Loghorn Build 4074 installed in Virtual PC 2004?

[fzr400guy]

Has anyone on this board succesfully done this? If so are there any special things I can do to make it go smoothly? I currently have it install on VMWare 4.5.2 but do to a compatability issue with VM Tools I get the BSOD(Blue Screen Of Death) about 2-3 minutes into my Longhorn session. I am concerned with getting all the way through the install process only to have it happen again with Virtual PC.

[vaughaag]

I have installed it on VPC with no issues, it runs slow but thats to be exspected. VPC dose not suffer with as many hardward compatibility problems as VMWare.

[nighthawk]

It will work fine in Virtual PC 2004, although if you get a very ugly display (4 bit color), change your graphics driver inside longhorn to an S3 ProSavage or Trio card

[prathapml]

Yup!

VPC2k4 plays fine with longhorn - bcos it emulates very old hardware (for which LH has drivers). Takes around 2.5 hours to install. Enjoy!

But it will be just about a week or so before vmware brings out a new driver-set (or new release) to support longhorn in a VM.

[gabriel_buc]

I installed Lonhorn build 4074 in VMware 4.5.2 build 8848.

It took me about 45 minutes to do the installation, but in the end all works fine. It is true that it takes 5 minutes to boot and start Win. It crashes a lot, but this is normal since this new Win version it's only at the begining.

So in conclusion VMWare DOES SUPPORT Win Longhorn

Quote from Vmware Guest Operating System Guide:

Windows, Code-named Longhorn, Beta

Support

This beta operating system has experimental support as a guest operating system on the following VMware products:

VMware Workstation 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2

VMware GSX Server 3.0

Because Longhorn is still in the beta stage of devlopment, you should expect it to install and run more slowly than other guest operating systems.

General Installation Notes

Be sure to read General Guidelines for All VMware Products as well as this guide to installing your specific guest operating system.

You can install the beta of the next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, in a virtual machine using the Longhorn distribution CD. If your VMware product supports it, you may also install from a PXE server.

VMware Workstation: If you are using the virtual LSI Logic SCSI adapter, Longhorn automatically installs the SCSI driver when you install the guest operating system. To use the virtual BusLogic SCSI adapter in a Longhorn virtual machine under VMware Workstation, you need a special SCSI driver available from the download section of the VMware Web site at www.vmware.com/download. Follow the instructions on the Web site to use the driver with a fresh installation of Longhorn. If you have a virtual machine with a SCSI virtual disk and a Windows 9x, Windows Me, Windows NT or Windows 2000 guest operating system and want to upgrade it to Longhorn, install the new SCSI driver before upgrading the operating system.

GSX Server: If you are using the virtual LSI Logic SCSI adapter, Longhorn automatically installs the SCSI driver when you install the guest operating system. If you are using the virtual BusLogic SCSI adapter, you need a special SCSI driver available from the download section of the VMware Web site at www.vmware.com/download. Follow the instructions on the Web site to use the driver with a fresh installation of Longhorn. If you have a virtual machine with a SCSI virtual disk and an earlier Windows guest operating system and want to upgrade it to Longhorn, install the new SCSI driver before upgrading the operating system.

Installation Steps

If you want to run Longhorn in a virtual machine, be sure you have a full installation CD for the operating system.

Before installing the operating system, be sure that you have already created and configured a new virtual machine.

Installing the Guest Operating System

Insert the Longhorn CD in the CD-ROM drive.

Power on the virtual machine to start installing Longhorn.

If you are using the virtual BusLogic SCSI driver downloaded from the VMware Web site, you must take some special steps at this point in the installation process. As the Longhorn installer loads, press the F6 key. This allows you to select the additional SCSI driver required for installation. Press S to specify the additional driver. After you specify the SCSI driver, press Enter to continue with setup.

In certain Longhorn builds, the installer chooses an incorrect default in the screen titled Choose your installation destination. It shows a partition with 0 MB free and makes that partition the default destination.

At that screen, you must change the choice to the disk (instead of the partition), then click Continue.

Follow the remaining installation steps as you would for a physical machine.

VMware Tools

Be sure to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system. For details, see the manual for your VMware product or follow the appropriate link in the knowledge base article at www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=340.

Enabling Sound in a Longhorn Guest

VMware GSX Server: The sound device is disabled by default and must be enabled with the virtual machine control panel (VM > Settings) after the operating system has been installed. To set up the virtual machine to play sound, see Configuring Sound in the GSX Server documentation.

Known Issues

Product Activation

The Longhorn product activation feature creates a numerical key based on the virtual hardware in the virtual machine where it is installed. Changes in the configuration of the virtual machine may require you to reactivate the operating system. There are some steps you can take to minimize the number of significant changes.

Set the final memory size for your virtual machine before you activate Longhorn. When you cross certain thresholds - approximately 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB and 1GB - the product activation feature sees the changes as significant.

Note: The size reported to the Windows product activation feature is slightly less than the actual amount configured for the virtual machine. For example, 128MB is interpreted as falling in the 64MB-127MB range.

Install VMware Tools before you activate Longhorn. When the SVGA driver in the VMware Tools package is installed, it activates features in the virtual graphics adapter that make it appear to Longhorn as a new graphics adapter.

If you want to experiment with any other aspects of the virtual machine configuration, do so before activating Longhorn. Keep in mind that typically you have 14 days for experimentation before you have to activate the operating system. (Your EULA may define a different period before activation is required.)

For more details on Longhorn product activation, see the Microsoft Web site.

Display Hardware Acceleration

Longhorn has display adapter hardware acceleration disabled by default. This slows down graphics performance and mouse responsiveness in the guest operating system.

To enable hardware acceleration in a Longhorn guest, open the Control Panel, then open the Display Properties control panel. On the Settings tab, click Advanced. On the Troubleshoot tab, drag the Hardware acceleration slider all the way to Full.

Guest Screen Saver

On a Linux host with an XFree86 3.x X server, it is best not to run a screen saver in the guest operating system. Guest screen savers that demand a lot of processing power can cause the X server on the host to freeze.

Hibernation

The hibernation feature is not supported in this release. Instead of using the guest operating system's hibernate feature, suspend the virtual machine.

Checked (Debug) Build

VMware GSX Server: In order to install and run a checked (debug) build of Longhorn in a virtual machine, you must first edit the virtual machine's configuration file (.vmx). Add the following line:

uhci.forceHaltBit = TRUE