VMWare Player Image: Ubuntu 64Bit

Question

I have been searching around for quite a while now to get an Ubuntu 64 Bit image for the VMWare Player. Sources I have discovered are

• http://vmplanet.net
• https://solutionexchange.vmware.com
• www.trendsigma.net

Unfortunately, the description of the images either does not state if the image is 64 or 32Bit or it says the image is 32Bit. I also tried an image without the statement and it turned out to be 32Bit.

1. Why do the images (mostly?) seem to be 32 Bit?
2. Can somebody point me to an ubuntu image 64 bit for vmware player from a trustworthy site?

Thanks a ton!

Solution

The easiest way to get an Ubuntu image for VMWare is to install one yourself. It will be quicker than the download of the image as well.

Goto Ubuntu.com and choose to download the 64-bit ISO, then start VMWare and tell it to create a new virtual machine. In the settings for the machine, point to the Ubuntu ISO as the ISO that you wish to use to load into the new virtual machine.

I find the default settings of VMWare work well for Ubuntu VMs, although I prefer to give the system 2 GB of memory rather than one.

Comments

[Dan Johansen]

True. Either way, you still need a 64-bit host system, with virtilization activated to have 64-bit guests.

[Charles Green]

The CPU needs to be 64 bit, I'm not entirely sure the OS in the host does though. I've never tried with a 32 bit OS to be honest.

[Dan Johansen]

Not sure about the SO either, but virtilization needs to be enabled in BIOS/UEFI. Else it cannot emulate the 64-bit processor.

[user1809923]

Right, but for this procedure I need software from VMWare which is not for free, right?

[Charles Green]

You can use VMWare Player which is free, or VirtualBox which is free also. Box VirtualBox and VMWare hove non-free versions with various additional capabilities

[Jorge Orpinel Pérez]

Sure you can, I just did it. It's called VMware Easy Install.

[Elliot Woods]

I was getting bored here watching the ubuntu installer in VMWare (~10mins) so downloaded an image from osboxes.org in the mean time which was quicker (download time : 30s)