GhsotBSD - a FreeBSD variant with a GUI installer just presents a black screen before the GUI comes up. I've used the LXDE desktop. The installation stops at the point the cups daemon tries to start but I doubt that's teh problem. I've attached the vmware.log (compressed in a tar archive) but I can't see any error myself.
Here is the .vmx file
.encoding = "UTF-8"
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "10"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
memsize = "256"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "GhostBSD.vmdk"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.fileName = "/home/marty/Downloads/GhostBSD3.5-BETA3-lxde-amd64.iso"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"
ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
usb.present = "FALSE"
ehci.pciSlotNumber = "-1"
sound.present = "TRUE"
sound.startConnected = "FALSE"
sound.fileName = "-1"
sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
pciBridge0.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge4.functions = "8"
pciBridge5.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge5.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge5.functions = "8"
pciBridge6.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge6.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge6.functions = "8"
pciBridge7.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge7.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge7.functions = "8"
vmci0.present = "TRUE"
hpet0.present = "TRUE"
displayName = "GhostBSD"
guestOS = "freebsd-64"
nvram = "GhostBSD.nvram"
virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
gui.exitOnCLIHLT = "FALSE"
powerType.powerOff = "soft"
powerType.powerOn = "soft"
powerType.suspend = "soft"
powerType.reset = "soft"
extendedConfigFile = "GhostBSD.vmxf"
uuid.bios = "56 4d 48 34 65 7a d5 73-78 c6 8f e8 e9 38 95 61"
uuid.location = "56 4d 48 34 65 7a d5 73-78 c6 8f e8 e9 38 95 61"
replay.supported = "FALSE"
replay.filename = ""
scsi0:0.redo = ""
pciBridge0.pciSlotNumber = "17"
pciBridge4.pciSlotNumber = "21"
pciBridge5.pciSlotNumber = "22"
pciBridge6.pciSlotNumber = "23"
pciBridge7.pciSlotNumber = "24"
scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "16"
usb.pciSlotNumber = "-1"
ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "33"
sound.pciSlotNumber = "34"
vmci0.pciSlotNumber = "35"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0C:29:38:95:61"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
vmci0.id = "-382167711"
vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "33554432"
cleanShutdown = "TRUE"
softPowerOff = "FALSE"
usb:0.present = "TRUE"
usb:0.deviceType = "hid"
usb:0.port = "0"
usb:0.parent = "-1"
usb:1.speed = "2"
usb:1.present = "TRUE"
usb:1.deviceType = "hub"
usb:1.port = "1"
usb:1.parent = "-1"
floppy0.present = "FALSE"
-------------------------------------------------------------
I've already removed the virtual usb device and printer - no luck
The only solution I've found is VirtualBox (not a surprise!). Desktop installer worked perfectly using VB.
If anybody wants to try GhostBSD out here's the link to the project on Sourceforge
GhostBSD is not a VMware supported HOS/GOS and using a Beta Build as well, so the fact there's an issue isn't surprising. Additionally I do not necessarily see the fact that it can load in VirtualBox as a positive per se over VMware products.
I'm not sure why you think it i a a positive that you ca install OS guests on VB rather than VMaware ( I think this is what you mean in this context by "load") Part of the reason that people use virtual machines is that it enables one to test beta OS's. I have no problem installing Debian Jesse ot Mageia 4 beta <number 3 on the distrowatch lsit> with VMware for a long time - not supported of course. Of course BSD is not supported as a host - neither is Solaris etc which VB runs on. And yes VMware products have features that VB does not <although that gap is narrowing>. If it didn't why would I spend money on them. Most likely I'll even purchase an upgrade to WS 10
Yes testing beta software is a practical use of a Virtual Machine however you have not correctly understood what I said.
What did I misunderstand? "GhostBSD is not a VMware supported guest OS and using a Beta Build as well, so the fact there's an issue isn't surprising". If an operating system is "not supported" than it is not surprising that VMware will choke on it and therefore its useless to try to test with it? In this case (clearly not in all cases) VirtualBox is the solution (somebody else came up with this saying and I like it!). I'm not fencing with you here - I really don't understand where you are coming from here.
I also using Virt-Mnager and Aqemu and Faumachine. Many of these solutions may work - although I have not tested them with Linux OS's in many case - except Virt-Manager works with Ubuntu 13.10. I have Hyper-V 3.0 (Windows 8.1/Windows Server 2012 R2) aand I'll find out in due time whether it can handle some Linux distros (almost certainly Enterprise solutions like Redhat and SUSE).