VMWare Workstation Boot Manager - help please!!!

[DavidT1983]

Hi All,

Today I downloaded the Cisco CML2 onto my work laptop as I am moving towards the CCNP ENARSI (Advanced Routing) course and I need something more solid that flimsy Packet Tracer and even my own switches & routers.  I have downloaded the image and ISO perfectly fine from Cisco and have the license number.

On the vmware workstation I have imported the image and set it to the minimum requirements defined by Cisco i.e. 4 x CPU's, 8GB RAM.  When I start the virtual machine it (everytime) goes into boot manager.  If I also try to 'start normally' then nothing happens.

I am not a virtualization expert or a wiz in computers so if you could help me out I would be beyond grateful.  To me it doesn't look good that it's showing 'no media' as seen on the pics below.

[RDPetruska]

Is the CD-ROM configured to connect at boot?

Does the OS support UEFI booting?  If not, you should switch to traditional BIOS.

[RaSystemlord]

Yes, probably just the ISO-file is not with in the boot - as mentioned before.

For a less confusing start, this is the workflow I always follow.

1.
Create a VM, like recommended somewhere (most important: enough disk space, which cannot be easily altered and enough RAM, which can be altered at any time (when powered OFF)).

2.
Open its settings to see that everything is right and change things that were not possible to change in step 1 or got wrong/confusing.

3.
Attach the ISO for loading the OS and ensure that CD/DVD comes ON with the boot.

4.
Start the VM and follow up the instructions that the OS installation gives.

[scott28tt]

Problem with the ISO?

[RaSystemlord]

... also, the recommendation is 4 CPU's ... not sure what you typed in for the number of processors? (or are you using Workstation Pro where there are cores and threads?). Not sure what happens if you don't have 4 cores?

Boot will fail, depending on OS, if you don't have virtualization enabled in BIOS AND VM. There should be an error message though. 

A better description of your Host and VM settings would enable to study further. Cisco ISOs seem to be for licensed downloaders, only.

[DavidT1983]

Hi, so today I downloaded Workstation 16 Pro and still seeing the same issue.

I have a windows 10 Dell XPS laptop running version 21H1.  I can confirm virtualization was already enabled in the BIOS as I've run virtual machines in the past i.e. Linux.

For this new installation of the Cisco CML2 on the Workstation 16 Pro I have created the vm with 4 processors and 8GB of RAM - so this is enough from Cisco's specs.

The error message I see is:

I've read various VMware posts on Google but none have helped.  I am sure this is not a laptop limitation as, and oddly enough, the CML2 did work on Workstation Personal edition before I installed the Pro.  However the morning after CML2 was again not working hence I have installed the Pro edition.

[DavidT1983]

I downloaded the ISO image again today so I am sure it's not an issue with the image. Checked checksums and they're good

[DavidT1983]

Hi, I have both the CD/DVD (not sure why there are two) pointing to the same image (shown below):  I still encounter the same error (which has changed from the original error) which is also below

[RaSystemlord]

Perhaps now everything else is correct, but you need to enable virtualization in your computer BIOS. This is actually very basic information that Cisco should have mentioned in their instructions ... because this is not a BIOS default and it does not work without this.

I don't know what the Cisco OS is - because it is a proprietary download - but you also need to enable virtualization for your VM itself, in VM settings. It's not an exact science, there are 3 different ones, but "CPU performance counters" might be enough.

[btmp]

What happens if you continue while selecting 'Yes' on that "Would you like to continue without virtualized Intel VT-x/EPT" prompt?

What CPU does your laptop have? There are many different generations and models of Dell XPS. In addition you said, " I have created the vm with 4 processors" Is that 4 "Number of processors" or 4 "Number of cores per processor" ?

Do you have HyperV installed or perhaps even just Core Isolation enabled in Windows Security?

[DavidT1983]

The virtualization is enabled in BIOS:

[DavidT1983]

If you click yes it just fails:

Here's the laptop specs:

Here's the processors for the VM:

As for Hyper-V I have this disabled in features which from a thread I read was correct (but really not sure at this stage).

[RaSystemlord]

Again, you have a different error message ... don't know what you have done meanwhile ... but ...

there are errors in your setup:

- not sure what is an error, but since you get this PREVIOUS message, enable all virtualization click (especially CPU counters is now not enabled)

- your disk space is not sufficient and you cannot change that easily afterwards. Have something meaningful, like 60 GB. (RAM means "memory", not hard disk in Cisco recommendations). (not pre-allocated, not a single file but in slices).

- your RAM should be 8 GB, as Cisco suggests and is possible with your 16 GB RAM of the computer

The latter 2 items in my list will not give you any of the two latest error messages, but they will cause your work to fail.

There have been some other problems caused by Hyper-V - don't know what their solution is, because I do not enable Hyper-V.

[DavidT1983]

Thanks for the info.

So I have removed the image from both the workstation and the virtualization folder that it was imported to.  I have ran through this document I just found on a different thread but absolutely related:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/cloud_services/cisco_modeling_labs/v200/quick/start/b_cml_quic...

Following this guide I kept the memory and processor which was modified during the wizard setup but expanded the disk to 32GB - so should be more than enough.

I still see a fail as before i.e. Virtualization Intel etc etc is not supported etc etc.

I have imported the image both with and without Hyper-V enabled but on both occasions this does not work.  Following the guidance from Cisco it states to have the VIrtualize Intel etc box enabled as per below.  But for some reason this just fails on the power up.  I am not sure if this is a laptop limitation but even this I am not convinced of as a) it worked a few days ago but then overnight decided to not work in the morning and b) the version of this laptop seems capable of supporting this.  As such I am becoming more convinced there's a VMware workstation setting somewhere which I am missing

Any suggestions and I would be beyond grateful at this point.

[RaSystemlord]

You still don't have the "CPU performance counters" enabled. It seems to be a requirement with Windows 10 - which guest OS you still haven't told us.

If the "nested" error message is what you now get in the end, the problem, based on some other threads, might be Hyper-V. While you have turned it ON for testing, I don't believe that you have effectively turned it OFF. In some other thread they had problems in getting it disabled. There is absolutely no point turning it ON for testing with VMware - quite the opposite. I would look into that more closely ... also, even if Windows doesn't nowadays ask for a reboot, it doesn't mean that it would work without a reboot (while testing things). You might find ways to effectively turn it OFF with googling - sorry, never use it, never have a problem with it.

Maybe somebody else here has a good and recent experience in turning Hyper-V OFF?

[btmp]

Would you please run msinfo32.exe and under the initial System Summary but on the right pane scroll near the bottom where it shows item entries for 'Virtualization-based security' & quite a few 'Hyper-V' entries...then let me know what values they hold please?

Additionally you could also check the Windows Features to see if the 'Virtual Machine Platform' feature is enabled and uncheck it if so (most likely followed by a reboot before re-testing).

[DavidT1983]

Hi,

Sure here is the output:

I have disabled the Virtual Machine Platform as this was enabled.  

[RaSystemlord]

I will let somebody more knowledgeable to comment on this, but meanwhile ...

... you seem to have lots of Windows virtualization options selected. You might want to take them all OFF.

[DavidT1983]

Hi,

I've enabled the CPU performance counters, restarted the workstation and powered on the vm.  This seems to cause a different error as per below:  

        

The guest OS is Windows:

For the Hyper-V I've disabled it in windows 'Turn off features' and tested after a restart but to no prevail.  

[RaSystemlord]

OK, there is one thing cleared then.

However, referring to your previous post, you have Virtualization Platform selected and you have Virtualization Security Enabled ... perhaps something else. Don't think that Microsoft had made it easy to get rid of their own virtualization and enabled a competitor, VMware to work easily.