How do I...Enable SSH?

Less secure method

1. Open the VMware console
2. Log in as 'root' with the root password (default 'password')
3. Change the root password (type 'passwd')
4. Type nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
   Scroll down until you find PermitRootLogin no and change it to read PermitRootLogin yes.
   Hit Control-X to exit and "Y" to save
5. Reload the SSH server config: type /etc/init.d/ssh reload

More secure method

1. Log in as above.
2. Create a limited user account (by typing adduser username)
3. (optionally) Allow that user to run root commands using sudo
4. SSH in as that user and become root using su - or sudo -s -H.

Even more secure method

SSH supports logins with passwords, or with a "SSH key" - a pair of encryption files where one is kept public, and one is sent to the servers you wish to log into. 

Read about how to create SSH keys on Linux or Windows.

Logging in to the server

An excellent Windows program (or client) for accessing a SSH server is PuTTY.  Mac and Linux machines have ssh built in.

Troubleshooting

For either method, if your server has a firewall enabled, you may have to modify your rules to allow access using TCP port 22.