Novell Linux Desktop 9

Support

This guest operating system is supported on the following VMware products:

General Installation Notes

Be sure to read General Guidelines for All VMware Products as well as this guide to installing your specific guest operating system.

The easiest method of installing Novell Linux Desktop 9 in a virtual machine is to use the standard Novell Linux Desktop distribution CDs. The notes below describe an installation using the standard distribution CD; however, installing Novell Linux Desktop 9 via the boot floppy/network method is supported as well. If your VMware product supports it, you may also install from a PXE server.

Before installing the operating system, be sure that you have already created and configured a new virtual machine.

Installation Steps

  1. Insert the Novell Linux Desktop 9 installation CD in the CD-ROM drive.
  2. Power on the virtual machine to start installing Novell Linux Desktop 9.
  3. Install using the text mode installer. In the first installation screen, press the F2 key, use the arrow keys to select text mode, then press Enter to select the text mode installer.
  4. During final configuration, after all packages are are installed, do not perform the Internet connection test.
  5. Follow the remaining installation steps as you would for a physical machine.

This completes basic installation of the Novell Linux Desktop 9 guest operating system.

VMware Tools

Be sure to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system. For details, see the manual for your VMware product or follow the appropriate link in the knowledge base article at www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=340.

Known Issues

Clock in Guest Operating System May Run Too Quickly or Too Slowly

If the clock in your guest operating system runs too quickly or too slowly, use one of the workarounds described in the knowledge base article at www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1420.

Manual Changes May Be Needed to Use Networking in Copied Virtual Machine

In some cases, networking does not work properly in a copied virtual machine. If you copy a virtual machine and specify that the copy should have a unique identifier, the MAC addresses for any virtual Ethernet adapters attached to the virtual machine change. When a Novell Linux Desktop 9 guest operating system is installed, it includes the MAC address as part of a key configuration filename. When the virtual machine's MAC address changes, the guest operating system may fail to associate this configuration file with the virtual Ethernet adapter. If you experience this problem, you can work around it by copying or renaming the file. For eth0, for example, make the following change:

Old name:
/etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth0-id-<MAC_address>

New name:
/etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth0