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This is a sample VMWare installation of Linux as a virtual machine that supports an installation of Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g, and Oracle Applications 12. All the installations were done as virtual machines on a Mac Pro running Mac OS X, using VMWare Fusion 2.x virtualization software.

Configure VMWare for the installation:

There are typically 12 steps to prepare the VMWare Fusion for this installation. You can opt for fewer steps for configuration but you may be disappointed in the look and feel of the VM once installed. These are my recommended steps for an Oracle 10g or Oracle 11g installation without the Oracle Applications Suite. If you opt for the Oracle Applications Suite, you can create a minimum 500 GB virtual machine with preallocated physical space. However, Mikael points out in his comment that it is unnecessary.

1. After launching (starting) VMWare Fusion, click the New button at the lower left hand corner of the VMWare Fusion console (please excuse the fact that I forgot to take a screen shot before creating a stable instance).

2. The prior step takes you the first wizard form, click the Continue without disk button if you’re using an ISO image file (the DVD is the recommended direction even though its 2.5 GB in size for download).

3. This step involves selecting the media. Avoid the temptation of selecting the ISO file at this point because you can do it later. Click the Create a custom virtual machine radio button.

4. You should identify where you want the physical file for the virtual machine before you begin to run VMWare Fusion. Unless you’ve decided on a small installation, a separate mount point is recommended with larger installations so you don’t trash your Mac OS or fragment it too severely. You choose the operating system of your virtual machine in this form and then click the Continue button to the next step.

5. You accept the default virtual machine settings or specify custom ones. You want to typically choose custom settings by clicking the Customize Settings button.

6. It’ll take you to a Finder window like the following. By default it is pointed to the Virtual Machines folder, agree to that location or choose another, and then click the Save button. You’ll see an icon now in the VMWare Fusion panel for the new virtual machine (don’t click on that to run it until you’re done customizing the virtual machine).

7. After saving the file, the Customize Settings button takes you to the following screen. The customization step should be the selection of the ISO image. Click on the CDs & DVDs icon to continue.

8. You should see the CDs & DVDs screen. Click the Use disk image radio button, which will automatically open a finder screen to locate the ISO image. , where you should click the disk image

8(a). In the Finder window, you will see the physical file that you created earlier for the virtual machine. Now you need to locate the ISO image file.

8(b). I put the ISO file on the Desktop. When you select the ISO file in the Finder, the Open button becomes active. Click the Open button to select the ISO file.

9(a). After opening the file, you are returned to the Settings window. Click the Hard Disk icon to proceed. Here you size the disk, and you may check the Pre-allocate disk space button to improve performance (but there’s some question as to whether it really helps – another item for testing – courtesy of the comment from Mikael). Click the Apply button to complete the step.

10(b). After clicking the Apply button, you’re taken to the following progress window. You should just relax until it is complete.

11. After opening the creating the file, you are returned to the Settings window. Click the Processors & RAM icon to proceed. Here you choose the number of virtual processors and RAM to allocate, but one virtual process should be best according to Mikael at Oracle (see comment). Here the step is tricky, click the Show All button to complete the step and return to the Settings window.

12. Click back on the Virtual Machine Library window that should be on your desktop. Click the forward arrow button for the Red Hat … 4 Oracle install. This will start the installation of the Red Hat virtual machine.

Post a question if you have questions or problems with the information, I’ll update it.