Virtualizing 64-bit Guest on 32-bit Hosts with VMware
Virtualizing operating systems with VMware Workstation
Virtualization permits to run different systems on the same machine. Recently, I had to install on the same machine Windows 2003 SP2 and Ubuntu. I decided to use VMware Workstation that supports different operating systems: from Windows Vista Business Edition and Ultimate Edition (guest only), to Windows Server 2003 and 2008, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Ubuntu 8.04. Moreover, it has 64 bit operating system support and 64-bit guest operating systems on 64-bit hardware enable more scalable computing solutions. In addition, it runs natively on 64-bit Linux host operating systems.
Host and Guest Operating Systems Supported
VMware Workstation 6 supports a variety of Linux, NetWare, Solaris x86 and Windows guest operating systems, including desktop and 64-bit operating systems. It also supports many Linux and Windows host operating systems. However, if you a combination of 32 and 64 bit machines, not everything may work properly. The following is a scheme of the supported combinations:
CPU Host OS 32-bit Guest OS 64-bit Guest OS
32-bit 32-bit Host OS Supported Unsupported
32-bit 64-bit Host OS Unsupported Unsupported
64-bit 32-bit Host OS Supported Supported
64-bit 64-bit Host OS Supported Supported
My installation
I already had a 32-Bit Windows Server 2003 SP2 installed on a machine with CPU 64 bit Intel Xeon E5335 2.00GHz Quad Core. I had to virtualize inside Windows another operating system, Kubuntu 8.04 64 bit. I installed VMware Workstation 6.5 and initially I wasn’t able to set up the new operating system inside VMware. I found ouy that the CPU should have VT support. I found that E5335 is support VT, but I still wasn’t able to set up the 64 bit guest. Then searching on WMware forums I found that Intel VT option should be enabled in the BIOS. Without that enabled it is not possible to install 64 bit guests.I changed that in BIOS and everything is going smooth. I’m running more guest operating systems, of 32 and 64 bit on the same machine with host 32 bit. That sounds great!