1 Computer 2 User in VISTA

In this tutorial, you will learn how to setup a Virtual OS within Vista, and use that to concurrently be on the same physical PC.

WHAT YOU NEED

A computer
Two mice
Two keyboards

OPTIONAL

For best performance, 4gb of ram
2gb ram is minimum
TWO monitors (you can have just one monitor, but you can't go fullscreen and isnt recommended)
Two soundcards (if you want independent sound)

STEP 1: Install vmWare

Boot up your computer, and pop in the vmWare workstation disc
Follow the instruction guidelines

STEP 2: New Virtual Machine

In the Wizard, choose typical system setup
Follow the wizard for your OS (I have only tried this on Vista Home Premium)
My settings were:
2 Virtual Processors
1 gb of ram
100gb of storage in SCSI
Network configured through Bridged
NOTE: You can change everything but the storage amount

STEP 3: Install and configure OS

After setting up the virtual machine, pop in the Vista Disc and click "Start this Virtual Machine"
Install the OS how you normally would
After install is complete and the OS is running in VMWARE, go to VM>Install VMWARE Tools to install it

NOTE: The most recent version of Vmware Workstation pretty much does the above settings automatically for you, so it's even easier.

STEP 4: The Fun Begins

Go to VM>Removable Devices> and simply click the devices you want to use on the Guest OS

For audio, under VM>settings you can select which sound card to use.

CONGRATS! You can now use your main mouse and keyboard to control the host OS and the secondary mouse and keyboard to control the GUEST OS!!
If you have two monitors, you can use your main mouse to extend the HOST OS desktop, move the VMWARE app to the secondary screen, and go to VMWARE full screen.
You can set it to automatically boot a specific machine and go to fullscreen right away--I have three shortcuts which each goes to different machines on different monitors so you can pretty much start the entire thing in three clicks.

ANY USB DEVICE WORKS WITH THIS. Including mp3 players, external harddrives, printers, etc.

NOTES ABOUT VMWARE:

I am running an e8400 3ghz processor, and have not have usage go above 50 % yet
When you set the amount of ram to use for the Guest OS, it partitions that much to it whenever you start the GUEST OS.
For example, when I boot up guest OS it shows a constant 71% usage in the HOST OS, and 38% usage in the GUEST OS.
This is because it gives all the 1gb of ram to the Virtual OS, it doesnt give it when it needs it. Also, when you shutdown the guest OS you get your RAM back
You can have as many VM stations as you want, permitting you have enough monitors, mice, etc. You be able to just repeat Step 4 for every user.