New Virtual VMWare client will not boot from ISO or CD

[spc1968]

Trying to create a 64 bit Windows 2008 server standard from ISO.

If I select settings and then choose the ISO on the network I receive Error please specify a valid image file.

I then burned this to DVD and placed it in the ESX server's DVD drive. It never seems to boot from this CD, it skips past it and goes to the network boot with the DHCP scanning, etc.

Under VM, Edit Settings, I choose the CD/DVD Drive 1- Device type bullet mark is Client Device. Mode is passthrough IDE- I have also tried this with and without the option Connect exclusively to this virtual machine. I also tried Emulate IDE but I get the same result.

Other notes that may provide more information:

I tried to set the checkbox at the top called -Device Status, connect at power on but that is dimmed out during the selectioon of Client Device. But the checkbox is available if I select host device but I am not sure what these descriptions resemble. I've tried each of them titled /dev/scd0 through /dev/scd7?

Next I tried datastore ISO but these only refer to existing virtual machines and not the ISO that I needed so that is why I burned it to DVD.

Also are a few more helpful pieces of information. This is an IBM 3650 model 7979-1CU and I tested this DVD on some other 3650's to see if it actually booted up and it did all of them are identical but the one thing I noticed different about the ISO is that when I did witness it boot on another 3650 it gave two menu options to choose from which I am not sure at this point are standard with Server 2008. Once you choose one of them, it will start setup.

That same exact CD in the VMWare server will not be read by the Virtual machine.. Why? Anyone have any ideas on this one.

Please help.

[RParker]

I'd say your ISO is corrupt. Redownload/reburn again.

[spc1968]

Even, though the test of it's boot capability worked on another identical server?

If anyone is familiar with the standard 2008 CD does it now prompt for these menu options?

[dmb_wheee]

Spc1968,

Any luck on figuring this out? We are experiencing the same issue. We have tested our ISO, uploaded them multiple times and still the VMs boots right past the ISO.

Thanks!

[Dave_Mishchenko]

When you selected the ISO image, did you enable the "Connect at power on option".

[dmb_wheee]

Yes indeed! We can even select a 32bit ISO and it boots into setup just fine (although we are aiming for a 64bit setup).

[Dave_Mishchenko]

You might want to try it with by mounting the ISO as a client device. To make that work you may find it easier to add a boot delay

1) edit the VM and go to the option tab - set the boot delay to an appropriate delay - 10000 (i.e. 10 s).

2) start the VM - press esc to get the boot menu

3) Select the connect client device and pick an ISO or physical DVD

4) select CD-ROM on the boot menu and try the install.

[Brian_Wing]

I hate to ask, but, do you have any other 64-bit Oses running on that particular ESX server? I had issues getting x64 oses to run without enabling the "hardware virtualization" in the bios... Not sure if that's the case here.

later

Brian

[dmb_wheee]

Brian, no this is our first attempt for installing 64bit VM's in this ESX environment.

Thanks!

[dmb_wheee]

Bad ISO was the culprit for us. In our case, we had 3 bad ISOs floating around. Not certain how that happened. Thanks for the help all!