Well, I have documentation on how to create a FreeBSD 8 Desktop environment here:
How to install and configure a FreeBSD 8 Desktop with Xorg and KDE?

However, if you install FreeBSD as a VMWare guest, you will want to install two additional pieces of software when you are finished:

1. You need to install the VMWare X11 driver (no, it will not be installed when you install the VMWare tools)
2. You need to install VMWare-tools

This guide is to walk you through resolving the first of these two issues. I assume you followed my article for building the FreeBSD desktop, and if you did, these steps will work for you. But if you didn’t, I can’t guarantee that there won’t be some steps that are slightly different for you.

Part 1 – Installing and Configuring the VMWare X11 Driver

Step 1 – Install the VMWare X11 driver

1. Change to the appropriate ports directory.

   # cd /usr/ports/x11-drivers/xf86-video-vmware

2. Make (compile) and install the VMWare X11 driver

   # make install

The VMWare X11 driver is now installed.

Step 2 – Modify the /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Note: If you didn’t create an xorg.conf file, then you don’t need to do this step, so skip it.

1. If you auto-created your xorg.conf, auto create it again.
   # Xorg -configure
2. Move the auto created /root/xorg.conf.new to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

   # mv /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If you have a custom xorg.conf, then it may be easier to edit it manually.

1. Edit the /etc/x11/xorg.conf as root.

   # ee /etc/x11/xorg.conf

2. Change the “Device” section to look as follows.

   Section "Device"
           ### Available Driver options are:-
           ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
           ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
           ### [arg]: arg optional
           #Option     "HWcursor"                  # [<bool>]
           #Option     "Xinerama"                  # [<bool>]
           #Option     "StaticXinerama"            # <str>
           Identifier  "Card0"
           Driver      "vmware"
           VendorName  "VMware"
           BoardName   "SVGA II Adapter"
           BusID       "PCI:0:15:0"
   EndSection
   

Step 3 – Restart Xorg
If you are still in KDE, you must logout and log back in. You can probably do this without instructions, but if this is your first time using FreeBSD and KDE 4, a quick screen shot of how to do this won’t hurt. I do like my walk-thru’s to be newbie proof.

1. At the bottom left of your window, click on the K icon, then Leave, then Logout.

   

2. After clicking the Leave option, KDE will exit, and xorg will restart and you should be returned to the login screen. Now log back in.

Note: If you aren’t using KDM, then you will be returned to your logged in shell and you will have to launch Xorg and KDE yourself using the startx command.
Step 4 – Configure your screen resolution

1. Click the K icon, then Applications | System.
   
2. When the menu shifts, the system options appears. Select Screen Resize & Rotate.
   
   
3. Now don’t be confused when this doesn’t open a window. It does launch the program, but for some reason it starts up minimized and is an icon at the bottom right of the panel. It looks like a little monitor (the red arrow is pointing to it).
   
4. Click on the monitor icon to get the Configure Display window.
   
5. Click the Size drop down menu and choose your new resolution.
6. Click Apply.
7. If the resolution fails, it should return to the previous resolution after about ten or fifteen seconds. If the resolution works, click the option to accept the resolution.

You should now have the VMWare Driver installed.

Part 2 – Installing and Configuring VMWare Tools

This is in a separate post here:
How to install VMWare-tools on FreeBSD 8?

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I have a problem with VMWare

PROBLEM

My VMWare guests lose network access constantly on Windows 7 64 bit. This happens sometimes within an hour and sometimes longer. I haven’t really tracked that well.

The first step to troubleshooting is identifying the problem…then next is gathering data, so lets analyze what I have.

Setup

Operating System: Windows 7 64 bit
VMWare version: Workstation 6.5.3

Processor: Core 2 Quad
Memory: 8 GB

Physical cards
1 GB Ethernet
1 Wireless

VMNet0 – Bridged
VMNet1 – Host only
VMNet8 – NAT

Do I need three networks? Could that be problematic? According to this article it could be on Vista 64 bit, and that may hold true for Windows 7 64 bit.
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1137694;jsessionid=407F88A83287FEE2B3B60EC22A592ACB

Ok, so I really only need VMNet0 as I always plan to bridge in this environment. In other environments I might not though. I also have never remove these, but I am going to try it.

ACTIONS:
1. Deleted VMNet1
2. Deleted VMNet8
Note: I deleted those using the Virtual Network Editor | Host Virtual Adapters tab.

Settings
So I started looking at settings to see if there is a setting that doesn’t look right.

Found this setting: Automatic bridging

My problem may be the Automatic bridging settings, since mine is disabled and VMNet0 was configured to use the wireless adapter. I am only using the Ethernet adapter but even though it is a desktop, my PC came with a wireless card, which I am not going to use.

ACTIONS:
1. On the Virtual Network Editor | Automatic Bridging tab, I unchecked the automatic bridging option to disable it.
2. On the Virtual Network Editor | Host Virtual Network Mapping, changed VMNet0 to to be statically mapped to my physical wired Ethernet controller.
3. In windows, I went to my network settings and disabled my wireless network card, since I am not going to use it.

So here goes the test…lets see if my VMWare guest operatings system lose their networking capability.

UDPATE 7:48 AM 12/9/2009

Well, my network wasn’t working last night…so I would have to say the steps above didn’t NOT resolve the issue. Time to continue troubleshooting.

I now have configured the vmnat.exe and vmentdhcp.exe to be allowed in the firewall always.

UDPATE 7:48 AM 1/18/2010
So the three networks somehow came back. I removed them again and this time they stayed gone. This was about a month ago and my virtual hosts’ haven’t lost network access since.