On my home server, I’ve been running a Windows 10 LTSC VM for downloading Linux ISOs. The server itself runs Server 2019, and I’m using VMware Workstation Player v16.2.3. I’ve been wanting to begin using a Linux based VM instead of Windows and I’ve tried to set this up multiple times now, but it keeps running into problems I’m unsure how to troubleshoot.
The server has a 3900x, 32 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB M.2 NVME C: drive running on a B450 ITX board. The BIOS has been updated multiple times since the machine was built in Q3 2019 and all I have set differently from default is the fan speed settings and XMP enabled, along with virtualization. Of course virtualization is also enabled for the VMs when I create them.
I’d set up Kubuntu 22.04.2 with 4 CPU cores, 6 GB of RAM, and 150 GB of space, and it inexplicably reached a point where it would boot but couldn’t log me in, giving me nearly a screen of text with nothing I could pick out to troubleshoot specifically. (I know I should’ve saved that information, but I had no plans to seek assistance then.)
Currently I have Manjaro with KDE v22.1.2 again with 4 CPU cores, 6 GB of RAM, and 100 GB of space and I’ve not even completed much of the configuration in the VM but when I leave it running for more than 12 or 24 hours, I see that it’s maxing out its CPU resources and is unresponsive to the point where I have to do a hard reset on it. Why? Nothing has been running on it yet except a VPN and Firefox.
I realize that while I’m frustrated with issues dealing with Linux, I need to familiarize myself with it and deal with what comes up, but I’m at a loss here. My Windows 10 LTSC VM has been solid for years. Can anyone offer any suggestions?
Why are you messing around with VMWare Workstation when you have Hyper-V which will likely run better than VMWare Workstation? You’ll likely have better luck with a non GUI based distro be it Linux/*BSD especially if you’re trying to learn.
I’m comfortable and familiar with VMware, and hadn’t even considered Hyper-V, but I will give it a shot. I tried Pop OS briefly but didn’t like the way it looked and didn’t see sufficient customization for that. I liked the custom dark look I achieved with Kubuntu, and liked what I read about the ongoing updates that are a part of Manjaro. What would you recommend?
Disable secure boot and TPM in the VM host’s config [Hyper-V, VMWare, KVM].
If needed set a UEFI bios, boot to this BIOs first and disable both, then do your install.
If a distro doesn’t work for you or doesn’t have the drivers you need but has a desktop environment you want, then run the distro that works and install an additional login screen and desktop that you do like.
If this is what you are already doing remember you have to explicitly set the display manager (login screen) and windows manager (desktop) to auto start with the system or else you have manually start each from the cmd line.
For example for plasma desktop (KDE) on Ubuntu:
sudo apt install kde-plasma-desktop
When shown gdm3 or sddm select your login manager. While at the login page you usually get a dropdown/cog to allow you to choose which desktop you want to start when you login.
If you selected gdm3 Ubuntu’s default will load unless you select the cog at the login screen and change it to kde plasma.
If you selected sddm then kde plasma will be the default.
If you are running a server addition and your login screen doesn’t load then start it with: