Determining if you are running on a virtualized platform

Products

• VMware
• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to help you determine if your desired installation platform is virtualized.

Note: VMware does not support the installation of a virtualization product within another virtualization product.

Symptoms:

• The VMware Server installation does not complete
• The VMware Server installation fails
• The VMware ACE installation does not complete
• The VMWare ACE installation fails
• The VMware Workstation installation does not complete
• The VMware Workstation installation fails
• You receive the following error:
  
  Cannot install <product> within a virtual machine.

Resolution

To determine if you are running within a VMware virtual machine:

For Windows:

1. Click Start > Run.
2. Type msinfo32 and press Enter.
3. In the right pane, look for System Manufacturer for 'VMware, Inc.'
   
   If this is present, you are running within a virtualized platform, and cannot install another virtualization product on top of it.

For Linux:

Run the following command:

lspci | grep -i vmware

If this returns results, you are running within a virtualized platform, and cannot install another virtualization product on top of it.

If you are still unsure if you are running within a virtualized environment, contact the system administrator responsible for the system in question.

Additional Information

For more information on troubleshooting the installation of a hosted product, see Troubleshooting a VMware hosted product that does not install (1005027). Troubleshooting a VMware hosted product that does not install