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I recently tried to install VMware workstation version 6.5.0 and the installation went well until one of the last steps where the program says it is "installing network components", at which point one of the svchost processes starts to use about 90% cpu time and doesn't stop as indicated by process explorer. The installation doesn't make progress either. I left my system like that for two hours and there was still no change. I finally killed the installation process, but svchost kept on using cpu time. I reboot and still the same. I couldn't uninstall VMware since it hadent really finished installing, so I had to go get a third party program to be able to reinstall over it and then cancel the installation, and after a reboot svchost was ok again. So I tried the installation again with no programs running in the background (I didn't turn off my AV, maybe I should have) and the same problem happenned. This time, I killed svchost and the installer sent a few errors, one WHQL related, but finished the installation. The svchost process restarts itself however and still takes all the cpu time. So I uninstall and try with version 6.5.1 of VMware from a torrent, with still the same result. This time however, uninstalling did not fix svchost and I had to use system restore. So now I'm not too sure what I should try, I really would like to use some kind of virtual machine, do you have any other programs to recommend or a way to install VMware properly?

Sun's VirtualBox is suppose to be pretty good. Its opensorce.

http://www.virtualbox.org/

Okay, I gave VirtualBox a try, and for the exception of a few non-whql compatible drivers, which I was able to ignore. So I installed XP as a guest (on an XP host, for now) and it installs ok, but somehow the vga adapter isn't recognized, and either automatically updating the driver or doing so through nvidia doesn't work, do you have insight on this? I gave the guest 64 mb video memory and enabled 3D emulation. I tried installing diablo 2 but the video test says my graphics adapter is incompatible and when I launch the game, the process launches and uses cpu but nothing changes on the screen. Also, is it possible to have the guest OS run on 16 bit color?

It's not like Diablo 2 on minimum settings is a demanding game, and I think that my 8800 GT can handle sharing a little bit. Do you know of any drivers that would work? Apparently, it's not a problem to make it work in VMware workstation.

 What drivers are you using now ?

 The guest should see the standard virtual hardware, it should work with it.

 EDIT :I just noticed something, you should have left the default MB alone in the VM, 64MB is barely enough to run anything, there's no way your gonna run diablo 2 on that. Allocate much more , and try it.