When you think that [VMWare] invented everything they push the innovations even further. These days I’ve finally accomplished Windows 7 beta download and since I don’t have a spare computer right now I’ve though of installing it under Workstation 6.5. I have to admit that I didn’t install any new OS for a while now (thanks to Workstation’s excellent snapshot management system). So I created a new typical configuration and entered the path to the Windows 7 beta x64 iso file. Workstation recognized it as Vista (W7 is enhanced Vista after all, but I am sure Workstation will be updated to reflect the proper name in the future) and notified me that it will be installed using Easy Install.
I didn’t know about Easy Install and I was pleasantly surprised about it. It lets you enter all the required data for the installation in the next next dialog:
and that’s it. After you put in all the required configuration data Workstation will install the OS for you, no interaction required whatsoever. That’s right, after some time you’ll be greeted by running OS. A huge timesaver even if you don’t install a lot.