Talk:The Answers Archive

5 Automated virtualisation

QOn start up I want Ubuntu to start

without the need for me to input a

username and password and then

open VMware and start a virtual machine. I

know how to do all of these things manually,

but is it possible for me to write a small

batch file (if that’s the right expression) to

do it for me automatically?

Ffilc7373, from the forums

A There are two steps here:

logging in to your user’s desktop

automatically, and running a

program after logging in. The first is

achieved in Ubuntu 8.10 by selecting the

option to automatically log your user in

during installation. If you have an earlier

Ubuntu or you have already installed

8.10, you can set this option by running

System > Administration > Login

Window, go to the Security tab, tick

Enable Automatic Login and select the

user you want logged in.

Gnome will start any program you tell

it to when it starts up. Go to System >

Preferences > Sessions, press Add and

type the command you want to run,

along with a name and description. To

start VMware Workstation with a

particular virtual machine, use

vmware -X /path/to/virtualmachine.vmx

Where -X tells VMware to both start the

virtual machine and switch to full-screen mode

and the rest is the path to the .vmx file for the

virtual machine. If you’re using VMplayer,

replace vmware with vmplayer in the above

command. If you use VMware-server, you

need to make sure that the server is running

at startup (use the Ubuntu session manager

for this), and then use vmrun to start the

virtual machine. GM

==Automated virtualisation==

'''Question:''' On start up I want Ubuntu to start without the need for me to input a username and password and then open VMware and start a virtual machine. I know how to do all of these things manually, but is it possible for me to write a small batch file (if that’s the right expression) to do it for me automatically?

'''Answer:''' There are two steps here: logging in to your user’s desktop automatically, and running a program after logging in. The first is achieved in Ubuntu 8.10 by selecting the option to automatically log your user in during installation. If you have an earlier Ubuntu or you have already installed 8.10, you can set this option by running System > Administration > Login Window, go to the Security tab, tick Enable Automatic Login and select the user you want logged in.

Gnome will start any program you tell it to when it starts up. Go to System > Preferences > Sessions, press Add and type the command you want to run, along with a name and description. To start VMware Workstation with a particular virtual machine, use

  vmware -X /path/to/virtualmachine.vmx    < !--Note space at start of code line] -->

Where -X tells VMware to both start the virtual machine and switch to full-screen mode and the rest is the path to the .vmx file for the virtual machine. If you’re using VMplayer, replace vmware with vmplayer in the above command. If you use VMware-server, you need to make sure that the server is running at startup (use the Ubuntu session manager for this), and then use vmrun to start the virtual machine.