Chris ,
I've recently started using VMWare and must admit its very good.
I was sceptable to how well it would work, but in only a few weeks I've managed to get RedHat, Solaris, MS server 2003 enterprise and XP all running on an XP 'host'.
It's not too difficult - especially if you want to keep your PC running Win 2000.
Have a look at the documentation on the vmware web site , they give full examples of how to install a whole list of os's - in fact they have already got preinstalled vm's on the web site you can just download and run to see if you prefer it ....
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/cat/45