In order to have a headless (no screen) Ubuntu vm running in the background in Windows, first you must install and setup Ubuntu, then launch the virtual machine using vmrun with the nogui option. Below sets up Ubuntu for both ssh and VNC remote desktop access.

1. Install Ubuntu.
2. Setup SSH server (Secure shell client and server metapackage).
3. Set the resolution.
4. Enable VNC remote desktop: Applications > Desktop Sharing:
   1. Tick Allow other users to view your desktop.
   2. Tick Allow other user to control your desktop.
   3. Untick You must confirm each access to this machine (don’t leave this ticked, otherwise you need to already be viewing the desktop in order to access remotely).
   4. Tick Require the user to enter this password, then enter a password.
   5. Click Close.
5. Confirm that you can log in to Ubuntu via SSH and/or VNC.
6. Shutdown virtual machine.
7. Open the virtual machine from the command prompt with vmrun and the option nogui.

e.g. c:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmrun start m:\vm\Ubuntu\Ubuntu.vmx nogui