I have an older ESX version. Really old version like say 2.5.0....
I have successfully created a Vista VM on this ESX however the NIC card does not seem to recognize by the OS. The NIC is a BROADCOM NetXtreme BCM5704 Gigabit Ethernet type.
If the version of ESX is to old that's fine... I am planning on performing an upgrade when I have time.
The VM doesn't see the physical NIC, it sees a virtual NIC.
Vista probably doesn't have a vlance (AMD PCnet) driver - so you are out of luck.
Ok, Thank you.
Just to make sure I have this clear in my mind.
The virtual NIC, which uses a Vlance adapter, can not be seen by the Vista OS because it does not have the correct driver.
What I have noticed with my ESX 3.0.1 server is that the Adapter type is Flexible. Do you know what the difference is between a Flexible adapter and a Vlance adapter?
If not, thank you anyway for your reply.
The \*default* adapter type is flexible. That means it mutates from an AMD Lance to a VMware Accelerated Lance (vmxnet) once the VMware Tools are installed. Vista, however, requires the E1000 virtual NIC (which you must manually change to in the vmx file).
So is it safe to assume that if I edit the vmx file I can work around this issue? Even if it is on a ESX 2.5?
I believe the e1000 is newly supported in ESX 3.
Vista is listed as being "experimentally" supported by VMware and only for ESX 3.0.x. You are probably going to have a tough time getting it to run on ESX 2.5 unless you can find a vlance driver for vista. You may try running the VMtools install and seing if it works with the vmxnet, but its probably not going to work.
Vista is listed as being "experimentally" supported
by VMware and only for ESX 3.0.x.
If the press on it is correct, Vista should be considered "Experimental".
Ok, thanks everyone for your insight.
Quite simple solution, Install Vista and use the VMware drivers to install the NIC.
cheers,
Jan