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Doc_Rice
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Guest OS selection for OpenBSD

I have a few VMs running OpenBSD 4.3 and 4.4. Since there's no OS option specific to OpenBSD (or any BSD for that matter), I've been using the "Other (32-bit)" selection. However, I'm unsure whether this is technically the most optimal choice. Does anyone else have experience in this area? Should I be using a Linux option instead?

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oreeh
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There is an undocumented FreeBSD option.

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Doc_Rice
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Would you happen to have any information or pointers for this? I've noticed a very low number of odd crashes with OpenBSD 4.4 as well as m0n0wall lately, and I didn't really attribute them to the underlying guest OS choice until recently.

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oreeh
Immortal
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The other and other-64 guest OS types are the most generic ones and shouldn't lead to crashes.

Anyway, you can try guestOS = "freebsd" and guestOS = "freebsd-64".

If you want to install the VMware tools (the FreeBSD version) the VMs need to have the X libraries installed. Not sure if this is a prerequisite for the open source tools as well.

I had problems with the AMD PCnet NIC and FreeBSD in the past (see ) and since then switched to the E1000 NIC - might be worth a try, especially since OpenBSD and FreeBSD are pretty similar.

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Doc_Rice
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Interesting... Not sure if VMware tools will make a difference though since I run strictly CLI-only. It's usually running fine for the most part but I can see how the NIC choice could impact the VM's functionality. How would I switch to a E1000 NIC? Are you talking virtually or physically? I think the physical NIC I'm currently bridged to is either a Broadcom and / or an Intel.

Update: I skimmed through that thread you linked to. I guess this is what you're referring to?

ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

I've never tried anything like that, but will give it a shot if I experience more problems.

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