Set Up VMware Workstation Pro

Lab SetupWindows/Linux host path45–75 minutesChoose one setup pathBuilds on: What Is a Virtual Machine?No lab next

Learning objectives

When you finish

• VMware Workstation Pro will be installed on your Windows host.
• Ubuntu Desktop will boot inside an x86-64 VM.
• The guest will use four processor cores, 8 GB of memory, a 60 GB virtual disk, and NAT networking.
• You’ll have a clean snapshot to fall back to before future labs.

Check the host first

This guide assumes a 64-bit Windows 10 or 11 host with an Intel or AMD processor. Before you download anything, open Task Manager, select Performance, then select CPU, and look near the lower-right corner for:

Virtualization: Enabled

If it says Disabled, hardware virtualization is switched off in your firmware and you’ll need to turn it on in the UEFI or BIOS. Depending on who built the machine, the setting is called Intel Virtualization Technology, VT-x, SVM Mode, or AMD-V, and it can be hiding almost anywhere in those menus. Change that one setting and nothing else while you’re in there so you can identify exactly what changed.

You’ll want roughly 6 GB free for the Ubuntu installer and up to 60 GB for the finished VM. The virtual disk grows as Ubuntu uses it, so it will not swallow the whole 60 GB on day one (it starts out much smaller).

Download VMware and Ubuntu

We’re using VMware Workstation Pro 26H1 for Windows. Follow Broadcom’s VMware desktop hypervisor download instructions and pick 26H1 specifically rather than whatever is labeled as the latest release. The installer screens move around between versions, and this guide follows 26H1. You may need a free Broadcom account with a completed profile before the download link will appear (the profile step is easy to miss). Workstation Pro 26H1 is free to use and does not need a license key.

Next, download the official Ubuntu 24.04.4 Desktop AMD64 ISO. The file you want is named ubuntu-24.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso. An ISO image is installation media packed into a single file. Leave it exactly as it downloaded, and VMware will attach it to the VM as a virtual DVD.

Open PowerShell on the Windows host and check what you actually got:

Get-FileHash "$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\ubuntu-24.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso" -Algorithm SHA256

The hash must be:

3a4c9877b483ab46d7c3fbe165a0db275e1ae3cfe56a5657e5a47c2f99a99d1e

If the hash doesn’t match, delete the file and download it again. Checking now helps you catch an incomplete or corrupted ISO before starting the installation.

Safety note

Use the x86-64 Ubuntu image

The download should say Intel or AMD 64-bit, or have amd64 in the filename. Don’t grab the ARM64 image for VMware Workstation on a normal Windows PC, because it won’t boot and the reason won’t be obvious.

Install VMware Workstation

1. Run the Workstation installer.
2. Accept the license agreement.
3. Keep the default installation location unless you have a reason to change it.
4. Leave Enhanced Keyboard Driver unchecked unless VMware says you need it. We won’t use it.
5. The update and customer-experience options are your call. Neither one changes the labs.
6. Select Install, approve the Windows administrator prompt, and let it finish.
7. Start VMware Workstation. If it asks for a license key, choose the free-use option.

Create the course VM

From the Workstation home screen:

1. Select Create a New Virtual Machine.
2. Choose Typical (recommended).
3. Choose Installer disc image file (iso), select Browse, and open the Ubuntu ISO.
4. If VMware offers Easy Install, go ahead and use it. You’ll need the username and password you enter when you sign in to Ubuntu. If VMware can’t identify the ISO, select Linux, then Ubuntu 64-bit.
5. Name the VM UnderDunn Systems Foundations.
6. Choose a storage location with enough free space.
7. Set the maximum disk size to 60 GB and choose Split virtual disk into multiple files.
8. Before you select Finish, select Customize Hardware.

Use these settings:

Setting	Course value
Memory	8 GB, or 4 GB if the host has only 8 GB total
Processors	1 processor with 4 cores
Network Adapter	NAT
CD/DVD	The Ubuntu ISO
Disk	60 GB

Don’t hand the VM every processor core or most of the host’s memory. Windows and VMware still have to run while Ubuntu is awake. A guest that has been handed everything makes the whole machine miserable to use.

Close the hardware window, select Finish, and power on the VM.

Install Ubuntu

VMware Easy Install may do most of this for you. If the normal Ubuntu installer turns up instead:

1. Select your language, accessibility settings, and keyboard layout.
2. Select Install Ubuntu.
3. Choose the interactive installation and the default application selection.
4. Let Ubuntu download updates if it offers.
5. Choose Erase disk and install Ubuntu.
6. Create your account. Something simple like student is fine (you will be typing it a lot).
7. Let the installation finish and restart the guest.

Erase disk and install Ubuntu sounds alarming, and it should, because installers normally mean a physical drive when they say that. Here it means the empty 60 GB virtual disk we just built. It does not mean the Windows drive in your host.

Confirm the result

Log in, open Terminal, and run:

uname -m

You should get:

x86_64

Then confirm the pinned guest release:

grep '^VERSION_ID=' /etc/os-release

It has to print VERSION_ID="24.04". Now update Ubuntu inside that LTS release:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

The first command refreshes the list of available packages and the second one installs the updates. The terminal won’t show dots or asterisks while you type your password, which throws a lot of people the first time they see it. It is working, so keep typing.

Ubuntu usually ships with VMware’s integration tools already installed. But if window resizing or the shared clipboard does not work, run:

sudo apt install open-vm-tools-desktop
sudo reboot

Take a clean snapshot

Shut Ubuntu down. In VMware Workstation, open VM → Snapshot → Take Snapshot and name it:

Clean Ubuntu installation

This gives you a known installation to return to if a later experiment leaves Ubuntu unusable. Keep the snapshot until you’ve established another verified recovery point.

Checkpoint

Ready to continue

Confirm that Ubuntu boots, uname -m prints x86_64, the network adapter is set to NAT, and the clean snapshot shows up in Snapshot Manager.

Check the setup and recover

Before continuing, confirm that Ubuntu boots, reports x86_64, and can reach its package repositories. Keep the recovery point so you can return to this working setup.

• VMware cannot see virtualization support: stop, check Task Manager again, and follow your manufacturer’s firmware instructions. Don’t go changing unrelated firmware options while you hunt for it.
• The guest keeps booting the installer: power it off, disconnect the ISO from the virtual CD/DVD, and boot from the virtual disk instead.
• Architecture is not x86_64: delete the VM and rebuild it from the verified AMD64 ISO. Converting one after the fact is not worth the trouble.
• Networking fails: confirm NAT is selected before you start editing Ubuntu network files.
• The baseline gets uncertain: restore the clean snapshot and run the confirmation commands again.

Keep Ubuntu running, and continue to Prepare Your Course Workspace and complete it inside the VM.

Keep VMware Workstation documentation available while checking the VM configuration. Match the documentation version to the installed version if a control has moved.

Check your understanding

Knowledge check

Question 1 of 2

The Ubuntu desktop starts. Which evidence checks the instruction set needed by the course binaries?

The guest reports x86_64The guest reports UbuntuThe host reports x86_64

Check answer