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jvanzeir
Contributor
Contributor

How to install windows 8 on esxi 4.1 ?

Hi

I would like to install windows 8 on my current esxi 4.1 environment, of course without success. I receive the error about that

HAL_Initialization_Failed

I've found serveral forums that only workstation 8 and new esxi5 with patch2 is able to install Windows 8.

Is there any solution regarding windows 8 on esxi 4.1 ?

It would be great, because I must not upgrade to esxi 5

Thanks in advance

Regards

Juergen

55 Replies
idowning
Contributor
Contributor

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

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M2
Contributor
Contributor

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

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J6edp
Contributor
Contributor

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

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

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. 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)
  5. And run this command to patch the host (NB: you would need to reboot the host after the install)   
  6. Command:  esxcli software vib update --depot=/vmfs/volumes/DISK1/ESXi500-201112001.zip

  7. After this command, keep host in maintenance mode and reboot it, ENJOY You new MS OS running on VMware.
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stucospeicher
Contributor
Contributor

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

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Phylum
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I realize this is an old thread -

So, I got this working once before but inadvertently deleted the VM.  I wasn't concerned because (a) I bookmarked this thread & (b) I had the rom and instructions in a separate document.

I created a new VM specifying Windows 2008 as the guest OS, copied the rom into the VM directory, updated the vmdk and booted but I'm getting HAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILED BSOD.

ESXi_4.1-HAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILED.png

Here's what's in the directory and what the vmdk looks like

ESXi_4.1-vmdk.png

What have I done wrong?

# uname -a

VMkernel corpdevesxi. 4.1.0 #1 SMP Release build-1050704 Mar 12 2013 10:57:29 x86_64 unknown

# vmware -v

VMware ESXi 4.1.0 build-1050704

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

You want to modify the .vmx file, not the .vmdk file.

Phylum
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Stupid me.  Thanks for the kind correction - in my haste I clearly misread.  Documentation updated.

Cheers

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Martinyates1
Contributor
Contributor

I just want to say thanks to everyone here.

I have ESXi 4.1 and I wanted to install a 2012 server and yes, stuck in the reboot loop.

I have used the Bios and edited the vmx file now, and the installer is running.

Thanks again, everyone, I know this cant be a production solution, but my systems are just for testing mostly

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steax
Contributor
Contributor

Hello everyone,

I know this is an old post, thanks a lot! the bios trick worked great 🙂

moonshine560 I've also tried your suggestion, at first glance worked, installed the missing system driver and mouse integration worked, but after the first reboot the system begun to crash.

Do you or someone else experienced the same problem after installing vmtools 4.1 on a windows 2012 r2?

Thank again!

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bagaumer
Contributor
Contributor

That works for the Windows 10 Eval too.  Thanks Much!!!

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slipviper
Contributor
Contributor

I just wanted to drop a line and mention that jmattson's instructions worked perfectly for me.

I installed a Windows 8.1 VM on ESXi 4.1.

VMware Tools were installed easily as well. I just did a custom install, deselected the SVGA driver, and everything installed correctly.

Thank you so much for posting jmattson!

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SolidParkMagnus
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi

Just wanted to chip in and say that the BIOS file also works great with Windows Server 2016 on vSphere 4.1 Smiley Happy

However i would like to know if there is a way to make the added BIOS rom "sticky" and available host side when deploying from Golden Image 2012R2/2016 templates? We are using vCenter LabManager 4.1 which is still an awesome product but when deploying clones they fail too boot due to the missing rom, which when added manually to the clone works fine. However i prefer my development colleagues to stick with coding and leave managing the environment to me... 😉

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SolidParkMagnus
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Ohh and i have installed vmware tools v 10.1.0 works very nice in both 2012R2 and 2016 on vSphere 4.1.

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Candy123
Contributor
Contributor

could someone help me out here, not sure why i'm still getting the file not found error.

10-13-2017 5-01-40 PM.jpg10-13-2017 5-39-54 PM.jpg10-13-2017 5-40-16 PM.jpg

Thanks in advance!

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Candy123
Contributor
Contributor

Sorry about the previous post, used putty and edited the file the with vi, i am now able to start the vm but it doesn't install server 2016. It boot loops, files load for installation then reboots.

After editing the vmx file to have the additional lines at the bottom, when i re-open it, it appears in the middle, is that normal?

build: 348481 (ESX 4.1 Update 1)

I included the vmware.log, i would greatly appreciate any help. thank you!

10-18-2017 8-48-03 AM.jpg

10-18-2017 8-56-57 AM.jpg

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