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Creating a New Virtual Machine - (Windows XP Professional)
by Jeff Hunter, Sr. Database Administrator
Contents
Overview
Why post an article like this on the Oracle DBA Tips section of my website?
Well, the WMware Workstation product provides a unique opportunity for
me to have Windows XP (Professional) running on my laptop with the ability to install
another operating environment (Linux, Solaris x86, or even another version
of Windows) - all on the same machine without the need for dual-booting.
VMware provides me with a virtual machine that can run any of the
above mentioned operating systems simultaneously with Windows XP on my laptop.
I often find it necessary to do new installs or unique configurations of Oracle
on any of the Microsoft Windows professional editions while not
wanting to disturb my somewhat stable Oracle install on the laptop. This article
should be sufficient as a template for configuring a virtual machine for any
of the professional editions of Microsoft Windows - not just Windows XP Professional.
In VMware Workstation, a virtual machine is nothing more than a directory
of several files. After creating a virtual machine, (Linux, Solaris, etc.),
I typically
close down the VM and backup that directory to my NAS. Once
this directory is backed up, I have a complete copy of the virtual machine
that can be restored at any time. This gives me the ability to install
and configure Oracle on the virtual machine without the worry of messing anything
up that would otherwise take a long time to fix (or re-install the O/S). When I want
to go back to a fresh virtual
machine, I simply restore the directory and I am done - back to a fresh install.
As previously mentioned, I prefer to run Windows XP Professional on my main
laptop along with the most recent releases of Oracle9i and Oracle10g
for Windows on that laptop.
I also, however, need the ability to work with different Oracle configurations on Windows
when I have only my laptop. Although I have several different Windows machines
at home, I may be on the road with no access to my vast array of equipment.
This is where both VMware and Windows come in handy.
For installation instructions on installing VMware Workstation 4.5 on to the
Windows XP Professional operating environment, see my article entitled
"Installing VMware Workstation 4.5 - (Windows XP)".
Host Machine and Virtual Machine Configuration
About Microsoft Windows "Professional" Editions
Here is a list of the different Windows
editions that I consider professional and
will work with this configuration. They are the only
editions that I use in my Oracle articles based on Microsoft Windows:
The following is a list of Windows releases that
are not considered professional Windows versions
and typically will not be used in any of my Oracle
configurations:
Creating a New Virtual Machine for Windows
The first screen is simply a Welcome screen. Click [Next] to
start the virtual machine creation process.
The default option in this screen will be to create a 'Typical' configuration. Change
this option to 'Custom' and click [Next] to continue.
You are now asked for what guest operating system will be installed to
this new virtual machine. Choose which edition of Windows you will
be installing. For the purpose of this example, I will be configuring
this virtual machine for Windows XP Professional.
Click [Next] to continue.
VMware Workstation uses a user defined name to identify each virtual machine.
The default name is the same name as the guest operating system that you chose
for the new virtual machine. I typically change this to the server name (host name) I will
be using for the virtual machine. For the purpose of this example, my new server
name for the virtual machine will be "vmwindows1" so this is what I will type
in for the name and the directory. You can, however, simply leave it to the default.
This is a matter of choice and what you want to name the new virtual machine. After
deciding on the name for the virtual machine, click [Next] to continue.
Both Oracle9i and Oracle10g require a minimum of 256MB of RAM memory although
more memory is always better for performance. In my case, I do have the memory to spare and will be
giving the new virtual machine 512MB of memory given that I have 1GB of RAM on my laptop.
Select the amount of memory you want to dedicate to the new virtual machine and
click [Next] to continue.
You are now being asked for the network configuration. I typically keep the default, which is
a bridged network. This allows other computers on my network to access the virtual
machine. The other option, NAT allows your virtual machine to share the same IP
address of your physical (host) machine. Do not select the NAT option as the Oracle installation
will fail. The third option, host-only networking, allows only your physical (host) machine
access the new virtual machine. If you select this option, other computers on your
network will not be able to access the new virtual machine, but the Oracle install will
still be successful. After making your network choice, click [Next] to continue.
I always accept VMware's default option regarding the SCSI adapter to be
used and click [Next] to continue.
Once again, keep the default option of "Create a new virtual disk" selected and
click [Next] to continue.
You now need to choose a disk type. When creating a virtual machine for
Windows XP Professional, the default value will be IDE.
Here you should choose the default (recommended) option of IDE.
If we were creating
a virtual machine for Linux, Solaris, or one of the Windows Server editions
(i.e. Windows 2000 Server, Windows NT), the default would be SCSI.
If the default (recommended) option is SCSI for your edition of Windows, then choose that.
Yes, this works even though you may have no
SCSI I/O disks in your system. There is no performance differences by choosing
IDE or SCSI here. Keep in mind that the system will only perform to what you
actually have installed physically. If you do choose IDE, however, you will be limited
to a max of 4 disk that can be attached to the virtual machine.
Make your choice
and click [Next] to continue.
Since I will be using this new virtual machine for Oracle, I will need
a minimum of around 6GB (O/S files, RDBMS Software and new Oracle Database).
Even at 6GB, space is going to be tight. I would recommend somewhere between 8GB and 10GB
of space. I have the spare on my laptop, so I made mine 10GB. By default, the entire space
you request here is not immediately allocated. As VMware needs more space for the virtual machine,
it will allocate it to the upper limit you supply here. Since I know that I will be using
most of the space, I like to pre-allocate this space. You can pre-allocate this space (in my case 10GB)
by selecting the check-box "Allocate all disk space now".
After selecting the disk size, click [Next] to continue.
If you elected to
have the disk space pre-allocated, you will be given a warning that this
process can take a long time and some programs running on your system
may become unresponsive. I have never had an issue with pre-allocating space
and simply acknowledge this message.
WMware Workstation implements a virtual machine by using a disk file. This screen
allows you to name the VMware file. It really doesn't matter the name of this
file. I do, however, like to change it to the server name of the new virtual
machine. Again, this is simply a matter of choice and any name will be fine.
Make your selection and click [Finish] to start the creation process
for the new virtual machine.
After hitting the Finish button, the virtual machine process begins.
If you selected to have the space for the new virtual disk pre-allocated, you will
get the (above) "Create the disk" progress dialog.
If everything goes successful, you will have the new virtual machine in your
"Favorites" list.
Optional Virtual Machine Configuration Steps
Some considerations are removing floppy drives and sound cards. In my configuration,
the only device I want to remove is the audio device. Select the
"Edit virtual machine settings" and navigate to the device you want
to remove. The following screen shot shows how to remove the audio device:
Installing Windows XP Professional
As I did in the previous section for creating the new virtual machine, I
provide all screen shots for installing Windows XP Professional to
our new virtual machine.
After inserting the Windows XP Professional Installation CD into the physical CD-ROM and
powering up the new virtual machine it should boot from the installation CD.
What happens now is a normal Windows installation.
The first screen is main Windows setup screen. To start the Windows
XP installation process press [Enter]
to continue.
Read over the Microsoft Windows XP License Agreement. If you agree,
hit [F8] to continue.
The installer is asking where to install the Windows XP operating system files.
If you have been following the example in this article, we created a 10GB IDE disk
for this virtual machine. It is that disk we will use, however, notice that it is
not partitioned. At this point, we can hit [C] to create a partition or simply select
to [Install] to the unpartitioned slice. I always just choose to [Install] to the
unpartitioned slice. If you do simply hit [Enter] on the
unpartitioned slice, it will create a single partition that is the size of the
entire disk. This will be sufficient for this install.
The installer now wants to know how to format the new disk. Always
use the default option,
"Format the partition using the NTFS file system".
The installer will then format the new disk. This process should take
only a minute or two and no user intervention is required.
You should see the above screen shot when the format is complete.
Once the format is complete, the installer will then start copying
files. Once again, no user intervention is required.
The installer will then need to reboot the machine. (Just wouldn't be
Windows without a reboot!)
After the virtual machine reboots Windows, the installer will continue
copying more files for the installation. No user intervention is required.
The installation program will now start asking questions starting with
the Regional and Language Options. Click [Next] to accept the
defaults displayed or use the [Customize...] or [Details...]
button to change the Language or Keyboard options.
Enter your personal / user information and click [Next] to continue.
Now enter the hostname that will be used for this computer (virtual machine). You will also
need to set the password for the Administrator account. Click [Next] to continue.
Enter the correct date and time along with your time zone.
Click [Next] to continue.
Now for the most important part of the install process - Networking. My virtual
will be used to host Oracle. For this reason, I want to ensure that the virtual
machine will not use DHCP. Using the default option "[Typical settings]" will configure this
machine with DHCP. I typically choose "[Custom settings]". This will allow
me to configure my IP address along with other settings.
Select the component "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" and click the
[Properties] button.
Enter all networking parameters for your environment and click [OK].
This will put you back to the Network Components screen. Click [Next]
to continue.
My new virtual machine will not be part of a Windows Domain. Make your choice
and click [Next] to continue.
The installer will then continue the installation. No user intervention
is required. On my laptop, this installation took about 15 minutes.
Once that is complete, the virtual machine will be re-booted.
After the re-boot, the Windows XP installation is complete. Windows will then
display a Welcome Screen. Simply navigate through the next several screens to
complete the install.
Install VMware Tools
Accept the following dialog box by clicking on [Install].
This will start the VMware Tools installation wizard from within
the new virtual machine. Click [Next] to start the installation
process.
For my new virtual machine, I will only be using it with WMware Workstation
to the default option of [Typical] is good enough for me. Click
[Next] to continue.
Click [Install] to start the installation.
During the install process, Windows puts up several warnings indicating that the
drivers being installed are "unsigned". You can ignore these warning and select
the option needed to proceed with the installation. For Windows XP, this is the
[Continue Anyway] button.
After finishing the installation, you will need to re-boot the virtual machine.
(Just wouldn't be right if we didn't reboot once more!)
Backing up the New Virtual Machine
The first step is to shutdown the virtual machine. You can power
down the virtual machine by simply shutting down Windows. I also
like to completely close out VMware before starting the copy.
Once this is
done, simply backup the appropriate files as shown below:
All articles, scripts and material located at the Internet address of http://www.idevelopment.info is the copyright of Jeffrey M. Hunter
and is protected under copyright laws of the United States. This document may not be hosted on any other site without my express,
prior, written permission. Application to host any of the material elsewhere can be made by contacting me at jhunter@idevelopment.info.
I have made every effort and taken great care in making sure that the material included on my web site is technically accurate,
but I disclaim any and all responsibility for any loss, damage or destruction of data or any other property which may arise from
relying on it. I will in no case be liable for any monetary damages arising from such loss, damage or destruction.
This article provides the necessary steps to successfully create
a new Virtual Machine (VM) using WMware Workstation 4.5.2 to host Windows XP Professional.
Before diving into the instructions for creating the new virtual machine,
let's first talk about the host machine and operating system that I have
VMware Workstation installed on. Also in the table below is the configuration I
will be using for the new virtual machine we will be creating in this
article.
Host Machine
Host Machine Name
melody.idevelopment.info - (192.168.1.106)
Host Operating Environment
Windows XP Professional
WMware Version
VMware Workstation - Release 4.5.2 (Build 8848)
Host Machine
Dell Inspiron 8600 Laptop
Memory
1GB Installed
(The new virtual machine will take 512MB from this 1GB)
Hard Drive
60GB
Processor
2.0 GHz.
File System
NTFS
Guest Machine
Virtual Machine Configuration
Guest Operating Environment
Windows XP Professional
Guest Machine Name
vmwindows1.idevelopment.info - (192.168.1.113)
Memory
512MB
Hard Drive
10GB
I mentioned earlier that the instructions in this
article should be sufficient for any of the professional
versions of Microsoft Windows. What do I mean by professional
editions of Windows?
Finally, we get to actually creating the virtual machine for Windows XP Professional.
The process for creating a new virtual machine is very straightforward given
VMware's wizard driven menu system. The following screen shots demonstrate how
to create our new virtual machine. Start the VMware Workstation software
and choose "[File] -> [New Virtual Machine]".
Screen 1: - Welcome
Screen 2: - Select Appropriate Configuration
Screen 3: - Select a Guest Operating System
Screen 4: - Name of Virtual Machine
Screen 5: - Memory for the Virtual Machine
Screen 6: - Network Type
Screen 7: - Select I/O Adapter Types
Screen 8: - Select a Disk
Screen 9: - Select a Disk Type
NOTE:
When creating a virtual machine for Windows 2003 Server, however, the
default option is IDE. I am not sure why this is as I would have expected
it to be SCSI. Not sure if this is a bug, or if I am missing something.
NOTE:
With Windows XP Professional, you must choose the IDE option. The Windows
XP installer will fail when trying to identify the SCSI disk. If you do
require a SCSI disk for this virtual machine, (e.g. shared disk for Oracle database
files), we can create an additional hard drive (SCSI) after performing the Windows XP
Professional installer. We would then use VMware to edit the properties for our
virtual machine and add the new SCSI hard drive. Windows could then be used
to identify and partition the new disk for SCSI.
Screen 10: - Specify Disk Capacity
Screen 12: - Specify Disk File
Screen 13: - Creating the disk - Progress Dialog
Screen 14: - New Virtual Machine Created
Since the virtual machine I have created will only be used to host
Oracle, there are several devices that I can successfully remove from
the virtual machine. Having the virtual machine virtualize these
unnecessary hardware is a waste of resources that could be better served
with running Oracle.
The following screen show shows the devices that are configured now for
my new virtual machine:
Now that we have our new virtual machine, the only step remaining is to
install Windows XP Professional to this virtual machine. Microsoft Windows XP Professional
comes on one CD.
To start, insert the CD into the physical CD-ROM
drive and then power up the new virtual machine. There are several ways
to power up the virtual machine:
in the toolbar.
Screen 1: - Setup Screen
Screen 2: - License Agreement
Screen 3: - Installation Destination
Screen 4: - Format Disk
Screen 5: - Formatting Hard Drive
Screen 6: - Copying Files
Screen 7: - Reboot System
Screen 8: - Continue Setup
Screen 9: - Regional and Language Options
Screen 10: - User Settings
Screen 11: - Computer Name / Administrator Password
Screen 12: - Date and Time Settings
Screen 13: - Networking
Screen 14: - Configure TCP/IP
Screen 15: - Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties
Screen 16: - Workgroup or Computer Domain
Screen 17: - Continue Installation
Screen 18: - Welcome to Microsoft Windows
Although this is an optional step, you really should install
the VMware Tools for the new virtual machine. First, make sure
that your virtual machine (Windows XP Professional) is running.
Note that you will have to hit [CTL] - [ALT] to gain
control of your mouse outside of the virtual machine. From the
VMware menu, choose [VM] -> [Install VMware Tools].
Screen 1: - Installing the VMware Toolkit
Screen 2: - Welcome Screen
Screen 3: - Setup Type
Screen 4: - Ready to Install the Program
Screen 5: - Hardware Installation Warning
Now that you have your new virtual machine configured and working,
this would be a good time to back it up. This is a very straightforward
process as the virtual machine is nothing more than a few files in
a directory.
C:\> dir /A-R "C:\Documents and Settings\jhunter\My Documents\My Virtual Machines"
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 64AF-1569
Directory of C:\Documents and Settings\jhunter\My Documents\My Virtual Machines
01/13/2005 03:17 PM <DIR> .
01/13/2005 03:17 PM <DIR> ..
01/13/2005 05:26 PM <DIR> vmlinux1
01/13/2005 05:26 PM <DIR> vmwindows1
0 File(s) 0 bytes
4 Dir(s) 5,637,087,232 bytes free
C:\> mkdir "N:\Virtual Machine Backups\vmwindows1"
C:\> xcopy "C:\Documents and Settings\jhunter\My Documents\My Virtual Machines\vmwindows1" "N:\Virtual Machine Backups\vmwindows1" /s /e
C:\Documents and Settings\jhunter\My Documents\My Virtual Machines\vmwindows1\nvram
C:\Documents and Settings\jhunter\My Documents\My Virtual Machines\vmwindows1\vmware.log
C:\Documents and Settings\jhunter\My Documents\My Virtual Machines\vmwindows1\vmwindows1-flat.vmdk
C:\Documents and Settings\jhunter\My Documents\My Virtual Machines\vmwindows1\vmwindows1.vmdk
C:\Documents and Settings\jhunter\My Documents\My Virtual Machines\vmwindows1\winXPPro.vmx
5 File(s) copied
Sunday, 15-Jul-2007 22:21:02 EDT
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