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Aries-Belgium
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

drwook wrote:
melbaum wrote:
I have a related question and maybe this thread is the place to ask. Is it possible to define, or link, or somehow copy over an existing Windows partition to a virtual machine for qemu or vmware player? The partition is a bit neglected but I prefer to avoid reinstalling all the software. The docs refer to a bootable install disk.

thanks.

Your windows install (almost certainly) won't run properly on the virtual machine - think about if you physically moved a hard drive with windows on into another machine and tried to boot it... If you really want to try though, 'dd if=/dev/hdxx of=~/imagefile' should create an image

The image created with dd will only be "playable" under qemu. If you would like to run it with vmplayer you have to convert it to a vmdk file:
Code:
qemu-img convert imagefile_from_dd -O vmdk -o imagefile.vmdk


I haven't tried it myself, so I don't know it will work.

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Robert S
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 12:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
qemu-img convert imagefile_from_dd -O vmdk -o imagefile.vmdk

This didn't work for me. Got the BSOD and a Windows repair didn't work. Don't remember the exact message, but it complained about problems loading the boot device IIRC.

Now a couple of my questions:

How do I switch consoles in a vmware session? I realise I can use 'chvt', but sometimes I can't get root access from a graphical console (eg. the gentoo liveCD!). In qemu you can use ctrl-2 etc.

Is it possible to get vmware-linux-tools installed? You need to download the file manually and I can't find it anywhere on the vmware website. May be you need to be registered for one of the commercial products.

Failing that - is there some way of getting better screen resolution than 800x600 with 16 colours in a windows session? In linux you can use a framebuffer driver in xorg.conf and get nice resolution.
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Aries-Belgium
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 12:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Robert S wrote:
Quote:
qemu-img convert imagefile_from_dd -O vmdk -o imagefile.vmdk

This didn't work for me. Got the BSOD and a Windows repair didn't work. Don't remember the exact message, but it complained about problems loading the boot device IIRC.

Like a said, I didn't know if it would work. I haven't tried that yet. :D
Robert S wrote:

Failing that - is there some way of getting better screen resolution than 800x600 with 16 colours in a windows session? In linux you can use a framebuffer driver in xorg.conf and get nice resolution.

You have to find the vmware driver for Windows. Normally it is included in vmware, but it's not included in vmplayer. I don't know if it's 100% legal to download the driver and install it under vmplayer. Can somebody confirm that? That's why I didn't want to put it in the howto ...
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picklestix
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 4:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Does anyone have a problem with their mouse being jerky? It's all but unusable for me. Same in Windows and ReactOS...
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Aries-Belgium
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 5:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

picklestix wrote:
Does anyone have a problem with their mouse being jerky? It's all but unusable for me. Same in Windows and ReactOS...

Are you using vmware-tools?
Because I was using an older version of vmware-tools and then my mouse movements were jerky too. If you're using vmware-tools you should update or disable the option to automaticilly bind and unbind the mouse ...
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aries-Belgium wrote:
Are you using vmware-tools?
Because I was using an older version of vmware-tools and then my mouse movements were jerky too. If you're using vmware-tools you should update or disable the option to automaticilly bind and unbind the mouse ...


I don't think so. I emerged vmware-player. I did try to emerge vmware-linux-tools to see if that would help but i noticed it had fetch restriction turned on so I assumed it wasn't a part of the player package. In any case I'm assuming that's the same as vmware-tools....

Also I am on ~amd64 arch.

I've downloaded the Internet Browser Appliance(which is ubuntu), and the mouse works fine.

It's horribly jumpy in windows me, reactOS and syllableOS.
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Aries-Belgium
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like I already said above, I had the same problem with the mouse when I used the old version of vmware-tools. The problem is that vmware-tools isn't included in vmplayer and I don't know it's legal that I give you a download link.
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yabbadabbadont
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

See here for the official word on this from the vmware-player support team.

Short answer, yes, it's legal.
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picklestix
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aries-Belgium wrote:
Like I already said above, I had the same problem with the mouse when I used the old version of vmware-tools. The problem is that vmware-tools isn't included in vmplayer and I don't know it's legal that I give you a download link.


Makes sense now, thanks... I've done a bit of reading on vmware tools and it seems that's what's nessicary for the video driver to work correctly as well, but all the download links I've found are broken.
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I just completed a fresh install of windowsXP. It's running in 32 bit color with up to 1900x1440 res available, and I still haven't gotten the vmware-tools package installed.

Does XP have built in support for the vmware video?

When I converted my windows ME image file over from qemu, I'm stuck in like 640x480 with 16 colors.

Would I get better graphics if I did a clean install of windows ME? I really don't want to re-activate windows on the emmulated specs...

(By the way, if anyone is having problems with the qemu image conversion, I ran
Code:
qemu-img convert -fraw OLDIMAGE.IMG -Ovmdk NEWIMAGE.IMG


You can't have any spaces after the -f or -O switches..
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Aries-Belgium
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 2:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, Windows XP has builtin VMWare support, so you don't need vmware-tools for that. At least not for the display driver. vmware-tools also add support to automatically (un)bind the mouse when moving in the vmware window or out the window.

I don't believe it would change if you do a fresh install of WinME, because I'm using Win2k under VMWare and without the vmware display driver I also can't go higher then 640x480.

I will see if I can find the download link. If you would like to search yourself in the meanwhile you can search for the file "windows.iso". This iso file contains the vmware-tools. You can mount the iso in your vmx config file as a virtual cdrom driver ...
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 3:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aries-Belgium wrote:
Yes, Windows XP has builtin VMWare support, so you don't need vmware-tools for that. At least not for the display driver. vmware-tools also add support to automatically (un)bind the mouse when moving in the vmware window or out the window.

I don't believe it would change if you do a fresh install of WinME, because I'm using Win2k under VMWare and without the vmware display driver I also can't go higher then 640x480.

I will see if I can find the download link. If you would like to search yourself in the meanwhile you can search for the file "windows.iso". This iso file contains the vmware-tools. You can mount the iso in your vmx config file as a virtual cdrom driver ...


Thanks for your help! I got it working. All the .iso files (linux windows and others) are all contained inside the lib directory of the vmware-workstation download. I actually found install instructions with a link to the entire vmware-workstation tarball. (You only need a license to run it, apparantly not to download it.) So anyone else that needs it could probably get it from there.

It's pretty sweet with the auto mouse un-bind...
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Aries-Belgium
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 3:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

picklestix wrote:

Thanks for your help! I got it working. All the .iso files (linux windows and others) are all contained inside the lib directory of the vmware-workstation download. I actually found install instructions with a link to the entire vmware-workstation tarball. (You only need a license to run it, apparantly not to download it.) So anyone else that needs it could probably get it from there.

It's pretty sweet with the auto mouse un-bind...

Oh, cool to know. If you're 100% sure that you don't need a licence for the iso files, I will put it in the howto ... Thank you for the tip.
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 4:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aries-Belgium wrote:

Oh, cool to know. If you're 100% sure that you don't need a licence for the iso files, I will put it in the howto ... Thank you for the tip.


From what I've read on the vmware forums and elsewhere, it doesn't seem like it's a legal issue to obtain the files. What I do know is that direct from VMware, they don't make it easy to download the vmware-tools directly. Without registering for a trial of workstation, or you could also probably get them from the free server edition, but registration is also required for that prior to download.

Doesn't seem like it's illegal, but it does seem like they want to make you work a little if you're not going to purchase their software =) It's your call if you put it in the how to or not, I think if you're worried about it that people can figure it out from the above posts....
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dTr
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have tried to get this to work but the image doesn't seem to be recognised by vmplayer. It doesn't even show up in the bios screen... Help!!!
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picklestix
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 3:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dTr wrote:
I have tried to get this to work but the image doesn't seem to be recognised by vmplayer. It doesn't even show up in the bios screen... Help!!!


Can you be a little more descriptive of your problem and what you're trying to do? For most setups I can't image you would need to even go into the BIOS. I'm assuming you're trying to get windows installed. If so, what version? Before XP, very few windows cds actually boot directly. If this is the case you can make a boot floppy or cdrom that will boot you into dos, then get windows setup from there.

Other than that you may need to post your vmx file so we can see your config, but it's hard to say without knowing exactly what you're trying to accomplish.
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at240
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the howto, Aries-Belgium---worked perfectly and a *lot* faster than qemu. :D

The link on the original post didn't work for me yesterday, so I found this
http://www.skrodahl.net/easyvmx/
which generates vmx files very easily.
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dTr
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry about the brief post before. I am trying to install winxp pro. I have made a disk image as per the instructions. In vmplayer I can boot the xp disk but it stops with an error saying no hard drive is detected. This is why I checked in the vmplayer bios. Here is my
Code:
#!/usr/bin/vmware
displayName = "winxppro"
guestOS = "winxppro"

memsize = "256"
#scsi0:0.fileName = "windows.vmdk"
ide0:0.fileName = "windows.vmdk"
ide1:0.fileName = "k3b_0.iso"

# DEFAULT SETTINGS UNDER THIS LINE
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "3"

MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"
MemTrimRate = "-1"

uuid.location = "56 4d f9 8c d0 b7 02 83-df 11 51 5d 5c 8a 8a df"
uuid.bios = "56 4d f9 8c d0 b7 02 83-df 11 51 5d 5c 8a 8a df"

uuid.action = "create"
checkpoint.vmState = "windows.vmss"

ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:8a:8a:df"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

usb.present = "FALSE"
sound.present = "FALSE"

ide0.present = "TRUE"
ide0.virtualdev = "lsilogic"
#ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.deviceType = "disk"
ide0:0.mode = "persistent"
ide0:0.redo = ""
ide0:0.writeThrough = "FALSE"
ide0:0.startConnected = "FALSE"

scsi0:1.present = "FALSE"
floppy0.present = "FALSE"
#ide0:0.present = "FALSE"
ide0:1.present = "FALSE"
ide1:1.present = "FALSE"

ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
ide1:0.autodetect = "FALSE"
ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"



Thanks!
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Aries-Belgium
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

at240 wrote:
Thanks for the howto, Aries-Belgium---worked perfectly and a *lot* faster than qemu. :D

The link on the original post didn't work for me yesterday, so I found this
http://www.skrodahl.net/easyvmx/
which generates vmx files very easily.

No thanks ;)

Indeed, that vmx generator is pretty good. I will put it in the initial howto post ... Thanks for the tip :D
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 5:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dTr wrote:
Sorry about the brief post before. I am trying to install winxp pro. I have made a disk image as per the instructions. In vmplayer I can boot the xp disk but it stops with an error saying no hard drive is detected. This is why I checked in the vmplayer bios. Here is my


I'm by no means an expert at this but here is a modified vmx file for you to try. I saw a few things that may have been giving you issues.

Also make sure that the winxppro.img file is in the same directory as the .vmx file so that it can find the file...

Code:

#!/usr/bin/vmware
displayName = "winxppro"
guestOS = "winxppro"

memsize = "256"

# DEFAULT SETTINGS UNDER THIS LINE
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "3"

MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"
MemTrimRate = "-1"

uuid.location = "56 4d f9 8c d0 b7 02 83-df 11 51 5d 5c 8a 8a df"
uuid.bios = "56 4d f9 8c d0 b7 02 83-df 11 51 5d 5c 8a 8a df"

uuid.action = "create"
checkpoint.vmState = "windows.vmss"

ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:8a:8a:df"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

usb.present = "FALSE"
sound.present = "FALSE"
floppy0.present = "FALSE"
scsi0.present = "FALSE"

ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.fileName = "windows.vmdk"
ide0:0.deviceType = "disk"
ide0:0.mode = "persistent"
ide0:0.redo = ""
ide0:0.writeThrough = "FALSE"
ide0:0.startConnected = "TRUE"

ide0:1.fileName = "k3b_0.iso"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
ide1:0.autodetect = "FALSE"
ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"

ide1:0.present = "FALSE"
ide1:1.present = "FALSE"


I'm assuming that you're trying to install windows off the k3b image, if it is already booting for you to the windows install that should be fine. After you get it installed you can change the cdrom device settings back to your standard cdrom drive.

Hope this helps.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 11:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I start vmplayer from kde with arts enabled for sound I often get the message that /dev/dsp is busy. The usual solution is to use artsdsp, but I get the message "artsdsp works only for binaries" if I do this. Apparently this is a feature of artsdsp in kde 3.5.x.

I've tried hacking the /usr/bin/vmware script, but I don't know where to put the "artsdsp" command. I've tried the suggestion at http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=353760&#353760 but its only designed for vmware, not vmplayer. Google has yielded no answers.
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Aries-Belgium
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Robert S wrote:
When I start vmplayer from kde with arts enabled for sound I often get the message that /dev/dsp is busy. The usual solution is to use artsdsp, but I get the message "artsdsp works only for binaries" if I do this. Apparently this is a feature of artsdsp in kde 3.5.x.

I've tried hacking the /usr/bin/vmware script, but I don't know where to put the "artsdsp" command. I've tried the suggestion at http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=353760&#353760 but its only designed for vmware, not vmplayer. Google has yielded no answers.

Hi, sorry for the late response but could you post the output of this command:
Code:
cat /path/to/config.vmx | grep sound

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PostPosted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 10:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Better late than never :-) Still haven't found a fix on the vmware site.
Quote:
$ cat win2000-linux.vmx |grep sound
## This configuration makes VMware Player emulate an es1371 sound card.
sound.present = "TRUE"
sound.virtualDev = "es1371"
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Aries-Belgium
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 11:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is a long shot, but try to add these lines to your vmx config file:
Code:
sound.fileName = "-1"
sound.autodetect = "TRUE"

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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just want to say thank you for this guide. I just followed it and vmware-player + Windows XP is working great!

Now I don't have to mess with Wine or OpenOffice anymore. Even better, I don't have to dual boot!
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