Virtual Machines, Windows, & Auto Software Install

Tw4win

I currently have a Macbook Pro running OS X and VMWare Fusion.

I do software training for various clients either live or via some service like WebEx. The trainings require the following software:

Windows XP or Vista
Microsoft Office
Adobe Indesign CS3
QuarkXpress 7
SDL TRADOS (translation memory software)
Various example files for the training.

I'm rather new to the whole MBP & VMWare Fusion thing so after each training I've been deleting the virtual machine and reinstalling everything the next time that I have a training. This works well because I need everything to be "fresh" but it is time consuming.

Is there a way that I could automate the installation process of all of this software so that all I really had to do was create a new VM, pop in a CD/DVD and let things install?

Alternatively, can I make copies of a "Master" VM and then just use the copy for a training and then delete it? Things might be complicated by the fact that I have to use trial or demo versions of some of the software because I don't own enough licenses to run both my copy and a copy for the training. This affects Indesign CS3, QuarkXpress and TRADOS. My fear was that all of these time based trials would expire if I cloned a VM that was older than 30 days.

Suggestions are appreciated.

pofcorn

I'm not familiar with Fusion but if it works the same way as Server/Workstation, you could make a snapshot of the VM in a "fresh" state, do whatever you want, and revert back to the snapshot when you're done.

RBach

What he said. Set up your virtual machine just as you want/need it pre-training session and then create a snapshot of that. You can simply revert to the snapshot once you've finished the training session. I have no idea how trial software would react, though.

Likewise, you could just copy the VM yourself (AFAIK this is effectively what the snapshots do, anyway) but again I don't know what would happen with the trial software.

By the way, Fusion 2.0 is going to support multiple snapshots (well, already does if you want to use the beta...).

It is also possible to automate Windows & software installation. It's a pain, though, and I'd see if snapshots would work first. You may end up having to adopt a hybrid approach--snapshots for Windows and non-trial software while automating the installation of trial software.

GrimReaper

You could have multiple virtual machines for these, or perhaps a single virtual machine with multiple snapshots (the latest beta 2 of VMWare Fusion 2 supports this). Also you could copy the virtual machines to dvdr's and copy them back onto your laptop as needed.