Tag Archives: player

Running Windows Server 8 in VMware ESXi

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KB ID 0000590 

Problem

The very fist time I tried this was on ESXi 4.1, if you try and install Windows 8 Server on that platform, you will see the following.

Your computer ran into a problem and needs to restart. If you’d like to know more, you can search online later for this code: HAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILED It’s collecting error info and will restart in: x seconds

Note: You will also see this in VMware player, and VMware workstation 7.

Solution

Some internet searching told me that as far as VMware was concerned, I needed to be running VMware Workstation version 8, so I installed Workstation 8 and, accepting the fact I got the same install error that the windows 8 consumer preview gives you, (the fix is the same). It works flawlessly (unless you install the VMware tools).

Running Windows “8” Server in ESXi

I knew that the developer preview worked on ESXi 5, And VMware Workstation 8 uses VMware hardware version 8. So I guessed that it would run under ESXi 5. I set the machine type to “Windows 7 x64”, and it installed it, to my surprise it ran straight away.

And Installing VMware tools went smoothly as well.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Windows 8 (Server and Client) Black Screen (Post VMware Tools Install)

Windows 8 -“Windows cannot read the <ProductKey> setting from the unattend answer file.

Installing the BackTrack Linux VMware Virtual Machine

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KB ID 0000631

Problem

I’m fortunate enough that VMware gave me a free copy of VMware Workstation, but there’s nothing to stop you carrying out this procedure with the FREE VMware player.

BackTrack Linux is an operating system that is primarily used for security auditing, and penetration testing. I’m going to be playing with it a bit in the coming weeks, so I thought I’d at least document how to get it running.

Note: There is a bootable CD version available, if you would prefer to use that instead.

Solution

1. Head over to BackTrack and download your virtual machine files.

2. Once downloaded, extract the files to a folder on your computer.

3. Make sure the files have extracted.

4. From within VMware Workstation, File > Open.

5. Navigate to the .vmx file that’s in the files you extracted earlier > Open.

6. After a few seconds you should be able to power on the virtual machine.

7. Always select “I moved it” UNLESS you are going to run more than one, then choose “I Copied it”.

8. The default username is root and the default password is toor. You will then need to execute a startx command to bring up the GUI interface.

9. Job done, enjoy!

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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