Changes

The objective of this chapter is to provide information on installing VMware Server 2.0 on the Microsoft Windows Server family of operating systems. For information on installing on Linux system systems, refer to the chapter entitled [[Installing VMware Server 2.0 on Linux Systems]].

VMware Server 2.0 is designed to run on Windows Server host operating systems and is not (according to VMware, Inc.) intended for use on desktop variants of Windows (such as . That said, the official list of supported systems and the list systems on which the product will actually run are two very different things. In fact, testing performed for this book found VMware Server 2.0 to run without any problems on both Windows XP or and Windows Vista)even though these are not officially support platforms.  In addition, VMware Server 2.0 is not supported on Windows Server 2008Core. That said, the list of supported Windows operating systems is quite extensive and provides support for both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms.

== Installing VMware Server 2.0 on Windows using the Wizard ==

The downloaded Windows installation file will have a name similar to ''VMware-server-2.x.x-xxxxxx.exe'' where the 'x' characters represent the current VMware Server 2.0 release and build numbers. Installation may be performed either using a graphical wizard or by issuing commands at a command prompt. The disadvantage of the wizard approach is that it does not provide the ability to control which networking options are configured, instead installing them all (bridge, NAT and Host Only) by default. For more control over the installation of networking options, use the command prompt installation approach covered in the next section of this chapter. To initiate the wizard based installation process, navigate to the location of the downloaded installer either using Windows Explorer or at the command prompt and execute the file. After a short delay while the installer unpacks the files necessary to proceed, the ''Installation Wizard for VMware Server'' welcome screen will appear. On this screen, click ''Next'', read and accept the license agreement and click ''Next'' once again. On the ''Destination Folder'' screen either accept the default location into which VMware Server is to be installed (typically ''\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server\'') or use the ''Change'' button to specify an alternate location. The next screen contains the server configuration settings as illustrated in the following figure: