I'm trying to install a Win 11 Pro guest on Workstation Pro 15.5.7 on a Win 10 Pro host machine. I have downloaded the ISO from Microsoft and mounted is a virtual CD. I followed the guide from the following URL, which states that their method was successful in Workstation 15.5.6.
Virtualize Windows 11 using VMware Workstation 16 and 15
I realize that Win 11 is not officially supported in WS Pro 15.5.7, but most guest OSes that are not 'officially' supported usually work well in VMware. I've had such good experiences with WS Pro over the years, I'm hoping that there's something simple that will resolve this issue.
The VM is configured as follows:
- Latest HW config
- Processors: 2
- Memory: 16GB (out of 64GB on host)
- Access control: encrypted
- TPM device added
- Win 11 install ISO mounted as virtual CD/DVD
Upon bootup, here's the error shown, 'No compatible bootloader found.'
If I remove encryption and the TPM module and change the firmware type from UEFI to BIOS, then the Win 11 boot/install screen appears. But after the registration code is entered, the dreaded 'This PC doesn't support Win 11' appears.
From other google searches, adding managedVM.autoAddVTPM = “software” to the (unencrypted) .vmx file will cause the Win 11 iso image to boot, but then stops with the 'This PC doesn't support Win 11' message.
Not sure what's different with Workstation 15.5.7 from 15.5.6. The VM setup steps detailed in the above link are very straightforward, so don't see what was missed.
FYI, the ISO file was downloaded from: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11
Since the installation does start when firmware=BIOS is selected, I believe the ISO file is good. Also opened the ISO with 7-zip and it looks good.
If I double-click on the ISO image in Windows Explorer, Notepad is launched and shows the following:
This disc contains a "UDF" file system and requires an operating system
that supports the ISO-13346 "UDF" file system specification.
I'm hesitant to move up to Workstation 16, since I have some older Windows VMs (98SE, etc.) that I'm not sure will still work (as well) on Worksation 16.
vmware.log from last boot attempt is attached.
Any suggestions?
Accepted Solutions
The issue has been resolved and the Win 11 Pro guest OS/VM is now up and running. This problem was due to incorrect selection of the guest OS when configuring the VM.
When selecting the guest OS, the topmost item in the dropdown list was 'Windows 10'. I assumed (we know what that means) that for some reason Workstation 15 didn't have a 'Windows 10 x64' option, as the instructions given in an earlier link specified. The clue was an error message about being unable run a 64-bit boot file from the EFI boot shell. This caused me to look at the guest OS options more closely, where the 'Windows 10 x64' options was found to be the top-most menu choice. Looking closer at the vertical scroll bar (above) shows that 'Windows 10' isn't the top-most option - but you have to look closely 😀
In the end, it was user error.
Yes, I tried that. When I select the 'SATA CD ROM' option, then press enter...nothing happens other than the boot manager screen redraws and 'SATA CD ROM' is still selected.
If I select 'EFI Internal Shell (Unsupported Option)', I see the following EFI shell along with the shell prompt.
The EFI firmware version, from the shell 'ver' command.
EFI Specification Revision : 2.31
EFI Vendor : VMware, Inc.
EFI Revision : 1.0
The issue has been resolved and the Win 11 Pro guest OS/VM is now up and running. This problem was due to incorrect selection of the guest OS when configuring the VM.
When selecting the guest OS, the topmost item in the dropdown list was 'Windows 10'. I assumed (we know what that means) that for some reason Workstation 15 didn't have a 'Windows 10 x64' option, as the instructions given in an earlier link specified. The clue was an error message about being unable run a 64-bit boot file from the EFI boot shell. This caused me to look at the guest OS options more closely, where the 'Windows 10 x64' options was found to be the top-most menu choice. Looking closer at the vertical scroll bar (above) shows that 'Windows 10' isn't the top-most option - but you have to look closely 😀
In the end, it was user error.