Easy steps to install Windows 8 OS on VMware Workstation 8

VMware Workstation 8 Final is one of the most recommended PC virtualization software for installing and running Windows 8 operating system virtually on any other host computer that has different versions of operating systems installed. Virtual machines have always been one of the important tool that provides the convenience to test out beta or preview release of any OS Product and VMware has proved itself to be one of the most reliable in this regard. Although using such tools is not really a tough job to accomplish, but for users who has little or no prior experience of handling such tools may sometimes run into problem while configuring it to use operating systems like Windows 8 virtually on a system. So, consider the following stepwise instruction to successfully install Windows 8 OS on VMware Workstation 8.

Steps to install Windows 8 on VMware Workstation

To follow this step-by-step guide, you will first need to have the image file of Windows 8 operating system ready and a copy of VMware Workstation 8 installed on any compatible host computer that has 64bit ready processor. Along with this, the Virtualization Technology (VT) in the BIOS settings needs to be enabled so as to install & run Windows 8 on virtual machines.

1. To start the process, you will need to create a virtual machine using VMware. This is a tricky situation because the users would usually go ahead to browse the disc image and try to upload it from there itself. But on doing so, an error message will most probably be thrown stating that it has failed to detect what operating system is actually present in the disk image and accordingly will not let you proceed further. So, to overcome this error you can go for the next option that reads 'I will install the operating system later' which will create a blank hard disk for the virtual machine. You can now continue to the next step using the [Next] button.
2. You will now have the option to make selection of the guest operating system and its version. You may not find 'Windows 8' listed in the version drop-down-box as it is pretty new at this time. So select 'Microsoft Windows' as the Guest Operating System and 'Windows 7' as the appropriate version and then click on [Next] to move ahead with the configuration.
3. The next steps will allow you to configure the Hard Disk Space, Memory, Processor Cores and various other general settings such as the name for your VM and so on. Just specify all relevant information in the next steps and complete the process of creating the new VM.
4. The newly created virtual machine will open up with a blank screen. Here, find the option to power on the new virtual machine and click on it. It will attempt to boot the VM but won't return any results as the Operating System is still missing and is yet to be uploaded.
5. Now, click on the Windows 8 tab in the VMware window and chose the option 'CD/DVD (IDE)' under 'Removable Devices' and it will open up the Virtual Machine Settings window.
6. Now choose 'CD/DVD (IDE)' on the left pane which will unveil the option to mount the ISO Disk Image on the right side. Mount the disk image accordingly and hit the [OK] button.
7. Finally, click on the 'Restart VM' option that is present towards the bottom side of the VMware window. This will restart the VM and the booting from the Windows 8 ISO would initiate. The installation of Windows 8 Operating System would begin and would take around approximately 15 minutes to complete. The steps of installation involved are almost similar to that of its previous version and you can easily handle with the rest of the steps.