VMware Communities > VMTN > Enterprise Desktop Products > VMware View & View Manager > Discussions
Up to Discussions in VMware View & View Manager
1 2 Previous Next
16 Replies Last post: May 12, 2009 5:20 PM by Rantaris
Reply

Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive?

Jan 11, 2007 1:53 PM

Click to view ir1shm1ike's profile Enthusiast ir1shm1ike 127 posts since
Jan 5, 2006
I keep trying to install WinXP Desktop on ESX and XP boots, to install but say no hard drive can be found. I am using BusLogic....any suggestions?
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Jan 11, 2007 1:58 PM
Click to view RDPetruska's profile Guru RDPetruska 15,420 posts since
Jan 11, 2005 Moderator
Did you hit F6 during the Windows Pre-Setup to tell it you have a SCSI driver disk? Did you attach the vmware-scsi floppy disk?
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Jan 11, 2007 2:00 PM
Click to view tom howarth's profile Champion tom howarth 6,959 posts since
Jul 25, 2005 Moderator
Quite simple, the driver is not part of the installation disk, therefore you have to press F6 and supply it via a virtual floppy.

you will require a FLP file to be found here

http://www.vmware.com/download/server/drivers_tools.html

and follow the instruction contained here.

http://www.vmware.com/support/reference/common/guest_win_scsidrv.html

all will be well
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Jan 11, 2007 2:02 PM
Click to view paramd's profile Enthusiast paramd 35 posts since
Nov 2, 2006
Create a new virtual machine, choose typical, windows xp pro from the list. Configure it (by default) with an LSI adapter. The floppy to use is the scsi drivers floppy that came with esx 3 and boot of the xp cd. Do the F6 thing to specify that you have additional drivers and then S, this will find the floppy and the VMware drivers.
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Jan 11, 2007 2:39 PM
in response to: paramd
Click to view ir1shm1ike's profile Enthusiast ir1shm1ike 127 posts since
Jan 5, 2006
I pointed it to my Virtual Floppy using the BusLogic, it saw the Hard Drive, did the Format, and after that it went to copy the files and it says it cannot copy vmscsi.sys file. It won't let me hit retry or ESC...any suggesitons?>
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Jan 11, 2007 5:01 PM
in response to: ir1shm1ike
Click to view KevinG's profile Guru KevinG 16,898 posts since
Jan 8, 2004 VMware Moderator
Did you configure the virtual floppy drive to point to the .flp with the Bus Logic driver before starting the install process?
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Jan 11, 2007 7:46 PM
in response to: KevinG
Click to view ir1shm1ike's profile Enthusiast ir1shm1ike 127 posts since
Jan 5, 2006
Yes. I downloaded the driver from the link above that points me to Vmware's website to download a floppy image. I started the XP install, hit F6, then when it said Specify Driver, I mounted the Floppy drive image and pointed it to it. It finds the Driver, formats the C: drive, and then when it gets to copying the files, it says it cannot copy that driver. I even tried instead of mounting the floppy image with Virtual Floppy, I mounted it through Edit Settings, Floppy Drive, and pointed it to there......I get the same thing.....it gets to the same point and says cannot copy file. I can't figure out why it cannot copy. Any ideas?
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Jan 11, 2007 8:52 PM
in response to: ir1shm1ike
Click to view KevinG's profile Guru KevinG 16,898 posts since
Jan 8, 2004 VMware Moderator
Try downloading it again in case there is some corruption in the file
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Jan 12, 2007 1:41 PM
in response to: KevinG
Click to view ir1shm1ike's profile Enthusiast ir1shm1ike 127 posts since
Jan 5, 2006
Downloaded the File 3 times. I tried using the Floppy Image by mounting it, and by actually putting a Floppy Disk in my Drive and using Virtual Floppy. When I hit Specify Drivers F6 when XP boots it see's it with no problems. It then goes on to Format the Drive, and when it gets to copying the files it says it cannot copy the file. Is there a rights issue? There has got to be something I am missing here. I even tried the LSI Logic SCSI Driver, made a Floppy Image and same thing, it saw the driver but when it went to copy it I get the error.
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Jan 16, 2007 7:36 AM
in response to: ir1shm1ike
Click to view ICT-Freak's profile Enthusiast ICT-Freak 49 posts since
Dec 28, 2006
This is my Windows XP configuration for VMware ESX 3.0.1

SCSI Adapter: BusLogic
Floppydrive with the following floppy image: http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp

Be sure that the floppy state is connected!

Then start the VM from the Windows XP installation CD and press F6.

Now you can choose the VMware SCSI Controller and the setup should be running as on a normal PC.

I made a blog post of the whole process but it is in dutch: http://ictfreak.wordpress.com/2006/11/06/how-to-install-windows-xp-on-vmware-with-a-scsi-disk/
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Apr 30, 2007 5:29 PM
in response to: ICT-Freak
Click to view jamesrauli's profile Lurker jamesrauli 1 posts since
Apr 30, 2007
I have the same problem, as well as when I use the LSI Logic FLP
BusLogic Driver - http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp
LSILogic Driver - http://www.matrixtek.com/resources/tools/LSI_WinXP_1.20.18.zip

Same problem different FLIP/Drivers... instead of vmscsi.sys that "setup cannot copy" it's the equivalent "symmpi.sys"

I'm thinking slipstream to get this to work. This is crazy.
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Apr 30, 2007 7:38 PM
in response to: jamesrauli
Click to view RDPetruska's profile Guru RDPetruska 15,420 posts since
Jan 11, 2005 Moderator
One more reason to add your voice to the Feature Request to add virtual IDE hard disk support to ESX!
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Nov 23, 2007 1:52 PM
in response to: RDPetruska
Click to view ICT-Freak's profile Enthusiast ICT-Freak 49 posts since
Dec 28, 2006
But why is it so hard to install Windows XP on a virtual scsi disk. I do it al the time and it works extremely well. If you don't use a scsi drive you lose some interoperability and thats just one of the great things of VMware B-)
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Nov 28, 2007 1:30 AM
in response to: ICT-Freak
Click to view frisbyvlieger's profile Enthusiast frisbyvlieger 67 posts since
Nov 9, 2007
I experienced this problem too, how I solved it: Install Windows XP on a physical machine, then use VMware converter to convert that physical machine to a Virtual Machine. After the proces is complete, you will have an image of that VM. Then import the VM into your ESX server and there you have a new clean install of Windows XP on a VM in your ESX. Okay I admit that this is quite a lot of work and not the right way to install WinXP on a VM...I used this method just because I was short on time and I just needed to continue. so in case nothing works anymore this could be tried too.
Reply Re: Trying to install WinXP on ESX 3.0.1, No Hard Drive? Dec 10, 2007 6:29 PM
Click to view smajety's profile Novice smajety 18 posts since
Apr 30, 2007
Hi there is one more for you :)

Check the link
http://virtrix.blogspot.com/2007/09/vmware-installing-windows-xp-on-esx.html

  • You can download the drivers from the following site: http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/?page_id=174
  • Once the drivers are downloaded then use WinImage to create an .flp file which can be mounted in a VI
  • Follow the instructions in the previous mentioned link
  • Boot up your VM and follow the instructions.

Cheers
1 2 Previous Next
Actions

Incoming Links

Up to Discussions in VMware View & View Manager