VMware Player

• yum install kernel-smp-devel fixes 99.9% of your issues.
• Petr’s patches are likely to fix the rest.

• If Synaptic doesn’t work for you, check its proxy settings (mine were set to use proxy.vmware.com…).

• The Cisco VPN Client works through a NAT interface.
• Always install both a bridged and a NAT interface if you have Wi-Fi on the host machine (Wi-Fi cannot be bridged).
• Full-screen and resizable desktop support can be obtained by installing the Workstation tools.

• The VMware tools install and run inside the guest OS, to the point of being able to shrink image files (just extract the ISOs from the Linux trial).
• CD-ROM device designators: cdrom-image, cdrom-raw, atapi-cdrom
• Known guest OS designators: ubuntu, winxppro, winxphome
• Known Ethernet interface designators: nat, bridged, hostonly

Sample (test) configuration for adding an extra interface (the higher-performance virtual hardware for vmxnet might not be picked up by your OS, though):

ethernet1.present="TRUE"
ethernet1.connectionType ="nat"
ethernet1.virtualDev = vmxnet
ethernet1.vnet = "vmnet8"

• VMX builder