unattended .flp image

[Spiker]

Ok so I have no difficulty creating an flp file with a winnt.sif file for unattended install with W2K

And it works fine in workstation

However in ESX I am unable to attach the floppy image at boot - without it first booting from the floppy and throwing a system disk error

I would just like to get into the bios of the vm in ESX and yet no bios screen options are available and F2 does nothing

How can I open the bios screen to modify the boot order on a vm in ESX ?

[Michelle_Laveri]

Probably, because the BIOs loads so quickly... you have to be ultra fast to click at the VM console window - and then press \[ESC] or \[F2]

Ive found the most reliable - is to have window focus to begin with... then use ctrlaltdel to reset and then press F2/ESC to access the BIOS or boot menu...

Regards

Mike

[Dave_Mishchenko]

The BIOS screen goes by very quickly so sometimes it helps to

1) connect the VI client directly to the ESX (i.e. not via VirtualCenter). This will allow you some more time in the BIOS to press ESC or F2.

2) reset the VM (CTRL-F1) once you get the error below and you'll get another chance to press ESC/F2.

[DFATAnt]

From VirtualCenter you can do the following steps:

1. make sure the guest vm is powered off

2. select the guest server

3. edit settings

4. select the Options tab

5. click on Advanced

6. select Enable Debugging Information check box

7. click on OK

8. open the guest vm's console

9. power on the guest vm

10. press either F2 or ESC (you might need to do this more than once to get the keyboard focus happening)

Putting the guest vm into debug mode seems to slow it down enough to give you time to press either F2 or ESC.

Make sure that you take the guest vm out of debug mode when you're done.

Ant

[Spiker]

OMG

I finally got into the bios - but its an effort - I found the best way was disconnect the cdrom and the floppy and that seemed to give me more opportunity to presss F2

My .flp image just refuses to work with the W2000 setup even after altering the bios and I know it works as already use it in workstation

Anyone have any experience with unattended files in ESX ? - is there some hocis pocus here that I need to be aware of ?

[Spiker]

Ok I finally have it working - I just hate this clunky bios option