Installation guide

Table Of Contents
Procedure
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Select Do not create a disk.
Complete Virtual Machine Creation
The Ready to Complete page enables you to review your virtual machine’s configuration.
To perform additional configuration before completing the virtual machine, select the Edit the virtual machine
settings before completion check box and click Next.
Before you can use your new virtual machine, you must first partition and format the virtual drive, install a
guest operating system, then install VMware Tools. Typically, the operating system’s installation program
handles partitioning and formatting the virtual drive.
Installing a Guest Operating System
Installing a guest operating system inside your virtual machine is essentially the same as installing it on a
physical computer.
The basic steps for a typical operating system are described in this section. See Guest Operating System Installation
Guide for more information on individual guest operating systems.
NOTE It might be necessary to change the boot order in the virtual machine’s BIOS settings. However,
sometimes a virtual machine’s boot sequence progresses too quickly for a user to open a console to the virtual
machine and enter BIOS setup. If this happens, select the Boot Options option on the Options tab of the Virtual
Machine Properties dialog box, and select The next time the virtual machine boots, force entry into the BIOS
setup screen. The virtual machine will enter the BIOS setup the next time it boots.
Using PXE with Virtual Machines
You can boot a virtual machine from a network device and remotely install a guest operating system using a
preboot execution environment (PXE).
To do this, the virtual machine must meet the following requirements:
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Have a virtual disk without operating system software, and with enough free disk space to store the
intended system software.
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Have a network adapter connected to the network where the PXE server resides. (see “Network Adapter
Types,” on page 162)
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BIOS must include the network adapter in the boot order.
NOTE vmnext3 adapters can enter neither UPT nor CDPT mode while booting from a PXE.
VMware has tested and supports the following PXE configurations with ESX Server:
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Remote installation of a Windows Server 2003 guest operating system from a server running Windows
Server 2003 Automated Deployment Services
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Remote installation of a Windows 2000 guest operating system from a server running Windows 2000
Server/Advanced Server Remote Installation Services
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Remote installation of a Linux guest operating system from a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 AS PXE boot
server
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Remote installation of a supported guest operating system from a Ghost image using Windows 2000 and
Ghost RIS Boot package
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Remote installation of a supported guest operating system from an Altiris image using a Windows 2000
Altiris server
vSphere Basic System Administration
122 VMware, Inc.