Hey WoodyZ,
Thanks for the quick follow-up questions (and sorry - I should've thought of providing these anyway)!
VMware product and version: VMware Workstation 9.0.2 build-1031769
Host OS: Windows 7 Pro Service Pack 1, 16GB Memory (15.7GB Usable), 64-bit Operating System (CPU: Intel Core i7-3720QM CPU @ 2.60 GHz)
Guest OS: Centos 6.4 base (the folder containing this guest OS I received from a coworker - who already set up a 6-machine cluster - has many files, including about 12 virtual disk files)
Guest Virtual Network Adapter says "NAT". When I click on that in the VM window (but before I choose "power on", it shows options like the checkbox for "connect at power on" and the radio button selected is "NAT: Used to share the host's IP address".
I'm not sure what would happen if I were to run two separately created VMs (not one copied to the other) because (1) the iso images I was referred to at the mirror site all say that they need to be burned to a CD (which I'm trying to avoid); and (2) the "minimal install" iso file download is estimating an almost 2 hour download time (note: I've started the download anyway but I'm hoping I can get some answer before the download completes - but if I don't get an answer, I'll let you know how far I get with trying a non-copied image).
Thanks again!