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pbraren
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

How to install VMware ESX 3.5 / VirtualCenter 2.5 inside VMware Workstation 6.0.2

A while back, a few of us figured out how to get the USB key with 3i beta (given away at VMworld) to run inside VMware Workstation:

http://communities.vmware.com/message/754336#754336

Now that ESX 3.5 is out, I see threads starting up about installing on a SCSI drive inside VMware Workstation:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/116639?tstart=0

I cloned the 3i VM in Workstation, then with that clone, I added a SCSI disk and mounted the iso of the GA level of ESXS 3.5. After accepting is offer to change the disk type, I was able to then install and run ESX 3.5 from within the VM just fine.

I've attached a copy of my working vmx file.

Only tested for a few minutes, and a few gotchas already:

when I downloaded a virtual appliance right from its welcome page, it crashed ESX when the virtual appliance was powered on

when I pointed another Workstation VM (XP), one that had VIC 2.0.2 U2, I uninstalled, then pointed browser to bridged-networking IP of ESX 3.5 and installed new VIC 3.5, but it came up with an error at the end. However, it actually seemed to work fine, launched from desktop icon it created.

I hope this helps steer others in the right direction, and the speed/responsiveness was far better than I ever had the 3i working fyi.

Next steps, make another W2K3SP2 VM and install SQL 2005 and VirtualCenter 2.5 with VUM...also inside VMware Workstation (for portability and training and demonstration purposes at bandwidth constrained customer sites, and for "fun")

TinkerTry.com
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pbraren
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I'm running 64 bit Vista, with 4GB of memory and VT enabled on dual cores (Lenovo T61p) fyi.

TinkerTry.com
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esloof
Expert
Expert

What error message did you get after starting the VM ?

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pbraren
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

      • VMware Workstation internal monitor error ***

vcpu-0:ASSERT vmcore/private/physMem_shared.h:38 bugNr=131897

Please report this problem by selecting menu item Help > VMware on the Web > Request Support, or by going to the Web page "http://www.vmware.com/info?id=8&logFile=D%3a%5cDocuments%5cMy%20Virtual%20Machines%5cESX%203%2e5%5cvmware%2elog&coreLocation=D%3a%5cDocuments%5cMy%20Virtual%20Machines%5cESX%203%2e5%5cvmware%2dcore%2egz". Please provide us with the log file (D:\Documents\My Virtual Machines\ESX 3.5\vmware.log) and the core file (D:\Documents\My Virtual Machines\ESX 3.5\vmware-core.gz).

If the problem is repeatable, please select 'Run with debugging information' in the Options panel of Virtual Machine Settings. Then reproduce the incident and file it according to the instructions.

To collect data to submit to VMware support, select Help > About and click "Collect Support Data". You can also run the "vm-support" script in the Workstation folder directly.

We will respond on the basis of your support entitlement.

We appreciate your feedback,

-- the VMware Workstation team.

TinkerTry.com
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kasper
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Greetings,

I too experience the same issues. This is what I have tried but still have the same issue when starting a guest:

-disabled guest option 'virutalized MMU'

-disabled guest optioni 'CPUID mask'

-enabled 'disable guest acceleration'

Same error.

Maybe one or more advanced options on the ESX 3.5 host may resolve it? Or maybe its

a workstation issue?

Thanks,

Stan

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AMcCreath
Commander
Commander

Out of interest, have you tried an upgrade of a 3.0 host and VC2 machine inside Workstation and experienced the same issue?

I only ask incase I'm about to blow out my 3.0.2 installation....

Cheers,

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kasper
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Greetings,

With any upgrade there is a risk.

If you do not plan on using any of the guests when you upgrade, then that risk is a LOT lower.

If you are concerned about what will happen then I would recommend a backup. I just ZIP

all the files of the host and guest and you can also restore.

Thanks,

Stan

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Teovmy
Contributor
Contributor

Still now solution. Does anyone have it??

Regards. @teovmy http://www.mikes.eu
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admin
Immortal
Immortal

I tested the full upgrade from esx 3.0.2 to 3.5.0 and vc 2.0.2 to 2.5 plus 3i in a VM, all went smooth

http://communities.vmware.com/message/825126

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mac3
Contributor
Contributor

Hi, do you have a solution (workaround) to start a VM succesfull?

The 3.5 installation and configuration in the workstation 6 works fine.

But if I start a VM on the VI3.5 Server the ws6 vm crashs with:

      • VMware Workstation internal monitor error ***.......

On my vi3.0.2 it works without any problem. (installed in WS6 also)

thx and regards, mac

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jose_maria_gonz
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Hi there,

It works fine with ESX 3.0.2 and VMware Workstation 6.0.2 on my setup but as soon as I upgraded to ESX 3.5 and VC 2.5 any VM crashs while starting with the error reported above.

Does anyone have a workaround for this issue?

Thanking you in advance,

rgds,

J.

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mystereman
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

As far as anyone can tell, esx 3.5 makes use of some CPU features that VMWare Workstation 6 doesn't yet support, something to do with shared memory it seems which makes me think it's an MMU issue, possibly even a bug in WS. It seems unlikely that there's anything we can do about it, except report it to VMWare and wait for a patch or new version.

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esloof
Expert
Expert

I'm running out of options. I desperately want to check out the new features in ESX 3.5 but I can't find a way to run ESX 3.5 in a virtual environment. I tried Workstation 6, VMware Server 2.0 and even VMware Player 2.0. The player starts ESX 3.5 in the blink of an eye but when I power on my first virtual machine I receive the same error I received in Workstation.

      • VMware Player internal monitor error ***

vcpu-1:ASSERT vmcore/private/physMem_shared.h:38 bugNr=131897

Please report this problem by selecting menu item Help > VMware on the Web > Request Support, or by going to the Web page "[http://www.vmware.com/info?id=8&logFile=C%3a%5cUsers%5cEric%20Sloof%5cAppData%5cLocal%5cTemp%5cvmware%2dEric%20Sloof%5cvmware%2dEric%20Sloof%2d2700%2elog&coreLocation=C%3a%5cVirtual%20Machines%5cESX35%5cvmware%2dcore%5b0%2d1%5d%2egz]". Please provide us with the log file (C:\Users\Eric Sloof\AppData\Local\Temp\vmware-Eric Sloof\vmware-Eric Sloof-2700.log) and the core file (C:\Virtual Machines\ESX35\vmware-core[0-1].gz).

If the problem is repeatable, please select 'Run with debugging information' in the Options panel of Virtual Machine Settings. Then reproduce the incident and file it according to the instructions.

To collect data to submit to VMware support, select Help > About and click "Collect Support Data". You can also run the "vm-support" script in the Workstation folder directly.

We will respond on the basis of your support entitlement.

We appreciate your feedback,

-- the VMware Player team.

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enaji
Contributor
Contributor

Any luck yet on getting this to work? I am getting the same

error when I power on the VM.

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rfraser
Contributor
Contributor

I am having this problem as well. Need to evaluate ESX within workstation also. Tried to install an earlier version of ESX (3.0.2) but then could not determine how to license it (as no .lic file was sent to me via email) in order to run a virtual machine.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Rob

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

I hope this helps, below is the .vmx file for a VM that was ESX 3.0.2 and upgraded using another VM with UDA upto 3.5, also it is identical to the .vmx of a VM that is running 3i. The chipset in the host computer for all these VM's is AMD.

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "4"

numvcpus = "2"

scsi0.present = "TRUE"

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

memsize = "1024"

scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"

scsi0:0.fileName = "ESX05.Development.Net.vmdk"

ide1:0.present = "FALSE"

ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

floppy0.autodetect = "TRUE"

ethernet0.present = "TRUE"

ethernet0.VirtualDev = "e1000"

ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"

svga.autodetect = "TRUE"

mks.keyboardFilter = "allow"

displayName = "ESX05.Development.Net"

guestOS = "redhat"

nvram = "Red Hat Linux.nvram"

deploymentPlatform = "windows"

virtualHW.productCompatibility = "esx"

tools.upgrade.policy = "useGlobal"

monitor_control.restrict_backdoor = TRUE

monitor_control.vt32 = TRUE

monitor_control.enable_svm = TRUE

ide1:0.autodetect = "TRUE"

floppy0.fileName = "A:"

extendedConfigFile = "Red Hat Linux.vmxf"

ethernet0.connectionType = "custom"

ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet2"

ethernet1.present = "TRUE"

ethernet1.VirtualDev = "e1000"

ethernet1.connectionType = "custom"

ethernet1.vnet = "VMNet2"

ethernet1.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"

ethernet2.present = "TRUE"

ethernet2.VirtualDev = "e1000"

ethernet2.connectionType = "custom"

ethernet2.vnet = "VMnet2"

ethernet2.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"

ethernet0.addressType = "generated"

ethernet1.addressType = "generated"

ethernet2.addressType = "generated"

uuid.location = "56 4d 50 24 3e 9d 4d 26-f0 4e 37 09 74 46 ca c8"

uuid.bios = "56 4d 50 24 3e 9d 4d 26-f0 4e 37 09 74 46 ca c8"

scsi0:0.redo = ""

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:46:ca:c8"

ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

ethernet1.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:46:ca:d2"

ethernet1.generatedAddressOffset = "10"

ethernet2.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:46:ca:dc"

ethernet2.generatedAddressOffset = "20"

floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"

floppy0.present = "FALSE"

tools.remindInstall = "TRUE"

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

Are you able to start a VM on ESX with your setup?

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esloof
Expert
Expert

I tried to start a VM with your config file but I received the same error.

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jose_maria_gonz
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Hi there,

It appears that this issue is out there and that a lot of the members of the Vmware comunity are reporting.

Could I ask to VMware employees to get involve in this issue and put some news up on regards this issue?

Thanking you in advance,

rgds,

J.

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oreeh
Immortal
Immortal

According to a VMware engineer it doesn't work due to some problems with the (unsupported / undocumented) 32-bit VT code.

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