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zsolt11
Contributor
Contributor
‎12-31-2014 08:31 AM

How to run virtual systems (guest os-t) directly ?

After making a "virtual" linux or windows with vmware workstation how can you boot it directly without a primary operation system ?

I want to run the created guest operation systems directly. Basically when I press the power button on the computer I want to run the created guest o.s. without using vmplayer or workstation. Is there an application,program for that ?

Now:

if I have a guest operation system .... after restart :  .... (obviously) I have to start the primary OS windows or linux ....afterwards I'm able to start the guest system.

The problem is i don't need the first (primary system) ... After powering on the computer I want to power on directly the "guest" system.

Is there a way to do that  ?

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal
‎12-31-2014 09:20 AM

What you're asking is not doable with a Type 2 Hypervisor like VMware Workstation/Player as it require the Host OS and VMware Workstation/Player to be running although using a Type 1 Hypervisor (also referred to a Bare Metal Hypervisor) like VMware vSphere/ESXi it's doable.  However that too does not fit precisely the paradigm you've mentioned although it's the closest you're going to get to what you've expressed you want.

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dariusd
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
‎12-31-2014 11:25 AM

Hi zsolt11, and welcome to the VMware Communities!

Your request isn't entirely clear to me... If you only want to run one of the operating systems at a time, it sounds more like you want to be able to "dual boot" your host into one of your guest OSes.  To allow to you that choice, VMware Workstation can take an OS that is installed on a separate partition of your host's disk (or a separate disk altogether) and run it as a virtual machine... When powering on the host machine, you would be able to choose whether to boot into your existing primary OS then launch Workstation and then run the virtual machine, or boot directly into the second operating system.  You can't run more than one operating system concurrently if you do this, though, and it is definitely not straightforward to set it up.

If that sounds like what you are looking for, here's a starting point in the Workstation documentation: Installing a Guest Operating System on a Physical Disk or Unused Partition  (Searching for "physical disk" in the documentation will give you more useful info.)  There's also some really good info in the Tech Note on Dual-Boot Computers and Virtual Machines, but it's somewhat outdated... it was written before SATA was common.  You'll need to refer to your OS installation instructions to determine how to set it up as a dual-boot OS on a separate disk or partition on the host.  Only consider this option if you are very (very) comfortable with configuring dual-boot computers and troubleshooting bootloader and OS kernel startup issues, because it's unlikely to simply work for you the first time.

Cheers,

--

Darius

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