Network adapter not recognized by Vista

[mattw2]

I'm running Workstation 6.5 on an Ubuntu 9.04 host. Created a new Windows XP guest and then upgraded to Vista (initial public release DVD). I had to do it this way as the Vista DVD won't install on its own. I've changed the guest OS in the Workstation options to be Vista 32 instead of XP. I did have network connectivity in XP before upgrading. I've also tried reinstalling the Tools after the upgrade.

On boot, Vista says I need a driver for the Ethenet Controller via the Found New Hardware wizard. I've tried pointing it to the Vista DVD to look for a driver but it doesn't find one.

Any ideas?

Matt

[asatoran]

I had to do it this way as the Vista DVD won't install on its own....

Is the disk bootable? If so then you can still do a clean install of Vista using the upgrade disk. (IIRC, downloading the Vista upgrade directly from MS, you do not get a bootable media. But obtaining the DVD media, it should be bootable.) So if it is a standard upgrade disk, I would recommend a clean install of Vista, rather than upgrading XP.

[mattw2]

I did do a clean install. Though I didn't follow the steps in the link you referenced, the Vista install gives the option of installing into a completely new Windows folder and leaving the old XP installation behind (not upgrading it). That's what I did, and it seems that would give me the same result as the steps in the link you referenced. I guess I'll try the method in that link and see what happens. But if anyone knows how to simply fix the network adapter driver issue, it would save me a lot of time and aggravation.

[asatoran]

...the Vista install gives the option of installing into a completely new Windows folder and leaving the old XP installation behind (not upgrading it).

That may not have done a truly clean install. I suggest simply creating a new blank virtual machine. Do NOT install XP on the new virtual machine. Just boot from the Vista DVD and follow the steps in the previous link. Then there can be absolutely no issue with any XP stuff mucking up Vista. Since you say you did do a clean install, this is what you want anyway.

[mattw2]

That worked - took half the day, but it worked.

I guess the the take-away is that Workstation doesn't support upgrading an XP guest to Vista - at least not if you want to use the network.

Thanks asatoran

Matt

[asatoran]

I guess the the take-away is that Workstation doesn't support upgrading an XP guest to Vista - at least not if you want to use the network.

Glad to hear you got it working. I don't if I'd completely blame VMWare. Upgrading Windows OS' in the past has been problematic with things like drivers. Thus the often recommended clean install instead of an in-place upgrade.