6. Installing Guest Operating Systems
Filed By: Robert Moir
6. Installing Guest Operating Systems
This article will include notes on installing guest operating systems in general, and also some notes on particular items with particular guest systems.
If you use any special techniques for installing a guest operating system that differ from the default install options and/or the install method outlined in the documentation for the operating sytem, can you please visit Jonathan Maltz's unofficial list of working guest systems, and if your system isn't on there or your install differed from the one listed, can you please drop him a line and let him know. Remember the person you help today by sharing that information might be helping you install something else tomorrow!
a. General notes on installing guest operating systems
A supported system is one that's tested and certified by Microsoft as working with VPC 2004. If you have a problem with running one of these operating systems as a guest within Virtual PC 2004 on a supported host operating system you can expect help and support from Microsoft product support services.
These supported systems are covered in both the online help and of course in the system requirements in part 1 of this FAQ.
An unofficially tested system is one which is not tested and certified by Microsoft as working with VPC 2004. However, they have been tested on an unofficial basis by members of the Virtual PC 2004 community, with the results of the tests generously hosted by Jonathan Maltz. You can see a list of many operating systems tested with VPC 2004 and the results of those tests at the Visual PC section of his website.
6.a.2. Follow the instructions that came with the guest operating system for installing it.
"RTFM" I'm afraid. Check the specifications of the OS you are trying to install - make sure that the hardware that the Virtual PC emulates (see system requirements) is compatible with what you are trying to install. Check also procedures for installing the operating system from scratch, including how to partition disks and such-like, because this is not done for you by the virtual PC disk wizard.
6.a.3. What do you mean, "Partition" my disks?
Before a disk can be used to store data, it needs to have a "partition" setup on it to hold your data, and it needs to be "formatted" to store information in the preferred manner of the operating system that is going to be using it.
Some Operating System installers do this as a part of their general setup process and others (generally older ones) require you to prepare and format disk partitions prior to the main operating system installation.
Yes, this message scares a good few people and it is a good thing to stop at this point and ask if you are not sure. If you see this message inside a virtual PC window then it is referring to the virtual hard disk that you have defined for your guest PC. It does not refer to the physical hard drive that your host operating system is using.
6.a.5. Can you walk me through preparing a hard disk for older operating systems such as Windows 95?
[Answer contributed by GaryM - taken from an answer Gary gave to this question in the Microsoft.Public.VirtualPC newsgroup]
General DOS issues:
The hard drive will not be assigned a drive letter (making it valid) until you partition it with fdisk and reboot (reset) the Virtual Machine. At that
point, it has a drive letter and can actually be formatted.
Linux setup issue:
If you have a bootable CD or ISO disk image, you don't even need to pre-format the disk, as this will be done in the normal course of the Linux
installation. Mounting an ISO image or capturing/releasing the physical drive can be done via VPC's CD menu.A lot of people seem to think that a Virtual Machine must be quite different from a real machine, but there are fewer differences than you might imagine. If you had just bought a new hard disk, and you had installed it in your PC intending to install Windows 98, you would be asking the same question you just posed, and the answer is surprisingly similar:
I've included all the steps, since you didn't mention having partitioned or formatted your Virtual Hard Disk. The main difference from a physical
machine at this point is that rebooting the computer is done via the "Reset" command on VPC's "Action" menu -- please don't use your host computer's reset button. After the setup, you'll see that Windows has installed drivers for emulated devices, not the real devices your computer actually has.
6.a.6. How do I start installing my operating system?
Most modern operating systems that come on CD (or as an ISO CD image) are bootable direct from the CD and guest operating systems in Virtual PC support this. Just assign your CD Drive to the virtual PC or ISO image concerned, reboot it, and follow the on-screen instructions.
If your guest operating system install CD does not support booting from CD, or if it comes on floppies, then the procedure is much the same; insert the initial boot floppy, assign it to the virtual PC, and reset the virtual machine.
6.a.7. Where can I get floppy boot disks for installing operating systems?
Well many systems that require you to use boot disks tend to either come with the disks or they easily allow you to generate disks. If you don't have the disks you need, or you just require "generic" boot disks, then I'd suggest looking at this site - these guys are the daddy when it comes to boot disks, so if they can't help you I don't know who can.
Oh yes. I've got a Virtual Floppy Disk Image for a Windows 98 boot disk for you, and also a virtual RIS boot disk image for people experimenting with RIS. Enjoy! [Images require WinRAR or something else that understands RAR archives to unpack]
Not had cause to do much with floppy disk images myself, but I've seen plenty of people in the VPC community recommend WinImage so who am I to argue with them.
I'm open to suggestions for other programs that should be here.
6.a.9. What about ISO CD-ROM images of operating system install CDs?
Personally, I use NERO from ahead software to make CD images.
If I just want to open a CD Image and take a quick peek inside, I use WinRAR.
I'm open to suggestions for other programs that should be here.
6.a.10. I'm looking for drivers for...
[Answer contributed by my fellow Security MVP, Andrew Carpenter]
- Network Controller - DEC/Intel 21140A
- Graphics - S3 Trio64 V2
- Chipset - Intel 440BX
- Sound - Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 ISA Plug and Play
b. Specific help and tips for various guest systems.
At this point I should probably repeat again that one of the best resources for help with installing a specific OS onto Virtual PC 2004 is Jonathan Maltz's unofficial guide to which guests work and which do not.
If I haven't got rid of everyone yet, I'll repeat again that another of the best resources for help with a specific OS is the VPC-Win 5.2 Tech Ref v1.3 document on SJ's website. I know it says it is for VPC 5.2 but I can tell you right now that the vast majority of guest operating systems will not be able to tell the difference ;-) and that this document is a treasure trove of help for people who want to try installing different things.
Still reading? Oh. I suppose I had better actually put in some more content then. Ok.
6.b.1. I have problems installing Windows NT 4.0
Try reducing the memory allocated to the virtual machine down to 64mb for the duration of the install. You can whack it back up to whatever you like later. [Thanks to both SJ and Paul Adare for that one.]
6.b.2. I am getting problems with ACPI in FreeBSD (may apply to other systems too who knows!)
As part of the BSD install you are given the chance to turn off ACPI support both temporarily for the install and later on, permanently for using the system. Take these options when they are offered to you and all will be well.
So if you want Sun Java Desktop to work within VPC 2004 using NAT.
- Login as root.
- Go to network settings
- In routing, set your default gateway to 192.168.131.1 (I had already done this, but this is for the newbies)
- In DNS, UNCHECK the "update host name via dhcp", but CHECK the "update name servers..." box.
[Answer supplied by MikeC in the forum]
6.b.4. How can I get screen resolutions greater than 1024x768 in Linux (any distro)?
Use a general 'VESA 2.0' driver. This should allow higher resolutions but may mean lowering the colours available.
(probably works for any XF86 based Unix XWindows setup too).
6.b.5. How can I get Windows 2003 sound to work? I can't find any drivers.
There is no Sound Blaster 16 driver available for Windows 2003 server and there is none on the Creative download page you provide a link to in the FAQ for 2000, XP or 2003.
The workaround is to run the "add new hardware" wizard and tell it to search for a driver in the C:\Windows\Inf folder of any XP machine on your network. It will probably work if you point it at a windows 2000 machine's inf folder too although I haven't tested that. [Ravenous Bugblatter Beast contributed this answer in the Forums - thanks!]
More to follow I guess.
