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== Downloading Mint Software  and VMware Fusion ==

First download Mint software for VMWare from:

http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~aprakash/eecs182/vmware/eecs182vmware.ova


This is an archive file. No need to untar it, in case your system offers to untar it. Save it in Documents or your Desktop. We will assume you saved it on your Desktop.

To open the above file, you need VMware Fusion or Virtual Box. We recommend VMware Fusion as it is more stable and these insructions are for that.  VMMware Fusion (costs around $50 from ITCS at the University. See http://showcase.itcs.umich.edu/item.php?cat=70&id=2254). If you are enrolled in the course as an EECS course or any Engineering course,  you may be eligible to download a free licensed copy under the VMware and College of Engineering Academic License Agreement.  See the page [[Getting a Free Copy of VMware software from UM]].


You will double-click on the downloaded dmg file. It will instruct you to drag the VMware Fusion to the Applications folder. Do that, entering your userid/password on your Mac if asked. If you get a permission denied error, you may have an old VMware Fusion installation. Delete that first from the Applications folder and then retry.  After moving vmware fusion to the Applications folder, run it. 

[[File:VMwareFusionInstallation.png | 300px]]

== Importing eecs182vmware.ova into VMware Fusion ==

Once VMware Fusion is running, select the “Open..." option. Navigate to the Downloads folder where you saved the .ova file.  Select eecs182vmware.ova. It will offer to create a full clone of the virtual appliance.  Do that. VMware Fusion will create the Mint appliance from the .ova file.

Once it is done, you should see eecs182vmware in the list within VMware Fusion. You can start it and stop it. But, before doing that, we suggest configuring the virtual hardware to run the software. Just follow the instructions below even if you don’t quite understand what is being done.

Select eecs182vmware, right click on it, and select “Virtual Machine Settings…”. A window like the following will open up. Go to Floppy option. Make sure “Connect at power on” is off.

[[File:VMware Fusion Settings Screen.png | 300px]]

Go to the Network Adapter settings. Make sure "NAT" is selected. 

[[File:NAT Settings in VMwareFusion.png | 300px]]

You will need to add a CD/DVD drive for the Mint appliance. If you don't see a CD/DVD icon in the hardware, then select Add Device button from the top right and add a physical drive. If you are unable to add a physical drive, find an iso file from somewhere and use that as our CD/DVD drive. 

You can go through other options on the Settings screen to see if you want to give Mint access to your other hardware (e.g., printer, USB drive, etc.) Under the "Compatibility" settings, you can select the first option. 

Under the Sharing option, you can turn that on and hit the "+" button. Then, select a folder on your Mac that you want to share with Mint. It can be your Documents folder. That way, you will be able to save files from within Mint to your computer, as well as read them.

Launch eecs182vmware (i.e. play or run it). Wait for the window below to show up – it could take a few minutes first time.

[[file::Mint Screen.png | 300px]]

== Quitting and Restarting Mint  ==

Once you have installed VMware tools, quit Mint and restart. To Quit, select Menu -> Quit and select Shutdown. To restart, go back to the eecs182vmware in VMware Fusion and play it.

If everything works, you should take a snapshot. Do Virtual Machines -> Take Snapshot... and follow the instructions. 
With snapshots, you have a backup of your Mint system. If something goes wrong, you can revert to an earlier snapshot.

{{:Install_VMware_Tools_Easy_Way}}

== Safely Quitting Mint ==

There are two safe ways of quitting Mint. One is to simply close the window. VMware Fusion will save the state. When you relaunch Mint, it will be launched from exactly the same point.  The other is to do Quit -> Shutdown. In that case, you will be rebooting Mint next time you start it, just like a standard operating system.

If you got all this working, now you should go on to the tutorial on using the editor and Python in Mint.

Resuming a suspended Mint is much faster than resuming a shutdown mint. So, take your pick.

I suggest occasionally doing shutdown just to clean up things and get a fresh start. Your files within Mint should be preserved.