topic Re: How can I nest a VM within another VM in VM Workstation 16 Pro? in VMware Workstation Pro Discussions

How can I nest a VM within another VM in VM Workstation 16 Pro?

jefazo92 — Sat, 12 Feb 2022 17:43:12 GMT

Hi everyone,

I have VM Workstation 16 Pro with a student license. It has Ubuntu installed but if I want to nest it with a Windows 7 VM (which would be running in the Ubuntu VM), do I need to install VM again in my Ubuntu VM? As a side note, I have Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI enabled. Thank you in advance.

Re: How can I nest a VM within another VM in VM Workstation 16 Pro?

scott28tt — Sat, 12 Feb 2022 19:53:07 GMT

How else would Ubuntu run.a VM? Does it have a hypervisor of it’s own?

Re: How can I nest a VM within another VM in VM Workstation 16 Pro?

jefazo92 — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 10:17:38 GMT

Hi @scott28tt thank you very much for your reply. I'm just using VMware hypervisor for Ubuntu (I have Windows Hyper-V deactivated). Therefore, how may I install another VM within Ubuntu? Will my VMware workstation pro 16 allow me to do this with the same student license I have right now.

Re: How can I nest a VM within another VM in VM Workstation 16 Pro?

scott28tt — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 11:03:47 GMT

Why do you need to nest? Why not run Windows 7 as a VM on your host OS with Workstation?

Re: How can I nest a VM within another VM in VM Workstation 16 Pro?

jefazo92 — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 11:40:07 GMT

I am trying to install Cuckoo to analyse malware for my assignment and I need to run a Windows 7 VM within an Ubuntu VM. That is why I need to use nested VMs.

Re: How can I nest a VM within another VM in VM Workstation 16 Pro?

CarltonR — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 21:42:33 GMT

It would appear that you have two basic options, Nested and a 'Private' setup . . . although it's not really clear why you need this to run your analyser !

Nested: you can Nest VMware Workstation within another, but with quite a performance hit. In your setup you could have your VMware Workstation Pro on the host, with the Ubuntu VM in which you have VMware Workstation Player installed, then create a Win 7 VM within this. But please don't come back to this forum complaining of poor performance.

Private: The other alternative would be to setup within your current VMware Workstation Pro two VMs, one with Ubuntu and the other with Win 7, and setup with a private network connection, appropriately configured, between the two VMs.

Re: How can I nest a VM within another VM in VM Workstation 16 Pro?

jefazo92 — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 18:56:37 GMT

@CarltonR I'm interested in the Private Network option. I will try the nested VM nonetheless just to see how it goes. Would you mind to tell me how I could set up a private network between various VM instances? Or at least point me to a tutorial which explains how to set it up? I would really appreciate it.

Re: How can I nest a VM within another VM in VM Workstation 16 Pro?

a_p_ — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 19:45:14 GMT

You can create a "LAN segment" to which you then only connect the two VMs.
A LAN segment can be created from within a VM's settings for the virtual network adapter.

André