Also, VMware Server is free. You just have to DL it.
As far as your installation issue, I'm honestly not sure. I've never actually installed Linux on the same drive as Windows before. I tend to put it on it's own drive.
Let me do some searching for articles on how to do it. I know the information is out there.
With VMWare, don't you have to have a licensed copy of the Windows OS to load onto the your virtual machine that will be running MS apps?
Not an issue for RKing...just curious.