Workstation (and probably also VMware Player) and is solely based on my own opinion.
| OS | Can Play? | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| MS-DOS | No | Slow. Problematic hardware setup. Don't use. Use DOSBox instead. |
| Windows 3.1 | Maybe | I only tried small games and no VMware Tools are available, so it may not work for more demanding games. |
| Windows 95 | Yes | Looks ok. |
| Windows 98 | Yes | Looks ok. |
| Windows ME | Yes | Looks ok. |
| Windows 2000 | Maybe | May work if games don't require graphics hardware features (T&L, shaders, etc.). |
| Windows XP | Maybe | VMware Workstation 6.5 includes DirectX 9.0c support for Windows XP1. |
| Windows Vista | Maybe | May work if games don't require graphics hardware features (T&L, shaders, etc.). |
1When I tried out this feature, I set all graphics settings in the games to minimum. It was still too slow for me, not fluid enough. Either my machine is too old for this or there is some improvent potential on VMware's side. On the host, I can play all the games I tried without noticeable problems.
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The page author is not responsible for the contents of the linked pages.
| http://www.vmware.com | Official VMware site |
| http://www.vmaschinen.de | German site about virtual machines |
| http://boling.us/ebs/apps/vmmaster | "VM Master", a tool to automatically start and stop Workstation 5 virtual machines. |
| http://www.vmware.com/community | Offical VMware discussion boards |
| http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware | "VM Back", Ken Kato's page with info about VMware internals as well as various tools and drivers. |
| http://vmware-forum.de | Unofficial german VMware forum |
| http://www.sanbarrow.com | Homepage of a virtual machine "mad scientist". |
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| October 25, 2008: | Added VMware VMaudio to sound driver article, edited a few articles for clarity, added screenshots to the DOS/Win driver package documentation, updated shell extension for VMware DiskMount. |
| October 15, 2008: | Renamed title of the sound driver article to a more appropriate one, added clarification about 32-bit systems, added clarification about ES1371 sound card name. |
| October 9, 2008: | Added info about games in virtual machines. |
| August 23, 2008: | Updated info about getting sound to work: Windows 95 MS-DOS mode drivers, Windows Vista info, updated links to sound drivers, added VMX file entries. Updated entry for the shell extension for VMware DiskMount. |
| April 4, 2006: | Added info about sound drivers, changed some texts, included sound driver in MS-DOS package again. |
| November 28, 2005: | Updated VMRemote to version 1.2 |
| October 23, 2005: | Added MS-DOS / Windows 3.1 driver package |
| October 2, 2005: | Updated VMRemote to version 1.1 |
| September 3, 2005: | Initial release |
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VMware is a trademark of VMware, Inc. I'm not affiliated with this company in any way, just another user of their great software.
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