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6 Replies Last post: Oct 14, 2009 1:24 PM by J_Wood  

Windows 7 as a guest OS? posted: Sep 29, 2009 1:58 PM

Click to view andrew562's profile Lurker
andrew562
3 posts since
Sep 16, 2008

Has anyone tried using Windows 7 yet as a guest OS on ESX, either 32-bit or 64-bit? It is experimentally supported with vSphere 4.0. There is one KB article also recommending that the display driver be disabled in VMware tools.

KB Article: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1011709

Compatibility Guide: http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/

Thanks!

-Andrew


Tags: win7, windows_7, esx, guest-os

Re: Windows 7 as a guest OS?

1. Sep 30, 2009 7:24 AM in response to: andrew562
Click to view chandlm's profile Expert
chandlm
420 posts since
Apr 2, 2004
I tried loading it into ESX 3.5 and it sort of worked....until I reboot and every other time it just freezes on the reboot. I haven't had a chance to try it on my test vSphere boxes though. Have you tried?

Re: Windows 7 as a guest OS?

2. Sep 30, 2009 7:32 AM in response to: chandlm
Click to view andrew562's profile Lurker
andrew562
3 posts since
Sep 16, 2008
We ran into the same thing. I have a few vSphere test boxes but I have not yet tried a Win7 guest. On ESX 3.5 we saw that the Win7 guest appeared to be corrupted after a reboot.

Re: Windows 7 as a guest OS?

3. Sep 30, 2009 7:39 AM in response to: andrew562
Click to view chandlm's profile Expert
chandlm
420 posts since
Apr 2, 2004
At least now I know I'm not crazy. I was going to play around with making it different versions for the VMware tools, etc. and eventually decided it's easier to just wait :)

Re: Windows 7 as a guest OS?

4. Oct 13, 2009 6:54 AM in response to: chandlm
Click to view andrew562's profile Lurker
andrew562
3 posts since
Sep 16, 2008
Windows 7 seems to work just fine as a guest O/S on ESX 4.0 with the display driver disabled as indicated by the KB article posted above. We have not done too much with it yet, but it no longer crashes permanently upon reboot, etc.

Re: Windows 7 as a guest OS?

5. Oct 14, 2009 10:45 AM in response to: andrew562
Click to view MJohnson@FSGN's profile Novice
MJohnson@FSGN
5 posts since
Jun 1, 2006
We have 5 Win7 VMs running on ESX 3.5 update4 just fine, no issues so far......

Re: Windows 7 as a guest OS?

6. Oct 14, 2009 1:24 PM in response to: andrew562
Click to view J_Wood's profile Enthusiast
J_Wood
29 posts since
Mar 27, 2006
We are running Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 VMs on vSphere. To get it to run without freezing I had to do a custom VMware tools install and disable the display driver for both operating systems. No problems after that. :8}

JAMES WOOD | SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR | ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Phoenix, Arizona

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