How to run Linux VM apps as if they were on Windows

This guide assumes your VM network connection is set to NAT. If you're not sure, check:

Player ▼
└─── 🔧 Manage
     └─── 🔧 Virtual Machine Settings
          └── 🖥️🖥️ Network Adapter

Step By Step

1: Install PuTTY on Windows
2: Download vmnetcfg.exe, and place it in the VMware Player installation folder (usually it's C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player)
3: Run vmmnetcfg.exe as administrator and:
- Select "VMNET8" and click on "NAT Settings":
- Click "Add..."
- Set the connection settings. In this case:
  - Host Port: Let's use 22
  - Virtual Machine IP Address: The VM's IP address. In my case it's 192.168.122.1, but you need to check yours
  - Virtual Machine Port: Let's use 22
  - Description: Anything you want
4: Go to the VM and install openssh by running sudo yum install openssh-server (for CentOS/RedHat) in the terminal
5: Enable X11 forwarding in /etc/ssh/ssh_config by removing the # character in the line saying "ForwardX11 yes", so that it looks like this:
6: Restart the VM

Now, on Windows:

1: Install Xming X Server for Windows and use the config.xlaunch file to launch it.
- Tip: Place the file on the Startup folder of Windows (Win+R -> shell:startup) so it starts in the background everytime you log in
2: Configure PUTTY:
- Set the connection settings by:
  - Host: localhost
  - Port: 2244
- Enable X11 Forwarding:
- Save the configuration by giving it a name and pressing Save:
3: Try the connection by pressing Open. If it works, we're good to go!

You can now also create a shortcut on your desktop to make it easier to launch the PuTTY session.

Create a shortcut with this path, and replace the relevant params:

"C:\Program Files\PuTTY\putty.exe" -load {CONFIG_NAME} -pw {YOUR_USER_PASSWORD} -t

So for example:

"C:\Program Files\PuTTY\putty.exe" -load MyConfigName -pw MySuperSecurePassword -t

If the mouse cursor looks too big, set the cursor size environment variable like this:

export XCURSOR_SIZE=16

For convinience sake, it's probably a good idea to add this line to the ~/.bashrc file