Can't get past "Start PXE over IPv4"

[HackaMac]

I'm having trouble creating new VMs from many, but not all distros.  When I try to boot a new VM from an install or live iso, it goes straight to "Start PXE over IPv4".

I had no trouble at all booting Fedora-Workstation-Live-aarch64-37-1.7.iso  and  alpine-standard-3.17.0-aarch64.iso.

However, no other distro that I tried will work, including one that others report success with in another thread: kali-linux-2022.4-installer-arm64.iso or kali-linux-2022.4-live-arm64.iso.  I verified the SHA256 checksums and I've tried many different settings but no luck, including those mentioned by @Technogeezer in the Kali thread.  I don't know what I'm missing or doing wrong, any help would be appreciated.

Mac Studio M1 Max, MacOS Ventura 13.1, VMware Fusion 13.0.0

[HackaMac]

Well...looks like a re-install of VMware followed by a restart of the Mac host, cleared the problem.  

[Technogeezer]

That’s pretty strange that you had a flaky Fusion installation that caused this. Glad you were able to get past it  

Shameless plug: If you haven’t done so already, you might want to grab a copy of the Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion document. Lots of helpful hints in there. 

[HackaMac]

In retrospect, I should have tried a reboot first, that may have been all that was needed.  

I have your document, it's been a big help getting started. Thank you for all your work!

[MacManNOW]

Same issue here. MacBook Pro M2 Max, macOS 13.3.1

Re-installed VWWare Player, Re-downloaded Win11 ISO, restarted Mac.

Stuck.

[Technogeezer]

>> "Re-downloaded Win11 ISO"

Where did you download a Windows 11 ISO from? If you say "from Microsoft's 'Download Windows 11' web site", that's your problem. The Windows 11 ISOs that you download from Microsoft are x64 (Intel) only and those won't work on M1/M2 Macs. If you tried to use those, you will fail 100% of the time. 

Also, did you get the "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD" message during boot? If you ignored that, the installer will not boot, and the VM will drop to the "Start PXE" message.

If you haven't done so, please take a look at the Unofficial Fusion 13 for Apple Silicon Companion Guide. There's a whole section on what to do if you get that "Start PXE" message. There are also detailed instructions and a link to a video to guide you through obtaining bootable ISO media for Windows 11 ARM and then installing it.

Follow the instructions in the Companion Guide and you should be successful almost 100% of the time.

[MacManNOW]

I downloaded Win11 from Parallels Desktop installer, as seen here https://youtu.be/za2CyrxKYFs

[ColoradoMarmot]

Won't work - it's been modified.

Use the instructions in the unofficial guide, posted in the documents section of this forum to get a full ISO direct from Microsoft's servers.

[Technogeezer]

My prior response contains a link to the unofficial Companion Guide. No need to search for it.

If that Parallels ISO won't boot and it's not because you missed the "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD", then I agree with @ColoradoMarmot - it's possible that they've modified it after they downloaded it to be tailored for Parallels. Let me take a look at the video to see if I can get a clue.

[Technogeezer]

@MacManNOW 

I've reviewed the video link from 9to5Mac that you posted earlier. What was posted *should* work.

When the VM boots from the Parallels ISO, you get the "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD" message.  You must press any key on the keyboard before the message times out, which isn't a very long time. You get maybe 5 seconds or so. 

It's important that the keyboard is "grabbed" by the VM before pressing the key. However there are instances where the keyboard isn't grabbed by the VM at power-on. If the VM doesn't have keyboard focus,

• the key press won't be recognized,
• the press any key request times out, and
• the VM attempts to boot from the network.

That's why I always recommend that after power-on and the second that the "Press any key" message is displayed either

• click the mouse pointer in the VM's console window *then* press any key, or
• type Cmd-G *then* press any other key.

I'm not a fan of downloading the Parallels product just to get the ISO. You're cluttering up your Mac just to get something to build that ISO. It is a misnomer to say they're downloading the ISO - they're not. They're building it from a Microsoft ESD distribution. IMO Parallels is a pain to uninstall. You're better off following the instructions in the Companion to install a couple of freely available utilities and use a small utility that does the same thing that Parallels is doing. 

Also, I'm not a fan of disabling the Windows 11 OOBE checks for network. They're not needed if you install the VMware network and video drivers at the point where the video wants you to disable the OOBE network check. This process as well is documented in the Companion guide. 

[MacManNOW]

This worked, thanks so much.. Looks like I needed to be a bit quicker the pressing any key. I greatly appreciate the time you took to review my work and providing thorough feedback. Gotta love Windows.....

[MacManNOW]

My next speed bump- During E11 install & setup, it (seemingly) gets stuck on the internet/Wi-Fi connection step.

In VMWare Settings. Network looks accurate (all green) and yet VMWare, or more likely W11) can't connect to internet.

The PDF doesn't seem to cover this issue,

Any ideas?

[Technogeezer]

Do you have the W11 VM configured as NAT (Share with my Mac) or Bridged?

Have you installed the VMware Tools (network and video drivers) for Windows 11 ARM?

[MacManNOW]

Shared with Mac, yes. Default setting.

I can't seem to install Tools until I get past this screen...

[ColoradoMarmot]

Make sure you follow the steps in the unofficial guide exactly and completely.  There's no shortcuts.

[Technogeezer]

---

@MacManNOW wrote:

Shared with Mac, yes. Default setting.

I can't seem to install Tools until I get past this screen...

---

The issue is that Windows doesn't have a driver out of the box for the VMware virtual NIC. No driver, no network connection.

There are those out there that'll try to tell you to disable the Windows check for networking. There's an easier way.

As @ColoradoMarmot says, follow the guide. If you do that, you install the video and network drivers early in the setup process. The network will be available before Windows looks for a network connection.

If you're stuck at "Let's connect you to a network", all is not lost, though:

• Press shift-fn-f10 to open a command prompt window.
• From the Fusion Menu bar, select Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools. Click "install" in the dialog that follows to connect the installer to the VM.
• Return to the command prompt window in the VM and type the following commands:

powershell
cd d:\
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
.\setup.ps1

The screen may go blank while the video drivers install. That's OK.

• Both the VMware video and network drivers are now installed. Close the command prompt window.

The "Let's connect you to a network" dialog will now show that you are connected to a network.

Click "Next" to proceed with setup.

[MacManNOW]

That worked, than you!

[yoozer]

idk if there was a change to the tools image, but .\setup.ps1 would not run for me.  however, I was able to run setup.exe and go through the tools install

[Technogeezer]

You don't say if you are running the Tech Preview or not. If you are running the Tech Preview, you install Tools with a .exe installer in Windows 11 ARM. That's documented in both the 2023 Tech Preview Testing Guide and the unofficial Tech Preview Companion Guide.

It's a good idea (especially with preview/beta software) to read the available documentation and see what's changed and where there are known issues/restrictiions. 

[Amy_]

i've been there too, and there's a guide that tell you how to install Win11 on your machine (and really useful tips with your VMs). you have to create your own iso on a website, and before you can go to this website, you have to install some packages via MacPorts and homebrew - but that, you'll see on that link :

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Documents/The-Unofficial-Fusion-13-for-Apple-Silicon...