XP install on ESXi server won't start? 4

[JBruyet]

Hey all,

I'm trying to install an XP Pro workstation on my ESXi server for testing purposes and I'm not having any luck. I've created an XP VM, the XP CD is in the CD drive and I've "Connected" the CD drive to the VM but when the VM boots I keep getting the "Operating System not found" error. Is there a step I'm missing here? Oh, and I'm connecting to the D: drive not an ISO image. Anyone have any words of wisdom?

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[nhidalgo]

are you saying the install completes and then it tries to boot and get operating system not found?

Check your bios boot order for the vm. Also make sure you disconnect the virtual cd rom and floppy if they are connected.

 

[JBruyet]

I was unaware that there was a BIOS boot order for the VM. I'll check that and see what happens.

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[ArizonaGeek]

It is hard to do but when you open the console click in the middle of the screen. You may have to 3 finger salute it (control-alt-insert) if you miss it but then you can hit the Escape key to get the boot menu or F2 to get to the "BIOS" menu. It can bit a bit tough to catch it, it goes by pretty fast but it can be done. After you do it a few dozen times you get to be able to time it right.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[JBruyet]

nhidalgo, I'm unable to get XP to begin the install process. I checked the VM's BIOS and the VM is NOW setup to boot to the CD but I just keep getting the "Operating System not found" error message. I checked to make sure and I definitely have "Connected" the CD drive to the VM.

ArizonaGeek, my aim is off but I did find a Boot Options setting under the Options tab of the VM properties. I selected the Force BIOS Setup option and I set the CD-ROM as the first item in the boot order.

Gentlemen, I just can't seem to get the VM to boot to the CD so I can get XP installed. I haven't had much luck with "Converting" live workstations so I thought this would be a good idea. Could I be missing something really simple?

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[ArizonaGeek]

What I'd recommend is grabbing a copy of WinISO and create an ISO of your WinXP cd.

You will also need to follow the thread here to get XP installed once you get it going to install some drivers.

In VMCenter you can look at the data store, right click on it and select Browse Data Store and upload the ISO file to your ESXi server. That might be a little easier to boot to an ISO than trying to boot to a physical CD.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[nhidalgo]

make sure you have the cdrom set to connected and connected at power on. Or are you using a client device cdrom?

 

[JBruyet]

nhidalgo, that was it! I was using the Client Device. I reset it to Host Device AND Connected AND Connect at power on and that started the installation process. Here's a star 'cuz I made that hurdle.

Now I get the following:

Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer.

How do I get the VM to see the drives on the server? FWIW they're SATA drives on an Asus motherboard. BUT, since this is a VM do I use an Asus driver disk or something else?

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[nhidalgo]

the underlying hardware doesn't matter since you are on top of a vm host. You will need to use the following driver

http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp

Upload this to your vmhost and mount it as a floppy. Then be sure to press f6 when xp setup starts

 

[JBruyet]

nhidalgo,

Ok, using the Datastore Browser I navigate to the VM that needs the driver. I click on the "Upload files from your local machine to this datastore" then click on the Upload File selection and my Infrastructure Client software locks up every time. I even shut down all of my VMs and "Entered" Maintenance Mode. No joy. Am I missing something here???

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[nhidalgo]

This is the way i did it.

Select your esx server, click the configuration tab,
select storage on the left. Right click your data store on the right and browse the data store. Then click the upload button and upload your flp file to the root of the data store.

 

[JBruyet]

nhidalgo, my client locked up again so I thought I had an even bigger problem. Then I went back to the shop to look at a bike rack and when I came back the file upload was working. I just uploaded the floppy image and now I'm going to boot the VM and see what happens.

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[JBruyet]

nhidalgo, it's working. Thanks for getting through this second hurdle. Here's another star for you because this was a different issue.

Thanks,

Joe B