Am just going to run through the process for installing SharePoint 2010 (free download from Microsoft) on VMWare workstation. Some other posts have some extra steps, however, this this version of the beta those steps were not required (with reference to manually installing the prerequisites).

You can download VMWare from http://downloads.vmware.com/. I'm using VMWare WorkStation 7.0.1 build-227600 although I believe VMWare Player also allows you to not only play VMs but also create them too now.

While setting up your VMWare workstation, use something along these lines:

Choose Advanced
Virtual Machine Name: SharePoint 2010
Location: C:\WEBTECHY\VMs
Number of processors: 1
Number of cores per processor: 1
Total processor cores: 1
Memory: 4096 GB
Network connection: Use network address translation (NAT)
I/O adaptor types: LSI Logic SAS
Disk: Create a new disk
Virtual disk type: SCSI
Maximum disk size: 80GB
Store virtual disk as a single file
Disk File: C:\WEBTECHY\VMs\SharePoint 2010.vmdk (make sure location is right)

I then received the following ("You have configured this machine to use a 64-bit guest operating system"):



NB I have a Dell XPS 720, and I first had to reboot the host machine and go into BIOS and enabled Virtualization (VMM can utilize additional capabilities).

I used Windows Server 2008 R2.



You may want to change the computer name to something more memorable at this point.

You then need to download SharePoint 2010 Beta from:

http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/try-it/Pages/Trial.aspx

NB I selected for Internet sites as I wanted the full capabilities although I think the download is the same just a different key.

Start the install.



Now select "Install software prerequisites"

# Application Server Role, Web Server (IIS) Role: configured successfully
# Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Native Client: installed successfully
# Microsoft "Geneva" Framework Runtime: installed successfully
# Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 (x64): installed successfully
# Microsoft Chart Controls for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5: installed successfully
# Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0: installed successfully
# Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADOMD.NET: installed successfully

If they don't install, then install them one by one by downloading from MS.

Then go to Windows Update and install the required updates.



Restart your machine.

A lot of posts have mentioned installing KB971831 (called Windows6.1-KB976462-v2-x64.msu) from MS. However, on my first attempt it said that the update did not apply to my machine. This is available from:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971831

However, I think the update you actually need is from here:

http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=23806

Its name: Windows6.1-KB976462-x64

NB the link to the direct download would also not work, I had to use the MS FTM (link to download on that page).

You could also try: http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=976462&kbln=en-us

Restart your machine.

NB I tried to install without this patch initially, but it failed. I therefore re-ran the SharePoint Products Configuration wizard below (which was added to the start menu). The error was:

Failed to create sample data.
An exception of type Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileException was thrown. Additional exception information: Unrecognized attribute 'allowInsecureTransport'. Note that attribute names are case-sensitive. (C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\WebClients\Profile\client.config line 56)

Now run the install again, and you'll be prompted for an install key:




Which you can get from here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ee391660.aspx

Installation of the SharePoint Server 2010 Beta requires one of the following product keys:

SharePoint Server 2010 Beta (Enterprise CAL features): PKXTJ-DCM9D-6MM3V-G86P8-MJ8CY
SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites Beta, Enterprise: PKXTJ-DCM9D-6MM3V-G86P8-MJ8CY

Now we need to choose the type of install.



Choose Standalone.









That's SharePoint installed! :-) At this point you'll probably want to setup a SharePoint 2010 site. The page below will load up (add it to your trusted sites and reload to remove error in bottom left):



Use default groups (you can always amend):



You should now see the homepage.



For development, you'll also probably want to install:

Download and install Visual Studio 2010
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/download

Download and install SharePoint Designer 2010 Beta (64-bit)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/confirmation.aspx?familyId=eeda9ab1-ac53-4870-9e1c-38940343d677&displayLang=en#

References:

Difference between IA64 and x64
http://mikedimmick.blogspot.com/2006/03/whats-difference-between-x64-and-ia-64.html