Re: Trouble installing Windows 7 on VMware Fusion ... - Page 4

ggore · ‎10-28-2009

I upgraded to VMware Fusion 3 yesterday. All went well, my Jackalope Linux virtual machine works fine. I want to install Windows 7 onto my Mac using a Virtual Machine. I put the DVD in the drive, the Mac recognized it. Launched Fusion and it saw the DVD and offered to install the operating system when I selected, File>New. I entered what I wanted for a password and the Windows Product Key, accepted the rest of the defaults and clicked Install, and that was it. The virtual machine window indicated a network boot I guess, something about DHCP and then the process ended with the message "No bootable device detected". The Windows install DVD was gone from the Mac desktop and the install stopped. Am I doing something wrong?

RJCzajkowski · ‎11-01-2009

In place upgrade is not possible, but custom upgrade (clean install) is possible from 32-bit to 64-bit Windows OS.

Cheers,

RJC

rcardona2k · ‎11-01-2009

Bummer. Is there any way around the upgrade limitation since I already have a full windows machine running on VMWare.

Yes there's way around it. The upgrade disk will install an 'upgradeable' copy of itself if you leave the license key empty (yes, it will let you), then after installation, re-run the installer to 'upgrade' the keyless version you just installed. At the time it asks again, the upgrade will accept and later activate with the upgrade key. Technically, at this point, you should decommission your Vista machine as you've transferred your product license to your Win7 machine.

rcardona2k · ‎11-01-2009

In place upgrade is not possible, but custom upgrade (clean install) is possible from 32-bit to 64-bit Windows OS.

Right, I call this the installing "on-top" or atop your old Windows, this renames your Windows folder to "windows.old", preserves data files but nothing else from the original installation.

For VMware machines there's one problematic case: machines built with VMware BusLogic scsi virtual disks have no x64 driver available, this makes a clean install of this kind of virtual disk difficult. To test for this case, you could power down your XP machines, change the guest OS setting (VM > Settings) from XP to Win7 x64, power on the VM and if you get this message : "The buslogic SCSI adapter is not supported for 64-bit guests in this release.", then attempting a clean install will lead to a case where the Win7 installer will not "see" the disk. Change the guest OS setting back to XP to boot without the message.

kentarouJP · ‎11-03-2009

armadillock

Many thanks for your comments. I am in same problem with new iMac 21.5 inches.

Windows 7 Install was completed with ISO image.

Cheers,

Kentarou in Tokyo, JAPAN

misterdk · ‎11-03-2009

I'm having the same problem on my 24"iMac. I tried it with an "upgrade" disk of Win 7 Pro that has a .exe setup file on the disk. Then I made an ISO from my Win 7 disk. All to no avail. I installed Fusion Version 3 before I tried to add Win 7. I have 3 virtual machines installed already so Win 7 will be number 4. I must say I'm glad to read that I'm not the only one having this problem. If I go to the VM Library, there is no "New" button as I've read various places that there should be. I've tried using the new button in the file menu but it all happens just like ggore describes. The disk shows on the desktop sometimes and disappears at other times. I also see the command line window that looks like it is searching for a network boot of some kind and looking for a DHCP server, or something. Quite the frustrating mess. If anyone has the solution please post it. Thanks to all.

misterdk · ‎11-03-2009

sgtbob.................I've got a 24" iMac and I can't get it to work. I tried making an ISO and burned it onto a DVD and put that in the Mac drive. No luck. Tomorrow I'll try saving the ISO somewhere on the Mac HD and try that. Good luck.

sgtbob · ‎11-04-2009

I have ordered the full version of Win 7 professional - rather than the upgrade. I hope that will work on my iMAC 24" when I get it alter this week. I'm presupposing that a clean install will replace the XP Pro I currently have installed on VM Fusion 3 - at least I hope so.

Bob

ekalmantis · ‎11-04-2009

sgtbob, you should have no problem. I couldn't upgrade my winxp so I bought the full version of win7 and made a clean install without a hitch.

sgtbob · ‎11-06-2009

I had the same SCSI issue and was able to get the file set up as indicated, began the install but then it seems to have stalled at 'Completing Installation' - it has been running for over an hour and has not completed. I tried to stop it by selecting the 'X' in the upper right hand corner, but was advised that it might leave the system totally .... up. Any suggestions or ideas?

Bob

sgtbob · ‎11-07-2009

To paraphrase Fred Flintstone - yabadabado!!!!! The SCSI issue took some reading, etc., but I was able to follow the instructions set forth above.

I tried the install Windows 7 on an regular PC and it took a while, but finally installed. So, right before I retired last evening, I set the package to 'install' on my iMAC VMware-Fusion and it did the same thing, that it the program stalled at the 'last step' . So, I left it on all night and 'lo and behold' when I got up this morning, it was installed. Took some tweaking, but I have Windows 7 installed on my VMware-Fusion and have been able to set up my programs with relative ease. Now to educate myself on all the new stuff.

Many thanks for all who gave me help.

Bob

admin · ‎11-10-2009

Sorry for the inconvenience. We just tracked this down to a bug in our code that was triggered by the specific version of 10.6.1 on the new iMacs, which is why we didn't catch it before. Updating to 10.6.2 will work around the issue, we've also fixed the bug internally.

schrammalama · ‎12-02-2009

For VMware machines there's one problematic case: machines built with VMware BusLogic scsi virtual disks have no x64 driver available, this makes a clean install of this kind of virtual disk difficult.

I feel special. That is exactly my problem. You mentioned that it makes a clean install difficult. How difficult? Impossible?

rcardona2k · ‎12-02-2009

For VMware machines there's one problematic case: machines built with VMware BusLogic scsi virtual disks have no x64 driver available, this makes a clean install of this kind of virtual disk difficult.

I feel special. That is exactly my problem. You mentioned that it makes a clean install difficult. How difficult? Impossible?

You can add the following line to your virtual machine's vmx file:

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsisas1068"

then immediately run the Win7 install. While this line is in the VMX file your XP machine will not boot (it will blue screen) but will be able to upgrade to Win7. If you need to rollback to XP, then remove the line from the .vmx file.

comdocalb · ‎03-23-2010

Hello all, I am a MAC newbie. Just set up an iMac running 10.6.2 and have VMWare Fusion for Mac version 3.02.

When trying to install Windows 7 Pro, I am gettting the error that it cannot find a boot file and then operating system not found. I looked through the forums and thought I found the answer with using the image disk conversion. My iMac creates a .cdr, not an ISO, I assume it should work th same. Anyway, I cannot get Windows 7 installed. It looks to me like my virtual machine is trying to boot from the network and I cannot seem to be able to change it. Here's what my vmware "DOS" screen states exactly:

Network boot from Intel E1000

CLIENT MAC ADDR: etc.... GUID: etc.......

PXE-E53: No boot filename received

PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel PXE ROM.

Operating System not found

Sorry for the ugly details, thought something in there might help.

Any ideas?

All

Trouble installing Windows 7 on VMware Fusion 3