Although I’ve received a similar notice when running beta VMware Workstation on my systems, I most recently have been exploring the Player 3.1 Beta. The following screen shot shows the debug mode pop up notification whenever a VM is powered on.

Disable Debug Mode In VMware Workstation on Windows

Here’s one of the latest VMware Communities threads explaining how to do it: Turn off Beta Debug mode. As described in the forum thread, the answer to disabling debug mode could be this simple:

Rename vmware-vmx-debug to vmware-vmx-debug.save.
Copy vmware-vmx to vmware-vmx-debug.
Enjoy.

In the past that’s all I had to do with Workstation on my Windows computers.

To expand the realm of possibilities you could encounter depending on your Windows OS flavor and VMware Workstation beta, the post Get Rid of Debug Mode in VMware Workstation Beta explains two other scenarios:

1. Paste “%PROGRAMFILES%\VMware\VMware Workstation\” (without the quotes) in your windows explorer bar and press Enter to open the local installation folder of VMware Workstation.

2. Now there are two cases depending upon your host’s environment and your VMware Workstation’s version,

• Either you’ll see two files with names, vmware-vmx-debug.exe and vmware-remotemks-debug.exe. In this case,
  1. First rename vmware-vmx-debug.exe file to vmware-vmx-debug.exe.old.
  2. Then rename vmware-remotemks-debug.exe file to vmware-vmx-debug.exe.old.
• Or, you’ll see two folders with names bin and bin-debug. In this case,
  1. First rename the bin-debug folder to bin-debug-old.
  2. Then make a copy of the bin folder and rename the copied folder to bin-debug.

That’s it. After making these changes you’ll get rid of the debug mode forever.

Eureka! Bye Bye debug mode for Windows.

Disable Debug Mode in VMware Workstation on Linux

For ending Workstation beta debugging on Linux the process is essentially the same. Search your own distribution to be sure, but the files to be renamed should be found at /usr/lib/vmware/bin.

Disable Debug Mode in VMware Player – Not Possible?

I have tried to disable debug mode in the Player 3.1 beta  without success. If I rename the files as suggested in the VMware Workstation workarounds above I end up with the following error message when starting a VM.

The error is looking for it, but there was not a file named vmware-vmx.exe anywhere on my 64 bit Windows 7 system.

I found a thread in the VMware Player 3.1 beta community forum that confirmed VMware Player does not allow debug mode to be disabled. Gather debugging information contains a response from VMware Developer jameslin that states:

“The beta version of Player doesn’t include a release version of the vmware-vmx.exe binary, so currently there is no way to disable running it with debugging enabled.”

Since VMware Workstation includes a copy of VMware Player, I guess I will have to install the full beta of Workstation 7.1 to explore VMs running in Player 3.1 without debugging getting in the way.

I am downloading my copy as I write this post, but several new features have caught my attention.

• Open GL 2.1 support for Windows 7 and Vista guests
• Improved graphics support enabling high resolution videos in VMs
• Autologin for Windows Guests
• Inclusion of the OVF 1.0 command line tool to convert VMs to .OVF files for exporting to other hypervisors
• 8 way vCPU support in VMs
• up to 2TB virtual disks
• Direct Launch – drag icon to host desktop and seamlessly start an application inside a VM – even after closing VMware Workstation or Player.
• Support for Fedora 12 as a guest OS
• VMware Ace upgraded to version 3.7

Also, I can’t help but notice Known Issues from the Release Notes such as the following:

“Display

• Exiting FIFA 08 game on Windows 7 guests and hosts with Aero enabled, might cause the desktop wallpaper to turn black.
• There are known issues with the ATI Linux driver 10.2. VMware recommends that you use ATI Linux driver 9.11 for the best 3D user experience.”

Looks like I’ve got some new testing to do! (and maybe a new 3D games video to make!)

Copying more information from the Release Notes:

With this release of VMware Workstation, VMware Player, and VMware ACE the following new features and operating systems have been added:

Operating System	Host and Guest Support
Ubuntu 8.04.4	Host and guest
Ubuntu 10.04	Host and guest
OpenSUSE 11.2	Host and guest
Fedora 12	Guest
Debian 5.0.4	Guest
Mandriva 2009.1	Guest

New Features in VMware Workstation and VMware Player

To provide feedback on the new features of the VMware Workstation 7.1 and VMware Player 3.1 Beta, go to the Beta Community site. For more information on how to provide feedback, see Product Feedback.

• OpenGL 2.1 support for Windows 7 and Vista guests — Improves the ability to run graphics-based applications in virtual machines.
• Improved Graphics Performance — Enhanced performance with better benchmarks, frame rates, and improved rendering on Windows 7 and Vista guests allows you to run various graphics-based applications. In addition, major improvements in video playback enable you to play high-resolution videos in virtual machines.
• Automatic Software Updates — Download and install VMware Tools, new, and maintenance releases updates when available.
• Autologon — Save your login credentials and bypass the login dialog box when you power on a Windows guest. Use this feature if you restart the guest frequently and want to avoid entering your login credentials. You can enable Autologon when you open guest applications from the host.
• OVF 1.0 Support — Import or export virtual machines and vApps to upload them to VMware vSphere or VMware Cloud. The VMware OVF tool is a command-line utility bundled in the VMware Workstation installer. Use this tool along with VMware Workstation to convert VMware .vmxfiles to .ovf format or vice versa. VMware recommends that you use the OVF command-line utility. For more information, see the OVF Tool User Guide.
• Eight-Way SMP Support — Create and run virtual machines with a total of up to eight-processor cores.
• 2TB Virtual Disk Support — Maximum virtual disks and raw disks size increased from 950MB to 2TB.
• Direct Launch — Drag guest applications from the Unity start menu directly onto the host desktop. Double-click the shortcut to open the guest application. The shortcut remains on the desktop after you exit Unity and close VMware Workstation or VMware Player.
• User Experience Improvement Program — Help VMware improve future versions of the product by participating in the User Experience Improvement Program. Participation in the program is voluntary and you can opt out at any time. When you participate in the User Experience Improvement Program, your computer sends anonymous information to VMware, which may include product configuration, virtual machine configuration, usage and performance data, and information about your host system specifications and configuration.The User Experience Improvement Program does not collect any personal data, such as your name, address, telephone number, or email address that can be used to identify or contact you. No user identifiable data such as the product license key or MAC address are sent to VMware. VMware does not store your IP address with the data that is collected.For more information about the User Experience Improvement Program, click the Learn More link during installation or from the WorkstationPreferences menu.

When I went to uninstall VMware Tools after powering the VM on Ubuntu and in VirtualBox I received a message that “no VMware Products were detected”. Luckily, I quickly figured out I wasn’t the first to attempt this move and experience this hurdle. The post Uninstalling VMware tools when not running on a VMware host tells the same tale and provides the answer.

“I added the VMware Tools ISO to that VM and opened a command prompt. Then I found the “setup.exe” or “setup64.exe” files on the cd. Run those in the cmd window with a /c switch. (example:  ”setup64.exe /c” )  This will remove the Tools.  I installed the VirtualBox additions and then reboot.  On my Windows 2008 server it crashed on first reboot, then then I tried again and it loaded up just fine.  Network works and everything! Yay!”

On my Windows host with VMware Player installed (VMware Workstation has a similar location) the windows.iso file was found at C:\program files(x86)\VMware\VMware Player\windows.iso. Your path needs to be adjusted based on whether you have a 32 bit or 64 bit OS obviously. Mine was a 64 bit host even though the directory was at c:\program files(x86), by the way.

I’ll let you figure out your preferred method on how to copy the windows.iso file to the Ubuntu host, but once you do you can:

1. mount the .iso in the virtual CDrom of the VM in VirtualBox.
2. Use the command prompt to start the appropriate setup.exe file with the /c or /clean switch

The /c or /clean  switch forces the uninstall of VMware Tools on Vmware Player.

I ran it like so:

>setup64.exe /c

and got the following message before clicking OK.

If you are a stickler for a completely clean removal of the tools check out the following VMware KB article for how to manually remove the tools and even clean the registry afterwards. The KB Article also has a script attached to it to help automate the process

Cleaning up after an incomplete uninstallation on a Windows host

Interestingly enough, the full Console ESX 4 install DVD is not recognized by VMware Player 3.0 for an Easy Install. However, performing a full ESX 4 Easy Install is possible with a last minute switch of the install media. That is, first browse to the ESXi 4 .ISO, complete the new VM Easy Install wizard, but modify the hardware before booting and change to the ESX 4 DVD .ISO. Watch the video at the end of this post for a demonstration on getting full ESX4 to work.

The rest of this post highlights the important parts of the Easy Install of ESXi 4 on VMware Player 3.0 with screen shots. To get an idea of more of the Easy Install screens check out my post about installing Windows 7 as a VM in Workstation earlier this year.

ESX/ESXi 4 not listed as a supported version

If you choose to install the OS later you won’t find a pre existing option to build an ESX VM. In Workstation 7 ESX 4 is found under “Other” Guest operating systems, but it is missing as a selection in the free Player (shown in the next image).

Starting the ESXi 4 Easy Install

However, when you select the ESXi 4.0 .ISO image as the installer disk during the New Virtual Machine Wizard an Easy Install becomes possible. In the image below the mouse is pointing at the informational message “ESX Server 4.0 detected” that appeared after I browsed to the ESXi 4 ISO file.

As I previously mentioned, selecting the full ESX 4 DVD did not detect and therefore an Easy Install was not possible.

This almost feels as if Workstation 7 code was accidentally left in the new release of VMware Player. Remember when remote administration of ESXi 3.5 was accidentally left enabled? Otherwise, this is the first VMware “virtual Easter Egg” that I am aware of.

Getting back to using the ESXi 4 .ISO, clicking Next launched an Easy Install just like in Workstation 7. A few clicks later the settings summary screen showed that a template was in fact used, and my VM would be built with 2 GB RAM, 2 vCPUs, and an operating system of “ESX Server 4.0″. I want to point out that I was never prompted to confirm or select any of these settings other than the size of the hard disk. The hard disk was 40 GB by default and thin provisioned. The only time I deviated from the default options was to choose to split the .vmdk in 2GB files.

Clicking Finish started the new VM and launched the install with the usual Easy Install footer message and instructions. See the next screen shot:

After the installation finished I was able to install the vSphere Client on the hosting desktop and connect to my ESXi 4 VMware Player instance. Using the nested ESXi’s local VMFS I tested running 2 different VMs. I created a DSL (Damn Small Linux) VM which I then booted to the live CD. Later I downloaded the Nostalgia virtual appliance and ran it completely from the nested, local VMFS datastore.

UGHtv video – Full ESX 4 Easy Install work around

I recorded the workaround process for invoking the Easy Install with the ESXi ISO and then switching to the full ESX 4 DVD. I’ve also started a VIMEO channel called UGHtv! Look for more virtualization videos I create there as well as other’s videos that I’ll share from that channel.

UGHtv VMware Player Easter Egg? ESX 4 Easy Install from Rich Brambley on Vimeo.

VMware’s free Player 3.0 now can create new VMs, but unlike the licensed VMware Workstation 7, ESX/ESXi 4 is not listed as a supported guest operating system. However, this video demonstrates that if you select the ESXi 4 install ISO an Easy Install routine is started that pre-configures a nested ESX 4 VM capable of running it’s own guests.

More information and a download link is available at VMware Communities: VMware Player Release Candidate.

The Feature Highlights listed on the VMware Player 3.0 RC Page:

• The ability to create Virtual Machines
• Aero support for Windows 7 and Windows Vista guests!!!
• OpenGL support for Windows guests (give Google Earth a try!)
• New User Interface including a Virtual Machine Library
• Windows 7 support (as a Host and Guest OS)
• Automatically download and install the latest VMware Tools package
• Multiple Monitor Support
• Print from your VM without installing printer drivers. Virtual Printing courtesy of our friends at ThinPrint.
• ALSA Sound support on Linux hosts enables multiple VMs to play “music” concurrently
• VIX API support will let our coding fans write applications that can interact with their VMs

I have not had the opportunity to try the new Player yet, but I plan on downloading it soon and will probably post some screen shots when I get it installed.

Some exciting new features of the latest version are the support for 3-D graphics, a GUI based Linux installer, faster performance for transferring files between guests and host as well as seamless windows on the host desktop (the popular Unity feature already in Fusion and the new Workstation version).

VMware Player is a free download from VMware that lets you run virtual machines (VM) on your desktop. Unlike Workstation, Player does not have the ability to create a new VM. However, using the online easyVMX virtual machine creator lets you work around this limitation.

The following is taken from the “What’s New” section of the previously mentioned Player Release Notes page:

New Support for 32-Bit and 64-Bit Operating Systems

This release provides experimental support for the following operating systems:

• 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows Preinstallation environment (all versions) as a guest operating system
• 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows Recovery environment as a guest operating system
• 32-bit and 64-bit Ubuntu LTS 8.04.1 as a guest operating system

This release provides full support for the following operating systems in addition to those operating systems supported

in previous releases:

• 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows 2008 Standard Server, Data
  Center, Enterprise, and Small Business Server as guest operating
  systems without Hyper-V
• 32-bit and 64-bit Asianux 3 as a guest operating system
• 32-bit and 64-bit CentOS 5.0-5.2 as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.0-5.2 as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, Update 7
  (Workstation, Enterprise Server, and Advanced Server) as host and guest
  operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 and 5.2 (Advanced
  Platform, Desktop, and Server) as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 and 10 SP1 and SP2 as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2 as a guest operating system
• 32-bit and 64-bit Mandriva Linux 2008 as a guest operating system
• 32-bit and 64-bit Ubuntu LTS 8.04 as host and guest operating systems
• 32-bit and 64-bit Solaris 10 Operating System for x86 Platforms, 10 5/08 (Update 5), as a guest operating system

Major New Features

• Unity view — Integrate your favorite guest
  applications with your host. Open the application window, enter Unity
  view, and the VMware Player window is automatically minimized. The
  guest application windows look just like host application windows, but
  with color-coded borders. You can access the virtual machine’s Start
  menu (for Windows virtual machines) or Applications menu (for Linux
  virtual machines) by placing the mouse pointer over the host’s Start or
  Applications menu, or by using a key combination.
• Installer bundle for Linux hosts — Installing
  VMware Player on Linux hosts just got a lot easier. The new bundle
  format provides a graphical UI wizard for most Linux operating systems.
  With a few mouse clicks, VMware Player is installed. For users who want
  a custom installation, a command-line interface provides complete
  control.
• Accelerated 3-D graphics on Windows XP guests — VMware Player 2.5 virtual machines now work with applications
  that use DirectX 9 accelerated graphics with shaders up through Shader Model 2.0 on Windows XP guests. Hosts can be running
  Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Linux.

Usability Enhancements

• Full screen mode — While in full screen mode, you can now switch from one powered-on virtual machine to another.
• Suspend and exit — Both Windows and Linux hosts now support suspending the virtual machine when exiting.
• Change preferences — Set preferences, such as how devices are displayed in VMware Player.
• Expanded in-product help system — When you choose Help > Help Topics, or click a Help button in a dialog box,
  you have access to twice as much content as was provided in VMware Player 2.0.

Performance Improvements

• Folder sharing and dragging, dropping, copying, and pasting text and files — Transferring files between
  virtual machines or between host and guests using these features is up to 25 percent faster.
• Memory allocation — Change the amount of memory allocated to the virtual machine.

New Platform Capabilities

• (Experimental) Support for smart cards in virtual machines — You can plug a smart card reader into a host
  and insert your smart card to authenticate yourself on your host or on a guest. Smart cards can be shared between the host and
  guests or between guests.
• Text copy and paste enhancements — On Windows guests, you can copy and paste text in rich text format,
  and copy up to 4MB of text. (On Linux guests, the old limitations still apply. You can copy and paste up to 64K of plain text.)

virtualization, vmware, vmwareace, vmwareplayer, vmwareworkstation, vmwareserver

What really amazed me was that the author’s pc for this computer has the following hardware:

Intel C2D 4300@2700

2GB DDR2 667

Nvidia 7900GS

Here’s the link to the video and the discussion on YouTube.com
YouTube – VMware player 2.0 on Ubuntu 7.04

In my experience, the simplest solution has been to

The site is intuitive and straightforward. There is even a tutorial if you can’t figure it out:

These are the steps for creating and running a virtual machine in VMware Player:

• Install VMware Player. (Requires reboot…)
• Go through EasyVMX!.
• Download the virtual machine created by EasyVMX!.
• Unzip the virtual machine to a folder of your choice.
• Double-click on the vmx-file to start your virtual machine.

Now you can insert an installation CD into your CDROM drive, and start installing!