install vmware on windows 7 (x64)

Here we go. Its relatively slow today, lets install VMware server on our little test instance of Windows 7 (x64). I believe this package was built for XP but lets give it a try anyway. After all - we want to test out some new thin client open source software we found (Windows Virtual PC unfortunately didn't make the cut this time).

Lets fire off this .exe and see where it gets us!

  1. At the "Welcome to the installation wizard for VMware Server" go ahead and click on Next
  2. At the VMware Server Agreement make sure you read the entire thing! There is lots of valuable information and if you agree with the License Agreement, go ahead and click on the "I accept the terms in the license agreement" radiobutton and then click on Next to proceed.
  3. At the setup type prompt, make your selection and click on Next. For this document, we are going to select the custom setup type.
  4. At the "select the program features you want installed" prompt, select the following:
    1. Under Server Components, click the down arrow to the left of VMware Server and assure "this feature will be installed on the selected drive" is selected
    2. Under Server Components, click the down arrow to the left of Vmware Management Interface and assure "this feature will be installed on the selected drive" is selected
    3. Under Client Components,  we don't need any of the API components. Click the down arrow to the left of VMware VmCom Scripting API, VMware VMPerl Scripting API, and Programming API and assure the "this feature will not be installed" is selected.
    4. Under Utilities, click on the down arrow to the left of VMware Diskmount Utility and assure "this feature will be installed on the selected drive" is selected.
    5. After you have made your selections, click on Next.
  5. At the VMware Management Interface is only supported on Server operating systems. You may encounter some issues when using VMware Management Interface On this system prompt, go ahead and click on OK.
  6. Ready to get this install rolling, click on Install at the final server component selection prompt.
  7. This package is approximately 150MB in size and depending on the system you are installing it on, it may take some time to install.
  8. At the windows can't verify the publisher of this driver software, click on install this driver software anyway.
  9. Since we happen to be installing an earlier version of VMware Server on a Windows 7 (x64) box, we did get the calssic warning: A recently installed program tried to install an unsigned driver. This Version of windows requires all drivers to have a valid signature. The driver is unavailable and the program that uses the driver might not work correctly. Unstall the program or device that uses this driver and check the publishers support website and get a digitally signed sriver.
    1. Driver: vmware network application interface driver (64-bit)
    2. Service: vmware network application interface
    3. Publisher: vmware, Inc.
    4. Location: c:\windows\system...\vmnetuserif.sys
  10. And one more (similar to step 9)
    1. Driver: vmware bridge driver (64-bit
    2. Service: vmware bridge protocol
    3. publisher: vmware, inc.
    4. location: c:\windows\syst...\vmnetbridge.sys
  11. Should everything went as anticipated, you should be prompted with the Installation Wizard Completed form. Click on Finish to continue. And be sure to reboot when requested!
  12. Once the reboot has finished up, go ahead and log in and launch the vmware server console. Start > All Programs > VMware > VMware Server > VMware Server Console
  13. Now that you have successfully installed vmware server on a windows 7 64bit OS, have at it and enjoy!
  14. Note to the masses, I still enjoy using Windows Virtual PC/Citrix over any vmware product.