Hi WoodyZ,
Yes and I should have said it: this is right before the dialog to sign in that doesn't show up.
And no, I didn't see any option during the install process to automatically log in (I guess it's a special feature of Debian and its spin off such as Ubuntu and Co. that I use too).
BTW, such an option isn't available either on Fedora 17 that installs like a charm with VMware 9.0.2.
Anyhow, thanx for your input even if I'm still locked down.