Windows Vista Beta

Windows Vista Beta

Windows Vista Beta

Support

Windows Vista Beta 32-Bit Version
This beta operating system has experimental support as a guest operating system on the following VMware products:
  VMware Workstation 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 5.0, 5.5
Experimental support for 2-way Virtual SMP on Workstation 5.5
  VMware ACE 1.0, 1.0.1
  VMware GSX Server 3.0, 3.1, 3.2
Windows Vista Beta 64-Bit Version
This beta operating system has experimental support as a guest operating system on the following VMware products:
  VMware Workstation 5.5
Note: If you are installing a guest operating system through VMware VirtualCenter, be sure it is supported under the VMware product - ESX Server or GSX Server - on which you are running the virtual machine.
Because Windows Vista is still in the beta stage of development, you should expect it to install and run more slowly than other guest operating systems.
Windows Vista Beta

General Installation Notes

Be sure to read General Guidelines for All VMware Products as well as this guide to installing your specific guest operating system.
You can install the Windows Vista beta in a virtual machine using the Windows Vista distribution CD. If your VMware product supports it, you may also install from a PXE server.
VMware Workstation or VMware ACE: If you are using the virtual LSI Logic SCSI adapter, Windows Vista automatically installs the SCSI driver when you install the guest operating system. To use the virtual BusLogic SCSI adapter in a Windows Vista virtual machine under VMware Workstation or VMware ACE, you need a special SCSI driver available from the download section of the VMware Web site at www.vmware.com/download. Follow the instructions on the Web site to use the driver with a fresh installation of Windows Vista. If you have a virtual machine with a SCSI virtual disk and a Windows 9x, Windows Me, Windows NT or Windows 2000 guest operating system and want to upgrade it to Windows Vista, install the new SCSI driver before upgrading the operating system.
GSX Server: If you are using the virtual LSI Logic SCSI adapter, Windows Vista automatically installs the SCSI driver when you install the guest operating system. If you are using the virtual BusLogic SCSI adapter, you need a special SCSI driver available from the download section of the VMware Web site at www.vmware.com/download. Follow the instructions on the Web site to use the driver with a fresh installation of Windows Vista. If you have a virtual machine with a SCSI virtual disk and an earlier Windows guest operating system and want to upgrade it to Windows Vista, install the new SCSI driver before upgrading the operating system.
Windows Vista Beta Installation Steps
If you want to run Windows Vista in a virtual machine, be sure you have a full installation CD for the operating system.
Before installing the operating system, be sure that you have already created and configured a new virtual machine.
64-bit guest: The 64-bit version of the Windows Vista beta cannot be installed in a virtual machine with a blank hard disk. One way to work around this problem is to install the 64-bit version of Windows XP Pro, then upgrade that guest operating system to Windows Vista beta.
Windows Vista Beta Installing the Guest Operating System
1. Insert the Windows Vista CD in the CD-ROM drive.
2. Power on the virtual machine to start installing Windows Vista.
3. If you are using the virtual BusLogic SCSI driver downloaded from the VMware Web site, you must take some special steps at this point in the installation process. As the Windows Vista installer loads, press the F6 key. This allows you to select the additional SCSI driver required for installation. Press S to specify the additional driver. After you specify the SCSI driver, press Enter to continue with setup.
4. In certain Windows Vista builds, the installer chooses an incorrect default in the screen titled Choose your installation destination. It shows a partition with 0 MB free and makes that partition the default destination.
At that screen, you must change the choice to the disk (instead of the partition), then click Continue.
5. Follow the remaining installation steps as you would for a physical machine.
Windows Vista Beta VMware Tools
Be sure to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system. For details, see the manual for your VMware product or follow the appropriate link in the knowledge base article at www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=340.
Windows Vista Beta Enabling Sound in a Windows Vista Guest
VMware GSX Server: The sound device is disabled by default and must be enabled with the virtual machine settings editor (VM > Settings) after the operating system has been installed. To set up the virtual machine to play sound, see Configuring Sound in the GSX Server documentation.
Windows Vista Beta

Known Issues

Windows Vista Beta Installing Certain Windows Vista Builds
Certain Windows Vista builds do not install in a virtual machine with a new, blank virtual disk (for example, with a newly created virtual machine). This problem has also been observed with physical hardware.
To work around this issue, see knowledge base article 1688 at www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1688.
Windows Vista Beta Warnings When Installing VMware Tools
Windows Vista uses a new method to install drivers. As a result, warning messages appear at several stages during installation of VMware Tools in Windows Vista guest operating systems. Sometimes these messages are hidden. The driver installation appears to hang. However, if you press Alt-Tab, you can bring the warning message to the foreground. There are two types of messages.
  A message that says the driver is not Authenticode signed. When you see one of these messages, click Install Now to continue installing VMware Tools.
  A message that says the driver package is not compatible with Windows Vista. When you see one of these messages, click Cancel to continue installing VMware Tools.
You may also see a message asking you to restart before the VMware Tools installer has finished. Do not restart the guest operating system at that time. Wait until the Installation Wizard Completed screen appears, click Finish, then restart the guest operating system when you are prompted to do so.
Windows Vista Beta Ethernet Adapter in Certain Windows Vista Builds
The AMD Ethernet card driver included with certain Windows Vista builds - including 4074 and possibly others - does not work correctly. To use networking in these Windows Vista guest operating systems, you must switch to the vmxnet network adapter. A driver for this adapter is included in VMware Tools.
VMware GSX Server on a Linux host: Choose VM > Settings, select Network Adapter, then select vmxnet as the virtual device to use. You may install VMware Tools either before or after changing the virtual network adapter.
VMware GSX Server on a Windows host: Choose VM > Settings, select NIC, then select vmxnet as the virtual device to use. You may install VMware Tools either before or after changing the virtual network adapter.
VMware Workstation on a Linux host: Choose VM > Settings, select Network Adapter, then select vmxnet as the virtual device to use. You must install VMware Tools after changing the virtual network adapter.
VMware Workstation or VMware ACE on a Windows host: Use a text editor such as Notepad to edit the configuration (.vmx) file for your Windows Vista virtual machine. Add the following line:
Ethernet[n].virtualDev = "vmxnet"
Replace [n] with the number of the Ethernet adapter. The first Ethernet adapter is number 0, so the line for that adapter is
Ethernet0.virtualDev = "vmxnet"
Include a line for each Ethernet adapter configured for the virtual machine. You may install VMware Tools either before or after changing the virtual network adapter.
Windows Vista Beta Product Activation
The Windows Vista product activation feature creates a numerical key based on the virtual hardware in the virtual machine where it is installed. Changes in the configuration of the virtual machine may require you to reactivate the operating system. There are some steps you can take to minimize the number of significant changes.
  Set the final memory size for your virtual machine before you activate Windows Vista. When you cross certain thresholds - approximately 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB and 1GB - the product activation feature sees the changes as significant.
Note: The size reported to the Windows product activation feature is slightly less than the actual amount configured for the virtual machine. For example, 128MB is interpreted as falling in the 64MB-127MB range.
  Install VMware Tools before you activate Windows Vista. When the SVGA driver in the VMware Tools package is installed, it activates features in the virtual graphics adapter that make it appear to Windows Vista as a new graphics adapter.
  If you want to experiment with any other aspects of the virtual machine configuration, do so before activating Windows Vista. Keep in mind that typically you have 14 days for experimentation before you have to activate the operating system. (Your EULA may define a different period before activation is required.)
For more details on Windows Vista product activation, see the Microsoft Web site.
Windows Vista Beta Display Hardware Acceleration
Windows Vista has display adapter hardware acceleration disabled by default. This slows down graphics performance and mouse responsiveness in the guest operating system.
To enable hardware acceleration in a Windows Vista guest, open the Control Panel, then open the Display Properties control panel. On the Settings tab, click Advanced. On the Troubleshoot tab, drag the Hardware acceleration slider all the way to Full.
Windows Vista Beta Guest Screen Saver
On a Linux host with an XFree86 3.x X server, it is best not to run a screen saver in the guest operating system. Guest screen savers that demand a lot of processing power can cause the X server on the host to freeze.
Windows Vista Beta Hibernation
The hibernation feature is not supported in this release. Instead of using the guest operating system's hibernate feature, suspend the virtual machine.
Windows Vista Beta Checked (Debug) Build
VMware GSX Server: In order to install and run a checked (debug) build of Windows Vista in a virtual machine, you must first edit the virtual machine's configuration file (.vmx). Add the following line:
uhci.forceHaltBit = TRUE