MCSE ..VMWARE question

[Andr3w]

Hi,

I intend to learn this MCSE. I am new to this MCSE and VMWare.

I have e2160 Intel Dual CPU, 1GB DDR-RAM2, 80GB (divided into 3 partition).

I intend to read those MS Press books to prepare for MCSE.

I have a few questions. Hope somebody can help me.

1) VMWare Server / VMWare Workstation
Which is better to prepare for this MCSE exams? I do not care about the cost factor. The ease of use and setup and suitability for learning is what important to me.

2) I have Windows XP installed in my main partition. Do I need to uninstall that 1st before i install VMWare or can I just install VMWare straight away?
(Sorry as I never use VMWare before and I do no want to mess up my com)

3) When I setup those VMWare and Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP (if I have to), will it affect my 3 partitions? Meaning in the middle of all those, will I suddenly be in a situation where I have to destroy all my partition and repartition again? This is very important because all my important files on those other partitions will be lost right?

Hope someone can answer my this noob questions.

[Phoenix]

First off, buy more memory, memory is cheap atm and 4GB will cost you less than VMWare Workstation 6

find out what your mobo can support and fill it up


Workstation is a lot better than server for certain things, automation, snapshot recovery, etc, very handy for a home test lab, but Server will suffice for studying and is free (the money would be better spent on memory, but if you got some green, do both!)

Workstation and Server are applications that sit on top of XP, so no worries there
also look at maybe a second HDD or two for VMs, VMs primary bottleneck on desktops is disk i/o so if you can spread the load across a few disks you will be able to run more VMs

[Mell]

Hi,

as the previous poster has said more ram...

I have been using Vmware Workstation 5.something and have used the MS press books all the way through. You will not be disappointed.

You will also be able to use the com ports (within the virtual environment) to connect two systems back to back via serial link, which is useful when playing with RAS. Learn how to use TEAMS and set up a team of 'desktops' and another team of servers, use Team Lans for the teams and interconnect via the virtual switches described by VM2 and so on as well as the com ports.

VMWARE has been a very useful tool and without it I wouldn't have stood much chance of doing the exams that I have.

Mell

[Modey]

You could always give Virtual PC 2007 a go. It's also free to download and does it's job very well. It's perhaps not as in depth or customisable as VMWare Workstation, but it's easy to setup and use.

[doppers]

Hi

I am also starting an MCSE course soon and i am using VMWare Workstation 6.0.4 which so far seems great but when i try to install Windows Server 2003 it keep on saying Operating System cannot be found.

Can anybody help?

Thanks

[Qs]

The VM versions that support Windows Server '03 are listed here.

Else this article shows you how to install Server '03 using VMware

Hope this helps

Qs

[dmarsh]

Sometimes making an image of your OS install CD and setting the Vmware virtual CD drive to boot from Image solves issues with detecting the OS install CD...

Also check its a bootable CD obviously and that the Virtual machine is set to boot from CD.

[doppers]

Thank you for your quick reply

But i am still having problems.....still saying 'Operating System Not Found'

Any other ideas?

Thanks

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by doppers

Hi

I am also starting an MCSE course soon and i am using VMWare Workstation 6.0.4 which so far seems great but when i try to install Windows Server 2003 it keep on saying Operating System cannot be found.

Can anybody help?

Thanks

Is BIOS set to boot from hard drive first? If so, it'll never boot from CD until you switch the BIOS boot order.