Hi,
I have a virtual machine image that I can boot in VMware Player and Microsoft Virtual PC. In the image I changed the Windows XP (Home Edition) boot screen by editing ntoskrnl.exe. This is described in multiple articles on the web and in O'Reilly's 'Windows XP Annoyances'.
When I boot the image in Virtual PC I see my customizations to the Windows startup screen. Booting in VMware does not show the modifications. Does VMware Player use a different image for the startup screen than the one embedded in NTOSKRNL.EXE?
Any suggestions or ideas are welcome.
Thanks in advance
Arend
Strange - well it is possible that Virtual PC would install a different kernel than the ACPI one used in VMplayer ?
Anyway - if you don't use a fresh install VMplayer should also use the edited one.
Can you explain in more depth ?
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description of vmx-parameters:
Thank you for getting back to me.
First of all ... I really used 100% the same image in both cases. I think that NTOSKRNL.EXE should be the same default kernel in both cases. Under which circumstances is that not the case? How can I check whether the ntoskrnl.exe's are identical?
I also checked the startup options in boot.ini and HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SystemStartOptions. They were exactly identical in both cases.
/noexecute=optin /fastdetect
The instructions I followed are based on a free tool called 'resource hacker' and 'paint shop' and can be found here
I am also attaching the two screenshots for vpc and vmware boot. As you can see, I just added the words 'Powered by MyPocketXP'
Any help/idea is appreciated
Thanks again
Arend
It's better (and much safer) to use Stardock's BootSkin (free) software to change your XP's boot screen. NO hacking required - and therefore nothing to change again on Service Packs and/or patches to the NTOSKRNL.exe by Microsoft!!
Thanks RD.
I am not sure what your experience with bootskin is. I tried it and it has not been a good one. It changed the boot screen on the host to OS/2 and I have no recollection of making any changes or saving anything. I always tend to blame myself first but after after finding links of people that had the same problem I start to think that bootskin is not a piece of software you want to use
http://forums.techguy.org/windows-nt-2000-xp/716391-os-2-warp-weird-boot.html
http://cordelia.wincustomize.com/Articles.aspx?AID=61102
stating
"If you do a google search for this you will find a lot of people with
the same issue but no one seems to be able to find a solution any help
would be appreciate"
What I am really curious about though is what 'VMware Player' could possible do to show a different screen than vpc when the bitmap for the startup is embedded in ntoskrnl.exe and the same ntoskrnl.exe is used in both cases.
Arend