Windows PE in VMware Workstation 4.5

[Primetime]

Hi,

I like to test our PE-Images with VMware's Workstation 4.5.

So I create a new virtual machine and point the CD-Rom drive to the *iso img.

Everything runs fine, but only for one boot!

When I stop the machine and want to start it later nothing happens.

The machine stopps with a blinking cursor.

When I create a new machine with the same image it runs again.

Any ideas?

Is this a know issue?

Chris

[prathapml]

This is not an "issue" at all.

It is a known fact that any sensible BIOS will boot the first boot device (as specified in CMOS settings). Now, what happens is that the first time you boot, Windows (whether win95 or winXP or winPE) will make an entry in Hard-Disk's MBR to make it bootable.

So, 1st time you boot-up win winPE iso, the vmware BIOS finds that the HDD's MBR is blank, and so attempts to boot from some other device (i.e., it manages to boot from your CD-iso image). Once winPE starts booting up, it initialises your (virtual) HDD's MBR and so it is no longer blank. The next time you boot-up, the vmware BIOS boots your HDD, but since the HDD has nothing on it even now, it just stops with a blank screen. This is a scenario that will get played out even on a real machine.

The solution is simple - use the standard methods.

Enter the BIOS while powering the VM on (press the F2 key), and from the "Boot" menu item set the CD-ROM to be first-boot device (highlight it and press the "+" key in NumPad).

[Primetime]

I will try it next time! ;-)

[ChrisBaksa]

I build all flavors of vmware...

Workstation, ESX, GSX... It works well. You will need a mass controller driver for a few of them which is avaliable on VMWares site.

Correct... The default boot order for a new session needs to be changed so the CD Rom drive is 1st. Ran into that last year.

I've done extensive work with VMware and would be happy to assist anyone who is having issues.

Chris

[wrecklesswun]

Here's one, how do i get pe to detect the vmscsi drives...it works fine with ide.

[mats]

Had exactly that problem with the boot order corectly defined.
Had to reinstall system from scratch to fix it

[pickupman]

[quote name='Primetime' date='Jun 9 2004, 02:36 AM']When I stop the machine and want to start it later nothing happens.
The machine stopps with a blinking cursor.[/quote]
I have spent hours trying to fix this problem myself. I had the bios settings right too. I just started with WinPE and OPK. I had setup a Pro SP2 preinstall from a retail CD, which everything booted fine in WinPE/Vmware. When using a OEM Home SP2 setup I kept getting the exact same error. The fix I found was using fdisk /mbr command after factory -winpe.

[url="http://radified.com/Files/bootmec.exe"]WinMe Boot w/ FDISK[/url]

I put FDISK.EXE into my /i386/system32 of my WinPE image. I then edit startnet.cmd & startopk.net to read:

--------------
factory -winpe
fdisk /mbr
--------------
and copied back into /i386/system32 of my image. Then when winpe is finished with installing the configuration set. fdisk rewrites the master boot record (MBR). Then on reboot vwmare reboots properly to finish the windows setup.