For those who wish to test the new Windows 10 Technical Preview within a virtual machine, there are a number of virtual machine programs for you to choose from. One popular program is VMWare Player, the free alternative to VMWare Workstation, which allows you to install operating systems virtually. If you’re unsure how to install Windows 10 within VMWare Player, do not fret as we have your installation guide right here!
Step 1, you’ll need to download VMWare Player (the free version) from this link here. Once installed, run the program and select File > New > New Virtual Machine.
Next, select “installer disc image file” and browse for your Windows 10 Technical Preview ISO which you should have downloaded earlier, if not click here. Once selected, press next.
Select Windows 8 from the drop down list, either use Windows 8 or Windows 8 x64 depending on which architecture your ISO is.
Name your Virtual Machine and select a place to save it (it should automatically do this for you, just click next).
Select either “Store virtual disk as a single file” or “Split virtual disk into multiple files”, in our guide we used the second option.
Click finish, or customize your hardware if you know what you’re doing.
Up next, you’re going to want to start the virtual machine, ignore any popups and continue to installation.
Installation from here is the same as any normal Windows installation.
You may get a popup asking to install VMWare tools, ignore this for now but don’t close it. You’ll need this later.
The virtual machine should reboot a couple of times, and then once you’ve finished setting up your account you’ll be welcomed with the Windows 10 desktop.
You’re not done just yet! Remember that popup we asked you to leave open? You’ll now want to click “Install Tools”. Within the virtual machine a popup should occur, click it.
Follow the instructions from the installer. They’re fairly simple. Once the installation is complete, restart the virtual machine.
And that’s that. You’ve now got Windows 10 running perfectly in VMWare Player.
Have any questions? Leave them below and we’ll do our very best to answer them.
Further reading: Microsoft, VMware, Windows 10
