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Berserk Arch

Install on VMware as a Guest OS

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for installing Berserk Arch Linux as a guest operating system in VMware Player using the Calamares graphical installer, optimized for penetration testing and security research.

You can use whatever you like or have access to either:

- VMware Player
- Vmware Workstation

the process of creating the VM is more or less same.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”

Host System Requirements

Section titled “Host System Requirements”
  • VirtualBox Version: 7.0+ (latest recommended)
  • Host RAM: 8GB minimum (16GB+ recommended)
  • Available Storage: 60GB+ free space
  • CPU: Intel VT-x or AMD-V virtualization support
  • Host OS: Windows 10/11, macOS 10.15+, or Linux kernel 4.0+

Download Requirements

Section titled “Download Requirements”
  • Berserk Arch ISO file (with Calamares installer)
  • VirtualBox Extension Pack (for enhanced features)

Virtual Machine Creation

Section titled “Virtual Machine Creation”

Step 1: Create New VM

Section titled “Step 1: Create New VM”
  1. Launch VMware Player
    • Click “Create a New Virtual Machine” button
    • click next

Create new vm

Step 2: Virtual Machine Configuration

Section titled “Step 2: Virtual Machine Configuration”
  1. Choose the downloaded ISO
    • Click on ‘Use ISO Image’ and select the download ISO
    • then click next

VM creation wizard with fields filled

  1. Machine Type
    • Choose ‘Linux’ for ‘Guest Operating System’
    • For version:
      • If Arch Linux is listed choose that
      • If not choose ‘Other Linux 6.x kernel 64-bit’
    • then click next

machine type

  1. Name the Virtual Machine

    Terminal window
    Name: berserkarch # use whatever you like
    Location: <this section would be pre-filled>

    now click on next

Name VM

  1. Hard Disk

    Terminal window
    Size: 60 GB # atleast give it this much
    • Select Store virtual disk as a single file
    • now click on Next

Disk Capacity

  1. Customize VM Options
    • Now click on ‘Customize Hardware’

Customize Hardware

  1. Specify the RAM

    Terminal window
    Memory: 4096 MB # minimum -- at-least try 8192 MB
    • now click on Close

Memory

  1. Create the VM
    • now click on Finish to create VM.

Create VM



Step 3: Start the VM

Section titled “Step 3: Start the VM”

Click on close and the VM will be started, manually start the VM.

start the vm



Installation Process

Section titled “Installation Process”

Step 1: Boot from ISO

Section titled “Step 1: Boot from ISO”
  1. Boot Menu Selection
    • Select “Boot Berserk Arch (x86_64)” and hit enter.
    • Wait for live environment to load

Boot Menu

Step 2: Live Environment

Section titled “Step 2: Live Environment”

The system will boot into XFCE DE, for the password use liveuser:liveuser

Pre-Installation Checks

Section titled “Pre-Installation Checks”
  1. Display Resolution For setting up the correct display resolution,
    • Right click on the desktop
    • choose Settings > Display

Display settings

  1. Set the resolution
    • Now choose the correct resolution
    • Click on Apply
    • Then click keep the configuration

display resolution

Installation

Section titled “Installation”

Now everything is out-of-way, we can move straight to installation.

desktop

Here’s the installation guide, move on and install the system.