How to run Ubuntu and Kbuntu in VMware Player

I had an itch today to run Ubuntu.  I actually wanted to see how Konqueror compared to Safari in rendering as I needed a way to test since I don't own a Mac. Since Safari is a descendent of Konqueror it makes sense that they render the same for the most part.

I started by downloading and installing the free VMware Player.

I then downloaded the Ubuntu iso (disk image) from Ubuntu's site.  I had the best luck with the torrent files.  I was able to download the 696mb iso in 20 minutes.  Since I'll be touching on it later you can also get the Kbuntu iso from the Kbuntu site.

Now that I have VMware and the iso's I need to make a Virtual Hard Disk.  I found directions online here. 

First I needed to download and install QEMU because you need the qemu-image.exe to emulate/create the virtual hard disk.

After you installed QEMU open a command window and change directories to c:\program files\QEMU or whatever the directory name you put the files.  Once you are in the directory run the following command which will allowcate 3GB for a Ubuntu virtual hard drive.

qemu-img.exe create -f vmdk Ubuntu.vmdk 3G Formating 'Ubuntu.vmdk', fmt=vmdk, size=3097152 kB



For Kbuntu:

qemu-img.exe create -f vmdk Kbuntu.vmdk 3G Formating 'Kbuntu.vmdk', fmt=vmdk, size=3097152 kB



This will create a file Ubuntu.vmdk or Kbuntu.vmdk in the QEMU folder.

Create a folder called Ubuntu or Kbuntu in My Documents > My Virtual Machines and move the vmdk file you just created in there. Also copy the iso file to this folder. Finally, create a blank text file and name it either Ubuntu.vmx or Kbuntu.vmx which are VMware Configuration files.

In the Ubunti.vmx files paste this:

config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "3"
ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.filename = "Ubuntu.vmdk"
memsize = "256"
MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"

#ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
#ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

ide1:0.fileName = "ubuntu-6.06-desktop-i386.iso"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

ide1:0.autodetect = "TRUE"
floppy0.present = "FALSE"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
usb.present = "TRUE"
sound.present = "TRUE"
sound.virtualDev = "es1371"
displayName = "Ubuntu"
guestOS = "Ubuntu"
nvram = "Ubuntu.nvram"
MemTrimRate = "-1"

ide0:0.redo = ""
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
uuid.location = "56 4d 5c cc 3d 4a 43 29-55 89 5c 28 1e 7e 06 58"
uuid.bios = "56 4d 5c cc 3d 4a 43 29-55 89 5c 28 1e 7e 06 58"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:7e:06:58"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

tools.syncTime = "TRUE"
ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"

uuid.action = "create"

checkpoint.vmState = ""

For Kbuntu.vmx paste this:

config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "3"
ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.filename = "Kbuntu.vmdk"
memsize = "256"
MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"

#ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
#ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

ide1:0.fileName = "kubuntu-6.06-desktop-i386.iso"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

ide1:0.autodetect = "TRUE"
floppy0.present = "FALSE"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
usb.present = "TRUE"
sound.present = "TRUE"
sound.virtualDev = "es1371"
displayName = "Kbuntu"
guestOS = "ubuntu"
nvram = "Kbuntu.nvram"
MemTrimRate = "-1"

ide0:0.redo = ""
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
uuid.location = "56 4d cf a0 97 ef 95 ad-c2 6a 6e 62 5b f2 78 ff"
uuid.bios = "56 4d cf a0 97 ef 95 ad-c2 6a 6e 62 5b f2 78 ff"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:f2:78:ff"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

tools.syncTime = "TRUE"
ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"

uuid.action = "create"

checkpoint.vmState = ""

Save the file and close it.  All you have to do now is double-click the vmx file and it will launch VMware Player and boot with the iso image as the Boot CD (you don't need to even burn a CD).

If you decide to install Ubuntu, at the end of the installation you will be prompted to reboot, before the system starts up go in and modify the vmx configuration file so that it boots off the virtual drive instead of the iso by modifying these four lines

Find:

#ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
#ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

ide1:0.fileName = "ubuntu-6.06-desktop-i386.iso"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

Replace with:

ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

#ide1:0.fileName = "ubuntu-6.06-desktop-i386.iso"
#ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

The great thing about Ubuntu is that it runs live right off the CD you don't even need to install it if you don't want to.  The differences between Ubuntu and Kbuntu is Ubuntu uses Gnome as it's Desktop and Kbuntu uses KDE.  Like I said at the beginning I wanted to test sites against Konqueror and with Konqueror being a KDE application it was installed by default in Kbuntu and ran perfectly right off the live CD without installation.  It can run off Ubuntu but you'll need to install Ubuntu then install Konqueror from the Synaptics Package Manager.