how do i get started with vmware

[vernonls]

Hello,  I would like to try vmware, but all the tutorials seem oriented to something much more complicated than I want to do.  I have a single PC, but it is a good one with dual xeon cpus and 12 GB of ram and plenty of disk space. I would like one virtual machine that could host xp, vista, w7, w8.1 and more, but everything I see that is supposed to be helpful is about configuring one pc to act as a host server and another to act as a host manager.

Can I do something as simple as I want to do and if so what do I need to download to do it?  Or am I wasting my time and I should just use a multi-boot loader?

thanks,

Vern

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

ESXi is a Type 1 Hypervisor (i.e. installed directly on the hardware) and doesn't have a GUI, which means you need to access the VMs from other systems.

For the use case you mention I think ESXi might not be the right product for you. Did you already take a look at VMware Workstation or VMware Player?

André

[vernonls]

That was a really helpful answer.  It looks like this is pretty much the same capability as Microsoft's virutal pc in that it relies on the underlying operating system to support it.  I have used the microsoft product and while it is nice that it is free, it seems very limited.

Thanks again, I will download and try it to see how it differs from the Microsoft product.

vern

[Dee006]

Vern,

Have you tried the VMware hands on lab VMware - NEE really helpful for the start up.