This tutorial is about making a virtual machine/PC so that we can run another OS alongside the current one. Eg. make a virtual WinXP system with a pre-installed Win7. Not dual boot system ok!

So what do we need?

1. The .iso or CD for the OS installation.
2. Download and install VMware Player (it’s free) and either one of this file: WinXP or Ubuntu.
3. Knowledge about formatting a PC. Not that hard, just follow the instructions mentioned.

Steps (I’ll focus on WinXP first):

• Unrar the WinXP.rar file. Notice there’s a folder named vmdk. This folder contains few virtual hard disc command file. 2g means 2gb of storage capacity, so choose any that suits your need.
• Make a new folder, name it WinXP or whatever so you won’t confuse it with other windows file. This will be our new system folder, meaning everything related to the virtual OS will be located in here.
• Copy the WinXP (.vmdk) and 5g (.vmx) files into the new folder. Should look like this: 

• You can rename the .vmdk file if you want, in my case I change 5g to WindowsXPPro, simply because I like it that way.
• Right click on WinXP and Open with Notepad. Follow what mentioned in the picture below:  

• Click File and Save as WinXP.vmx (careful not to save it as .txt). 
• If you’re using image file (.iso), make sure you put the file in the same folder as the VMware files (.vmx and .vmdk).

• Double click WinXP (.vmx) and this will run the VMware Player.
• Install the OS like normal.
• To boot the virtual OS, run VMware player and choose from there.

If you look closely, you’ll notice few icons at the bottom right side of the player. You can enable/disable any setting you want, this will shift the USB or Bluetooth or External HDD from your host OS (your default OS) to the virtual OS. I find this quite useful as I can always transfer files between my Win7 and Ubuntu/WinXP by just enabling and disabling my HDD. You can’t do this if you dual booted your OS.

It’s pretty much the same for setting up Ubuntu, just make sure you name the required files correctly before you proceed with installation. You can delete the image file (.iso) after done installing. Experiment a bit, I spent hours before I got it correctly. Drop me your comment if you have trouble, I’ll try to assist if possible.

Credits: msoe.edu, johnbokma.

PS: Ctrl+Alt if your mouse got stuck within two OS :P