I can't install Ubuntu properly on VMWare

Did you install server or did you install the desktop OS?

Desktop OS

What ISO did you use to install with?

How do you mean? I used PowerISO to mount the image if that's what you mean?

What was the file name you used?
Did you MD5 test the file before you used it?

It's just the name of the iso that you download from the Ubuntu website, how do I md5 test it? What does this do?

An MD5sum is used to verify there are no errors in the download. Its a simple check and certainly worth doing as downloads do get corrupted. See here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM

Which iso file did you download? There are quite a few versions for different desktops, releases and architectures, The name of the file will tell us.

File name is: ubuntu-12.04.1-desktop-i386
I can't do md5sum on Windows 7 either, I tried downloading it and putting it into system 32 but it's not recognising it?

You can MD5 sum in Windows. Just because YOU don't know how to do something doesn't mean it cannot be done. There are also tonnes of guides online telling you how to do it, a simple websearch would have shown you that.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM#MD5SUM_on_Windows

All right, I've never done this before, no need for the attitude. On the Ubuntu hash list, there is only: ubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso and not the one I downloaded, anyway I compared checksums and they are different.

All right, I've never done this before, no need for the attitude. On the Ubuntu hash list, there is only: ubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso and not the one I downloaded, anyway I compared checksums and they are different.

Its not attitude, the whole 'I can't do it' then having to explain to people that looking up stuff on the Internet is a little tiring.

https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how%20do%20I%20md5%20test%20ubuntu%20in%20windows

Even the simplest search brings up guides.

If the MD5 hashes are different it means the file is bad and needs redownloading. I suggest you use torrents as the torrent protocol adds extra error checking and can help get a healthy image

@actionparsnip, you're representing Ubuntu by answering people here. You should be civil even when you think they haven't done their homework. If you're tired of support, perhaps there are other things you could do?

FWIW, it doesn't look as though anyone has added hashes of 12.04.1 to UbuntuHashes, which is hardly David's fault. Somebody with a bit of time should file a bug on ubuntu-docs for that ...

Thanks for backing my corner a little, currently downloading v.8 of ubuntu through a torrent, will post how it goes.

Hardy is only supported on the server. It is EOL on the desktop