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If you used VMware to install Windows before, installing Ubuntu is no difference. After creating a virtual machine, you install Ubuntu just like installing on a physical computer.

Do note that you may want to use the latest stable Ubuntu build as VMware 16 may no longer support older build of Ubuntu.
 
Or you just use WSL2 for your Ubuntu installation. It is as easy as typing wsl --install into an administrator shell. It installs Ubuntu 20.04 as default distribution.
 
Ok, WSL2 is not a full version of Linux. It is basically command line only until you go through some fairly extensive hoops to install a graphical desktop.

As for installing Ubuntu under VMware, it is the same under all versions, whether you run it on MacOS, Linux or Windows.
  1. Download the installer file from Ubuntu.com
  2. Open up VMware and select New
  3. Click on 'Install from disc or image'
  4. Find and select your .iso image
  5. Follow the instructions till it is installed, reboot, and log into Ubuntu
 
Ok, WSL2 is not a full version of Linux. It is basically command line only until you go through some fairly extensive hoops to install a graphical desktop.

WSL2 is a complete Linux. It contains a Wayland compositor based on Weston inclusive XWayland and a Pulse Audio Server. Weston directly communicates with the Windows host, thanks to the VAIL protocol Microsoft introduced into Weston's RDP backend. In addition Microsoft introduced para-virtualization of the GPU - which is required for guest HW acceleration shared with the host starting from driver model WDDM2.9.
 
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