VMWare Player

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1

So on my ultrabook, it’s impossible to run Windows and Linux on the same machine (I tried every permutation of dual boot configuration that I can think of). So, I want to emulate Windows using VMWare player.

My laptop does not have an ethernet port and when I try to install VMWare my installation always fails at ‘Virtual ethernet . . . failed’. Is there way I can have VMWare ignore networking during the install?

2

This would be better asked in the virtualization forum. But have you already tried to get your dual boot problem solved in the forums?

3

Ok, I wish I could move it over to virtualization instead of creating a new thread there.

No luck with the dual boot issue. I posted it on the forums, but no response. I’ve searched all of the web, but nothing helpful has turned up (or maybe I just don’t understand it). I even tried other distributions, but still no luck. I’ve almost given up hope and am planning on sticking to VM.

4

Hi
I would say you don’t have the kernel-source, kernel-syms, make and gcc
installed?

Please post the exact error within code tags.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 3.0.34-0.7-default
up 8 days 17:06, 2 users, load average: 0.35, 0.40, 0.41
CPU Intel i5 CPU M520@2.40GHz | Intel Arrandale GPU

5

Am 06.08.2012 22:26, schrieb mdchaudhari:
> No luck with the dual boot issue. I posted it on the forums, but no
> response. I’ve searched all of the web, but nothing helpful has turned
> up (or maybe I just don’t understand it). I even tried other
> distributions, but still no luck. I’ve almost given up hope and am
> planning on sticking to VM.
>
>
I had not seen your previous thread but if all what is stopping you from
using 12.1 is the 3.1 kernel you can without much problems install
kernel 3.5 on a 12.1 system (I run it on my ThinkPad).

I cannot help you with VMware Player on Windows as Host system and can
only throw in the idea to give VirtualBox on Windows a try if that works
better for you without an ethernet port, you could quickly find out if
that works
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

–
PC: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.8.4 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10

6

Am 06.08.2012 22:39, schrieb Martin Helm:
> I cannot help you with VMware Player on Windows as Host system and can
> only throw in the idea to give VirtualBox on Windows a try if that works
> better for you without an ethernet port, you could quickly find out if
> that works
> https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
>
Forget that part, sorry I read it exactly the wrong way, your host is
linux so follow malcolmlewis advise.

–
PC: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.8.4 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10

7

I do have all the kernel-source, make, gcc, etc installed. I’ll post the exact error when I get home tonight.

As far as 12.1 is concerned, yes bootloader and an old kernel was a big reason why I went ahead and used 12.2. I know I can update to the latest kernel, but I’m 99% sure the installation will still screw up my UEFI setup.

I also plan on giving virtualbox a try. I think the main issue is that VMWare expects me to have an ethernet port for network setup and I don’t have one so it spits out an error. For example, it may be searching for eth0, but since I physically don’t have it, installation will always fail. Hopefully there is a mode or setting that I can change to ignore network connectivity. Or maybe virtualbox doesn’t require this stuff and it’s a lot more easier.

8

Hi
I’m running UEFI boot here, though I only boot SLE and openSUSE, if
dual booting windows it will install in /boot/efi (just ensure you
don’t format it).

On a side note, what cpu is in this system, the reason I ask is it may
be easier to use kvm if the cpu supports virtualization.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 3.0.34-0.7-default
up 8 days 21:47, 2 users, load average: 0.58, 0.47, 0.44
CPU Intel i5 CPU M520@2.40GHz | Intel Arrandale GPU

9

I hope I don’t get too sidetracked here, but since you have some UEFI experience, maybe you can help me out. I have a laptop model with iSSD on /dev/sdb. This is a huge problem because it confuses Linux installers into thinking Windows resides there, etc. So, if I install Windows first and Linux after, I think Linux ends up modifying the Windows EFI partition because after adding the right entry into GRUB2, I can’t boot into Windows. If I install Linux first, Linux creates an EFI partition (regardless of whether I choose bootloader or not), and Windows says it can’t install because something is installed to the MBR. This forces me to wipe Linux.

Now, as far as virtualization, I am using Intel(R) Core™ i5-3317U CPU @ 1.70GHz. It’s a ULV processor.

10

Hi
That cpu supports VT-x (Check your BIOS to see it’s enabled), so you
could looks at running that as an alternative. By far virtualbox is
easier these days although I do use vmware player on the desktop as
it’s just a X2 4400+ cpu.

I would start a new thread on UEFI, forum user please_try_again has
written an article here;
http://forums.opensuse.org/content/105-booting-opensuse-uefi-bios-elilo-grub2-windows-dual-boot.html

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 3.0.34-0.7-default
up 9 days 1:17, 3 users, load average: 0.29, 0.39, 0.46
CPU Intel i5 CPU M520@2.40GHz | Intel Arrandale GPU

11

Yesterday, rather than try to fix VMWare, I tried out VirtualBox and it worked like a charm. I was able to set up Windows without any problems.

As far as UEFI, I have already read that article and I actually employed a very similar setup. However, the one thing I have not tried is installing using ELILO and then upgrading to GRUB2 manually.

But, trying that article’s chainloader approach failed for me and I suspect it is because OpenSUSE modified the Windows EFI partition (which is something he mentioned at the end of the article). To fix this, it’s recommended that you restore the old GPT table that you were supposed to backup if you installed through ELILO -> GRUB2. Again, I’m not quite sure about all this backup business since the installation of OpenSUSE seems to alter the structure in the first place. But then again, I’m not an expert so I could be wrong.

I don’t think I’ll reopen a thread yet because if vbox works fine for me, then it should handle my needs.

Thanks for all the help.