Good day!
When powering on any VM within ESXi 5 nested inside Workstation 8, I get no video whatsover. There's no POST, BIOS, if an ISO is loaded, there's no video in the console to show it's loading the ISO, etc.
Here's my setup:
<> HP Pavilion dv7 LS048EA laptop
* Intel Core i7-2630QM @ 2.00 GHz (quad-core, HT-enabled)
* 16 GB RAM
* Intel 320 series SSD 160 GB
* Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
* Of course, VT is enabled in the BIOS. I've disabled, rebooted, and re-enabled
* My laptop BIOS is the second latest version F.1A. F.1B is the latest, but the release notes say there was simply a fix to an intermittent issue where a system locked when Intel Anti-Theft Technology (AT) has been enabled
<> Workstation 8.0.0 build-471780
* My laptop cannot access the Internet so I cannot update to Workstation 8.0.2, but the release notes for 8.0.1 and 8.0.2 don't mention anything that would seem to fix my issue anyways.
* I've also uninstalled and re-installed Workstation.
I install ESXi 5.0.0 build-469512 inside Workstation.
* I give it 4 GB vRAM and 2 vCPUs
* I enable "Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI." I've also used each option under Virtualization Engine > Preferred Mode > (Automatic, Binary Translation, Intel VT-x or AMD-V, Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI)
* Under Virtual Machine Settings > Options, I have Guest operating system set to VMware ESXi 5 (since the first installation)
* I've used both local storage and a NetApp simulator (not that these should make much of a difference)
I've also found the issue with ESXi 4.1.
The "no video" issue occurs with both 32-bit and 64-bit guests within the nested ESXi 5.
Initial thoughts? I'll post logs as soon as I can get them transferred to a machine with access to the inter-webs...
Cheers,
Mike Brown
http://twitter.com/#!/VirtuallyMikeB
http://LinkedIn.com/in/michaelbbrown
Good day,
I've attached logs for 32-bit and 64-bit guest VMs I tried running inside an ESXi 5 VM running inside Workstation 8. I've also attached a log file for the ESXi VM.
Looking forward to hearing what y'all have to say.
Cheers,
Mike
https://twitter.com/#!/VirtuallyMikeB
http://LinkedIn.com/in/michaelbbrown
Just to understand the issue. Do the nested VM's boot to their OS (if you were able to install/convert any yet), i.e. are you able to ping them or remotely access them? You may also check whether your local firewall blocks the necessary ports (e.g. port 902).
André
Hi Andre,
Thanks for replying. I get no video at all - whether an OS is installed or not. For example, if I create a new VM inside a virtualized ESXi host, I can't even see the VMware BIOS image, let alone anything else.
In another example, I created a VM inside Workstation 8. All VMs running inside Workstation do great - no issues anywhere. I can see all the video of the test VM, I can log in to it, even ping to and from it. When I upload the test VM from Workstation 8 to the virtualized ESXi host and power it on via the vSphere Client (you can't upload a powered on VM). I get no video whatsoever. I don't see the VMware BIOS screen, no OS boot process, nothing. Just to test, I tried to ping the VM because perhaps it's just a video problem and the VM actually does boot to the OS. I could not ping the VM. I assume this means it doens't even boot when running on a virtualized ESXi host.
As a side note, all test VMs running inside the virtualized ESXi host are running Hardware Version 8 (and for what it's worth, so are the VMs inside Workstation 8).
Interestingly, the same test VM I uploaded from Workstation 8 to the virtualized ESXi host has no video when powered on and viewed from Workstation 8 itself. I wasn't aware of this feature, but it's good to note. This makes it *not* a firewall problem (the Windows 7 firewall is completely turned off anyways, and the Windows Firewall service is stopped, too). Any VM I try actually doens't run inside a virtualized ESXi host. The VMware BIOS doesn't even appear.
This makes it seem as if it's not a video problem at all, but a problem running three levels of virtualization. I know it can be done, but what gives? Why won't VMs run in my virtualized ESXi host?
Cheers,
Mike
Message was edited by: VirtuallyMikeB
Hi Andre,
Thanks for your help, but I've forgone any more troubleshooting so I could get back to work. I nuked the laptop, reinstalled, rebuilt the nested setup and everything's working fine. I suspect malware of some kind, but the world may never know!
Cheers!
Mike
I didn't find the cause of the problem, but I suspect malware. A complete rebuild/reinstall of Windows 7 on the laptop and nested virtualization environment did solve the problem, though.