Rough guide to getting an existing Windows XP partition to boot as a VMWare guest under Linux
Posted: - Modified: | geekBecause I might have to do this again someday…
- Install VMWare Server. Use the advanced config to create an image that uses your existing hard disk.
- Boot Windows (physically). Back up the current hardware profile.
- Boot Linux. Download the SCSI drivers from http://www.vmware.com/download/ws/index.html#drivers ..
- Change your GRUB config so that it doesn’t time out. You do _not_ want to accidentally boot your Linux partition while inside Linux.
- Start VMWare with your Windows image. Use the recovery console. Mount the SCSI drivers FLP as a floppy and copy the files to c:\windows\system32\drivers .
- Boot Windows physically. Use the Control Panel – Add New Hardware dialog to add the VMWare SCSI driver. It might also be a good idea to disable ACPI for the computer
- Boot to Linux. Use VMWare to load the Windows image.
The SATA drive complicated things a bit, but I eventually got stuff sorted out. Yay! Next step: Wonder if seamless is worth the trouble…
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