\*sigh*

(but a good description from you!)

thanks

roland

In my experience I have found the following to be

untrue:

 

Windows Server 2003 does, then, detect the second CPU

and convert it to an ACPI Multiprocessor PC by

itself, and all sems to be OK.

 

It usually does not detect the second CPU...although

when it does...I would agree that all seems OK

 

Also, I have found that when I try to upgrade the

driver to multiproc, I am not always presented with

that option.  Does anybody have any thoughts on this?

Is there a specific .inf I can point the update at?

For the hell of it - I did a CPU upgrade on a Win2K3 box... Without having to update the HAL or ACPI - I have 2-CPU's when I originally had just one...

If you upgrade from 1-CPU to 2-CPU the MUI (can't speak for VirtualCenter) it warns you:

"This virtual machine is configured with a single processor. The guest operating system Re: How to repeatedly upgrade Windows 2003 to SMP and revert to uniprocessormay[/i] require additional tuning if this number is increased"

Operative word here is "may" - as the automatic upgrade doesn't work with all Windows OS - and you "may" have to upgrade the ACPI manual to ACPI MultiProcessor

If you downgrade from 1-CPU to 2-CPU the MUI warns you:

"This virtual machine is configured with more than one processor. If you choose a single processor configuration and the guest operating system is tuned for multiple processors, it may not boot and will probably degrade the performance of other virtual machines."

I think this is because it would be up to the operate to downgrade to ACPI Uni-Processor to make sure the HAL.DLL and ntsokernel.exe was correct for the operating system to "idle" correctly

Regards

Mike

Thank you for suggesting the idea that I use the

MUI...I typically use VirtualCenter.

 

When I went into MUI to upgrade to two procs I found

this message:

 

This virtual machine is using legacy virtual hardware

and cannot be configured with more than a single

processor. To upgrade the virtual machine's hardware,

click here.

 

VirtualCenter provided no such message and let me

change the number of processors without complaining.

 

Upon clicking "here" I am prompted with:

 

If this virtual machine's hardware is upgraded, it

can only be powered on with ESX Server version 2.0 or

later.  If you need to run this virtual machine on

versions of ESX Server prior to 2.0, then click

Cancel.  Upgrade virtual hardware now?

 

Of course I click OK because we are running ESX 2.5.2

across the board.

 

Now the plot thickens as the windows informs me that

the operation timed out.  The cause for this was

VirtualCenter.  Because it was open while I was

working in the MUI, VC was prompting me to accept the

upgrade prompt in the same way the MUI did.  After I

responded affirmatively to the pending (backlogged)

questions in VC, I clicked "here" again in the MUI

then quickly acknowledged the same prompt in

VirtualCenter.  The upgrade worked successfully in

the MUI and I am now able to change it to 2 CPUs.

 

I boot the VM and still can't get the OS (Windows

2003 Server SP1) to recognize both CPU's.  I tried

upgrading the driver, but am not presented with the

SMP option.

 

I decided to use the P2V assistant on the drive.

When prompted to select the target VMware Product /

Virtual Harware the "2 VCPU" options are all greyed

out.  I am forced to choose a 1 VCPU option.

 

Thanks for this input thus far.  Any ideas?

This is very interesting scenario (does that make me a sad person)

Firstly this statement...

This virtual machine is using legacy virtual hardware

and cannot be configured with more than a single

processor. To upgrade the virtual machine's hardware,

click here.

Its the case that a P2V VM can "inherit" some of the limitations of the physical hardware - for example ability to only host one CPU or the lack of ACPI Management. This is because when you install Windows - windows selects the approrpiate HAL for that "computer type". Only by updating the the HAL can we alter this.

There are some cases where updating the HAL is not support by Windows and therefore as consequence by VMware...

Since W2K3 Microsoft has chosen to "hide" from the GUI the ability to change the HAL in some circumstances - obstensible to aviod BSOD. I see this as their support adopting a CYA policy...

The only option they "offically" support is a "in place installation" - basically going through a repair installation of Windows. This always gives ACPI UniProcessor or MultiProcessor. The downside - is its a very long process, full of frightening caveats from Microsoft and could undo a lot of the system information our P2V was meant to "capture" in the first place.

I have found a method using Microsoft DevCon to force upgrades/downgrades of WinXP/2K/3 to any HAL to support any number of processors.

In my case I wanted upgrade W2K3 from 1-CPU to 2-CPU on non-ACPI compliant motherboard.

I wrote a whitepaper about my experiences here:

http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/docs/vmwdocs/whitepaper-upgrading-cpus-on-non-acpi-p2v.pdf

Perhaps you might find reading this useful... it outlines the DevCon method I meantioned earlier - and includes some useful MS KB Links as well...

Regards

Mike Laverick

url=http://www.rtfm-ed.co.ukRTFM Education[/url]

url=http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/?page_id=7Have you RTFM'd today?[/url]

Yup...

It's the exact same problem. I wish I'd realised sooner that it was! So it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut says...

You basically have two choices... an "in place (re)install" which could be quite dangerous - or this unsupported method. Using DevCon you can go in any direction with respect to CPU upgrades and downgrades & differences in motherboard support. Like any unsupported work around don't expect VMware or Microsoft to touch this with a barge pole.

I looked into this issue because I was curious - and always bugs me when MS remove options because I'm considered to stupid to let loose on something (I'm sure this isn't why they do it - it just feels like I am being treated a like a teenager who can't be trusted with Dad's gadgets!)

I think the biggest worry with processor DOWNgrades is what the performance will be like... especially CPU times and if the VM "idles" as expect when it is not busy processing threads...

Let us know how you get on...

Kind Regards

Mike