Setting up VMware
VMware allows you to run simultaneous operating systems. The VM in
VMware stands for virtual machine. You install a host operating system, such
as Windows XP, and then install VMware Workstation on top of it. Then you
install the guest operating system in VMware. The virtual machine is similar
to your real machine: You can power it on and off, and it boots up just like
the real thing. As a guest operating system, VMware allows you to install anything
that runs on the Intel x86 architecture. This means you can install
Solaris x86, Windows 2003 Server, Red Hat Linux, SUSE Linux, or any other
operating system you choose. Still need to test Windows 98 programs? Use
VMware. The only thing stopping you from running every operating system
known to man is disk space and real memory.

You can download VMware from www.vmware.com. It takes up approximately
21MB.
Hover your cursor over the Products link at the top of the page and select the
VMware Workstation link from the resulting drop-down list. If you click the
red Buy Now button at the top, you go to the VMware Store, where you find
out that VMware Workstation for Windows costs $189. After you use the software
for a while, you’ll agree this is a good price. (You can get a 30-day trial if
you are not convinced.)

After you download VMware, it installs like any Windows application. Just
follow the installation wizard.
During the download process, you might see a warning message to disable
AutoRun. VMware doesn’t like the CD-ROM AutoRun feature. (From a security
standpoint, you shouldn’t either.) Agreeing with VMware and disabling
AutoRun is a good idea.
When the installation is complete, you need to reboot your machine. Now
you are ready to add some guests or virtual machines. Installing new
machines is easy:

1. Start VMware.
You see a window like the one shown in

2. Click the New Virtual Machine icon.
This starts the process of creating your first virtual machine. The New
Virtual Machine wizard appears.

3. Click Next.

4. Select Typical and click Next.
The Select a Guest Operating System window appears.

5. Select the OS you want to install.
You have a choice of the following:
• Microsoft Windows
• Linux
• Novell Netware
• Sun Solaris
• Other
If you select Other, you can install FreeBSD. Many good tools run on BSD.
If you select Linux, you can select a Linux version from the drop-down box.

6. Select the version you have and click Next.

7. Type a name for your guest in the Virtual Machine Name box. Then click Next.
You can create any name you want, so pick one that is meaningful to
you. Also, decide where you want to store the image. Leave the default
unless you have a compelling reason not to do so.

8. Select the Network Type. Click Next.
We suggest that you select Use Bridged Networking because it allows
you to talk to your host operating system.

9. Specify Disk Capacity.
Virtual machines have virtual disks. You can pick any size you want as
long as you have the available space. We recommend you leave the
default of 4GB and leave the two other boxes deselected.

10. Click Finish.
However, you are not quite finished because you don’t have a
system image.

You now have a big choice. You can start the VM and install Red Hat
Linux from a CD-ROM, or you can point to an ISO image. For this exercise,
we’ll do the latter.

11. From the Commands panel, click Edit Virtual Machine Settings.

12. Click CD-ROM.
If you want to install the operating system from a CD, then skip to Step 14.

13. From the right-hand pane, select Use ISO image.

14. Click the Browse button and find your ISO image. Click OK.

15. Click Start This Virtual Machine from the left-hand pane.
When you do this, you see a familiar display: The VM goes through the
POST routine, does a memory check, and then boots itself.

Cygwin and VMware are wonderful tools, but you need to install them on
your system; they won’t run any other way. If you don’t want to install software
on your system, you can use products like Knoppix and WarLinux that
boot from a diskette or a CD.

Linux distributions on CD
The following solutions are different from the partitioning and emulation
solutions discussed above. What makes them different is that you don’t need
to install them on your system: They boot and run completely from a CD.
Knoppix, for instance, runs from a CD based on the Linux 2.6.x kernel. It is
a free and Open Source GNU/Linux distribution. You don’t need to install
anything on a hard disk; it’s not necessary. Knoppix has automatic hardware
detection and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB
devices, and other peripherals. It includes recent Linux software, the K Desktop
Environment (KDE), and programs such as OpenOffice, Abiword, The Gimp
(GNU Image Manipulation Program), the Konqueror browser, the Mozilla
browser, the Apache Web server, PHP, MySQL database, and many more quality
open-source programs. Knoppix offers more than 900 installed software
packages with over 2,000 executable user programs, utilities, and games.
You can download Knoppix (it is approximately 700 MB) or you can buy it
from a CD distributor. Knoppix is available for download from www.knoppix.
net/get.php. It’s also included on a DVD in Knoppix For Dummies by Paul
Sery (Wiley).
Knoppix is not the only distribution of Linux that fits on a CD. Consider also
using one of the following Linux CD distributions:
- Cool Linux CD: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfilesphp?group_id=55396&release_id=123430
- DSL (Damn Small Linux): www.damnsmalllinux.org
- GNU/Debian Linux: www.debian.org
- SLAX: http://slax.linux-live.org
- WarLinux: http://sourceforge.net/projects/warlinux

WarLinux is a special Linux distribution made for wardrivers. It is available
on either a disk or bootable CD. The developer of WarLinux
intended systems administrators to use it to audit and evaluate their
wireless network installations.



Taken from:
Hacking Wireless Networks For Dummies®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com