VMTN

I answered my own question. It can use the same file. I just had a typo in the .vmx file. All good now. Server 2012 now also boots up in ESX 4.1.

Thanks a ton Jmattson!!! You rock

Great solution but I'm having issues  with the CTRL-ALT-INS key combination. This counts only for the VM's that are starting with the bios.440.rom

Any workaround for this problem

Sorry; I can't even imagine what the connection might be.

BitRain wrote:

 

Great solution but I'm having issues  with the CTRL-ALT-INS key combination. This counts only for the VM's that are starting with the bios.440.rom

Any workaround for this problem

Open a console to the VM and navigate to "VM > Guest > Send CTRL+Alt+Delete".  If you RDP to another server to run the vSphere Client from there, then ensure that you are in full screen mode (i.e. maximize the RDP session).

Glad your issue is resolved...

Sorry but your solution isn't working for me. To be more specific, I need to be able to send a CTRL-ALT-DEL during the startup so I can force a PXE boot. I'm not able to send the normal CTRL-ALT-INS. A CTRL-T freezes the VM and VMWare console. I had this issue also before using the normal rom (but less because I was able to reset the VM via the CTRL-ALT-INS).

Anyone recognizing this issue?

You so totally ROCK.  That solves it nicely.

We're replacing aging file servers and didn't really want to delay this until after our ESXi 5 implementation (coming "soon" ).  Getting to do this on our existing vSphere infrastructure is very helpful.  THANK YOU!

To jmattson, Que2, moonshine560, etc., a big thanks. With your solutions I got Win2012 working on ESX4.1. If only all forum threads were this good.

That's great huddie. Glad to hear this. I also wanted to let you and jmattson know, that we just slapped the Windows 8.1 Preview build (that recently came out) and it worked the same way

as the regular Windows 8 or Server 2012 VM's did. Link below in case you're interested.

Download Windows 8.1 Preview - Microsoft Windows

Thank you jmattson. This worked like a charm!

Thans; It took me a while to figure out where everything was but when I was done it worked great. Thanks alot!

I get an error when trying the bios.44.rom file as described above

BIOS bios440 has unexpected file size 0x8128; not in the range [0x262144..0x524288].

Not sure what this means or how to fix it any help would be great to hear!!!

thank you

To jmattson,

Wonderful solution

Win2012 works to me also on 2012. With your solutions I got Win2012 Datacenter working on ESX4.1.0. -  Intel Xeon(R) CPU 5410 2.33 GHz - FUJITSU RX300 S4. I am on forum only to say GREAT.

Thank you very much

The ESX host installed with normal basic image is not supported windows 8 and windows 2012 OS.

please have the latest updated image from the ESX Image providers or download required updates.

follow these steps

1. Start the download ESXi500-201112001 (Patch 02) here:
   hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/OFFLINE/release-325-20111212-924952/ESXi500-201112001.zip
2. Temporary allow tech support mode on the host, (Enable SSH)
3. Use WinSCP to push the patch to the host
4. 
   
   
   
5. Use putty to connect to the host and cd to the file location.. ( eg. If you copied the file to /vmfs/volumes/DISK1, use cd /vmfs/volumes/DISK1 command)
6. And run this command to patch the host (NB: you would need to reboot the host after the install)   
7. Command:  esxcli software vib update --depot=/vmfs/volumes/DISK1/ESXi500-201112001.zip
   
   
8. After this command, keep host in maintenance mode and reboot it, ENJOY You new MS OS running on VMware.

thanks for the workaound.

just installed 2 2012 Servers on V4.1 and they work.

anyone has some experiences, if this is a stable configuration ?

can/shall i use it in produktive enviroment ?

thanks