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I have a hard drive which already has Windows installed. On a new hard drive, I have Ubuntu Linux installed. Is there anyway to run my already installed Windows using Vmware Player on my Ubuntu setup?

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The following docs should help here with VMware Workstation or Server and here with Player and or Converter

Edit: Added details as requested:

This is easiest to do with server and workstation, the basic steps are: Boot Windows natively and define a new hardware profile for the guest OS that will use the virtualized hardware. Go to:

Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Hardware > Hardware Profiles

And copy the existing profile. Name one Physical and one Virtual or however you like

Now re-boot into Linux and create a new custom virtual machine. Assign it the physical partition of your Windows OS as a disk instead of a virtual disk.

Boot the new VM. When it detects the new hardware, hit cancel before it installs drivers and do not reboot. Load up the vmware tools, then allow the guest to reboot.

For player, you need to be able to define a new VM, that may require generating the VMX and VMDK by hand, downloading the sample files from the link above getting one generated elsewhere, or temporarily installing Server and generating them.

There are limitations to the hardware. For SCSI based systems, only LSI and BusLogic HBA's are supported with a preference for LSI.

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Can you please expand your answer to actually explain what the user should be aiming to do, instead of just linking to things (as the links may die in the future)? – techie007 Aug 31 '11 at 18:41
This really does not answer the question where the Host OS is Linux. – vivekian2 Sep 2 '11 at 15:19
Perhaps I didn't make it clear enough. The final host OS is Linux. I'm presuming you have the system setup in a dual booting configuration. I've re-edited to be more specific, let me know if that helps. – OldWolf Sep 2 '11 at 15:23
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