For anybody that's being playing around with the new free VMWare server in it's beta stage, you'll no doubt have come across the problem that the standalone console window doesn't work on a default install.

It seems that the console URL fails to work when the machine name is used as the location of the server being viewed.  This will, hopefully, be fixed when v2 is finally released - however in the meantime there is a simple, non-invasive fix.

Go to your VMWare installation directory, and find the .url link that links to the VMWare console.  It should be called "serverui.lnk".

Right-click and go to properties.  You should see a link like https://mymachine:8333/ui/.  Change that to https://127.0.0.1:8333/ui/, apply and then close.

Now when you open the VMWare console from the shortcut link on the startbar or quick launch, it'll open with the IP.

Now you'll be able to select a virtual machine from the tree, and click on the 'console' tab to bring up a standlone console window.

I don't know if this applies to linux, but it's certainly how I fixed it on my windows PC