Install VMWare Workstation on Linux Mint 20

Linux Tutorial

VMware is a well-known hypervisor that provides virtualization. Virtualization software establishes an abstraction layer over computer hardware, allowing a single computer's physical elements to be separated into several virtual machines (VMs).

Even though it is running on a part of the actual underlying computer hardware, each virtual machine runs independently on its own operating system.

Here at Ibmi Media, as part of our Server Management Services, we regularly help our Customers to perform related Linux system Virtualization queries.

In this context, we shall look into how you can install VMware on Linux Mint 20.

Steps to Install VMWare Workstation on Linux Mint 20

1. Perform system Update

Before you can proceed with the installation, update your Linux mint system:

$ sudo apt update

2. Install System Dependencies

Now, ensure to install all the dependencies for the installation of VMWare to proceed without a hitch:

$ sudo apt install build-essential gcc wget linux-headers-generic linux-headers-$(uname -r)

With the package index refreshed and dependencies installed, we can now get along with the actual installation.

3. Install VMware workstation

Next, download the latest version of VMware workstation using the following wget command. By the time of going live, the latest version of VMWare workstation is 16.2.1.

First navigate into the/tmp directory:

$ cd /tmp

Using the wget command, download the VMwareinstallation file:

$ wget --user-agent="Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:75.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/75.0" https://www.vmware.com/go/getWorkstation-linux

With the installation file downloaded, make it executable using the chmod command:

$ chmod +x getWorkstation-linux

Next, run the binary installer to begin the installation process:

$ sudo ./getWorkstation-linux

Once the installation is done, you will get a notification on your terminal that everything went okay and that the installation was a success.

How to Launch VMWare Workstation ?

To launch VMWare go to your applications menu and search for VMWare.
Click on the VMware icon to launch it
This fires up a setup wizard which will enable you to complete the installation.
Agree to the end-user license agreement and click next to continue.
Next, select yes and click next if you want to enable updates on startup.
The next step asks whether you want to join VMWare Customer Experience Program(CEIP) which provides information to help provide better products and services.
Select yes if you wish to join.
VMWare is built for commercial and non-commercial use.
Since we are using it on our system, select non-commercial use in this step and click Finish to finalize the process.

How to Create a new virtual machine using VMWare ?

Now that VMWare is installed and set up on our machine, we can start creating a virtual machine. To start off, click on Create New virtual machine.
Next, select use ISO image and go to the location where it is stored on your machine.
Here, We are using the ubuntu 20.04 iso image.
Then, select the operating system that will run on the virtual machine.
Click Next.
Then provide a username and password for your virtual machine.
Thereafter, name your virtual machine and specify the location where it will store its contents.
On the next screen, specify the virtual machine disk size.
After that, double-check all of the options and make any required changes before clicking Finish.