Re: Can VMWare use an already installed Windows?
Douglas Mayne
> I'm toying with the idea of buying VMWare for Linux
> and have a question in that regard. I have a dual-boot
> system with Linux and Windows XP, and was wondering if
> it was possible for VMWare to use the Windows-partition
> I already have, so that I could either boot directly into
> the Windows installed in that partition or use it with
> VMWare under Linux? Or would I *have to* start VMWare
> and install Windows under it, thus also installing
> Windows in my Linux-partition?
>
> -Koppe
>
Some Caveats: I am not using Windows XP. I am not a VMWare expert.
I see the post by Andre Kostur and I agree with that. XP's product
activation may come into play because the virtual machine's hardware may
be too different than the actual hardware.
That said, I have been able to boot Windows 2000 independantly from its
own partition or from VMWare. The key to avoiding the blue screen,
"inaccessable boot device" is to have actual hardware which matches
your VMWare settings. The things I have found to be critical are as
follows:
1. A single physical CPU on motherboard (but see note below). VMWare
gives a virtual machine a single virtual processor. If you have setup
Windows 2000 to boot using a SMP HAL, then it will blue screen under
VMWare. You might find a trick here to get around this problem:
www.jsiinc.com
2. A matching boot controller. The default VMWare controller is
compatible with Intel 440xx ide controllers. If you have that
controller family, then you can boot. VMWare also has SCSI controllers
which you could try to match with your system.
Extra Notes: VMWare benefits from multiple CPUs. This makes sense because
the host and guests may place extra demand on the system. I have one dual
P3 1.0G motherboard running linux with a SMP kernel and hosting the VMWare
application (which can host guest OSs) and that has very good performance
(YMMV).
I decided to setup the W2k guest OS in its own partition on this machine
even though it won't boot independantly (due to the incompatible HAL)
for the following reasons:
1. Straightforward encapsulation of the virtual machine in its
own partition(s). This means other Windows tools and methods will
work consistently- the same as on other non-vmware W2k machines.
2. Windows can manage its own swap space on its own partiton
(pagefile.sys)
3. Just for fun.
BTW, if you have a "sysprep" image, you can simply restore that instead of
running W2k setup from scratch. Sysprep will prompt for your license key;
make sure your licenses are properly in order and that you are in full
compliance with your end user license agreement. XP's EULA may be
different than W2k's.
Here is a reference page about sysprep:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/tools/sysprep/default.asp
One extra note:
I found the "ntfs for linux" project's utility programs very useful for
backing up and restoring ntfs partitions, especially ntfsclone and
ntfsresize.
--
Strasser: What is your nationality?
Rick: I'm a drunkard.
Renault: That makes Rick a citizen of the world.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/quotes
Koppe74
Andre Kostur
@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
This is probably better asked over in one of the VMware newsgroups... but
theoretically yes, you can use VMware with existing installations of
Windows. However, what may confuse the heck out of your Windows
installation is that a large majority of your hardware will have changed
(effectively). This may even cause your Windows XP activation to become
invalid (no direct experience for me.. I've always used virtual disks).
John Thompson
You can run VMWare from an existing Windows installation, but you will
want to set up different hardware profiles for each use. I used it that
way for a while, but found it to be more trouble generally than anything
else, so eventually I just made a virtual machine installation. Disk space
is cheap these days...
--
John (jo...@os2.dhs.org)